Change of rountine and attacked

Changed my routine. The past 8 months I have been running has been mostly in the mornings. It gets so hot and humid here during the summer I have to get it done at 5:00AM. Where I live is what most folks would call the "country". A few houses every mile, but mostly beans, corn,cotton, or cattle.

This was my easy day so I went about 3.5 miles which gives me 16 miles this week. Going down along side one bean field about a dozen quail were stirred up just 10 feet from me. Shortly after that a couple of ducks flew overhead. I get to enjoy the sites much more when I run during daylight. If I got home at a decent time, I would run then, but I usually get home at dark and am very tired,

Went down a different route today. Got the usual dogs riled up at me as I went by. They usually are mostly bark and no bite. However on my way back home, a different dog than before bolted from his house and by the way he was barking I could tell I was in trouble(some of you may know what I mean). It was a mangy looking dog, but had a collar that was more of a harness that looked like someone was training him for military activity.

He got right at my heels at took a bite of my shoe, just the bottom of the treads. He tried again and missed....then ran back to his yard and sat. I was just about .5miles from home and on the rest of my run I contiplated if I would use my shotgun or high powered rifle after I got home and unlocked the gun cabinet. Well, cooler heads prevailed and I got over it. I am considering getting one of those bottles of pepper spray that is small enough to fit in my hand. This really pissed me off.