Some people I don't understand

[Izzysdad]

Had Itchy and Scratchy down at the pond today, and walking through the hay field I see a woman coming over the rise. Tobey was off lead because I know he won't run away. Izzy....well search my post from last Monday .

 

I call Tobey and leash him quickly, I don't even know at this point that the woman has a dog with her, but what if she doesn't like dogs or is afraid of them?

 

Here she comes with this eskimo looking dog and I say, they both friendly but this one is a runner and Tobey is very friendly but I wasn't sure if you had a dog with you.

 

She says: "Oh my dog doesn't like it when other dogs say hello, thanks for leashing your dog."

 

Ummm, excuse me? Why is your dog running pell mel around this field unleashed?

 

I took the PC route and oh, no problem.

 

If I could've banged my head against a wall I would have. Repeatedly.

 

Tim

[Ms.DaisyDuke]

Well, that's just plain stupid. I have a dog-reactive dog and when we do go to the off leash park (like twice a year) she does get to go off leash, but this is a large field and you can see from one end to the other, when other dogs get close, I leash Daisy and arch our way around the other dogs so that everyone stays friendly. I would never expect others to leash their friendly dogs because mine might snap. It's my dog that has the problem, it's my dog that gets leashed. You should have said something!

[juliepoudrier]

Yeah, I think I would have said something like "Well, how do you keep other dogs from saying hello to your dog when your dog is the one off leash? Like you, not every owner is going to leash their dogs when they see someone coming along with a dog."

 

J.

[scomona]

We had a similar walk this weekend. Shiloh was off leash walking with us and we saw another border collie. We love to meet other border collie people in the city so we were happy to see them approach us. I called ahead and asked if their dog was ok with puppies/other dogs. She responds "oh yes, but just with other border collies"........ that seemed a bit strange, so we stayed put.

 

Her dog approached and immediately showed his teeth and charged Shiloh. Shiloh took a few steps back and we put him on leach and walked away. This ladies dog (off leash) kept coming at Shiloh with his teeth and she was delighted!! It was very weird- then she said "this is the best he has ever been!". Shiloh didn't really notice- but it freaked me out!

[scomona]

We had a similar walk this weekend. Shiloh was off leash walking with us and we saw another border collie. We love to meet other border collie people in the city so we were happy to see them approach us. I called ahead and asked if their dog was ok with puppies/other dogs. She responds "oh yes, but just with other border collies"........ that seemed a bit strange, so we stayed put.

 

Her dog approached and immediately showed his teeth and charged Shiloh. Shiloh took a few steps back and we put him on leach and walked away. This ladies dog (off leash) kept coming at Shiloh with his teeth and she was delighted!! It was very weird- then she said "this is the best he has ever been!". Shiloh didn't really notice- but it freaked me out!

[desertranger]

Jin has finally come under off-leash control. I can give him a lie-down anywhere and he drops like a rock and won't move. His recall still needs some work but if he takes off after another dog I can at leat get him bad and to lie down.

 

OTOH I have become totally intolerant of people who walk off-leash with unfriendly and un-controlled dogs. If either Abby or Jin are approached by unfriendly dogs I take action which can be anything from tackling the aggressive dog to kicking it. Sorry but Jin's been attacked too many times and I now believe in taking an extremle proactive defense.

 

Leash your dog if you can't control it. Be prepared to take your dog to the vet if he attacks mine.

[Izzysdad]

^^^I'm with you. I would just about fight to the death to protect Izzy and Tobey, and when Izzy first arrived I thought I was headed down that road with an ACD in the parking lot of petco.

 

I never want to hurt another dog, but if you're out of control dog goes after mine, I will kill it if necessary.

 

Tim

[Brandi]

I have a small female aussihoula that is VERY dog aggressive only on leash.. Don't know why. But when I let her go, she sniffs and goes on with her business. The more I try to control her with the leash the worse she gets.

[Ooky]

That is a pretty maddening story. So many dog owners are so clueless.

 

But we are sort of a distinct community here, as I keep being reminded. I was talking with my carpool partner, whose rescue Italian greyhound-doodle thing is very fear aggressive, especially towards big dogs. She has been taking her dog to the neighborhood park, which is not a real dog park but is basically used as one by local residents. She has been having some good luck making progress introducing him to calm dogs that give him space there.

