dogs in Shutesbury

Had another problem with uncontrolled dogs on Friday. Abby decided that she wanted to go for a walk when we picked her up from daycare. I knew it was too far to walk all the way home, but I figured she might last 15 minutes or so. So I told my husband to take the car and come back for us, and I told him what route we'd take. So we started off down the road. We got a little way and dd started to get tired (sooner than I expected) so I started to carry her, then she wanted down again. Up, down, up, down etc. We saw another lady walking too, coming towards us. As the other lady approached a house a few feet in front of us two dogs ran out after her. Then the dogs saw us, and one of them bolted right toward dd and I. These were BIG dogs. The dogs' owner was outside, and I was yelling "GET YOUR DOG AWAY FROM MY CHILD" repeatedly. I picked up Abby and started to move away as fast as I could but the dog still caught up to us before the lady removed her animal. I was so ticked off. The other lady walking saw the whole thing and made the lady catch up to me (after she put her dogs inside) and apologize. The lady had an excuse- just got back from vacation, bringing in the suitcases, dogs got out by accident, but I really didn't care. I am so sick of people letting their dogs run free. We should be able to go for a walk and not have to worry about being chased by dogs. After the owner went home, the walking lady walked with me back to daycare. I had already called my husband before we ran into the dogs to tell him to come back and get Abby and I, but he hadn't gotten us yet. So we went back to daycare, got the book that Abby had forgotten, and waited for my husband there. I apologized to daycare because they were trying to start their weekend (they were eating dinner etc), and they were really nice. They offered us a ride home, but I knew my husband was on his way. I got the name of the dog owner, but honestly I'm not going to do anything. Maybe the other lady who was walking will. She said she keeps a log of dog attacks etc, because she goes walking every day and has to deal with it all the time. It's just so frustrating.

That night Abby had nightmares of course. So no one got much sleep. I felt so bad for her. All we wanted to do was go for a walk. That should be allowed. The dogs were big enough that they could have knocked me down, and were bigger than Abby by a long shot. The owner says they are friendly, but it doesn't matter. Big, jumping, and coming after us.. scary.

It's summer now, and we live in a neighborhood with lots of summer-only residents. Summer means increased vehicle traffic on our street, and an increase in dogs in the neighborhood. I am starting to think we won't be able to go for walks in our own neighborhood until summer is over. It's too bad we can't go for a walk in daycare's neighborhood either.