To bite or not to bite

Dogs love me. At least, I seem to draw much attention in the dog department. And I am being literal. I was on retreat a couple of weeks ago. At night, I would hear the dog guards be let out and they would run past my window howling, intent on chasing something out of the yard. We were strictly told not to leave the building while the dogs were on guard. Okay, note taken. When would the dogs be put away? At 6 a.m. Oooo, perfect, I thought.
On the last morning of the retreat, I got up at 6 a.m. and got ready for a morning run. I left the building at 6:15, thinking that I would surely be on the safe side - that the main door would be unlocked and the dogs would be in their kennel. I left the building, trying to be as quiet as possible so as to not bother other guests. I even left the outside door open a crack so that there would not be noise echoing down the hallway. This would turn out to be a saving grace. Why? Oh, that would be because I was making a hasty retreat about a minute later. I rounded the corner of the building only to be met with the growls, followed by the howls of three German Shepherds on the attack. It took about two seconds for me to register that the dogs had not yet been put away and that I should run back to the entrance of the building because the gate would also still be locked. That two second delay was unfortunate. It allowed them to catch up to me and get a couple of quick bites in. Those dogs meant business. I did have time to let loose a terrified scream or two, which woke up almost everyone at the retreat center. So much for my earlier good intentions! [The picture shows where a tooth broke the skin on my leg (red puncture mark) and generally where the jaws came down.] One of the religious sisters who lives on the property came running out and wanted to know if I had been bitten. Uh, yeeeah! And she was quick to apologize and to assure me that the dogs had all their vacuna, or rabies vaccination. Whew, praise God - I wouldn't have to go through 7 weeks of shots again. My question for her was, why on earth weren't the dogs put away?!?! I later found out that their keeper had 'slept in' that morning. Just my luck. I didn't blame the dogs - they were just doing their job. If the dogs weren't there, the retreat center would probably get robbed. (A reality of nicer properties in Bolivia.) I wasn't too happy with the nun who slept in, either, but what was done, was done. I got cleaned up and decided I was too energized to just sit around, so I went on my run, determined not to let the dogs get the best of me. After all, I have to deal with them all the time, at work (on house visits) and at home (my neighborhood is full of dogs who like to fight - my parents liked to say that there were "dog wars" every evening). I have yet one more scar -ahem- memory of my time here. I wonder what sort of advice Cesar Millan (the dog whisperer) would have for me. It's hard to be a pack leader around here!