Every have a day where someone needs slapped?- a rant

[JEFF_H]

darmah has been attacked by loose dogs 4 times.
there are always loose dogs in the neighborhood. i take her to the park now, or carry pepper spray on our lunchtime walk

one time we were riding bikes with the dog on a leash and two mouth-breathers were drinkin beer and playin horseshoes in the yard, and their lab comes running out into the street growling and snarling at our dog. missus tried to get between them and the dog caused her to crash.
owners response- 'shit happens, dude'.
i really wanted to go back and retaliate, but whats the point...they arent going to learn anything from it.

[Stella]

In response to the subject heading:  Lately, everyday.  I can't get Ron White's phrase out of my head "You can't fix stupid."

[Slide Panda]

Oh Ron... that man makes me laugh. I could use some mp3 comedy love today.

Yeah.. it's irksome. A few other dogs have had a go at him while off leash. Mercifully no injuries ever resulted, save a minor one to me. That pregnant dog (pardon the french ladies) took off from the park with nary an apologies nor giving me any info. She was goooone by the time I'd looked up from checking Marley and realizing the blood was mine (just a nick on the finger, nothing came of it). Another I managed to catch by his collar and face as he charged in and had him off the ground. Lady was agitated a me for holding on to her dog like that.. yelling at me to let go, mind you she had no control or leash in place yet.. and I have 130 pounds of pissed dogs in either hand... no apologies there... WTF man...

The only one who did apologies had he do on leash, but the clasp broke - so not exactly her fault.

I hate having to fight dogs... it sucks. I don't want to do it ever, and it pisses me off more since most times I know it's a stupid human who is really to blame... if you want to get me on a high horse, ask about the pit bull I had to pull off the guide dog...

[Popeye the Sailor]

My pet peeve are the people with off-leash dogs that run up who try to explain that their dog was just being "friendly". I wish my old sparring partner was around. He was 6'7", obviously a little off, and missing his front teeth. People were scared of him.

I'd want him to go running all out up to those same dog owners sniff around them, mebbe give 'em a lick, and if they started making noise, I'd explain that my friend was just "being friendly".

[Slide Panda]

My pet peeve are the people with off-leash dogs that run up who try to explain that their dog was just being "friendly". I wish my old sparring partner was around. He was 6'7", obviously a little off, and missing his front teeth. People were scared of him.

I'd want him to go running all out up to those same dog owners sniff around them, mebbe give 'em a lick, and if they started making noise, I'd explain that my friend was just "being friendly".

Thanks for the laugh - that's quite an image.

"Aww he's jsut trying to make firends"

[sbrguy]

angler is right, if you have a pet you have to control it, its your repsonsibility. 

the common saying of "the dog is only playing" is a bunch of crap.  because you always have other animals and people that will not view the dogs "playing" as playing and see it either as an agressive behaviour or such and react accordingly.

[Scottish]

Outside of dog parks I think all dogs should be kept on leashes. I learned this lesson the hard way when an otherwise wonderful dog of mine was caught off gaurd by a small dog that charged from a blind angle. The dog was just wanting to play I believe. My dog however lacked good vision in low light conditions. She almost killed the other dog and I was forced to put her down. How hard is it to attach a leash and walk them a couple blocks... might do the owner a bit of good as well.

[Slide Panda]

Outside of dog parks I think all dogs should be kept on leashes. I learned this lesson the hard way when an otherwise wonderful dog of mine was caught off gaurd by a small dog that charged from a blind angle. The dog was just wanting to play I believe. My dog however lacked good vision in low light conditions. She almost killed the other dog and I was forced to put her down. How hard is it to attach a leash and walk them a couple blocks... might do the owner a bit of good as well.

Sorry about your pooch - it's a situation like that that I really want to avoid.

And yes, the owner could do with a few more trips around the block...

[Monsterlover]

My pet peeve are the people with off-leash dogs that run up who try to explain that their dog was just being "friendly". I wish my old sparring partner was around. He was 6'7", obviously a little off, and missing his front teeth. People were scared of him.

I'd want him to go running all out up to those same dog owners sniff around them, mebbe give 'em a lick, and if they started making noise, I'd explain that my friend was just "being friendly".

