Another nightmare. Many of you may know that I got my father a dog a few months back. I call myself his godmother. Anyhow, he's an 8 month old Shiba Inu, a very difficult breed to tame.

Anyhow, when I got him I was warned that he's not an offlleash dog. He's a hunter and when they walk, they tune everything out around them. They're single-minded. So, I had been warned that if he ever got away, that's it. No way you could catch him. They're about 25 pounds and look so much like a fox or cayote, that animal control caught one once and turned him out into the wild. People see me walking this dog, and they cross over on the other side of the street. They're known to be aggressive and fighters. Think Pit Bull.

So, today I was walking him. My father had mentioned that the leash had come off in the backyard, so I'd stopped by the store and purchased another leash, just in case this one was defective. I remember thinking at the time how strange that we'd had problems with three leashes, all suddenly coming away. Of course, I'd considered that my father had put it on incorrectly.

Today, I found out the truth the hard way.

The dog and I are walking down the street. It's a beautiful sunny day--cold, but not nearly as cold as it had been a few weeks ago. Suddenly, she started walking away. Just like that. It took me a few minutes to realize that the leash had just slipped away from the collar. I'd checked it three times before leaving, but now my worst nightmare was happening. She was lose. A lose Shiba Inu. And the first thing I pictured was her getting hit by a car and my father literally breaking down. He loves that dog.

So, I called her, and she took off. Shiba's are known as one of the faster breeds, capable of leaping over a 4 foot fence from a sitting postion. She ran out into the street, across yards, effortlessly leaping over snow hills and not looking back.

Meanwhile, I'm calling, begging her to come back. My father lives in a residential neighborhood, but I saw a car barreling down, the dog running out in to the street. I moved quickly, running into the same street, waving my hands, and the car stopped, the dog running happily into a backyard. On I chased, up this street, down the next. It occurred to me that he was on his way to a busy boulevard. If he made it, that's it. Cars go 50 miles an hour there on a bad day.

So, I turned back. Here's another little background on the Shiba Inu breed. They look like foxes and act like cat, so you may have guessed, she was not up to following me. On she went, on I went. Then I stopped, standing still as another car junted towards her. Again I waved my hands. Again the car stopped and the dog darted across, heading back towards me, only on the other side of the street.

The chase went on, me running, knowing that I, a 54 year old out of shape woman had no chance of catching an 8 month old pup who was capable of running with greyhounds.

Still, I kept going. I jangled my keys, threw my glove, all in the hopes of catching him. He'd let me get close, then dart out into the streets and away. It once took one hour for my father to catch him, and that was in a fenced yard. I was horrifyed.

The chase went on, up and down the streets, up and down porches and into peoples yard, me screaming, begging her to come back.

Only thing was, I was chasing a 5000 year old breed that is partly wild. No Shiba comes to you everytime and this one was having fun.

Now, I'm despearate. I saw her running down the streets, again heading to the boulevard. I knew there was no chance of stopping her now.

So I'm standing in the streets, desperate, afraid. And I did something I've never done.

I stood in the middle of the street and called on God.

I binded satan.

I said in a loud voice, I bind you satan in the name of Jesus. You have no power over my dog. You will lose her now.

And the dog did something no Shiba is likely to do. He stopped running and stood on the sidewalk. I walked up and picked him up.

But my horror was not over. It's a puppy, not used to being handled like this. So I'm walking and he's trying to bite me. And I started praying because we had 3 blocks to walk and my back was hurting, and I didn't know how I was going to make it.

Ten minutes later we arrived home. The adventure of a lifetime for her, but thank God. Alls well.