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!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Jane, I am in awe of your training style and I totally get it about Murphy. It makes me so mad when we have to leave because someone doesn't have their dog leashed.

[Janice Jones]

I am in total agreement with your sentiments Laurie. Yesterday my husband was walking with our dog on leash (2 poop bags in his jacket pocket......yep, our guy is a two poop sort of guy) in the neighborhood when a front door opened and out rushed a large German Shepard and large Labrador running across a busy road. They attempted to get to our dog but my husband step in front and yelled at them very loudly. The owner rush over, got hold of her dogs and apologized. My husband got home a little unsettled because he thought he used a "bad word" when shouting at the dogs and thought he should go back and make an apology to the woman. You don't want to hear what my response was...in fact I wanted to know which house so I could go and give her a piece of my mind!!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

LOL about your husband. I bet I would have said more than ONE bad word. So glad your dog was safe.

[DonMarie and Picco]

I'm off leash when out hiking and I hike with other dogs/owners that are familiar with the area. We don't let them off till we are well enough from the trailhead and on public lands. If another hiker (with or without dogs) comes by, we round up our dogs till we know the situation.  I will go off leash at certain parks to play ball and keep my eyes open for other dogs and this is until we finally get our dog park! Which we are excited about....we just got approval....yipee!!!

[Barbara B., Sasha & Oliver]

I totally agree with you Laurie, I never let my doodles off leash unless they are in a fenced in safe area.  I don't trust their recall and I want them to be safe at all times.   But some people think they are above the law which is sad.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Thanks, Barbara.

[Joanna, Zoe & Bender]

this whole subject gets me riled up!  If people want to hike or walk with their dogs off leash (as i do with Zoe sometimes), they should still always always always call them back and put them on a leash if they see another dog walking by!!!  its like dog walking etiquette!  I've run across some owners that do this and it is SO MUCH appreciated.

I hate it when people have dogs approach Ben, the he growls and barks at them, then those stupid owners look at me like "WTF is wrong with your dog".  

 

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Oh yeah, it is always our dog's fault and they are leashed. Makes me so mad.

[Gail and Bailey]

Bailey is never off leash unless we are at a friend's backyard or the dog park.  However...I love our retractable leash for my neighborhood which is remote and in the woods.  We do not have a fenced yard so Bailey gets to roam at the end of a 16 foot leash and sniff to her heart's content as I walk the streets and we never run into anyone!  IMHO retractable leashes have their place.  I totally agree with the rant about dogs off leash as my brother's schnauzer was killed by a pit bull who ran out of a house and attacked him! 

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

I am so sorry about your brother's dog. How awful! I sometimes use a 20 foot lead in our field. Vern is such a strong dog, a retractable leash would never hold him if he bolted.

[Stella]

Laurie, I totally agree. I have one super friendly dood and one who is very reactive. I'm yelling at them to call their dog, they're doing the usual 'he's friendly', I'm yelling back 'mine isn't'. I have worked so hard with Chase to improve his behaviour around other dogs (he is fearful), and I don't want all of that ruined by some idiot who is breaking the law letting their dog run loose. My two feed off each other so I have one bouncing and lunging because he wants to meet and play, and the other lunging and growling - not a good combination and they are looking at me thinking I can't control my dogs. It makes me soo mad. I have just moved house and a lot of people let their dogs roam outside unattended. I makes walking my two quite difficult at times, because I often have to turn around and go home because their is a loose dog out on the road. As Karen said, if their loose unattended dog comes up to mine and mine bites him, it is me and my dog that will be in trouble, even though we were walking on leash and minding our own business.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Stella, Your two dogs sound like mine and the feeding off each other is spot on. The wrong dog approaches them and we are all in trouble. Stay safe!