A scary encounter

Tucker and I had a bit of a scary experience last night.  I took him out to potty late last night and we walked out onto the main road near our home.  I noticed some noise across the street and then saw a dog dart in and out of the bushes in someone's yard.  He was clearly alone and I was immediately worried for him because it was night and so cold, so I made a noise to see if I could get his attention.  However, I hadn't expected not one but two pitbulls to come running across the street toward us.  (From afar I simply thought he looked a little like my brother's small-ish mutt, apparently not). 

Tucker's first reaction was interest and excitement, because frankly he loves encountering and playing with dogs.  The two dogs starting growling at little Tucker and I immediately decided this was not a good situation and snatched him up in my arms.  They continued to growl and circle around us, so I turned toward home and began walking while holding Tucker close.  The dogs proceeded to follow us, which took me from cautiously nervous to starting to panic a little.  Being the playful little guy he is, Tuck was whining and squirming because he wanted to get down and see the dogs.  They were still following us as we turned into our condo complex.  Luckily they seemed to get distracted and turn around.  When I thought they had left our sight I put Tucker down and we sprinted toward our condo.  Apparently they heard us though because when I turned around they were running after us!  Pretty scary.  We made it up the stairs and to the door just fine though, however, I still heard them wandering around in the bushes below us.

I try really hard not to judge aggressive breed dogs by their reputation.  But in this instance - being alone with my small dog late at night with no one else around - I think my fear was justified.  Would they have hurt Tucker or I?  I have no idea.  Probably not, but I wasn't willing to take that risk.  Regardless, those dogs should not have been out at night by themselves, oh and by the way, with no collars and tags!  Unfortunately for a while now I'm sure I'll be fairly on edge every time I take Tucker out at night (well, anytime really).  I'm just thankful that this situation ended okay.