The black and white shih-tzu darted around behind the man who held the leash. The quick acceleration of the 8 to 10 pound dog produced enough power to break the man's grip. The leash went to the ground and the dog was free.
"Jack! Jack!" the man yelled. But Jack did not respond to the man and could not contain his excitement to see a bicyclist coming up the road. The bicyclist was cruising up the incline at around 12 miles an hour. A collision of dog and bicycle tire seemed inevitable.
But at the last second, Jack seemed to realize the bicycle tire could do him some harm and screeched to a halt. The bicyclist had the presence of mind and agility to swerve and lean away to prevent running over Jack's leg with the front tire or from possibly hitting the dog's head with a rotating pedal.
And just like that, the close call was over. The bicyclist continued on his way and Jack's leash was back in the man's hand.
Or maybe I could have just said, "I came close to whacking a pup this morning."
Also, I stopped to pick up a set of keys. No identification or grocery store loyalty card attached. Not sure what to do with them. Maybe one of them is a PO box key or something.
Below freezing at 28F, but high may be 57! That's spring like.