Have you ever been tackled or taken down by a dog?

What caused the dog to do it, and how did you react?

We got our white German Shepherd, Dakota, when she was about two. We got her from a guy who just wanted to get rid of her because she was useless.

We owned the mower shop at the time, and there was a long, grassy strip across the side street that ran by the shop. It was owned by the railroad. So there were tracks, and then about 40 feet of nothing but grass on either side of the tracks.
I used to take Dakota over there to run and play and get some exercise.

We’d had her about two weeks, and she’d gotten to know and trust us. I took her over to play. She ran about 15 yards from me after a ball I’d thrown, and turned around to bring it back. Suddenly she dropped the ball, her head went up, her eyes glistened like “WOW!” and with a big grin on her face she started running at me. She was cool to watch when she ran. She was like a powerful, flowing ghost.

So this powerful, flowing ghost is racing toward me at about 90 miles an hour. I just stood rooted to the spot, my eyes getting bigger and bigger and bigger because she wasn’t slowing down and she wasn’t changing direction! She was charging straight at me with NO hesitation at all!

Suddenly she LEAPED into the air and planted all four paws, which she’d made into one big hammer, square in the middle of my chest! Knocked me on my ass!

So, I’m laying there, flat on my back, the wind knocked out of me, staring at the sky in shock when Dakota came and stood over me, panting hot breath in my face, just laughing and laughing!
I’m like, “Why the hell did you do that, dipshit??”
She just said, “I’m an attack dog! That’s what I’m trained to do! I did a good job, didn’t I! Wasn’t it FUN!?”
I’m like, “No you maroon! It was not fun, and don’t do it again!”
Her tail dropped, her head dropped and she laid down and put her head on my shoulder and softly said, “I’m sorry.”
She was so sad.
It’s a good thing this was all through telepathy because I still couldn’t talk.

I finally sat up, and she sat in front of me with her head down.
Using my words, and holding her face in my hands, my nose almost touching hers, I said, “I’m not mad. Just don’t do it again. No.”

And she never did.