So my Mazda has a coolant leak, my Genesis has a problem with a suspension mount, and my Daytona had no insurance and needed new tags, at the time... Wednesday evening. It was time for me to get ready for work... but with three vehicles down, I decided to walk. Driving to work normally takes me around 10 minutes, but walking to work takes a little over an hour. As I was passing by a small neighborhood with a very narrow street, an unleashed dog started barking and then running towards me. I had my headphones on, listening to music... while I had my hands tucked in the pockets of my hoodie. I looked ahead calmly while avoiding any sort of eye contact with that dog. The dog was fairly decent size, close to that of a pit bull. A cute little lady, possibly in her mid 20's, walked out of her home... this was across the street from where the dog emerged. She then began walking towards my direction. That's when the dog looked at her, then looked at me and began barking at me even more before charging towards me. I continued walking as if nothing was happening. "Come here puppy," the lady yelled. The dog was directly in front of me at this point. It then JUMPED... at my face. I flinched. Continued walking. The lady walked around, then directly behind me. Dog walked behind me as well. I took two more steps... dog bites my left leg. Lady walked to my right at that point. I looked at her and said "biting." She says nothing. I then remembered mumbling "leash your ##### derg." There was silence after that. Silence lasted a long time. I looked at her and asked, "Is this dog yours?" She then says, "Yeah. I'm really sorry." I could feel the blood beginning to fill in my new wound as I continued walking, and that's when I thought to myself: "Okay pretty little lady, dog bites again, I'll defend myself." By this time, luckily, the dog and the lady walked to their home, away from me. My leg was stinging from the bite, and I inspected the wound as soon as I made it to work. Much more blood than I expected. That dog got me good.
This was the first time I've ever experienced a dog that had the courage to actually attack me, so I thought it was a bit amusing. Normally the dogs I encounter become afraid and run away from me... not this one.
Although I don't fear getting bitten, I do fear defending myself. I don't hurt animals, nor do I ever want to, but it kinda sucks that I have to think about
this type of thing while walking. My motorcycle is back legal to ride on the roads, and I'm hoping to get my Mazda fixed tomorrow, so hopefully I don't have to be in that kind of ordeal... ever again.

I'm not sure I'd have been as nonchalant under the circumstances.  I don't ever want to hurt somebody's pet either, but if it's attacking me, I'll make no guarantees.  Also if I did get bit I don't think it'd be to much to insist the owner produce a copy of that dog's rabies vaccination certificate, and perhaps provide some antiseptic while she's at it.  She surely wouldn't want me calling animal control.

This past year I've had a couple encounters with dogs.  Once when walking by a neighbor's house, I noticed he was over by his car with his pit bull.  Perhaps he only planned to be out for a minute, and the dog was not leashed.  Sure enough, the dog began heading down the driveway and across the street towards me.  As it happened the dog was friendly, and merely circled around me a couple times before returning to his owner when called.  But it made me uncomfortable nevertheless.

Also on a couple occasions a dog has pursued me as I rode past on my bicycle.  Once at dusk a moderately large dog charged at me full speed, and he did not seem happy to see me.  In the dwindling light I was not able to clearly see a leash, but lucky for me he was tied up and it yanked him back just before he reached the street.

Fortunately I've only been bitten twice from what I can recall.  Both times were when I was a kid and tried to pet dogs that must not have wanted to be touched.  They were both merely warning bites that didn't break the skin.

@Patrick, I thought about that as well... especially after seeing my wound. Rabies... this is something that I will keep in mind since the effects can be very long lasting, based on what I've read.
Although I do have an idea of which home she might be in, I'm not entirely sure since I'm not familiar with that neighborhood. Even if I could confirm which house she lives in, I don't want to risk seeing that dog again.
I will say that... her voice... when she said "I'm really sorry," was a bit concerning. If her dog truly has rabies, there's a chance that she might've been far too afraid of what my reaction may have been, had she voiced that information to me.
That's one thing I will never understand... if a home owner knows their dog has the tendency to get violent, it should be mandatory that they leash it, in an effort to protect the public from it, while protecting it from the public.
I'll monitor how I'm feeling for the next few months... plenty of exercising as well, etc. Hopefully all is good.

Calling the effects "long lasting" is a bit of an understatement considering almost nobody who develops symptoms survives.  But, the good news is that rabies cases are extremely rare in domestic dogs nowadays.  Looking it up, there are only 60-70 rabid dogs reported in the entire country each year.  That's out of a total of over 89 million dogs in the United States.  Humans are usually infected by wildlife, most commonly bats.  Here are CDC recommendations.  It sounds like ideally the dog should be observed for 10 days to confirm it remains healthy.  I'm sure the owner believes the dog to be healthy currently, as any sane owner would immediately take a pet with symptoms to the vet.  So while rabies is the most scary consequence of a dog bite, obviously keep an eye out for bacterial infections, as those are far more common and can be serious as well.