 

Anyway, she was there one night and it had all gone really well, re-meeting some dogs her dog (Bogie) seemed to be fine with. She decided to leave on a good note. But as she was leaving, someone entered the park with a small dog and a newfie, both off lead and charging around. The small dog ran over to Bogie as she was calling to the owner, "he's not friendly!!", but before she could do anything the other dog got right into it with Bogie. Then the newfie came up behind them both and apparently Bogie about had a stroke. She had no choice but to pick him up, while he was having a total reaction, and leave knowing that probably several weeks worth of good work had been undone.

 

I said, "Man, that sucks!! Those people should never let their dog off leash if they can't control them!"

 

Her response was, "well, it's really Bogie's problem, I mean those dogs were friendly." I disagreed and noted how even though Odin is the friendliest dog on earth, I don't let him run up to any other dog without express permission from the owner, and he has to get permission from me. She said, "I just don't think many people think like you, or have the control over their dogs you have over Odin". Now, I'm certainly no great trainer, so this idea is just sad to me. She then returned to the idea that she felt that her dog was the "messed up" one and that it was her responsibility. Now, while I agree it is her job to protect him, she was trying. And I pointed out to her that those dogs, as "friendly" as they seem to humans, could have been running up to Bogie shouting the equivalent of "You little punk, I'm gonna get you!" or similar in dog language, which she had never considered.

 

One time Odin was off leash and a person stopped to chat - he had a Jack Russell. Odin laid down at my feet like he's supposed to but the man started talking cutesy to Odin and Odin took this as an invitation to come over. The JR lost it, and so did I. The man was apologizing profusely to me as I ran over, snapped on Odin's lead, and was very stern with him. I said, don't YOU worry about it, my guy deserved that, I'm sorry he came up to you. The man just looked at me and said, "that's a weird attitude. You have the nice dog." RULES, people.

[mbc1963]

My dog is often dog-reactive (though he did meet a new dog and have an excellent play session yesterday... yay!). If I'm in the woods and other people are approaching with dogs, I always leash Buddy. He's got excellent recall, about as close to 100% as any dog I've seen, and I've never been unable to leash him before a dog-dog interaction.

I always call out, "My dog is a grouch!" Most people are very nice, leash their dogs also, and curve around us to allow no interaction, or follow my lead and allow the dogs to meet with some air space, which usually calms Buddy down and sometimes gets him curious enough to want to be friends.

 

But for the sake of everyone in my position, I have to point out that leashing the reactive dog doesn't necessarily prevent the bad interaction.

 

My dog will never, NEVER approach another dog abruptly. If he's off-leash and the other dog is calm or on-leash, Buddy will do a big, curving arc to meet politely or not meet at all. He would just rather avoid a potential snark-fest than have the fun of meeting another dog. It's in his nature. When we're walking, there is truly no danger of his charging up to other dogs and starting fights. The danger comes from other dogs charging up to Buddy and getting all up in his grill, as it were.

 

Snapping a leash on Buddy doesn't make him safer for the dogs of clueless owners who allow their "friendly" dogs to charge at mine. In fact, all it does is make him more tense, and put me smack-dab in the middle of a potential dog fight. And, last May, it earned me 3 stitches and 3 hours in the ER. Yes, I can usually pull Buddy back if he gets snarky, but I can also get him tangled and hog-tied in his leash, which allows the other dog to terrify him absolutely. (Happened one day when a neighbor's dog escaped. Poor Buddy was literally tied up and crying in fear as the other dog took him down.)

 

So, yes, reactive dog owners should be aware and take precautions to protect other dogs. Definitely, if their dogs are aggressive (meaning they'll approach other dogs to start fights), they should be leashed in dog areas. On the flip side, though, "friendly" dog owners need to be aware that their dogs can cause big trouble for other owners who are being responsible. Too often, I meet "friendly" dogs who are really just uncontrollable and harassing!

 

Here's the numan analogy: Letting your big, goofy, clueless lab charge at my reactive BC is like letting your overgrown, uncoordinated, happy-but-slow 6th grader to run at other, smaller, grouchier children on the playground and hug them, knock them over, and kiss them sloppily. No one wants that.

