I have no doubt that every parent is willing to sacrifice their life for their child. A father or mother will always rush to save his or her child, even if they are in danger. But to have a complete stranger put himself in harm’s way for my child… There are no words to describe how I felt and how I felt when the whole story was retold to me.
My husband and I have had an older woman working for us since Robert was born. We hired her through the firm because she had a lot of experience and had raised quite a few kids. We just needed someone responsible who knew how to take care of a small child, because I was not good at it. So at first the woman helped me more, and then we started leaving Robert to her. I was working, so was my husband, and we only found out at the end of the day how our baby was eating and behaving.
When he was two years old, one spring afternoon the nanny took him for a walk in the park. It was early in the morning, many people were walking to work and witnessed one of the dogs without a leash and muzzle walking nearby. Her owner refused to put anything on, proving the dog was harmless, but when our toddler tried to wave at her, she took it as a threat and lunged at the toddler.
If I had been there at the time, I don’t know if I would have reacted, but our sixty-year-old babysitter pulled the baby aside before anything horrible could happen, and the dog attacked her for it. Eyewitnesses say the dog tore at the woman’s clothes, and the owner just stood back, in shock. Fortunately, some brave people dragged the dog away and called the police, while the nanny was lying on the ground, covering our son.
Fortunately, no one was really hurt. Our little boy scratched his palms off, and the babysitter got bruises, just by some miracle not getting crushed by the huge dog’s teeth.
After that incident, she is more than just an employee to us. She is a full-fledged member of the family, whom my son affectionately calls Grandma, despite the fact that they are not related. This woman had more courage than anyone in the park, and this story proves once again that all dog owners have a duty of care to other visitors to parks and recreational facilities, even if they are convinced that their dog is the whitest, fluffiest dog in the world.
