Stand-off with a Pit Bull

On my morning "run", I had the single most scary thing I've ever seen or experienced in my 4 years of running in my neighborhood happen.

And that's saying something. I run at night. I run when I've seen a scary movie the night before. I've been chased by dogs before. I've been jumped on by dogs before. I've been swerved at by a car before. I've fallen.

But, omg, this morning was so far beyond any of that.

I had just turned onto my street, walking my cooldown. I was almost done! Several houses up I saw a 4-legged creature run across the road. I wasn't sure what sort of creature: cat, dog, coon... so as I approached the house I cautionarily glanced to my right to check on the status of the creature, when a pit bull rushes towards me, barking loudly.

I stop, turn, face it, throw up my right hand and yell, "No!". He stops, but continues to bark.

I slowly turn to my left and begin walking, watching the dog the whole time. He circles behind me, barking, and rushes me. I stop, turn, face the dog, throw up my hand and yell, "No!". He backs off a bit, barking.

I start edging towards my house, still waaaaaaay too far away, he circles around behind me again and charges again, I yell at him again. He circles and charges again. I yell again. He circles, charges, I yell. We do this inch by inch, working our way slowly down the street towards my house.

All the time, I'm trying to appear big, confident, and totally unafraid. But I'm freaking out. I mean, completely freaking.

One time, he was running and he came in for a charge and I actually hissed at him. It was totally instinctual, and I'm guessing because that is something we do to get our cats to not do things, but it seemed to freak him out and he moved a little farther away from me. He finally ended up running about 20 feet ahead of me and on my right as I moved down the street.

Which put him in my yard. Fuck.

I moved up the neighbor's driveway towards my front door, thinking that the most vulnerable I was going to be was when I was trying to get my key in the door.

I lost sight of him behind a bush, I BOOKED IT to my door, somehow the key was in my hand, went in, and I was inside.

And then I totally lost it.

Fucker was still running around the street when I left for work 30 minutes later.

I called Animal Control as soon as they opened at 9am. What the hell are you supposed to do in the middle of the night??? I seriously doubt he was still there!

Oh, and he was wearing a collar with tags.

Fucking dog owners. I love dogs. I have nothing against any breed of dog. It is the owners that fuck them up, let them run loose and threaten people. Those fuckers deserve to be hurt.

And, shit, dude... how do you make yourself go out for a run after that??