 

Mary

[juliepoudrier]

Mary,

I don't think friendly dogs get a free pass when it comes to leashing or control. I wish *everyone* would either leash their dogs or have them under excellent voice control, whether they're friendly or not. My dogs are generally friendly, but I absolutely do not allow them to run up to strange dogs, friendly or not. I don't appreciate other people letting their dogs run up to mine, friendly or not. Frankly, while I generally tolerate my own dogs jumping on me, I don't necessarily want someone else's big, goofy (or little goofy) friendly dog jumping all over *me or my dogs.*

 

Some dogs certainly are more aggressive when leashed because they feel trapped. I understand that, but many people don't. But for folks who own such dogs, it's their responsibility to have voice control over those dogs. I know you can't control with other people's dogs do, but in the case of the OP, ISTM that the owner of the aggressive dog could have done Izzy's dad the courtesy of leashing her own dog to prevent any unwanted interactions in the reverse direction. (That is, her dog choosing to greet Izzy's dad's dogs. She had no way of knowing if by putting his dogs on leash, Izzy's Dad was putting his dogs in a position to be more reactive, so the polite thing to do would have been to leash her own dog and prevent any unwanted interaction in either direction.) In other words, it should never be incumbent upon the *other person* to be the one to get control of his/her dogs. *Both* owners should do it. IMO.

 

In my Pollyanna world, owners would have their dogs under complete control and would allow them to meet other people's dogs *only after* both humans had agreed to do so.

 

J.

[mbc1963]

In other words, it should never be incumbent upon the *other person* to be the one to get control of his/her dogs. *Both* owners should do it. IMO.

 

Oh, I absolutely agree! It's as much my fault as anyone else's if I don't leash my reactive dog. However, once I've leashed him, it's up to the other owners to control their dogs, as well... because I can't guarantee anything. In certain parks, I meet owners who are clued in to this; in others, I meet owners who seem to think that their dog's friendliness makes everyone else at fault if there's a bad interaction.

 

I agree with Izzysdad that the owner he met was nutty. Letting a reactive dog go ahead and meet any dog - leashed or unleashed - is just irresponsible.

 

Mary

[desertranger]

It been my experience that know matter what happens from the other dog owners point of view you're at fault. I go to great lengths to make sure Jin meets other dog under controlled conditions since I know he can get be reactive on a lead. The problem is (this happened a couple of weeks ago) he was attacked by a English Bull dog while off lead in a dog park. I snapped his lead on and Jin turned furious. All of this while I was trying to get he other dog off and Jin away from there. After I got the Jin out of the dog park I called the cops and refused to let the owner of the bull dog leave until the got there. He was cited for an out of control dog in a public place. After all was over he threatened to take me to court. I pointed out Jins SD vest and said your lucky you're not in jail. Attacking an SD is a felony. At that point another he made a more serious threat to which I responded, "Your dog ever attacks mine again I'll cut it apart with a knife". (Hikers Basic 4 tools aways in my pocket is a razor sharp climbers knife.) That stopped it. He turned white saying to me "You wouldn't dare" I just said "Try me."

 

Jin has been attackied any number of times, you can read about it all over the forum. After the last attack I decided to become extremely active in preventing this. Most people won't kill and animal much less a dog. I grew up on a farm where we slaughtered our food and did some hunting. Your dog comes after Jin *extreme anger" Try me.

[Laurie S.]

I've been wondering what is the best thing for me to carry in case a dog, or more, come after Cheyenne when I'm walking her. Would pepper spray or mace be my best alternative? When I walked her the other day three dogs behind a chainlink fence came running up at her viciously. Fortunately, it was a tall fence but what if they got out? I need something.

[Anda]

It been my experience that know matter what happens from the other dog owners point of view you're at fault. I go to great lengths to make sure Jin meets other dog under controlled conditions since I know he can get be reactive on a lead. The problem is (this happened a couple of weeks ago) he was attacked by a English Bull dog while off lead in a dog park. I snapped his lead on and Jin turned furious. All of this while I was trying to get he other dog off and Jin away from there. After I got the Jin out of the dog park I called the cops and refused to let the owner of the bull dog leave until the got there. He was cited for an out of control dog in a public place. After all was over he threatened to take me to court. I pointed out Jins SD vest and said your lucky you're not in jail. Attacking an SD is a felony. At that point another he made a more serious threat to which I responded, "Your dog ever attacks mine again I'll cut it apart with a knife". (Hikers Basic 4 tools aways in my pocket is a razor sharp climbers knife.) That stopped it. He turned white saying to me "You wouldn't dare" I just said "Try me."

