Their workout began with two runners and a friend’s dog near the Parkside High School tennis courts until Moyer dropped off the dog at his house.
The two then traveled a familiar course back toward their cars, turning onto Northwood Drive.
“As soon as we got past the old bridge near Schumaker (Drive), I was looking over there because I heard a dog bark,” Moyer said. “I looked over and he bounced his head above the fence.”
Moyer tried to warn Nelson, but the dog was already over the fence.
“His teeth were wide open and he just latched on,” he said.
Nelson’s family had an Irish Setter when she was growing up. She remembers placing a tennis ball in a tube sock and playing tug of war with the family dog.
“It was like that,” she said, of the tug of war over her arm with this dog.
The pit bull-Labrador mix knocked Nelson to the ground. The dog actually ran across the road and went around Moyer to bite Nelson.
Moyer began kicking the dog and punching it in the head. He grabbed his flip phone and used it to punch the dog above the eye.
At that point, the dog’s owners came out of the house and began yelling for it.
“As you relive it and think about it, that’s what makes it so difficult, is you just keep seeing this slow motion happening again,” Nelson said.
After it went back inside its house, Nelson began yelling for someone to call 911. She wondered how much blood she could lose before losing consciousness, before dying.
“He (Moyer) saved my life,” Nelson said. “I know we toss around the phrase, ‘Oh, he saved my life,’ but I firmly believe he saved my life.”
Moyer called 911 on his cellphone and could see the fire station down the street. As he saw the large door rise for the ambulance, he told Nelson help wasn’t far away. The owners stayed with her until the ambulance came.
After receiving X-rays and stitches, Nelson learned she needed to go to a separate hospital because her thumb was “crushed like a peanut.”
The doctors and nurses gave her the option to travel to Union Memorial in Baltimore inside an ambulance or to have her husband drive her. Nelson decided to go in the car and was gently packed with pillows for the drive.
During her time in the emergency room, Nelson spoke with officers from the Salisbury Police Department, a required procedure in animal attacks. The health department and animal control took over the investigation.
On Wednesday, the dog’s owner voluntarily surrendered the animal. On Friday, the dog was euthanized at the Humane Society.
Sitting in the shade of her back porch days after the attack, Nelson’s arm was encased in a soft, tan cast. Only the very tip of her thumb is visible from beneath the dark blue sling. She doesn’t yet know if she’ll have full range of motion, but she has a follow-up appointment scheduled for Monday.
She doesn’t want to be afraid of dogs and doesn’t want to change her children’s view of dogs.
Figuring out what advice to give to other runners has been a bit more difficult.
“It takes away the safety,” Nelson said. “I love running. I’m not going to tell people not to run alone, because you have to run alone. When you are in a race you need to know how to run alone, because it’s just you and the race.”
Moyer, a member of the close-knit running community for eight years, said this isn’t the first time runners have been chased by dogs on the Eastern Shore.
He knows of about 10 incidents where dogs have jumped fences and barked at or chased after runners. While none were bitten, Moyer encourages runners to carry pepper spray with them.
He also wants dog owners to have a better understanding of what they should do to help a runner or anyone else avoid being chased or attacked by their dog.
“We go around 4:30 in the morning. That early, it’s usually not a problem because most people haven’t let their dogs out. It’s later in the morning when people let their dogs out and they don’t control them,” Moyer said. “I think dog owners need to understand the dogs need to be leashed or controlled when home.”
Salisbury Animal Control Officer David Shanks said there are many ways for dog owners and runners to avoid getting bit or chased.
He encourages all dog owners with fences to make sure there isn’t anything stacked next to the fence, such as a picnic table or firewood, that could help the dog get outside its yard.
He said some dogs are smart enough to open a fence latch. For those “escape artists,” owners can tie a piece of wire through the latch or install a padlock to prevent the dog from getting out.
Shanks suggests runners know their route intimately and check with other runners before taking a new one. He also suggests driving a new route at different parts of the day before actually running it.
If being chased by a dog or attacked by one is unavoidable, he said the best way to dodge harm is to remain motionless, a challenging task when danger is imminent.
“What I do, is if I have something coming at me — and it’s very difficult — is to stand still and face that dog,” Shanks said. “Ninety-nine times out of 100, the dog that is coming after me will stop 5 or 6 feet from me, bark, growl and then eventually lose interest and walk away.”
As far as pepper spray goes, Shanks said dogs have membranes on their eyes that help protect them. If it does affect them, they’ll just rub their face against the ground until it goes away, then come back at whomever they were attacking.
He suggests, if anything, to spray it into the dog’s mouth.
While Nelson is a bit leery of dogs — a rather large one trotted off its property this week and barked at her — her passion for running is steadfast.
“I will continue running,” she said.
(Delmara Now - Jun. 23, 2013)
