Walking your puppy

[Patricia and Jim]

My neighbor stopped by with his collie today and my dog was so excited to see their dog although she also ran away ( on leash). The neighbor then recounted to me that their dog walked the same route I would take with Coco and it had gotten attacked by large dogs off of their leases...ended up with vet fees for stitches etc. Now he carries a spray....I am wondering if any of you have encountered this and what you do or use to protect your dog.

[Patricia and Jim]

That is leashes....

[Dori & Rua]

I'd carry a Smith & Wesson and use it on the owners of the unleashed dogs...just kidding...sort of!  Perhaps I would use the spray on the owners...I suppose that would keep me from getting locked up...and Rua wouldn't like it if I was in prison.

 

So far, no experience with that.  Does the neighbor know who's dogs they are and did he file a police report?  I think I would carry protection, for sure, and a cell phone with your local humane society programmed in.  I would probably turn and calmly walk away...no eye contact.  I would be dialing the humane society and letting them know there are loose dogs.  Hopefully you won't have to use the spray.

[Jennifer and Jack]

That happen to us last October, I was walking Jack and a dog off leash in our neighborhood attacked Jack from behind, He actually ripped out his hip socket, not hard to do on an 11 pound dog.

 

I carry pepper spray with me now, I never saw the other dog coming though so even if I would have had it I would not have had a chance to use it.  I don't know what state you live in, in SC tazer guns are actually legal. They sell them here that are part tazer and part flash light. Since the other dog was removed from the home because of his record, I have not gone any further with getting more protection, but you better believe that I would have no problem using a tazer on a dog that was going to hurt my baby. I never want to hear that blood curdling scream again.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I would drive the route you would walk and look for off-leash dogs.  If I saw them, I would call Animal Control and make it sound very urgent since your neighbor's dog had been previously attacked.  What if there were children around???

[Gayle Miller]

How  horrible!  I never would have thought about this!  I power walk 1 hour, 7 days/week in my state park and see all kinds of dogs with their owners...some wallking the owners, some owners walking their dogs! And sometimes, I'll approch someone form the opposite direction whose dog is off leash.  In every instance, it's because the dog is so well trained that just the command "come" is all it takes for the owner to have his dog by his side so he can slip on the leash until I walk by.  Your situation brings to light a whole new situation!  I will most definitely be more aware of my surroundings when I get my new puppy some time this summer!  Thanks for sharing!

[Lynda Kamrath]

I definitely prefer to have my dogs off leash for walking or biking, but waited until they would follow simple directions like come, sit, stay until they were off leash except for in the dog park.  We usually walk (and bike) on the trails at Ft. Ord and during the week usually don't run into many people out there.  Carmel Beach is an off leash beach and there are a few other beach areas around here also where you can have a dog off leash.  However, dogs are not welcome (except in the parking lot) at all state beaches.

I find it alarming that people would resort to guns, pepper spray and tasers to protect their dogs.  Of course, uncontrolled dogs should not be off leash anywhere.

[Patricia and Jim]

I understand your train of thought - and since I have a dog too - would not want anyone to pepper spray my dog either BUT in reflection of these other dogs that injured a minature collie - actually needed stitches - what would the alternative be....the owners were not around or were so far away from their dog that they DID NOT control them with any directives.  I can see both opinions.....actually the owner that has control over their dog would ensure that this would not happen in the first place.

[Joe R.]

I agree with you Patricia. My thinking is the pepper spray would be for your protection also. Lot's of people carry it to ward off human attackers. You can't be sure that if you try and pull your dog away or pull the attacking dog off, it turns and attacks you also. I've only experienced this type of situation once when I had Gus and Lily out for a walk. We had a unleashed dog start coming up behind us, but to my surprise Lily stepped between me and the other dog and let out a low growl. The other dog stopped dead in it's tracks and turned and left.

[Jennifer and Jack]

I am the least violent person ever. or so I thought I was. I could not step on an aunt without feeling bad. I am just a nut that way, however, when you love something so much as much as I love my dog, and you are just walking down the road not even facing the dog and you hear you dog let out a blood curdling scream like you have never heard before in your life, that still till this day brings tears to my eyes. I would not only tazer that dog, I would pepper spray it, and knock it out cold with my bare hands.

 

I am all for dogs being off leash if they listen, know how to come when they are called, and have generally good manners, I am not even talking great manners. However a vicious untrained dog with a history of several dog attacks is going to get all I got when it comes to protecting my dog.

 

I don't blame the dog, I blame the owner. I actually don't think the pepper spray will do a lot because by the time I got the cap off, and sprayed it jack would be hurt, When he was attacked that dog only had Jack's hip in his mouth for less then 30 seconds and did all that damage