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Morron with kids at dog park (vent)


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Originally posted by bailey44:

The ads on tv that advertise lawyers trolling for dog-bite clients disturb me.

Charlene - where is this, if you don't mind my asking? I've never seen an attorney advertising for dog-bite cases.

 

SC, and many other states I believe, have "strict liability" dog bite statutes, which means a person is liable if their dog bites somebody, unless the bite-ee provoked the dog. It doesn't matter whether the dog has ever bitten anyone before.

 

You'd think our strict liability dog bite law would encourage people to keep their dogs confined, wouldn't you? Unfortunately, such is not the case.

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I don't remember bein taught how to behave with animals. We and my grandparents always had dogs and cats (although we were suburban and they were urban). SO I must have learned so early that it was just natural, like breathing.

 

I do know what I taught our kids. The animals were to be considered equal family members. If you don't want to be grabbed or poked or have your hair pulled, you don't do it to your siblings, parents, or pets. If you do, the humans will yell, hit, or even bite. The pets will do what they can, which includes scratching and nipping. (No pet would have actually bitten and broken skin - but scratches would probably bleed.) And, if human or pet needed to defend, the offender would be the one punished - on top of what the defender did.

 

And every pet seemed to automatically know that babies got total lee-way. And that toddlers got a whole lot.

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Sally--West Virginia. I keep meaning to edit my profile and add more info. :rolleyes:

 

I don't know the statute or law in my state but I do see lawyers on tv--and in the yellow pages, who advertise that they will take dog- bite cases. So unfortunately, it is always in the back of my mind.

 

I also don't mean to trash lawyers, it just seems that some put their focus on this type of personal injury practice and it feels icky to me. My son was accepted to a law school in Virginia last year. He chose a different profession, but I was proud that when he was considering this, he chose a law school that wanted to produce lawyers who had practices that focused on being advocates for the community and community leaders.

 

I have to say that I do feel more restricted with this dog than I did with my previous dog that I had for 13 years in regard to having to keep her on a tight leash, so to speak. Manners and parenting has changed. I miss the days when we ran around the neighborhood-kids and dogs alike--and everyone worked things out without too much fuss.

 

Charlene

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We learned which dogs in the neighborhood would bite and left them alone. There were a few streets in my neighborhood where bike riding was a real adventure because of the dogs that would give chase when we rode by. This was back in the stone age when most people in my neighborhood did not fence in or tie their dog.
Jrid, you gave me a laugh when you dredged up these memories! The neighborhood that my sisters and I rode through to get to the pool had a house with an unleashed Irish Setter. I remember how fast we would pedal so we could have plenty of speed up when he gave chase. We even had to pick our feet up. (Boy, my parents were mean to make us ride our bikes a couple of miles if we wanted to go to the pool! I still don't see how that shaped my character!)

 

I think it goes back to the fact that people don't teach basic manners and courtesy to their children anymore. I better stop there or I will start venting too.

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I must be really lucky. Or maybe Seattle parents are more hip to dog behaviour.

 

I once had Lu, my mutt dog (only obivous thing in there is GSD) at a kiddie park in Seattle. Went down for a very last minute visit with friends. This is a dog I'd never take to a dog park- she plays way to rough. With kids, however, she just lays there & licks their faces. Every single parent askedif their child could pet Lu. I was amazed! Some stopped their kids before the kid ran up to Lu. It was a rather pleasent visit- my dogs like kids a LOT more than I do!

 

Of course, it all begs the question- why was a kid playing loose in a dog park?!? Aside from the dog bite danger, what about the poop! LOL!

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Talking about knowing the "chasing" dogs in the neighborhood, DH recollects they had a big ol GSD in theirs that chased every kid on a bike. Everyone was scared of him. Well, one day, the dog misjudged and instead of chasing got ran smack over by DH big ol clunking bike. He said the dog still chased bikes,,,,,,,,,,,except his. :rolleyes:

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We have a dog park nearby that has a huge sign that says something like, "this is a dog park, not a children park, please take your children elsewhere to play." I can't remember the exact wording. But, of course it doesn't work, there are still kids running amock without much supervision at all. Zorra chases anything that moves, while I hope she wouldn't never bite a child, I do get nervous when kids come screaming past me and Zorra looks like she's ready to pounce. That's normally my cue to leave.

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  • 2 months later...
Guest WoobiesMom

Some parents really are clueless and view a dogpark as some sort of recreational amusement put there for their children's entertainment. A while back a mom with 2 small kids (around 4 and maybe 7) came in saying "Look Joey, that one's cute, go play with that one!" Little Joey tried to catch my Woobie and do whatever he had in his little mind. Woobie kept moving away and circling back to me with a worried look on his face. I looked at the kid with big eyes and said "Oh no, please don't try to touch him, he might BITE you because he doesn't know you and he's scared!" The kid looked shocked and moved away. Finally, someone much bolder than I told the woman that park rules prohibited children under 12 and that they could easily get knocked over or bit by dogs they weren't familiar with. She looked offended and left. But honestly!!! Some people have NO SENSE!!!

