There is a woman in the village who has a Malinois, a Malamute and two jack crosses, (who has already had a complaint made against her and previous dog removed for aggression) she has them all on seperate flexi-leads, fully extended, on the pavements and latterly the fields where we go for off lead burn offs, we always go off the beaten track because I have 4 dogs, and the Pointers like to work the fields together putting up the Hares and pigeons, the Boerboels stay close to me and don't have the Pointers' need for streaking about.

The day before yesterday we set off across the first 2 fields with them all on the leads, noticed the aforementioned woman with her dogs hauling her over the stubble as usual so got a wriggle on to put some distance between us, once we had achieved this I let Bon, the female pointer off and she was minding her own business when one of the Jacks got away and tore across the fields with the Malinois and Malamute right behind it, they had yanked the flexi's out of the womans hands and in seconds had Bon surrounded, I got my other 3 to come to me and my daughter ran over to get Bon, who by this time had used the flight rather than the fight into the willows and it took a while to get her back.

We got them all back on leads and went home, irritated because the daft tart thinks it 'sweet' that her dogs are 'friendly' and has no concept of how annoying she is; when we first got Kaiser she would cross roads to bring her pack over to say hello, shouting it was ok that her dogs where barking furiously, because they don't bite! she really is as thick as they come, I have made a point of never taking my lot where she goes,
she makes a habit of getting right in front of people with her pack, bothering the snot out of them, because she thinks everyone will be super thrilled to talk to her, but after she lost the Malamute recently in another location over night, she has taken to walking the route we use.

It wasn't until we got to the front door we noticed a flap of skin on her flank was torn, and when the vet clipped the hair back, we found a sizeable bite, which needed quite a lot of stitches and of course antibiotics.

The vet nurses suggested we make a complaint and my son wants the womans head on a stick, the problem is we didn't actually see which dog bit her, because we were a distance away when it happened; Bon is a typical Pointer, she was feeling very sorry for herself yesterday, but today is back to her weird self, none the worse for it.

Apart from going another route and trying to avoid this pain in the arse, I will speak to her about it, I know where she lives, but I can't blanket blame her entire pack, and as much as she needs to get a bloody grip, I also don't want to be responsible for a dog being removed, when it is the owner that needs sorting out, this is a very small village and I could do without a feud, does anyone have any suggestions on how I should handle this?

Thanks

Hey Tracy:

You mention several instances where others have had similar run-ins with this lady and her pack too. With hometown stuff like this I always find power in numbers.

She needs a quick lesson in the social etiquette your community, as a whole, finds reasonable. What better than taking the burden solely off your shoulders and involving the community. If some folks tolerate this, you could easily be singled out as the trouble maker. I would want to be rock solid sure that this wasn’t just an issue I was having.

Having said that, the issue of chasing down your dog after the flight into the willows is a training issue on your part. I understand the flight of momentary fear but a dog under my leadership and control, one I feel confident allowing off-leash, is going to return to me.

It sounds like this is a public, off-leash area that’s frequented by many. Along the same lines of a dog park from the sounds of it. I’m a strong advocate against that type of atmosphere simply because of situations like you describe. I really don’t like dealing with these idiots and will pack up and turn around in a heartbeat of spotting them. Early mornings, late evenings if you must use this area.

But again, if she is the only one with this attitude and lacks the social etiquette to know that her dogs are being unruly, I would gather a clan of others she’s offended and politely have a discussion with them, trying to figure out the best way to approach this.

If she’s getting a consistent message from all the neighbors, much like dog training, she will have no choice but to realize she’s doing something wrong and hopefully seek out a an approach that's met with more positive results.

And don’t get me wrong, there is nothing I find more valuable than my privacy and take strong measures to ensure that my business is just that. What goes on in public areas is another story though. A little peer pressure among neighbors, for the good of the community as a whole, can be a powerful thing. No need to get the authorities involved if you don’t have to.

I’m sorry to hear about your pup, I hope she heals quickly.

Hi CJ

I take your point about the recall, since she was old enough to run out, (she is nearly 8) all I ever needed to say was 'this way' and she turns like a polo pony, I think she was totally taken on the hop, as we were, when these dogs just appeared from a couple of fields away! As I said, we deliberatley take the path least trod, because most of the dog people take their dogs for a once round the first field then clear off, (usually the same people we only see in good weather!) and we go on the old overgrown footpaths and bridleways, she got really disorientated and just panicked, I will be practicing the recall and keeping her on a long line till I feel confident about letting her off again, plus we are going to change our route.

As far as the pain in the bum goes, I will speak to all the regulars I see on the road walk tonight and see what the consensus is, something does need to be said, because while we are tolerant of badly behaved dogs, (i.e., there but for the grace of god went we when Harry was alive) the next dog that gets into it with this pack may not be so lucky, then there will be more than a large vets bill on a public holiday at stake!

I will let you know how it goes!

Thanks for your post, appreciate it.

Tracey

When Skipper got bitten, we were instructed by the Animal Control Officer to talk to everyone who uses the park and let them know what happened, so they could avoid a similar incident.

I would start by informing the woman in person, with a written note describing the incident. This way, you have told her what the vet found and let her know that her dogs (or at least one of them) is dangerous. I would give her the note describing the incident with a date on it, and keep a copy for my records. This will inform her that you are keeping a record and will have that on file if another incident happens. I would also inform her that you are going to be letting other dog owners know that her pack is dangerous, so they can take steps to protect their dogs.

Is there a professional trainer or behaviourist in the area that you can recommend? She might be willing to get help if she can see the trouble she is causing.

I would discuss the situation with as many individuals as I could on a one to one basis first, to get a sense of how others are feeling. If you start to sense a lot of frustration, you can tap into that and invite people over for a brainstorming session to see what solutions you can identify as a group. From there, you can work together to implement the solution.

Rather than making this about a single person, if you make it about a problem of adequate dog management, there might be a more public/social/policy approach that won't single out this person, but will provide guidelines or bylaws to address it.

For instance, we have a leash length bylaw. A dog is not considered on-leash and under the handler's control if the leash exceeds this length.

I think I am going to give the dog warden a call and have a chat with him too, he was instrumental in the case of the previous complaint, when the dogs were marching up to little kids on the pavement outside school, (leads fully extended of course) she is one of those ridiculously dense people who thinks everyone is amazed by her dogs, and was completely bemused by the complaint and seriously confused as to what the problem was! stoopid is as stoopid does

Am about to saddle the dogs up and go out, so will take the temperature!

Thanks
T

Yeah Tracey, the best bet is call the dog warden - police won't take reports anymore. The other thing would be to find where she lives and write her a letter saying that if she doesn't start keeping all dogs on normal non-extendable leads - then you will report her (don't say that you already did). Also think about going around and presenting her with your vet bill.

Definitely call animal control. Since you don't know which dog did the damage, they probably won't do anything to any of her dogs, but they will verify all the dogs are up to date on rabies and licenses, and they will give her a warning about her dogs. It also means there is an official record of the incident, which will make it easier to force her to pay the vet bills, which I would do. I find with people like this they have an amazing ability to smarten up when you hit them where it hurts, the wallet.

You might also consider carrying something like pepper spray if it's legal in your area. I used to walk my dogs in an area with quite a few loose dogs, it was one of those situations where it didn't matter which direction I went, I was probably going to run into one. It works well as a deterrant, and doesn't cause any long term damage, you just have to be careful about wind and where you are standing when you spray. But frankly if her entire pack was attacking one of my dogs, I'd spray all of them and worry about bathing my dog later, if that's what it takes to get them off and save my dogs life.