Scary Walk

So Mickey and I were off on an early evening walk. There is a path we follow between two buildings that is lined with flowering trees and daffodils. Its such a lovely celebration of spring! This path is always empty, but today there were two ladies talking at the end. This threw little Mickey for a spin and he halted in his tracks and had to be coaxed to continue (by me and one of the ladies that wanted to meet him)

So we're making introductions when another dog comes up. Great! I always look forward to getting him to sniff out new dogs. Winston is some sort of Schnauzer and seems friendly enough at first.

His owner and I are chatting a bit about puppies when suddenly Winston turns on little Mickey and pins him down and is snarling and biting at him. Mickey is 'screaming' and yelping but can't get away because his leash has gotten tangled in Winston's collar.

We finally get enough space between the two dogs so Mickey is out of bite range and the other owner focuses on unlatching Mickey's leash while I check him out for injury.

The other owner apologized profusely and seems very embarrassed.
Mickey was fine, but his hair all along his spine was standing straight on edge and he wanted nothing more than to climb into my lap as I'm kneeling to check him over.

Dogs are dogs and I don't think Winston is dangerous (unlike Princess the nearby pit bull that foams at the mouth at the mere glimpse of Mickey and me) but I do feel guilty that Mickey had a bad experience with the dog. I hope he will be a brave little guy and keep trusting me on our walks and other adventures.