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Oh and none of those three dogs were a breed you'd "expect" to have problems with, they are generally happy and friendly types. Until I got bit.
I suspect, unless a person is stupid or has spent so much time around a "dangerous" breed dog they've normalized the chance of trouble, more people stay a little more on their guard when they're present. Around breeds that don't have that reputation people can be just as stupid or cavalier. Until all the bad stars align just right and WHAM! They're reminded that any dog is capable of biting. I've received unprovoked attacks/bites from two loose dogs. Neither one had that "dangerous" reputation. The 80-90 lb golden retriever lunged for my throat after cornering me on a neighbor's porch. Luckily the owners had left a shovel there or the outcome might have been much worse. The portly lab mutt silently stalked me down the sidewalk for a while, ran up behind me, "bumped" me on the back with his front feet and proceeded to take a chunk out of my calf. I was also bitten by a dachshund as a kid but I probably deserved it .
Last edited by Parnassia; 01-04-2024 at 04:10 PM..
Some jurisdictions include "under voice control" in their leash ordinances, but the problem with that is that most people don't understand what it means. They clearly think it means that if the dog kind of knows its names and might come when it's called if it has nothing better to do. Our beaches are all public here, and dogs are allowed off-leash as long as they are under voice control, but they just aren't.
Although this is better than being attacked by a roaming, poorly socialized dog, it's still a problem in its own right. Just because "he's friendly!" doesn't give pet owners carte blanche to ignore leash laws.
You reminded me of a time (the only time) my wife and I walked one of our dogs around a 2 mile city park in Helena MT ON LEASH. We were approaching an older lady walking 2 Afghan hounds all perfect and poised and my 90lb German shorthair pointer was pulling towards her dogs to have a 'meet n greet'. You know- read the local news as it were. I pulled him back of course but the old bitty yelled "You need to have your dog TRAINED!!"
Well that chapped my rear. I said "Oh lady- he is trained." I unleashed him and yelled "FIND THE BIRD!!" and he took off on a field search in the soccer fields, sniffed a crow and locked up on point".
I said "See?- totally trained."
The irony? Anyone watching Schnitzel locked up on point without a leash was whooping and hollering because watching a well trained working dog do his thing is a beautiful sight. I laughed at the whole thing. Snooty old gal got pie in her eye.
You reminded me of a time (the only time) my wife and I walked one of our dogs around a 2 mile city park in Helena MT ON LEASH. We were approaching an older lady walking 2 Afghan hounds all perfect and poised and my 90lb German shorthair pointer was pulling towards her dogs to have a 'meet n greet'. You know- read the local news as it were. I pulled him back of course but the old bitty yelled "You need to have your dog TRAINED!!"
Well that chapped my rear. I said "Oh lady- he is trained." I unleashed him and yelled "FIND THE BIRD!!" and he took off on a field search in the soccer fields, sniffed a crow and locked up on point".
I said "See?- totally trained."
I'd have loved to see the look on the old bat's (excuse me...old biddy's) face! The look on the Afghans' faces too! "Ah, shucks! We're tired of being groomed. You've had your fun, now where's our gazelle?"
I'd have loved to see the look on the old bat's (excuse me...old biddy's) face! The look on the Afghans' faces too! "Ah, shucks! We're tired of being groomed. You've had your fun, now where's our gazelle?"
And I am not joking at all. That park is a stone's throw from my office and I used to walk it everyday. Some of the dog people I have met (not all) are 100% NOT the kind of people I would want to associate with. They have issues.
I have no problem with a dogs that is unleashed as long as the dog is trained, friendly to other animals ( this include not scaring ducks , birds etc) , friendly to people ( this include not having the dog go towards you ) and the owner is picking up their dog poop and walking/paying attention to their dog.
I have PROBLEM with dogs that is unleashed that is not trained, chase /scare other animals ( who knows what else would they do ), go towards you, owner not paying attention and their dog is not walking side to side with them or not even near to them, not picking up their dog poop... etc.
dont even get me started with this self entitled, self centered ass-# dog owners who have their dog unleashed excuses " My dog is friendly so I dont leash him"
I wonder about that too, but I'm a cat person, and I wonder why people have dogs, period. When I lived in a senior mobile home park, I was "one of those" leash-less people, but I was one of those w/ a cat. She hated to walk on a leash, cats aren't like dogs, they resent any form of control that isn't on their initiative.
Eventually, I taught her to heel w/o a leash. She would stop and go if I asked her to because she knew the alternative was the hated leash. But just so we both knew who was boss, about 50 feet from our place she would suddenly dart ahead and go under a neighbor's mobile home, while I had to wait patiently for her to come out when she was good and damn ready.
Dogs have owners, cats have slaves. Its just the natural order of the universe (which is surely run by a cat).
I agree with the other posters who say the owners have an entitlement disorder. Those are the ones who ALWAYS scream at their fleeting away dogs to come back at them. I also "love" those people who yell out, He is friendly! And the dog is running full tilt at you and you have no idea what its going to do. Those people give the legitimate trained dogs and owners a bad rap too because frankly, I am not going to believe anybody when they say the normal crap. People need to realize that there are tons of people in the world who are not ok with unleashed dogs. They need to deal with whatever repurcussions that their property (their dogs) does to others.
I used to get those 100ft long lines from a feed store. I'd get 2 and clip one onto the handle of the other and that's what I used for a leash when I was out in the boonies with my dog and didn't want to let him off leash.