 

Jin has been attackied any number of times, you can read about it all over the forum. After the last attack I decided to become extremely active in preventing this. Most people won't kill and animal much less a dog. I grew up on a farm where we slaughtered our food and did some hunting. Your dog comes after Jin *extreme anger" Try me.

 

OMG - talk about overreacting !!! What is this, Rambo III ?!

[Maralynn]

It been my experience that know matter what happens from the other dog owners point of view you're at fault. I go to great lengths to make sure Jin meets other dog under controlled conditions since I know he can get be reactive on a lead. The problem is (this happened a couple of weeks ago) he was attacked by a English Bull dog while off lead in a dog park. I snapped his lead on and Jin turned furious. All of this while I was trying to get he other dog off and Jin away from there. After I got the Jin out of the dog park I called the cops and refused to let the owner of the bull dog leave until the got there. He was cited for an out of control dog in a public place. After all was over he threatened to take me to court. I pointed out Jins SD vest and said your lucky you're not in jail. Attacking an SD is a felony. At that point another he made a more serious threat to which I responded, "Your dog ever attacks mine again I'll cut it apart with a knife". (Hikers Basic 4 tools aways in my pocket is a razor sharp climbers knife.) That stopped it. He turned white saying to me "You wouldn't dare" I just said "Try me."

 

Jin has been attackied any number of times, you can read about it all over the forum. After the last attack I decided to become extremely active in preventing this. Most people won't kill and animal much less a dog. I grew up on a farm where we slaughtered our food and did some hunting. Your dog comes after Jin *extreme anger" Try me.

 

So you have a SD in training that has been attacked numerous times by other dogs and you still take him to a dog park????

 

If you really want to be proactive about this, you'll keep him out of the dog park!!! Even if he's in the dog park, how do you expect him to work (wearing the vest = working) or learn in that type on an environment? I see no reason why a working service dog would/should be loose in a dog park.

 

Where's the head bang when I need it?!?

[Izzysdad]

^^^Why don't we have the head bang emoticon here?

 

Maybe he goes to more than one dog park?

 

Tim

[Brad]

I'm curious, as we see a lot of these types of threads. When we talk about attacks on our dogs, are we talking about a fight that is causing punctures and physical damage, or is this a bunch of posturing and maybe some tufts of fur flying? I ask, because in my part of the world, we don't have dog parks as described here. We have dog friendly areas in our local parks (these are large forested parks/lakes). We also have fenced in school yards where dog owners congragate. Mostly, you go to these places and there are a dozen dogs running loose, playing in the lake, etc, and it's infered that they are all friendly and welcome playmates.

So I will let my two join in for a few minutes (this one beach is a starting point for a run around the lake) and sometimes there is some posturing, and pushing, but I have never seen a real dog fight. I equate this behaviour to a bunch of teenagers puffing their chests, perhaps an occaisional shove, but nobody ever takes a swing. Any scuffles sometimes get loud and scary for a few seconds, but all handlers are present and move in quickly with a shout, or whatever. The pack then resumes the play, chasing, etc.

 

So I'm just trying to understand, when some of us are threatening to tackle/jump on/ main or shoot other's dogs, what kind of altercation are we talking about here? I'm describing a scenario, of course, where all the dogs are non reactive, and just exhibiting what I consider normal dog behaviour.

[Samsonsworld]

I've always avoided dog parks and now I know why. We've had ours up around schools many times (after hours) where there is a ton of room to run and no other dogs in site. The funny thing is, when they are in work mode, they don't even notice people or cars...but other animals.....different story. Not sure what sets them off? I keep an eye open and latch on if I see one.

 

I thought it was funny the neighbors jack russel terrier finally made it under my fence. They would bark and growl and scratch and make you think they would rip each others throats out if they could but when she made it into my yard they met nose-to-nose and started wagging their tails. Who knows????

