A few weeks ago on our daily walk, Maggie & I were suddenly & unexpectedly accosted by this pup…who I have yet to name.

He’s the guard dog that’s always tied up outside the new apartment buildings in the opposite direction of our walk.

We’ve seen him there for months – always jumping up & down the second he spots us from a good 100 yards away.

But today he was loose.

Normally, meeting a new dog isn’t a big deal – for me or Maggie.

But this pup didn’t know whether to be aggressive or playful and was somehow a mix of both.

And with no owner in sight I was struggling trying to keep the peace & space between them while juggling the camera.

The last thing I needed was his Korean owner to see my big dog rough-housing with his (how would I ever explain she won’t eat him) & it was obvious the dog wasn’t socialized or well fed. He was skin & bones.

His fur stood on end while he jumped back & forth – tempting Moo-Moo to play with him.

Once I finally helped broker a safe introduction between them, he was all over Maggie.

And Maggie just wasn’t quite so sure what to do. He was beyond obsessive about it.

She kept looking up at me as if to say, “Mommy make him stop” while I began worrying about how to break up a dog fight if he didn’t stop soon.

---

Don’t get me wrong, Maggie is an incredibly sweet & gentle girl. But at our first BBQ with the neighbors & their umpteen, female-starved, smaller male dogs, I saw another side of Maggie.

The boys had been hounding her & hounding her, chasing her around the neighbor’s backyard.

She kept being the polite girl she is…no barking, no biting, no growling. She would hide behind me or the bushes, but nothing worked.

And after a good solid 45 minutes of this, Maggie had had enough.

Suddenly I heard a thunderous, deep barking and I turned to see her taking on 4 of the boys at once. She had thrown off the smaller 3 & had pinned the largest male on his back underneath her.

No one was hurt, although I think it probably scared the neighbors to death – but Maggie was telling them to leave her alone in no uncertain terms.

---

But I couldn’t help but wonder how much longer Maggie would put up with her new suitor before she explained the rules to him.

So I started walking Maggie away – but he followed.

I was sure he wouldn’t follow us the whole way on our walk – so we kept going.

Sure enough…he turned around after a little while and headed home.

But we ran into him again the next day.

It was the first time I’d ever seen the owner walking him.

And it was also the last.

He’s tied-up again…jumping up & down at us everyday.