I was almost kidnapped by a human trafficker using a puppy

This happened in January 2018 when I was 21 years old. I live on a farm in the country and we have a few horses. My family owns a few horses each, so there are about 6-7 in all. I am an experienced rider and love riders and dogs. I have a few horses of my own and a dog and I love to walk and ride them. I was never afraid of anything. After what happened, I was terrified and anxious. I never felt safe anymore and I cut my hair and dyed it. I was afraid to go out in public. I didn't go out for a few months even if it was just to go grocery shopping. Then I got a concealed weapons permit.<br><br>I was riding my mare down a road. I was by myself but my mom was in a pasture that you could still see the road from. I was riding near a house and I saw a man standing in a driveway. There is a sidewalk but he wasn't on it. I was in the street. He was standing in the road. He was petting a little puppy. He looked at me and said, "Look. A little puppy. Do you want to pet him?"<br><br>I said, "Yes." I stopped my horse. He had a German shepherd on a leash. It was biting its own tail. My dog does that too. He said, "I found this puppy in the field over there. And I have to take care of my big dog first but this puppy is so cute. Would you like to hold him?"<br><br>I said, "Yes." I got off my horse and walked up to him. He gave me the puppy and I was petting it. He smiled and laughed and said, "You want to go inside and hold him?" I didn't want to go in his house. I said, "No. I don't want to take up so much of your time." I gave him back the puppy. "You're so cute. How old is he?" And he smiled and said, "You want to know how old he is? You want to know how old my dog is? You want to pet my dog?"<br><br>And I said, "Yes." He told me the ages and I petted the dog and then I petted the big dog too. I said, "Thank you." And I started to walk towards my horse. And he said, "I'll walk with you." I said, "No, it's fine." And he said, "No, it's fine. I'll walk with you." I didn't want him to walk with me. I just wanted to ride my horse and go. I felt uncomfortable. He started walking towards me.<br><br>I started walking away and I said, "I have to go." I walked a little faster. He started to run towards me. I started to run. I heard him yelling and saying, "You're not going anywhere! You're going to come with me!" I lifted up my dress that had pockets and pulled out my pepper spray out of my pocket. I turned around and sprayed it in his face. I heard a big yell and then I turned around and started to run towards my horse. I got on and rode away as fast as I could.<br><br>My mom saw me riding towards her and she said, "What's wrong?" I told her what happened and she said, "We need to tell the police. I need to call the police." So I rode to our house and we called 911. The police came and my mom said that it smelled like pepper spray outside. I guess some of it got on my boots and I tracked some into the house without realizing it.<br><br>The police came and they took my report. I told them everything and they said it sounded like a human trafficker. They said human traffickers often use dogs (and sometimes children) to get their victims to come to them. I didn't know that and now I do. The cops went to his house and talked to him. They said he was acting really shady and they talked to him for a while but they couldn't do anything because he didn't actually do anything. They told me that they would never forget my name and face and if they ever got a similar report from anyone else in the area, they would come to my house and tell me and I could identify the man.<br><br>The police told my mom that I saved my own life. They said if I hadn't used the pepper spray, I would have been kidnapped. They said I probably wouldn't be alive today.<br><br>After that, I was afraid of everything. But I'm not as afraid as I used to be. I still carry pepper spray with me. I just moved to a big city to go to school and I carried pepper spray with me as I was walking in the dark. My mom walks our dog at night with pepper spray. My dad carries a gun with him.<br><br>I don't trust strangers anymore and I don't talk to strangers anymore. If a stranger talks to me, I just ignore them and keep walking.<br><br>I'm just glad I'm safe and alive and I will always carry something to protect myself.