Soon after I moved to Poland in 2002 I had what must be described as one of the most unusual experiences of my life. So I am going to lay it out for you and see what you think.

It was a mild late spring evening and the sun was bright in the sky and I was on the way to meet some friends. I was walking along with my mp3 and earphones listening to some music and minding my own business when I approached a small field, not far from where my final destination was. I have just screenshot the view from Google Maps, but back then there were no cars parked there.

I noticed a man walking with two dogs, one was a long haired German Shepherd / Alsatian and the other a similar breed with short hair. To be honest I have never really known then difference between a German Shepherd and an Alsatian or even if there is one. I thought nothing of it.

Then suddenly the long haired one came bounding over to me and again I wasn't too worried having been brought up around dogs. As it approached it launched itself at my face, teeth first, and I instinctively lifted my arm to defend myself. Its teeth sunk into my elbow but it didn't get a proper grip and its teeth scraped down my arm and shredded my jacket on the way. Its momentum knocked me to the ground and it landed somewhere beside me. I rolled over and started to get up just as it turned towards me to have another go. The second dog, by now, was also running towards me and for the briefest of moments I really thought "S**t! I am in trouble". Dogs are pack animals and where one goes, others follow.

Fortunately, the owner got between them and to all intents and purposes the incident was over. He asked me if I was ok and I responded with a rather sharp "no" and he apologised and went off with his dogs in the opposite direction as I carried on with where I was going.

When I got there I remember saying to my friends, "I have just been bitten by a dog". One of the laughed, which I found inappropriate to say the least. Just by coincidence one of my other friends happened to be a policeman and he had just come off duty and was still in his uniform. The relevance of this will become clear in a moment. I took my jacket off and saw that I had a puncture wound on my elbow that was bleeding a bit and that I had a few scrape marks running down my forearm which were little more than superficial scratches.

Soon - it must have been about five minutes later - the dog owner turned up at the door and fortunately he was without his dogs. I have to give him a lot of credit here, as he could have just disappeared. Rather, he took responsibility and wanted to double check that I was ok. We invited him in and I think he was worried that I would demand his dog be put down and he asked me what I needed. My friend, the still uniformed off-duty policeman was talking to him a lot although the dog owner didn't know that. His presence almost certainly had an impact on him.

I am not unreasonable and, having been brought up with dogs, I wouldn't expect such an outcome. It was possible that I startled the dogs as I had appeared around a blind corner and in fairness while initially caught by surprise the owner's reactions were quick and had prevented any real harm coming to me. He deserves a lot of credit for that. 

So, with this in mind, I simply said I needed money for my jacket to be replaced, it had been a present from my brother and I had literally only warn it a handful of times. Additionally, if medical treatment was required he would have to cover any costs. He readily agreed and so we went in the policeman's (civilian) car to a nearby clinic. His wife, a nurse (who had suggested that I get checked out in the first place) came with us as she could speak reasonable English. In fact she had acted as the main go-between for us. The visit was free, with it being on the national health service, and I was soon seen. The doctor recommended that I have an injection - "just in case" and so we then all went to a pharmacy and the dog owner was good-to-his-word and paid for it.

As it turned out it was an injection that needed to be administered - not in the arm - enough said!

It was obvious that the policeman's wife would do it and obviously in some privacy and so we went back to their home to do it.

But just before that, and this is where it gets weird, the dog owner paused and asked if he could give me something. I nodded, what else could I do. He then - and I am not joking - gave me a photograph of the two dogs as a memento. I still have it somewhere, but I honestly can't tell you where. The header image was AI created just to give an impression. I didn't think anything about it at the time and rather dumbly said "Thank you", but later on I equated it to a mafiosi giving me a bullet!

So, we went to my friends' house and I had my injection, which was less embarrassing than I thought it would be, and then I went home.

Finally, when I told my brother what happened, he said that he would get me a new jacket so long as he gave me the damaged one. He said he could wear it while pottering around in the garden. And this is what he did. So I pocketed the money the dog owner had given me to replace my jacket with - call it compensation if you like.

I wouldn't recommend doing this for a living though - lol

And there we have it. As always stay safe and well my friends.