Ivan Lendl's Dogs "Were Fucking Nuts": A Reader's Story

Yesterday, we brought you the story of how Ivan Lendl's German Shepherd, Cajun, gnawed on a man's leg and grew aroused. Today, we bring you the story of Ivan Lendl's pack of German Shepherds, lost in a blood frenzy, hunting and menacing a group of eight-year-old children on a school playground. We thank reader Dan L. for his less-than-fond memories:

I grew up on the campus of a private school that my parents ran in Greenwich, Connecticut, from 1980-1990, Lendl's prime. Ivan Lendl's property abutted the school and my bus stop was right in front of his house at 14 Rock Ridge Rd....

In a neighborhood of big homes with guard dogs, Lendl's dogs stood out for being the biggest and baddest. They'd prowl the edge of the property that ran alongside the school's playground, barking and growling from behind a 10-foot fence topped with barbed wire.

While the dogs were very impressive-looking, my friends and I never felt too scared with them locked behind such a massive fence. Then, one summer day when I was about eight, we were playing on the playground and saw three of Lendl's dogs running full speed down the hill from his house toward the fence by the playground. They were barking louder than I'd ever heard.

I still don't know what exactly happened, but all three somehow jumped and cleared the fence (they may have broken through…I was pretty young and this was unbelievably scary). All of a sudden, me and two of my friends were face-to-face with three massive, trained German Shepherd guard dogs. We all scattered, with one dog chasing after each of us. I booked it toward the main school building with the dog about 20 feet behind me. I slid into the door about one second before the dog slammed headfirst into the closed door behind me.

My friends managed to escape, too (one climbed into a tree to get away) and the entire campus was on lock-down for about three hours while Lendl's groundskeeper and the police tried to collect the dogs. About two weeks later, the dogs escaped again and forced the campus on lock-down (I wasn't there for this one).

By the way, Lendl was a really great guy to all the neighborhood kids. He'd always roll by the school bus stop in his beautiful import cars and honk and wave. But, man, those dogs were fucking nuts.