Although there are a lot of hazards in real estate there is one that agents sometimes forget about until it is too late -a vicious dog. 

I and a fellow agent had quite a scare this weekend while showing property. We walked up to a house where an agent said they would be putting a lockbox on right before we were to arrive. As we walked up to the front door we saw there was no lockbox. The client and I stayed in the front yard and Amanda, my partner/agent, went to the fenced back yard to make sure the lockbox had not been placed on the back door. 

Before Amanda walked in the fence she made a lot of noise, rattled the fence and called out to make sure there was not a dog. When she felt pretty safe there was no dog, she opened the fence, went inside and walked to the back door. Nope, no lockbox to be found. She turned around and found herself eye to eye with a very large dog (a boxer) standing between her and the gate. She froze because the dog was in attack posture. She started trying to softly call out to us but was afraid to make too much noise - we did not hear her. 

In the meantime the listing agent arrives and opens the door.  We entered the house and realized Amanda was taking too long. We walked to the back door to look for her. There she was, frozen in the yard, face to face with a vicious dog!  The listing agent ran out and grabbed the dog by the collar. About the time she had her hands on him, he lunged forward and jumped toward Amanda, snapping his jaws right at her throat! The client and I yelled for Amanda to run toward the house as the listing agent was holding the dog. She made it inside, no harm done, but it scared all of us half to death. 

Now, this was a dog the listing agent was trying to tell us was "friendly and sweet". No owner can say a dog will not attack given the right circumstances. This dog saw an "intruder" and was protecting his turf. 

We had a huge scare and a lesson well learned. If unsure, I think I or others that are with me will stay out of fenced yards. Thank goodness Amanda knew to freeze and not move until we found her and I'm so thankful we found her in time.