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My dog doesn't react badly towards people. But I still warn kids never to run up to a strange dog, since it's clear their idiotic parents haven't taught them that. I will allow the child to come up to my dog, slowly and calmly, and pet the dog UNDER the chin.
As for other dogs, my dog is going to protect himself when he sees another dog come barrelling towards him.
What would you do if some human came running up to you, screaming loudly? You're just going to stand there and extend your hand for a shake?
This is correct. If my dog truly wanted a fight, he would have broken skin and torn some dogs apart. The last dog that charged at him was a little dog, and as he does when dogs get in his face, he makes himself bigger, puts his paws on top of them, and mouths them. He has never broken skin. (Although, it's only a matter of time before that happens - because a dog is only going to take so much.) A dog will break skin if they want to, easily. He is defending himself against the other dog, trying to scare it off - that is exactly what it is. I do my best to put him behind me and face the other dog down, have done it before, but when the dog is running in circles around both of us, that's not that easy. At one time, I actually picked up my 47 pound dog. The owner of the other dog laughed and thought I was scared my dog was going to get bit. I told the idiot that no, I was protecting his dog since he was too stupid to do it himself.
From the tone of your posts in this thread, I expect part of the problem is you might have a way of pissing people off when you interact with them.
Does your town or county have an animal control office? Call them when you see a dog wandering loose. My son's dog was "arrested" twice when he got out alone. They had to pay a $50 fine to get him back.
You need a house with a yard or some acreage where you can be left alone and your dog can have space...
Right... because moving, let alone to a house with acreage, is super easy and affordable for everyone.
Where I live, finding a place with "acreage" would mean spending millions of dollars - or being really far from all the jobs, and still spending upwards of half a million. I actually live on a property with about an acre right now, but it's a rented in-law apartment that's 30-40 minutes (without traffic) to work on a winding mountain road. And as someone who unfortunately has moved many many times, I can also tell you the move itself is expensive even for a renter.
But this is all irrelevant, because IT'S THE LAW to leash your dogs!! We can't avoid them by moving, either, since it doesn't just happen around private residences... it happens at the parks, beaches, shopping malls, you name it. My dog will ignore a leashed or well-mannered dog, but when your pooch comes running up to mine all "HI HI HI," things can go south in a matter of seconds. And guess who has to step in the middle of the ensuing fight? Me, the one who is being responsible and keeping my dog leashed. My biggest pet peeve is when the owner goes "He/she is friendly!" To which I usually respond "Mine is not, so please call them NOW." Anyway, I don't think we should have to keep our dogs locked in a yard 24/7 to avoid this situation, when the onus should be on the irresponsible owners who don't use leashes. They were invented for a reason, after all.
^ I don't have this problem often, but I think I'm going to print that out and keep a copy to hand to the "it's okay, he's friendly" crowd.
Omg, I literally just wrote those exact words (from the article) above! It's a serious problem, but soooo many clueless owners just don't get it.
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