[Anda]

I'm curious, as we see a lot of these types of threads. When we talk about attacks on our dogs, are we talking about a fight that is causing punctures and physical damage, or is this a bunch of posturing and maybe some tufts of fur flying? I ask, because in my part of the world, we don't have dog parks as described here. We have dog friendly areas in our local parks (these are large forested parks/lakes). We also have fenced in school yards where dog owners congragate. Mostly, you go to these places and there are a dozen dogs running loose, playing in the lake, etc, and it's infered that they are all friendly and welcome playmates.

So I will let my two join in for a few minutes (this one beach is a starting point for a run around the lake) and sometimes there is some posturing, and pushing, but I have never seen a real dog fight. I equate this behaviour to a bunch of teenagers puffing their chests, perhaps an occaisional shove, but nobody ever takes a swing. Any scuffles sometimes get loud and scary for a few seconds, but all handlers are present and move in quickly with a shout, or whatever. The pack then resumes the play, chasing, etc.

 

So I'm just trying to understand, when some of us are threatening to tackle/jump on/ main or shoot other's dogs, what kind of altercation are we talking about here? I'm describing a scenario, of course, where all the dogs are non reactive, and just exhibiting what I consider normal dog behaviour.

 

Brad - You described to the T the type of "dog parks" I go to here in Colorado. There are also other dog parks, the type that is a small fenced enclosure where dozens of hyped up dogs run around and those are indeed accidents waiting to happen.

 

On the big open space type of parks, if you notice a bit of tension between two dogs, you can easily call them off and that's it, end of story, throw the ball in the other side of the pond. The dogs have enough space to move in another area of the park if they want to.

 

Not sure what kind of park Desert Ranger attends, but with a reactive dog like Jin appears to be, he shouldn't be attending any dog parks, period. Especially after a few incidents when he was attacked by other dogs.

 

If my dog would be reactive to other dogs, for certainly I wouldn't take him out where other dogs are running off leash, for their sake and my dog's sake.

[desertranger]

OMG - talk about overreacting !!! What is this, Rambo III ?!

 

 

^^^Why don't we have the head bang emoticon here?

 

Maybe he goes to more than one dog park?

 

Tim

Dog parks here run about an acre in size. I go to several different ones. If there are more than 10 dogs there I don't go. If more dogs come in I leave. At my trainers advice I take Jin about once a month to a dog park for half an hour after his regular morning walk to get him to concentrate on training with other dogs as distractions. That is exactly what we were doing. Up until that guys bull dog bit Jin, broken skin on Jin's shoulder, Jin was fine. Even after the dog attacked Jin tried to avoid and retreat as he's been taught. The hoorah from Jin started only after I clipped his lead on and he defended himself. Prior to that I had been kicking the bull dog to get him off.

 

Over reactive Anda? Rambo? I warned the guy off, asked him to take his dog away from Jin. He said, "That's what dogs do" and he refused.To him it was a game. I was in the process of removing Jin from the park and all this came down. I don't have problems at the sports field or on the greensward even with other known reactive dogs there. Jin just ignores them. BUT there are people as you walk around with their dogs off lead who say keep your dog away, mines unfriendly or vicious. There are even those who say nothig and just let their dog do what they want. No control period. If their dogs gets aggressive then you're at fault. Up until now I've taken the passive approach. Do a U-turn and leave. That's not always possible. If your dog is unfriendly or aggressive keep your dog on a lead. If your dog attacks another be prepared for the consequences. It may not be a PC answer or point of view but there seem to be more and more uncontrolled dogs out there than there have been in the past. I learned both as a ranger and in the military. Someone shoots at you, shoot back. That's all I'm doing. I haven't hunted in years and I abhor violence but am not above using it in defense. If I have to go to the max to protect Jin I will just as if he were my child.

 

Let me also say Jin is not aggressive and when off lead he lies down or retreats if possible. On lead is Jin is not reactive to all dogs most of the time and it's getting better) he just keeps on going. It's only if he gets snarked that he responds. However on a lead I can control that and as I said he is gettin better with time.

