No!

No!

One cold night, I was sitting in the break truck with Dawn's leash slammed in the door.  She was not allowed in the truck with the driver or other handler.  Unlike your average house pet with a waggy tail, Dawn would want to attack anyone who was close to me.  Unlike my dog Jake, I could not tell her they were okay.  The only thing she knew was, if you are close to my buddy, I WILL EAT YOU. So she sat outside in the cold bored to death, that is until Fred caught her attention.

Fred was driving the break truck. He wanted to call someone, so he went back to the maintenance shed to make his call.  Dawn did not like Fred, but that was nothing personal, Dawn did not like anyone but me, and I liked it that way. 

I do not know if Fred taunted Dawn on his way back to the truck, thinking he was safe, or if Dawn just got excited about Fred approaching the break truck.  Either way, she was jumping around and barking when the door to the truck popped open.  At first, Dawn was off balance, but then she got her footing and launched her attack upon Fred.  If she bites Fred, it would be the same as if I had accidently shot Fred with my Colt 38 revolver.  

I was out of the truck instantly, but I could not reach Dawn's leash fast enough.  She jumped to attack Fred.  She was attacking Fred's movement, which was his putting his arm up in front of himself to protect his body from the attack. I did the only thing I could do, I issued two verbal commands: NO and OUT.  Out is a release command, even though she had not actually bitten Fred.

Dawn closed her mouth and her nose struck Fred's arm.  When she landed on the ground, she turned her head back to me, confused about my commands.  That gave me enough time to grab her collar and then her leash and I once again had her under control.  That was closer to a court-marshal than I cared to be.  Fred had to go change his underwear! After this incident, I always held Dawn's leash even if it was closed in the door.