This is the situation I'm, except I'm that guy.

My dog does pretty well but if she sees another dog she bolts over to it to check it out.

She's not an aggressive dog, she's just being a dog.  Im my experience the other dogs also want to see her just as bad.

I still feel like an ass when it happens.

I always walk her on a leash and only let her off if were in a park and there's *nobody* else around with a dog.

The times she bolts to go see another dog are always when we let her out in the yard to do her thing.  One of us always goes with her, and if we go out front we always check for other dog traffic.

Normally I can get her back to me before she notices another dog and there's no problem but sometimes she gets lucky and catches sight before I do.

She's gone like a vapor trail.

I really feel like the only way to break this is a shock collar but this happens so infrequently im hesitant to do it.

[Ddan]

Put her on a loooong lead and let her drag it around.  When she starts to run, give a command and yank the rope.  She'll get the idea pretty quickly, and IMO, more humane that shock collars.

[Monsterlover]

That's part of the reason Im hesitant to do the shock collar.

I really, in my heart, feel that any other method would be ineffective.

Using your suggestion she would end up on a long leash, pulling and clawing to get closer to the other dog

It would be like an anchor that pulled back

[Popeye the Sailor]

Welp, I'm typically there (less so now that I'm in the middle of nowhere) with two terrified small dogs who would probably be much happier if they had the option to run, what with them being terribly fast and all. All I can do is try and stay between them and the strange dog. This never works well.


I just figure keeping my dogs on a leash keeps anyone who's unsure of their intent from ever pepper-spraying them.

[Bladecutter]

My gf and I picked up a 3 yo female Boxer back in February when one of our friends had to move out of state, and couldn't take Mollie with her.

Since February, Mollie and I have been attacked by loose neighborhood dogs 4 times.
The first two times were before my hip replacement surgery in mid March, and those are the times I was just as worried about myself getting hurt, as I was about Mollie getting injured.

Each and every time, the other dog has either come running out of an open fence gate, or an open front door, and each time, I have to hold back Mollie, put myself between two angry dogs that are both over 60 lbs, and then yell at the other dogs owner to come and get their damn dog.

The first one was a HUGE German Sheppard, and I actually had to circle around Mollie, kicking that dog repeatedly, and screaming for several minutes before the damn owner stopped gardening in her yard long enough to take time out to gather up her growling, snarling dog from the middle of the street.

Now a days, I carry a paintball gun with me on walks, and shoot dogs that charge us.
I have yet to pull the trigger more than once, because the dogs learn real quick, and usually so do the owners when they have to wash their dog afterwards.

And yes, I have tried talking to my HOA during the monthly meetings, but it falls on deaf ears, and they say "Call Animal Control", which I don't want to do, because it isn't the dogs fault.

One of these days, I'm going to shoot the owner with the paintball gun after shooting the dog.
Probably not the best idea, but I think the owners will learn more than the dogs after getting hit.

BC.

[DesmoLu]

awww, poor Marley! must be terrifying for such a sweet and social dog - maybe you need to teach Marley some krav maga?

my advice on the whole thing would be to NOT involve the association. Then again, growing up, I was one of those kids who thought telling on another kid was a sin worse than murdering your own mom in cold blood. You are grown ups, you can handle it on your own, right?
Next time you see her unattended rabid canine, simply knock on her door and give her the good verbal thrashing she deserves. Repeat until she gets the point. plus, yelling at someone who deserves it will generally make you feel better 

the societal organizations that try to control us convince us that conflict is a terrible thing (first its school, then your job) yet it is a perfectly human way to solve problems. Then again, I believe we should still be able to solve problems by challenging people to duels...

[Slide Panda]

awww, poor Marley! must be terrifying for such a sweet and social dog - maybe you need to teach Marley some krav maga?

You got to see him in social people mode - he's got his 'I'm king of this area, do not question me' mode too. Most of the dogs in my area recognize and acknowledge he's the alpha. But that little little opportunist isn't so bright. Even technically being a geriatric dog, left to his own devices he'd have beat that dogs ass - which is still just a no win, since he'd probably get branded 'aggressive' and taken away.

As noted, leashes aren't just for ones dog protection