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“I hope that’s not coming from this house,” Mila said as a woman my age stepped out the front door. Peggy Meyer, most likely. She was wearing a T-shirt and jogging pants and had an intense look on her face.
“Thank God you’re here,” Peggy shouted frantically, stomping over to us. “They’re in a tree in the backyard. No matter how much I yell at them, they just won’t leave!”
“That’s all right, ma’am,” I responded calmly. “We’ll take care of it.”
She nodded and led us around the house and into a fenced backyard before turning right at the gate. “We gotta get in quick and close the door behind us, so the dogs don’t get out.”
“The dogs?” Mila asked.
So the barkingwascoming from her backyard.
The gate had barely closed behind us when I saw the tree the raccoon family was stuck in—surrounded by five out-of-control pit bulls aggressively barking and bouncing off the tree’s thick trunk. I couldn’t even form my next words as all five of them jerked their heads toward us and, in a flash, launched in our direction. Reflexively, I grabbed Mila’s arm and pushed her against the fence behind me.
“Stop it!” Peggy screamed at them, as one by one, the dogs came to an abrupt halt a few feet away from us and started frantically barking.
“It’s okay,” I said calmly to the dogs as I slowly reached for Mila behind me to cover both of her sides with my arms. “It’s okay,” I said again as the barks of the pack started to die down, and their tails began to wag. They all seemed to be calming, all except the black one, who happened to be the biggest. Its eyes were wide, revealing the white in the back as it continued to growl. “It’s okay, big boy.” But the dog started nipping the air close to my leg.
My body tensed. I wouldn’t have any of this shit close to Mila and risk her getting hurt. I was about to try to grab the dog by its collar to pull him away from her, no matter the risk on my end, when I felt her gently pushing me out of the way. Fearlessly, she positioned herself right in front of the dog.
“No!” Mila scolded the dog, straightening her back to make herself as tall as she could. She repeated the same command a few more times, growing firmer each time.
“I said no!”
Much to my surprise, the dog took a step back.
“No.”
His barks slowly petered out, and his ears drew back as his head lowered. But she wasn’t
done yet. She stepped forward, closing the distance between her and the dog.
“Sit down,” she commanded. The dog looked away. I was watching the scene in utter amazement.
“I said siiit dooown,” she demanded a final time. Confident but calm. And this time, the dog listened. Mila bent down next to it with a smile and carefully moved her hand over his head to pet it.
“Good boy,” she said. The other dogs squeezed in to get some love as well, pushing each other out of the way.
I just stood there, stunned. This woman.Was there any creature on this planet that could resist her?
“I’m so sorry,” Peggy apologized and grabbed the black pit bull by his collar.
“This damn raccoon family has made them go crazy. Even the dogs can’t get them to leave.”
Before I could respond to that, Mila was already on it.
“Mrs. Meyer, let me ask you something. Would you come down this tree if a group of out-of-control men were swinging knives at the bottom, shouting how much they want to tear you apart?”
Mila’s hand was running down the shining coat of one of the dogs as she raised a brow at Peggy. Rolling her eyes, Peggy grabbed another dog by its collar, one on each side now, and walked toward her house.
“Come here, boys!” she said as she stumbled into the house and held the door open for her dogs. She had to repeat it a few more times, but one by one, the dogs disappeared, and so did Peggy.
Mila rose back to her feet and looked at me. I couldn’t wipe the stare of admiration off my face.
“Let’s get this poor family out of here. They’ve been through enough.”
I nodded, like a preschool kid taking instruction from his teacher.
“Why don’t you go grab that ladder from your truck while I carry the cage to the tree and wait for you there?”
