Top Dawg

You just never know when this martial arts stuff is going to come in handy. The other day I was in my neighbor's front yard, letting their toddler pet my big 60 lb. Australian Shepherd, Raleigh. Raleigh is so peaceful & laid back that his nickname is the Raleigh Lama.

Well, their little yap-yap-rat-dog was tied up about 20 feet away & yapping loudly at us non-stop, like a recording on a loop designed to make us confess to some heinous crime. This is standard behavior for the tiny furball, but this time it was really bugging Raleigh. He started to growl. I was telling the little girl it was time for us to go when the Raleigh Lama suddenly turned into Cujo and the shit hit the fan.

He lunged & went for that little dog so fast I'm not sure it would show up on film. I flew after him & dragged him back, he fought me (the little bastard), & managed to get away, jumped on the little dog again, with the neighbor lady screaming her head off & trying to grab her little dog while I wrestled with Raleigh. Now, in the past couple of years I've been around 2 other dog fights. One where a big dog escaped his leash & attacked Raleigh (who promptly kicked his ass), and the 2nd was two neighbor dogs. Both times I was scared & tried yelling or kicking the dogs to make them stop. Useless. This time I didn't hesitate to jump right on him, & the 2nd time I had Raleigh I quickly mounted him, got him in a rear naked choke, & sank my weight down on him to pin him. When he couldn't get away he started barking at the other dog, really mean dog-swear-words, so I clamped my hand hard around his snout to shut him up. He fought a little bit, wiggling his head, but then just gave up.

The other dog wasn't even hurt, Raleigh was just trying to make a point. But it was while I was reviewing the event for Jackie that I realized how krav & BJJ training has paid off for me! I didn't even think, I just reacted & went straight to what my instructors have had me do in class over & over again. In practice I often have limited (cough) success, but when I needed it, it was there. Yay!

Congratulations to the Gentleman for finishing his Phase B Apprentice Test! You are amazing & I'm extremely proud of you!