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Ha, I forgot about this old post of mine !

 

I have to say, ever since this experience, I have been more aware of any kids around Ouzo. Or vice versa. To my imense delight, he is behaving like a gentelman!

 

Just last weekend we took him to a softball practice, not to a dog park, although him and other dogs were off leash most of the time. On the way back to the car, he was on leash, of course, when we ran into a couple of twin girls, maybe 4 years old, all dressed in pink and the moment they saw Ouzo, they went straight for him, not leaving me any time to pull him away from them. They were all "Wow, what a cute dog!" and petting him. He was pretty happy to see all the attention, wagging his tail, but he's not at all cuddly, so he proceeded to moving away from the girls after he licked their hands once. The girls mom didn't even make a gesture to stop the girls from approaching Ouzo, or telling them to slow down.

 

He's shown me a few time in the last couple of months that he is very well behaved around kids, that he likes them, but that he's aware they're kindda wild, so he would play with them, but if kids start yelling and acting wild, he steps back and gives me looks "These kids are crazy", but continues to joyfully play with them. Never jumps on them, never tries to chase them. I think he likes the idea of "little humans", closer to his size.

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Good for Ouzo! But it really wasn't smart of that mother to let 4-year-olds approach a strange dog. When I was little (2 years old, I think) my grandmother let me run up to a strange dog, who bit me on the face and ran away. Results: many stitches, and a set of rabies shots. My earliest memory. It took me a very long time to come around to dog owning.

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Hi i don't think we have dog parks over here in the uk if we do i know there aren't any near to me. Even if there where i don't think i would use them because of the amount of irresponsable dog owners and parents who no doubt would take their kids there minus the dog or teenagers would use it for their underage drinking etc and it would be covered with broken glass.:rolleyes:

I was biten twice as a child the first time i wqas about 7 i was playing catch with 1 of my grandads nieghbours children in their back garden they had a big old gsd who was as soft as muck . I think he got over excited while we where playing ball and wanted to join in he jumped up at me to get the ball and bit my face quite badly i still have scaring but it was my fault. I should have known better as i have had dogs around me from the day i was born we should have played in the front . My granddad was asked by the owners if we wanted the dog destoyed he told them to ask me .I of course said no and explained that i should have known better than to play ball with the dog in the garden plus he was a loverly old dog. That was one lesson learnt number 2 was at my aunties farm she had a few dogs thye dog in question was timmy a crossbred whowas her guarddog and always snappy so was chained at the top of her drive . It was the summer hols and some kids thought it would be fun to tease him knowing that he was chained and couldn't get them. I went to feed him like i'd done many times without any problems but the poor dog was that stressed and p****ed off i got a nice bite on my leg just above the knee i have a nice scar from that as well. But i survived both and lived to tell the tale . It has never given me any fear of dogs as i was brought up with them and my grandad was always saying that if a dog bites it normally has good reason for it. I beleive this and some dogs do take some abuse with no reaction from people and kids that quite frankly i would just hit for what they had done.

I don't like letting my dogs off lead when theres children around outside or other dogs as i never know how well trained either are. We had an incident yesterday my dogs and kids not involved. Some idot was walking his dog not a collar or lead in sight and very little voice control they came passed my house and the little girl across the street was with her mum and the dog went over to her and she got frightened and started screaming and running away. She was absolutley petrified and the mother was screaming at her to stop being pathetic and the dog was chasing her while owner of the dog was just standing there shouting its name . I felt really sorry for that little girl she had to put up with this for a good 5 mins while the owner finally reteived his dog and the mother smacked the poor girl who hadn't done anything other than get scared of a strange dog that was jumping at her. I think the mother shou;ld have turned round and had a go at the owner instead of her daughter. She certainly didn't help her daughter fear if anything she just reinforced it stupid woman and stupid irresponsible dog owner who thinks because his dog will follow him it doesn't need a lead and its find for it to go and worry kids and god knows who or what else. That just really annoyed me sorry but had to vent. :D

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Speaking of animals not being stuffed playtoys....

 

My last dog (a BC/Aussie ish dog) was not the most friendly sort....there was no reason in her mind that she shouldn't discipline people/kids/invading hammers (she attacked one)/other dogs. But she was still a really cool dog.