The other thing I noticed is that there's some dogs that will naturally stay close and some that won't. My Dobe would get wind of a deer and just take off. Training him in Search and Rescue was hair raising. I remember once he was coming back with the bringsel in his mouth (a sign that he's found a person) and came across a rabbit right there on the trail. He looked at me standing right beyond him, then at the rabbit, then at me, then at the rabbit again, and rabbit won. He did come back. Eventually. And this was a dog who had all his obedience titles and had years of obedience training.
Yet, I'd seen other people bring their dogs out on SAR practices and those dogs had no desire to chase deer and other forest animals. Their owners could take them off leash and those dogs would never go out of sight. I always ask why I got the one weird dog, but apparently, most dogs are like mine.
I used to bike my dog for exercise, too, and our biggest problem was dogs who were triggered by seeing my dog trot by them. Then they'd run out to chase us. My way of dealing with that was to stop instantly, drop the bike, and let my dog turn around and challenge. Most dogs that ran after us would back down instantly when they saw what they were dealing with and most owners who saw a large Doberman apparently intent on eating their small dogs would call them back or come get them. I didn't let on that there would be no danger from my dog because I for sure wasn't going to let him get into a fight. But I was not at all adverse to getting in a fight to protect my dog and I had to tell a few people that.
Dealing with dogs like that made me realize, though, that anything could trigger a dog so the end result was, unless my dog was in the obedience ring or doing SAR or in a completely fenced area, he was on a leash. Period.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cida
Have you considered contacting your city councilman or equivalent and suggesting a leash law?
Who, me?
I'm sure we already have a leash law in our county. We also have coyotes, cougars, bears, and bobcats.
I just read about a cougar that took a 100lb Doberman over a wall. If the dogs that ran through my yard run loose much longer, they won't be seen anymore.
Having said that, I have to admit, I have an outside roaming cat that adopted me. She follows another cat around and from trying to find the owners, I've been able to figure out the cats roam over most of 5+ acres. As I live in a 5th wheel and this cat was an outdoor cat to begin with, all I can hope for is she holds her own. I've seen coyotes come out in broad daylight, so I know something can happen to her anytime. But how do you take a cat that's been roaming loose for all her life and force her to stay inside in a 5th wheel? I'm just grateful she shows up at about 6 every night and comes in to sleep. Or rather, she demands to come in and sleep. On my pillow, yet. And she's not even my cat!
I used to get those 100ft long lines from a feed store. I'd get 2 and clip one onto the handle of the other and that's what I used for a leash when I was out in the boonies with my dog and didn't want to let him off leash.
The other thing I noticed is that there's some dogs that will naturally stay close and some that won't. My Dobe would get wind of a deer and just take off. Training him in Search and Rescue was hair raising. I remember once he was coming back with the bringsel in his mouth (a sign that he's found a person) and came across a rabbit right there on the trail. He looked at me standing right beyond him, then at the rabbit, then at me, then at the rabbit again, and rabbit won. He did come back. Eventually. And this was a dog who had all his obedience titles and had years of obedience training.
Yet, I'd seen other people bring their dogs out on SAR practices and those dogs had no desire to chase deer and other forest animals. Their owners could take them off leash and those dogs would never go out of sight. I always ask why I got the one weird dog, but apparently, most dogs are like mine.
I used to bike my dog for exercise, too, and our biggest problem was dogs who were triggered by seeing my dog trot by them. Then they'd run out to chase us. My way of dealing with that was to stop instantly, drop the bike, and let my dog turn around and challenge. Most dogs that ran after us would back down instantly when they saw what they were dealing with and most owners who saw a large Doberman apparently intent on eating their small dogs would call them back or come get them. I didn't let on that there would be no danger from my dog because I for sure wasn't going to let him get into a fight. But I was not at all adverse to getting in a fight to protect my dog and I had to tell a few people that.
Dealing with dogs like that made me realize, though, that anything could trigger a dog so the end result was, unless my dog was in the obedience ring or doing SAR or in a completely fenced area, he was on a leash. Period.
A lot of breeds, like GSP's, will naturally 'check in' with the owner/handler. All we have to do, literally, is turn our backs to the dog getting out of range and they will notice and run back. On trail they turn a corner out of sight we just stop and wait. They always check back in. I have 4 of them. They all do it instinctively.
They are whistle trained too. One long whistle is recall. Two short blasts is look for hand signals and a change in direction. Most versatile hunting dogs (for hunting) are trained this way.
One of the main problems is people who live in denial about their dogs.
People form emotional attachments to their dogs and refuse to accept that their dogs are not the idealized objects of their adoration.
"My dog would never bite."
"My dog obeys my every command."
"My dog knows where our property ends and would never leave it."
[A corollary to this are the people who think their capability/intent to leash their dog, not let it out, train the dogs, etc., is perfect. "Well, it's not my fault Demon slipped out the door while I was talking to the UPS guy and ate your chihuahua!". Uh... yes, it is.]
These naive fools think dogs are robots, and training is programming. The little furry apple of their eye is magically free of all the inclinations of its breed, never has a bad day, doesn't have a complex and varied personality that is never completely understood by its master, and so forth. It never occurs to these simplistic idiots that every dog that has ever bitten someone, or menaced people or animals, was once a dog that had never done any of those things.
And this is compounded by the usual "How dare you tell me how to handle my dog? Just for that, I'm not putting him on a leash, just to show you!".
Then, when Demon sends the neighbor dog to the vet, or the neighbor to the hospital - or either to a hole in the ground - the self-righteous master insists that the assault was completely unforseeable.
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I'd have loved to see the look on the old bat's (excuse me...old biddy's) face! The look on the Afghans' faces too! "Ah, shucks! We're tired of being groomed. You've had your fun, now where's our gazelle?"