DONIPHAN, Neb. — It was an unseasonably warm Sunday for November — a nice day for a run.
Not that it needed to be nice.
Jeanine Lackey of Doniphan was an all-season exerciser. She would typically go out five or six times a week for either a five-mile run or a three-mile walk.
On Nov. 6, she padded off into the gravel along Buffalo Road. The scenery there is nice — open cornfields, blue sky — and there's less traffic than the paved roads nearby.
As she jogged, a yellow Lab got up to bark her usual hello and give Lackey a friendly tail wave. She passed the country home of a county sheriff's deputy.
Then she slowed. The next house had a group of dogs. They always ran out onto the road and barked at Lackey, so she always walked at that point, not wanting to stir them up.
She heard the dogs bark, so she moved to the other side of the road, with her little black mutt leashed close at her side.
The pack darted out — two pit bulls, a pit bull puppy, a Chihuahua, a basset hound and a blue heeler mix that stayed back off the road.
Lackey focused on the road and gathered her own dog's leash a little tighter.
The large brown pit bull didn't back away this time. He came right at Lackey.
He turned only enough to get behind her and lunged, sinking his teeth into Lackey's upper left thigh.
Now she was scared. She screamed.
The dog let go, seemingly unable to get a good grip on her slick running pants. She gathered up her own dog and walked backward as she continued to yell at the dog.
"I thought it was going to come at me again," she said.
She made her way to the deputy's house. He called animal control.
Animal control Lead Officer Libbie Dethloff of the Central Nebraska Humane Society said, in this case, "there was nothing the victim could have done differently."
The dog owner told officers she had let 2-year-old Bud out to relieve himself. She said the dog had never bitten anyone in the family and gets along with the family's other animals, including cats and cows.
Central Nebraska Humane Society Executive Director Laurie Dethloff said many owners of dogs that bite report that it has never happened before. But a dog on its own and a dog running in a pack can have very different demeanors, she said.
Also, males such as Bud that have not been neutered tend to be more aggressive, she said.
Walking with your own dog can attract other dogs, too, Laurie Dethloff said, as can running or moving fast, such as being on a bicycle or skateboard.
That said, all people have a right to walk, jog, ride bikes or walk their own pets without fear of being attacked, she said.
Libbie Dethloff said dog owners need to understand that dogs are pets that need to be taken care of. They aren't security devices.
"If you need protection for your home or farm or equipment, get a security system," Libbie Dethloff said. "If you have a dog that you let run, what you have is a liability."
Lackey took herself to the emergency room after the incident. She was given a tetanus shot and multiple days of antibiotics. She had a recheck after two weeks, when bruising from the four-puncture bite was still about 8 to 10 inches long. She missed a day of work, has trouble sitting in her car to drive and still can't sleep on her left side.
Bud was deemed dangerous, meaning that he must be muzzled when off his property. When he's at home he must be inside the house or inside an outdoor kennel that is escape-proof, with a concrete floor and a wire top.
Libbie Dethloff said the best thing that people can do to protect themselves is to get pepper spray.
"Pepper spray will break up a dog fight," she said. "You shouldn't spray a dog that's barking at you on the other side of a fence, but if you fear for your life, I would recommend it."
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