My above post sounds so harsh so let me tell you of just a few of my experiences.
A state park, walking my dog on leash on the road in the campground. A campsite with a large tent, woman, several children, three large dogs asleep in the tent, tent door open. One of the dogs (large pit) sees us, comes charging out, hackles raised, in full attack mode. It is about ten feet from me, about to leap, (I KNEW I was about to be taken down) when a man sits up in the back seat of the pickup, calls the dog, and the dog slams on his brakes and veers to the side. Just in time. Was the dog under the owner's verbal control? Yes. But the owner was remiss in allowing that to happen. I saw these same dogs wandering around my campsite without any owner. Off leash. I packed up and left.
In a provincial park in Canada, a large party of campers, partying (no problem, it was late afternoon). Walked by on the road, two large mixed breeds came charging out together, barking, hackles up, stopped about 20 feet from me. I kept walking, slowly. But I had to return the same way. And guess what? It happened again. The people didn't notice what was happening because they were busy having fun. I had to shout at them to call off their dogs. They did. I left the next morning.
In a suburban neighborhood, took my then 14 month old grandson in his stroller to a small neighborhood park. Walking back, a man sitting in the open doorway of his garage, his German Shepard in the yard. We were three houses away when the dog came charging at us, again in attack mode. I placed myself between the dog and the stroller, told baby to be still and quiet, and slowly began backing away towards the nearest house, hopefully the front door was unlocked because I fully intended to just walk in. Two neighbors heard the barking and came out, asking if I was ok. I said So far but is this your dog? No, it's "his" as they pointed to the owner, sitting in his garage laughing. He finally called off his dog. As I passed by, I told him, "The next time I come by here, I may be armed so your dog better be leashed." We never went back to that park or went for walks in that neighborhood again.
In the RV park where I now live, there are two families with a German shepard each. One is a very well behaved, gentle animal. They let her out unleashed. I don't have a problem with that mostly. But the neighbor in the site next door may be tired of cleaning up after that nice dog. And the other one? The owner can barely hold him on leash. I avoid going anywhere near them when he's outside because that dog will jerk away easily and it is aggressive.
And the three different times when the same two bull mastiffs (a gentle breed? NOT those two) jerked away from their owners, surrounded me, their leashes wrapped around my ankles, owner running my towards me yelling, "Don't move!!"
And there are other incidents. I blame every one of these on the owners! But I am fed up with this and it is the animal who may suffer the consequences. Damn.
A state park, walking my dog on leash on the road in the campground. A campsite with a large tent, woman, several children, three large dogs asleep in the tent, tent door open. One of the dogs (large pit) sees us, comes charging out, hackles raised, in full attack mode. It is about ten feet from me, about to leap, (I KNEW I was about to be taken down) when a man sits up in the back seat of the pickup, calls the dog, and the dog slams on his brakes and veers to the side. Just in time. Was the dog under the owner's verbal control? Yes. But the owner was remiss in allowing that to happen. I saw these same dogs wandering around my campsite without any owner. Off leash. I packed up and left.
In a provincial park in Canada, a large party of campers, partying (no problem, it was late afternoon). Walked by on the road, two large mixed breeds came charging out together, barking, hackles up, stopped about 20 feet from me. I kept walking, slowly. But I had to return the same way. And guess what? It happened again. The people didn't notice what was happening because they were busy having fun. I had to shout at them to call off their dogs. They did. I left the next morning.
In a suburban neighborhood, took my then 14 month old grandson in his stroller to a small neighborhood park. Walking back, a man sitting in the open doorway of his garage, his German Shepard in the yard. We were three houses away when the dog came charging at us, again in attack mode. I placed myself between the dog and the stroller, told baby to be still and quiet, and slowly began backing away towards the nearest house, hopefully the front door was unlocked because I fully intended to just walk in. Two neighbors heard the barking and came out, asking if I was ok. I said So far but is this your dog? No, it's "his" as they pointed to the owner, sitting in his garage laughing. He finally called off his dog. As I passed by, I told him, "The next time I come by here, I may be armed so your dog better be leashed." We never went back to that park or went for walks in that neighborhood again.
In the RV park where I now live, there are two families with a German shepard each. One is a very well behaved, gentle animal. They let her out unleashed. I don't have a problem with that mostly. But the neighbor in the site next door may be tired of cleaning up after that nice dog. And the other one? The owner can barely hold him on leash. I avoid going anywhere near them when he's outside because that dog will jerk away easily and it is aggressive.
And the three different times when the same two bull mastiffs (a gentle breed? NOT those two) jerked away from their owners, surrounded me, their leashes wrapped around my ankles, owner running my towards me yelling, "Don't move!!"
And there are other incidents. I blame every one of these on the owners! But I am fed up with this and it is the animal who may suffer the consequences. Damn.
