Rant Time! Leash your dog!!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Yesterday, I went to the park with my two dogs and had just gotten out of our car and making our way down to where we walk and I spotted a woman with a dog. As we walked forward, I could see the dog was not on a leash and it began to approach us.  I told the woman to get her dog as my dogs were not friendly (my standard response in this situation) and of course, she continued to call the dog and the dog wouldn't listen. I am so fed up with people walking their dogs off leash, I could scream. In almost all of the dogs we have encountered off leash, their owners had absolutely no control over them. My favorite thing of all is when the owner yells, "Don't worry, he or she is friendly!" As far as I am concerned, I don't care if your dog is a good will ambassador for the world, put it on a leash. We have leash laws in our state and they apply to everyone!

Vern would probably be fine, but Fudge is not fine and especially not on a leash. Many dogs are leash aggressive and won't care if your dog is friendly as it approaches. I also don't know if your dog has parasites, etc. and I don't want it near my dogs. Once, I turned a corner and coming up the path was an unleashed dog and the owner was a good quarter mile down the road.  The dog would not listen and she apologized profusely and I stated emphatically that her dog should be on a leash and I still see her wandering about with her dog unleashed. Another time I saw a woman with young children and an unleashed dog let her young daughter walk the dog all about the park, across the road, with no leash in hand, and far enough away from the mom that she could not see the daughter or the dog. What are these people thinking? I could go on and on with these stories about rude dog owners and every chance I get I report them to the park ranger.  Oh, and you and I both know that these are the same owners who do not pick up after their dogs, because rules do not apply to them.

Yesterday when I told the woman her dog should be leashed, she said, "oh, your dogs aren't friendly?" as if my dogs were the problem and not hers. I don't even attempt to be friendly in these situations because I have had it. Leash your dog!! It is my job to protect MY dogs and keep them from harm's way.  You are taking a huge risk to allow your dog to walk up to any dog on a leash!  My dogs made me proud yesterday. They reacted a bit initially and then calmed right down, but if that dog had been leashed our encounter could have been avoided. Rant over!

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

I've been guilty of this, but only in remote areas. My husband however, never let's Spud hike off leash.
There is more than one reason to not permit your dogs off leash and for good reason.
Are you sure your dog will not chase the deer you stumble upon? Dogs will chase for miles across roads, though woods, way far out of voice range in moments.
Where are the coyotes? Usually they hide from you and your dog, but if paths cross and a goofy doodle runs up to play, it's a disaster.
( worse yet, you could run into a crazy lady who wants to run you over with a blue van) Fox dens which harbor rabies. The list goes on.
Laurie and I both had experiences where our dogs decided to run out on to an unsafe, half frozen lake this winter.

I agree it's fun, and I love to walk with my dog this way, but the possible disasters are endless

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

I would love to walk my dogs off leash if their recall was 100% all the time, in all situations. I have never encountered one dog at our park that meets these qualifications. This same park has signs posted that say "Dogs must be leashed at all time" and also "Pick up after your dogs." I can't tell you how much poop I saw yesterday ON THE ROAD. Lazy owners make me furious because someday, they are going to ban dogs completely from our park because of the mess their lazy owners leave behind. Second rant over....not directed at you, Joanne :)

[Stephanie and Ragley]

I can sympathize with you on this. It is not the same as a park, but until very recently, dogs were allowed at our local farmers market. It is a huge outdoor market with families and live music and having everyone's dogs there truly made the culture of the market something special. But of course there were THOSE people who were irresponsible and didn't pick up after their animal or allowed them to go potty wherever they wanted or brought a dog that had zero leash manners and now the few have ruined it for the many. They banned dogs at the market. I know there are plenty of parks that are not dog friendly and I hope yours does not move in that direction.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

It is one of my biggest worries. I love that park. I am so sorry they banned dogs from your market.

[Judy, Meg & Polly Wolly Doodle]

I am in total agreement.

[Elizabeth, Bailey & Bruin]

I am guilty too!  Bailey is allowed to walk off leash with me but when I see other people, back on the leash she goes.  This only occurs when we are either in the woods or at the beach when it's not busy...

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Yes, this woman did not even bother to try and leash her dog. First of all, she couldn't catch it, but it did finally go to her car with her.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

This happens all the time when JD and I are walking in my neighborhood, and I am way far beyond being polite about it. The instant I see some unleashed dog coming towards us, I get in front of JD and use voice and hand gestures to put the fear of God into it. It works, too. JD has stopped reacting since he sees that Mom's "got this".

The last time it happened, it was two small yappers, and the owner kept shouting that they were friendly. I shouted back that I wasn't. (Since they had run across a street to get to us, I also wondered if she thinks that friendly dogs are immune to being hit by a car.)  What galls me the most about this is that if JD bit one of these dogs, or even accidentally  injured one in a reactive rage, he is the one who would be blamed and deemed "dangerous".  

I'm done allowing him to be put in that position by irresponsible, stupid dog owners. 

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Karen, I was thinking about this last night and realized the same thing about my two dogs. They calmed right down when they saw I "got this!" LOL...I was thinking earlier too that next time I am going to say "I AM NOT FRIENDLY when dogs are off leash." I could care less what they think of me.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Amen. I got scared once when two giant dogs approached us when we were on a woods path but luckily their recall was good. The only place I let my dogs off leash is at the beach for a doodle romp and only until the rangers tell us to leash them. It's a pity there but I understand. TG for my yard.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Thankfully, their recall was good. I also think with these icy conditions someone could easily get pulled down if there was an incident. Yes, I love my yard too!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

And all of the above applies to dogs who are running 20 feet ahead of their owners on retractable leashes, too.