I posed the idea in Will's thread, and wanted to open the discussion.

 Quote: Michael_Wise

I also wonder where the responsibility shifts from walking a known aggressive dog in public, to having friendly dogs that pose no risk to anyone walking loose in public.

What I mean is, what are the aggressive dog owner's responsibility?

Is the "law" all one has to strive for?

If there is no leash law, even though personal space respect would be the best outcome, what responsibilities does an aggressive dog owner carry for those around them?

Make sense?

Let my give you my personal example. The 2 severely dog aggressive GSD's at the end of my road. I have to give them some credit, because I VERY rarely hear or see the dogs anymore. But, by the law, their electric remote fence is enough. But this doesn't physically prevent the dogs from breaking the barrier, or other friendly dogs from going in the yard, or even getting close to the yard.

Basically, they got a hold of another small dog. A new to the neighborhood poodle. It didn't fare so well, and required surgery, but did survive slightly more educated than it was before.

So, if you have a known aggressive dog, is "the law" all you have to strive for as a responsible dog owner? Obviously it is, but I would like to hear your opinions on the moral aspect of this and not the legal definition of "in the right".

I'll start.

My opinion, you do whatever it takes for nothing and no one to get hurt. Sorry, but some of your rights are out the window, IMO.

It would be terribly frowned upon if I left a loaded shotgun laying beside the road on my property. Its on my property, you should keep your @ss off my property and leave my gun alone, right? How well would that go over in court if someone shot themselves or someone else with it?

I feel the same about those dogs. Yes, we should all keep our @sses out of your yard, but sometimes dogs and kids don't know better.

There are no right or wrong answers here, and you will not be graded at the conclusion of this post.

my mastiffs are sweeties, but if they have to stay out side they are in a double fenced run, or shorter trips left in the house

I'm responsible if they cause problems... example.. running up to neighbours herd of cows, the cows probably gonna wreck fences

what neighbour would not know is those dogs licked our calves and visited them every day

I live with an aggressive dog- Toni. She's not dog aggressive, but she'll take a chunk out of a human that sets foot on her property. She is NEVER outside without supervision, and has a PERFECT recall. If she did not have a perfect recall, she would not be loose. When Paul is outside and can't keep an eye on her, she stays in the house. We have Toni-Radar and know exactly where she is every second she is outside.

Out here in the sticks, we don't get a LOT of folks just dropping in, but it does happen. The mail-lady has a package, or someone stops for directions. I don't think they deserve to get bit just for walking up our driveway - even if they don't have permission.

Toni's recall command is HERE. She stops whatever she is doing and races to me, and is required to touch my knee with her shoulder (so I can grab the collar if I need to). If I see a jogger or biker, or another critter, I call her to me and have her stay with me until the person is gone. If someone is going to come onto the property, I take her in the house. (this is the same for Paul when he is outside as well) If we are busy with something and can't keep an eye on things, she just goes in the house - not a big deal.

If you have an aggressive dog, you need to take the responsibility that comes with it. You need to manage the dog and it's environment so that nobody (human or critter) gets hurt.(this is true when taking the dog into public as well- the dog needs to be SAFE when it is around others- if it's not safe, then it needs to stay home.) This takes a LOT of training and hyper-vigilance on your part. If you can't handle it, then you need to get a different dog. If you don't manage the dog properly, it's just a matter of time before someone or something gets hurt - IMHO.

Within the law or not, pain is pain and blood is blood. I would not be able to sleep at night knowing that my dog hurt someone or another dog because I was too lazy to watch her. I also believe in Karma, and if you cause pain, it will come back to you... in some way or another. Again, this is all just my opinion...

really good Kelly

I like commun sense but it is no so commun anymore.

When I had an aggressive dog I also had a physical fence. All of my dogs were very respectful of the barrier and never once tried to dig under or jump over the fence. I ran a hot wire around the top to keep other animals from jumping in the yard.

The animals I had in mind when I put up the wire were the coy-dogs that ran around our neighborhood, but on more than one occasion the wire prevented pet dogs from jumping into the yard too. I even caught a 10-ish year old child, looking furtive, trying to sneak into the yard too. Once.

It was very effective.

Once (10 or so years ago) when I was out walking my aggressive dog, who was walking next to my leg and on a four foot leash, we were approached by an off-leash-dog. The owner followed about 20 yard behind and I couldn't stop the resulting fight. I broke it up quickly so the injuries were minimal, but the loose dog kept coming.

The owner tried to sue for the vet bills, but because of the leash law that he ignored he ended up paying MY vet bills. After that incident, I walked my dog in a basket muzzle, but I agree with the law on this one.

As bad as I would feel about ANYBODY getting hurt, if YOU don't control your kid, dog, whatever, it's on YOU, especially if I have taken more than reasonable precautions. It is my job to manage my animals, but it is YOUR job to manage yours, not mine.