 

Now I have a cat that does that. Beware anyone who is hyper and loud, she will hunt you down and attack your legs until you calm down (She's 10 and I am 18 so we've gone through several hyper stages :rolleyes:). She also attacks dogs if she sees them as being dangerous (she's about 10lbs and very protective of her personal secuirity).

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I got bit by my mom's dog as a child. (in the face no less)

 

I was a bit hurt/offended at the time, but boy did I learn NOT to wake up the sleeping husky :rolleyes:

 

My mom is very dog savvy; if only there were more parents like that out there.

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I grew up on a dairy farm, and two rules I learned as naturally as learning to walk was to never make any animal feel cornered and never separate a mama and her baby. I also learned to always ask permission before approaching anyone's animals--and this included dogs. There also wasn't a lot of sympathy for recipients of animal discipline. It didn't matter what happened; it was what did you do to the animal for it to mete out that punishment?

 

Nowadays, no one is responsible for their own actions, it seems. If I hit my thumb with a hammer does that mean I can sue the people that manufactured the hammer? The next time someone rear-ends my car with their car, can I sue the car manufacturer? Or maybe sue the state for issuing the driver's license to that other person?

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And our situation is yet different from the rest of you posters.

 

We live in a city that has acquired the term "inner ring" city. Meaning, what used to be a suburb is no longer; we are just a frame away from being considered a part of the "big city". So, we have plenty of former inner city people who have moved to our neighborhoods, and brought their attitudes with them, if you catch my drift.

 

Aaaaaaaaand, when we walk our dogs, we get this question: "do he bite?" Now, I so want to answer, "well duh, what the hell do you think?", but I know that's not acceptable, so I usually come back with a smart alec comment like " And how do you think SHE eats? Of course she bites!" The other side of this is that with darker looking dogs, we tend to get most people going around us rather than approaching us, which is ultimately fine by me.

 

Most of the kids in our neighborhood are unsupervised, undisciplined and god forbid they get in a dog face and something happens! Whew, I can see that scenario now! My parents would NEVER have tolerated that behaviour, and I certainly didn't with my own kids.

 

We have a "neighbor"- I use that term quite loosely, who lives just next to us. Before we were mandated by the city to put up a fence because of this person, our dogs were in the yard, ALWAYS on their run. Her kids would torment our dogs by holding food just out of reach of them while on the run. Or they would act like they were going to play with our dogs, then run like hell the other direction if a dog looked at them, all the while screaming bloody murder. So, we have a fence. That avoids this type of situation but the dogs HATE that family, and will howl when that family is out in their yard, on the other side of the fence.

 

Dogs are not perfect animals, and unfortunately, too many people have lost the appropriate respect for the fact that domesticated dogs are not THAT far removed from wolves and other feral animals.

 

You are going to find morons everywhere. As a responsible dog owner you walk a fine line between telling these idiots off, removing your dog, or educating.

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Greetings all.

 

This is my first post, but I wanted to jump into this topic.

 

I just adopted a 20 month male BC, named Chevy. Today is 3 weeks exactly and he is fabulous, I have always wanted a BC and finally got one! I met him at a dog park and he was fine being around other dogs, but now when I take him to a local one, he snarls at bigger dogs and leaves me fighting with a decision to take him to the dog parks or not. Mind you he hasn't done this to any small dogs as he now lives with two female dachsunds at the time being.

 

Two days ago he got into a fight with a German Shepard within the first three minutes we were there. We never go in when its crowded, and now I just take him to a field where he can fetch the ball. He is very sweet and doesn't show aggression any other time.

 

Anyone have any ideas on how I can work on this with him? He is great off leash, and his on leash skills have greatly improved since I've had him. I plan to take him to some obiedience classes in June, where I wish to get involved in agility afterwards.

 

Any relationship building activities and training games would be greatly appreciated as well.

 

 

Respect.

-Dr.Greenthumb

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They are in the process of opening a dog park real close to me. I am taking this all in as I'm sure Usher will be a "resident" there. I was taught to ask about the dog first and let him/her sniff my hand before any petting. I teach my Grandson that. A dog is not a toy, yet they can be your best friend. Seems like that child wanted to do a bit of fetching himself. Maybe he needs his own tennis ball and a clicker and some treats to get his butt more well trained. Tee Hee.

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Well i was raised with dogs and i suppose we were taught the right way to treat a dog. all of us kids except my sis has at least one dog. sis just recently lost her dog of 16 yrs. since she is 75 yrs old she probably will not have another one. one of my brothers has 6 dogs 3 in the house and the others outside. but we are all getting too old to keep a dog. i think of the trauma to the dog if the owner should die.

 

my 2 dogs live in the house with me and i call them my girls. i love them so much and try to get inside their minds to be sure they are happy.

not sure i have succeeded but they are happy anyway

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