[Anda]

I understand your frustration with the othe dog's owner and his attitude. I was refering to the exchange of threats between the two of you, culminating with the threat to violence to the other dog and references to playing slaughter house there on the spot

[pansmom]

Dog parks here run about an acre in size. I go to several different ones. If there are more than 10 dogs there I don't go. If more dogs come in I leave. At my trainers advice I take Jin about once a month to a dog park for half an hour after his regular morning walk to get him to concentrate on training with other dogs as distractions. That is exactly what we were doing. Up until that guys bull dog bit Jin, broken skin on Jin's shoulder, Jin was fine. Even after the dog attacked Jin tried to avoid and retreat as he's been taught. The hoorah from Jin started only after I clipped his lead on and he defended himself. Prior to that I had been kicking the bull dog to get him off.

 

I totally understand your feelings here, DR, I really do - believe me, and I sympathize on that count - but even from a personal safety and Jin-defense standpoint, personally, I would think twice about getting physical with a strange dog, because as I'm sure you know it can really up the ante on any confrontation. Especially if that dog is fear aggressive toward humans. My guess with your history with dogs is you have probably seen a dog off the scales in aggression, you know, insane growling Kujo foaming at the mouth, so think about it. If for example Pan had been on the other end of getting kicked from you (not that she would've because she was NEVER off leash, even in fenced in areas, in public, once her issues presented), but hypothetically let's just say that I was dumb enough to let her off leash in public, which I suppose is humanly possible although I can't quite fathom it. So let's say I was that dumb and she was off leash in public. Well, if anyone had physically threatened her, kicked her like that, there's an honest-to-god real chance she might've leapt at their face viciously growling and possibly bitten it. (This is why toward the end she was muzzled 24/7.) And also, since she had severe redirected aggression also, she might've redirected at the nearest thing - which would've been Jin - and that's the last thing you'd want. So like, having seen what dogs can do, rather than risk interfering with a dog fight, personally I am very careful to simply extricate extricate extricate as soon as I foresee the slightest hint of a problem. Thankfully this rarely happens and thankfully I am lucky that Vala is just 28 pounds and I can easily pick her up and just walk off.

 

Also, it seems really weird to me that Jin is getting attacked so often. Do you think it is possible Jin is getting singled out for attacks? If so, do you think that it's his service vest? When Pan was wearing the big red plastic greyhound muzzle it had a tendency to freak even her friends out. My sister's dog, who loved Pan and Pan worshipped, flat out *ATTACKED* Pan the first - and last - time he saw her in that muzzle. It was very sad. Just a thought.

 

Anyway, I would like to take the vicious border collie and vicious australian cattle dog and leash aggression examples and counter Vala (friendly polite BC) meeting and playing with Fiona (friendly polite australian cattle dog mix), while on the long lead, in the field today... Her first time ever playing with another dog! They were both very polite and doing herding-type fake-outs and pounces and jumps. It was PRECIOUS and AWESOME.

[geonni banner]

First, let me say that I understand why some people don’t feel their animals are safe at dog parks. The worst thing that ever happened to my dogs from going to the dog park was an attack from a swarm of yellow-jackets and giardia.

 

My experience in dog parks has been a little different from some of those related here. I’ve had shy dogs, reactive dogs, natural, but laid-back alpha dogs, and dogs who had no interest in other dogs. I live near a very large, (40 acres?) heavily used dog park called Pt. Isabel in Richmond California. I used to go there every day, twice a day and on the weekends there could literally be hundreds of dogs there.

 

I have only seen two serious fights there. Both times with dogs that arrived together. There have been other fights of course – tiffs and squabbles. But the one constant that I see is that almost without exception, the owners get MUCH more worked up that the dogs.

 

My dog still goes there twice a week with a professional dog-walking friend of mine. She was completely un-socialized when I got her, and after a few months working on that with friend’s dogs, she graduated to Pt. Isabel, and she’s fine with all kinds of dogs now.

 

I used to take Sensei, a Rough Collie – un-neutered sable-merle – (No he never made pups) that seemed to draw a lot of posturing and attitude from other males. A GSD, also intact, jumped him once but the other dog was pulled off (after I showed the owner my pepper-spray) and frog-marched back to his car.

