2021- I purchased land, built a house and moved in during the Summer of 2022.

January 2023 – My Great Pyrenees, Oliver, is 2 years old. He is my shadow.

My youngest child is now 16, almost 17 years old. 

She takes our small house dog outside to do his business. The sun has just gone down and dark is approaching.

While she’s outside, standing near the sitting pond, she calls for Oliver and he comes running around from the back of the house to where she and the little dog are standing. But he doesn’t stop. I’m inside with my infant grandson when I hear my daughter’s screams. My first thought is COYOTES!

I rush to the front door to see Oliver has latched onto her arm. I bolt out the door towards them and midway he releases her arm, but immediately bites back down on it again.

I reach them and start beating on him. He releases her and she is screaming bloody murder. She has on a sweatshirt and I see the blood start seeping through the shirt and running down out of the sleeve. I don’t know how bad it is, but I know it’s bad.

He backs away and circles around near the storm cellar then to the left of the property, just behind the Pallet Garden, out of my sight.

By this time, my middle child (19) is running out to us. I tell her to call 911 and get back to the house right now. Oliver is still out on the property and it’s near dark. 

She runs back inside and grabs her phone. I am helping my 16 year old get back to the house. We are about halfway there when my 19 year old comes back out onto the porch.

I’m scanning the property while helping my daughter stay on her feet. And I see Oliver, coming from around the back side of The Chicken Coop, headed around the left side of the property again. He’s pacing and sort of stalking us. My heart drops when he makes a beeline towards us.

I know there isn’t enough time to make it to the porch with my daughter. 

We are almost to the steps leading up to the porch when he’s too close for us to make it.

He’s about to lunge when I do what I know I’m not supposed to do. I step to the side, in front of my daughter, turning my back towards the dog. As if I’m setting up a screen for a basketball play.

At the same time, I shove her towards the steps and scream for her to get inside….right as his paws connect with my back. 

But I stay on my feet.

I feel his claws in my shoulders and his teeth ripping at my right arm from the back. I look to the left and both my girls are screaming but I cannot hear them. 

This happened all VERY quickly.

But for me, it was very slow motion. My thinking was very deliberate and clear. The sound in my ears, I can only compare to what a wind tunnel would sound like.

I could feel my knees buckling from the brute strength and weight of a 120 pound GP. I am 5’3” and weigh 125-130 pounds.

I consider that Oliver is going to kill me.

I also know that my screaming children are adding to his viciousness. So I remain silent during the entire attack. My 19 year old later tells her older sister that she didn’t think the attack was as bad as it really was, because with each bite, I would only make a grunting sound.

And then it happens, they buckle. I’m on my knees first, then the dog shifts his weight and I’m on all fours, then flat on my stomach against the cold grass. I feel Oliver dig into my side with his claws and flip me over onto my back. 

He is standing over me and leans his head backwards into the air. With my right arm, I throw it across my throat. He comes down with his mouth and rips into my forearm.

I’m being mauled and I know I’m in a lot of trouble.

The sound in my ears is deafening now. Like a roaring engine. My vison is vibrating. My entire body feels like a furnace.

I turn my face to the right and that’s when I see him. The Tall Man.

He’s probably 40ft from me. Then instantly he’s on the ground next to me. The vibration in my body feels as if I’m going to lift up off the ground. I could feel the Tall Man’s energy transferring to me.

The dog releases my forearm and throws his head back again and I know my arm isn’t in any condition to defend against another bite. 

In my mind I hear, “make a fist”.

And as Oliver’s head comes back down again with his snarling mouth wide open, the Tall Man shoves my fist down the dog’s throat. I can feel the ridges scraping across my knuckles.

Oliver stumbles back just enough for a split second opportunity to get out from under him. With all of the vibrating energy that’s been building inside me, I jump up and Oliver cowers down in front of me.

He looks so scared and lost and confused. He’s whimpering and trying to crawl towards me. His white fur is covered in blood and when I yell for him to GET BACK as I’m making it up the steps, he whines and runs away into the woods.

My eyes scan the dark yard looking for the Tall Man and no one is out there. 

Emergency services made it to our house. Dozens of responders and vehicles. I’m not in good shape. They transport us to the local hospital where my daughter receives 13 stitches and I am evaluated then transported to a Trauma Unit in the next state over. 

Back at home, no one can find Oliver, he won’t come out of the woods, until my husband gets there. My husband calls for him and he slowly comes out and up to my husband. Oliver is detained. 

Several days later, I went with Animal Control as they took Oliver to our vet’s office to be euthanized. I wanted to see him through the gate. His eyes were so afraid and he didn’t know what was happening to him.

I told him I was sorry and as I started to cry, he whimpered, put his nose against the gate and closed his eyes. 

I asked for all the tests to be ran with our vet’s office. His head was removed and sent to our State’s Dept of Health for rabies testing. Every test that was ran, was negative. No answers. 

I sustained six *Level 5* (Dunbar Scale) bites. Level 6 being death.

I received 62 stitches in the Trauma Unit. I have radial nerve damage. I’ve undergone one surgery for radial tunnel release, and soon I will be having TTS (tendon transfer surgery) in my right hand in an attempt to regain use of 2 of my fingers.

I have been in Occupational Therapy for a year and a half and have currently regained about 60% usage in my right arm. 

I haven’t seen the Tall Man since that night. But I’m sure he’s not gone far. In fact, I don’t even think he’s a man at all, anymore. I think he is….an extension of me.

***WARNING**

Graphic photos below.