A White (phantom?) Dog

I'm not 100% sure about this. There are signs that point towards the explanation of it being just a stray, or someone's outdoor dog. But the proof of it being something much, much more than that outweighs the "reasonable" explanation most people would stick with. And it scares me. I almost don't want it to be true, but at the same time. I just don't know. I'll start off simple.

My name is Jess. I will not mention my age, because far too many people judge things based on how long others have been in this life instead of ignoring that and focusing on the problem at hand. I am an agender empath living in Wisconsin. Recently, I have started going to the woods behind a park near my apartment complex. The woods are thin and long, at least, the area I go into is. It's split in half by a bike trail, and then sandwiched by houses. The woods are considered wetlands, and the part I go to is no man's land. It's public property, basically.

Way, way before I even went there regularly, in a different part of the woods- near someone's property- I saw a white dog. No collar, no owner in sight. It was running back towards where I assume the house is, barking occasionally. I attempted to follow it, but there was a small river with mud all around, and dozens of furious mosquitoes, so I gave up on the chase.

Now, it was about a year later. About a week or so ago, I saw the same dog again. Picture this: I'm in a part of the woods just behind the park. I'm sitting on a fallen tree, that slopes up, and leaning against another tree. Then I see it. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a flash of white. I turn, and there it is. Pure white, running away from me, tail high and waving. No collar, no human. Barks. I jump and land sprinting, determined to follow it. It's fast, faster than I've seen it run before. Every time I think I've lost it, it reappears again. I know what you're thinking- "Why the heck would you follow a stray dog?! It could turn and attack you!" But, like I mentioned before, I am an empath. And its energy wasn't intimidating. Dangerous. It was not unlike the feeling you get when you're around good friends or family.

I broke out of my part of the woods, and into the other part that I mentioned earlier. I see the dog disappear into that part, and I follow suit. My heart is pounding so hard in my chest it hurts; adrenaline is pumping through my body. "I'm not losing you this time," I think. I jump over the dip in the ground where the stream used to be... And watched in disbelief as the dog ducks and runs through a tiny tunnel through a thick wall of brambles and bushes. In vain, I attempted to crawl through, but it's no use. My long hair and clothes kept getting snagged by thorns, and the cold air was freezing my fingers, making them curl up. I gave up once again.

Nothing "out of the ordinary" has happened yet, right?

The next day I went to the woods again. It's part of my daily routine now. I was leaning up against the fallen tree, looking up something on my phone, and the next thing I know I see a flash of white in the corner of my vision. I drop the phone- literally drop it- and take off running. "I'm not losing you this time!" It had rained recently, and the dog was leading me to the part of the woods where the ground lowered. I assumed it was flooded. Not 10 seconds into the chase, I lost the dog somehow. It was right in front of me, and it suddenly disappeared. I was at the edge of the flooded swamp. Off to my right, the bike path. Off to my left, a small field and then houses. Keep in mind that the dog is pure white, and I would have easily seen it had it run off in a direction. I was literally two seconds behind it, not even.

It wasn't anywhere. And the water was silent and still. If the dog had gone off to the right or left, or somewhere in between, I would have seen it. I WOULD have. It was impossible not to. Had it gone into the water, where it usually heads. I would see and hear splashing.

Every time the dog appears, it's near me. It doesn't matter where I am. It has no collar or person near it, yet it's fur is brushed and pure white. Had it been missing or a stray, you'd expect its fur to be even slightly dirtier. You'd expect it to be thinner. And every time it appears, it runs from me, and it almost feels like it's trying to lead me somewhere? I don't want to jump to conclusions, but I swear it feels like that's what it's doing. What happened that day, when the dog disappeared, scared me half to death.

I need answers. I've been looking everywhere, and I can't explain this. It's scaring me, and I feel like I'm going crazy. I want to know what's happening, I NEED to know. The dog doesn't seem dangerous, and it doesn't seem normal. Please, if anyone knows what's going on, please, please tell me.