Neither dog sustained any injury. (I don’t consider it a fight unless both dogs are trying to do damage. One dog jumping another that is not fighting back is an attack - not a fight.) Sensei was extremely well socialized, and wasn’t bothered by much of anything. Putting him in a down stay usually caused tough-guy males to lose interest and go off looking for someone else to intimidate. I suppose because Sensei smelled like a boy he was more apt to get that kind of attention.

 

I’ve seen a few fights in various places that people tried to stop by kicking the aggressor. In my experience it always makes things worse. Even if you don’t get your foot bitten, the kicked dog is going to think the pain of the kick is the fault of the other dog, and the fight gets stepped up.

 

I think that a busy dog park is no place for a really reactive or macho dog. If they do go, they usually get over-stimulated and then there’s a problem. I think if people insist on taking these kinds of dogs to busy dog parks they should be muzzled. (The dogs, not the people. Well, maybe the people too!) This alone will usually keep people from allowing their dogs to run up – whatever their intentions. A muzzled dog is often seen as a potential hazard and so people tend to keep their dogs at a distance. A dog that has bitten – either offensively or defensively – is more likely to bite. So why not prevent it from happening from the gate? But surely there must be less provocative places one could take a dog to work on dog/ dog issues.

 

At horse shows, horses that kick traditionally have a red ribbon tied to their dock. I have long that something similar should be instituted amongst dog-owners. I just haven’t thought of precisely what – a black and yellow striped bandana? Black and yellow stripes are a widely recognized marker for “caution” situations. And how you would get the word out? Perhaps a feature in BARk Magazine might start a trend?

[desertranger]

I understand your frustration with the othe dog's owner and his attitude. I was refering to the exchange of threats between the two of you, culminating with the threat to violence to the other dog and references to playing slaughter house there on the spot

 

 

 

First as a trainer and handler of dogs for over 40 years I've broken up my share of dogfights. I also know how to prevent them, read dog body language, etc. I would prefer never to see a dog injured. However over the past few years there seem to be an increase in uncontrolled and aggressive dogs, not necessarily vicious. It's beyond what I would call a statistical normal. As a T-Ranger in a large wildlands park there were a lot of people who brought their dogs to play in the streams and ponds. In the early days there wern't any problems at all yet in my last few years there the incidence of dogs fighting and attacking people went up. During the same time period the incidence of dogs being snakebit went up. I suppose that was my introduction to uncontrolled dogs. Add to that I had my dog Bas, a SAR, dog at work with me everyday. One day a laprat bit the chief ranger at the trading post. We never knew he was afraid of dogs. The next day a new rule: No Dogs. Jump forward to an evening event and a big tough maint guy shows up to maintain a set of generators. I was on the gate and as he stopped I approached his truck. Out of nowhere exploded a laprat, specifically a yorkie, that bit me on the arm. This guy said, "Sorry, but he does that".

 

Jump forward to the dog park. "Sir would you get your dog away from mine he's bothering Jin and we're training."

 

His response, "It what dogs do" Said right after he broke up a scuffle involving his other dog and a lab and just before his bulldog attacked Jin.

 

The guy who had the yorkie that bit me was told to get off the site immediately. He refused getting belligerent telling me he had a job to do. I said, "You can either get out of that truck and surrender the dog or leave. You have 30 seconds" pulling handcuffs and spray.

 

He left after being cited. His employer was called about his guy showing up at an event site with a vicious dog and required to provide a valid rabies certificate. I got 12 stitches, a tetanus shot and was told I could no longer bring Bas on patrol despite his being a trained SAR dog, my partner.

 

The guy in the dog park got angry over his dog attacking Jin. So I got angry back. tempers flare and no apologies are due,

 

Hopefully I will never have to do more than get rough with a dog attacking Jin including kicks. But I am prepared, though I may now lack the strength, to take whatever steps necessary to ensure Jin's safety because he means too much to me.

 

When I was a kid we shot coyotes to protect the dogs and farm animals. The coyotes were only hungry. These dogs are not hungry.

 

/Soapbox

 

 

Now an apology of sorts. I've been pretty sick since last Thurs. Bronchitis with flu symptoms, says that on the doctors note. Nasty to say the least. That definitely has an effect on my writings. My publisher will not accept anything I write while sick. I now owe him 3 articles.

 

 

Love my dog. Love my dog. Love my dog. Love my dog. Love my dog. Love my dog. Love my dog.