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July 17, 2011

Shame on you. I hope nobody ever comes to your site for your jaded, violent advice.

Full Question:

Quoted directly from your website:

When I am out for a walk and a strange dog approaches I become aggressive towards this strange dog. If the intruder does not back off I will actually attack the other dog if he will not leave us alone. [...]

If this doesn't work I am looking for something to hit this other dog with. If I have pepper gas I will use it, even if the owner is there.

If another pet owner is so slow or so stupid that he will not take control of his dog when he sees another pet owner is upset, well they will witness the consequences of their stupidity. The way I look at it is this then becomes part of the experience they need to become a responsible pet owner. If you have to explain your actions to the police you simply tell them that you were afraid for your personal safety and that you were protecting yourself from an unleashed dog.

In your position of 'expertise' you are suggesting to new dog owners that they should quickly escalate an approaching dog (not even an attack) to an attack. I can not fully explain how happy I am that you live in a different area of the world and I will never need to meet you in person. An owner who launches an attack on my dog for approaching theirs would find themselves in a bad spot in a hurry.

I am not troll, so rather than commenting on your website, I'm sending this to you directly. I just want you to know that I disagree with your suggestion to people that it's okay to escalate an approach to an attack is irresponsible. When you say that you look for something to hit the other dog with you then become an abuser to me and should never own a dog.

Shame on you. I hope nobody ever comes to your site for your jaded, violent advice.

Thank you,
Jeff Burns

Ed's Answer:

Here is the correct way to handle dogs on a walk:

I don’t walk my dogs in locations where there are stray dogs.
When I walk my dog in strange places, they are always on leash – always – even if he has a remote collar on, he is on leash.
Read the article I wrote on “What Dog Parks are a Bad Idea.”
If another dog approaches, it’s never allowed to come close to me or my dog. Not ever.
I first warn to anther handler to get control of his dog.
If he doesn’t, then I escalate to the next level of warning his dog to back off.
If the dog ignores these, it tells me that not only does the other owner not have control of his dog but also the dog is not trained. Only dominant and aggressive dogs will come through this verbal warning.
If the dog continue, at that point I go after the dog and drive him away. As the pack leader my dog expects me to do this.
If the dog owner took offense at what was going on then he would get the same protocol that his dog just got.

Now I agree there are plenty of people (like yourself) who are clueless dog owners. That’s not my problem, it’s your problem.

Fools like you should take a look at the photos of people who were attacked trying to break up dog fights. I have them in an article on my web site.

You have a nice day.

Ed Frawley

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