I was out wandering around Riverview’s Alafia Scrub Nature Preserve with my 3-year-old German Shepherd, Thor, in April. It was the middle of the afternoon, the sun was shining — but I was alone.
Usually, I’m OK with solo excursions when I have a 90-pound watchdog for company, but my adrenaline spiked about halfway through our walk when a wild dog appeared on the trail about 100 feet away from us.
I didn’t know what to do. Thankfully, Thor was on a leash and went into protective mode, scaring the four-legged creature away. But it got me thinking; was I doing the right thing to protect the two of us? Was there a better way I could have reacted in that situation? What if it had been another one of Florida’s native creatures instead?