That's one reason I'm glad I live in the UK. As we're an island, it's a lot easier to protect against things like this. We simply don't have rabies here. That's not to say we don't have dangerous dogs that have attacked people, unfortunately we do, but none of them have rabies.

That's info that I missed... I didn't get to the point of reading that rabies is deadly... probably since during mid read, I got a bit of the heebie jeebies and stopped reading. It's reassuring that rabies cases are extremely rare.
It's Saturday now. My ordeal with that dog was three days ago, and the wound is still stinging.
This was a lesson learn for me... I don't typically go out for walks, but I will always be on high alert anytime I hear a dog barking. I may start saving up
to get a bicycle. Maybe even an electric bicycle... anything that can out run a dog, while saving on gas. lol

 Call animal control and file a complaint ASAP !   She's liable for any and all med bills , present and future . Plus , if you get sick , she's in BIG trouble !!!!

 My dad got bit by a neighbor's dog years ago . The dog was not registered and had no vaccination records . Animal control seized the dog immediately ! 

TBH with how costly medical care without insurance is and how quickly the costs add up, I agree with what Tim said. Especially if you get sick and there issues down the line it will be worth to get this documented.

And she was clearly in the wrong by not leashing her dog in public, I haven't had any run ins with dogs on my walks around my neighborhood but I still go on high alert if I see a unleashed dog approach me in public, or if a leashed dog sees me and starts to bark.

Anyway I believe you can get dog deterrent spray (basically lower concentration pepper spray) if you wish to carry it. Even here in Canada it's legal to carry and stores sell it.

I've taken a few pics of the bite. If I do get sick and determine it is because of the bite, I will find the owner and make them pay, with police involvement.
But how do I go about doing this? This isn't my forte, and this is of course the first time I've ever been in this kind of situation.

 Start by calling animal control in your area . They should be able to point you down the right path .

It is very hard to give recommendations from other part of the world with its own customs. But in  your place I would certainly at least register the fact of the bite by visiting a doctor (until it is very minor). May be will probably contact the police / animal control. Do it *before* any complications may arise. Experience shows that in this situation even nice people turn blind face and will go into 'this is not me, this is not my dog, i do not know this guy' mode...

Doctor of course will look for signs of infection and may of course give useful advice (antibiotics etc...)


 

TBH with how costly medical care without insurance is and how quickly the costs add up, I agree with what Tim said. Especially if you get sick and there issues down the line it will be worth to get this documented.

The NHS here in the UK comes in for a lot of stick, but by God I am glad we have it. From what I've seen (and experienced, when I was taken ill in the US once) of US medical 'care' I couldn't imagine having to live with a system like that 

Oh no, I’m so sorry to hear about this Suzukir122! I hope you had a chance to get medical attention and are on the mend. I like to give everyone the benefit of the doubt as far as rabies shots and other routine pet care goes. However, I know there’s some pet owners out there who are not at all responsible. Might be wise to have this checked out by a doctor to make sure rabies isn’t present and no infections develop. This must have been a terrifying experience.

I admit there are a few types of dogs I’m afraid of. I’ve been bitten once long ago and ever since I’ve very careful and gentle around others’ dogs. I’m sorry to hear that dog attacked you unprovoked. You definitely have leverage to have the owner pay for your medical bills if that’s the case.

Self defense is a complex situation for me too. I want to protect myself from harm, but I also would never want to intentionally injure an animal. It’s a frightening and difficult situation. Wishing you a safe, relaxing, and speedy recovery    Take care dude 

Thanks CEB1993, as well as every one else for your replies. May seem a bit controversial when I say this, but I think I'll be okay. Other than my back pain (which occurred much before the dog encounter/incident) I'm feeling fine. I of course will continue to keep a strong eye on how I'm feeling, but so far I'm doing okay. My energy is back to being about as high as when I was a kid, which is a good thing, despite my back pain. Another story:
A few days ago as I was walking to work again using a different path, I encountered yet another unleashed dog, close to an apartment complex... in between
that particular apartment unit's "privacy" fence... not so private though considering the fencing is incomplete, leaving that dog wide open to the wild.
Not knowing that dog was there, I accidentally made eye contact with it when I looked at that general direction. Again, boiling rage began to set in. Lucky
for me, this dog did nothing. Absolutely nothing... not even a bark. I continued my walk to work, successfully. No dog bite.
It's amazing to me how there are so many dog owners with that same "I don't feel like leashing my dog" mentality. Very risky decision.
On that day it was raining, so I couldn't take my motorcycle. I can't wait to get my Mazda and my Genesis back up and running, so that I no longer have to walk during inclement weather conditions. I'm really thankful that my job is of walking distance, but the pressure of potentially dealing with unleashed dogs is a bit much. Not gonna lie.