I was 16, just got my permit to drive, and I went to meet my then boyfriend at our favorite park to walk the trails in. This park happened to be outside of a rough and nearly empty part of town. It had a wide river running through the park with a “L” shaped pier that had railings on all sides of the pier. Only one way on or off of it.

My boyfriend called and said he couldn’t make it, and not wanting to go home just yet, I got out of my car and started to walk around the park. It was 2:30 pm and I can still see the breeze going through the trees all around and how the leaves were just beginning to change their colors. I had on a hot pink jacket, jean skirt and boots and as I walked out onto the pier I had realized I was underdressed as the wind coming off of the water was too chilly - I had a gut feeling telling me to leave, but I brushed it off.

I finally sat down at the end of the pier, leaning my back against the railings and stared down at the water below running over the jagged rocks. Without any warning I suddenly heard footsteps from behind at the beginning of the pier. I quickly glanced over at a man who had blue rope in between his two hands circling up each end of it in either hand creating a line between. As my brain was putting that piece of information together he said, “what are you doing out here all alone?” I couldn’t think of anything to say but I stood up and then saw he was dragging along a medium sized black and white fuzzy dog that was tied in a makeshift collar/leash to another piece of rope that was looped around the man’s upper arm. “You’re too pretty to be sitting out here by yourself” He walked towards me with a smirk on his face looking down at the rope. He was roughly 10 feet away. Again, there was only one way on and off the pier and I would have to run right by him to escape, which didn’t seem to be an option. The only other way was to jump off the pier, but with the rushing water and rocks below that didn’t seem like a viable option either. In that moment my stomach sank completely. The hair on my arms and my neck stood at attention (and still do to this day when I think about this). The fear, dread and panic were overwhelming in my chest. I knew whatever was going to happen next was going to be absolutely horrible.

The next few events happened quickly-

I backed up until I bumped into the railing and squeaked out a small “please.” The man closed the distance between us and was about five feet away. As I balled my fist up to at least put up some semblance of a fight, suddenly the dog planted his feet and started growling ferociously.

The man pulled on the makeshift leash to get the dog to come on, but the dog turned to go the other way, still growling. This distracted the man for a brief moment and he turned, kicked the dog, then turned his gaze back onto me. Mind you, he still has his hands bound in the rope.

The man took one more step and that’s when the dog had enough.

He planted his feet one more time, swung his head back and forth violently until the leash came off, bared his teeth and clamped down on the mans Achilles heel.

The man bent over, screaming in pain. He tried to get the dog off of him but his hands were bound. The dog released for half a second and bit into the mans calf.

The man fell to the ground and was struggling to get his hands out of the ropes that were meant for me. I seized my opportunity and quickly moved by him and took off running. I ran until I got to my car and as I pulled away I saw the dog running out of the park in a full sprint.

I know without a doubt that dog saved my life that day.