I am extremely annoyed with my neighbors. Last night I had my GSD, Aries, pull me on rollerblades for his evening exercise. When I am time constrained, I find it is a quicker way to give him a workout.

This time many of my neighbors were being idiotic. First there was a dog around 70 lbs unleashed being supervised by 5 siblings, the oldest 7, the youngest 2-3. They were running through a line of 5 front yards; their house as one of them. I was on a perpendicular street so I couldn't have seen them and turned around before the other dog spotting us. It flips and starts charging us. I jump into the nearest yard so that I have better leverage to control the situation on wheels. I am BARELY able to keep this dog at bay with deep commanding tone and body language. I tell the kids to get their dog now because I was only able to keep the dogs at a stalemate and didn't want to let loose the pepper spray with children nearby. It wouldn't have hit them directly, but it carries a bit in the breeze. The children were afraid to approach their OWN dog while it was acting that way. I think of letting my 7 year old in the front yard with Aries unsupervised and shudder at the thought of her trying to keep him from attacking another dog by herself! Finally the 7 year old carefully inches up to her dog and grabs it. The dogs turns and snaps at her before finally letting her lead it away. I follow them a safe distance behind to have them bring out their mother to metaphorically "rip her a new one".

I roll away thinking problem solved and averted. Seriously, the very NEXT block there is a maltipoo and pomeranian sniffing around the front yard of a house that is 4 houses away from there own and NO ONE in sight. I know 4 houses away because that's where the poor thing ran after I sprayed it. Their garage was open and I think there was a doggie door on the door leading to the garage because the maltipoo ran into the garage and was gone for a minute then ran back out with a teenage girl that had apparently been in her house.

Anyways, I do the jump into the nearest yard for leverage routine and try to scare it off. It doesn't doesn't even break stride in it's charge, so I pepper spray it. It runs home and the teenage girl comes out like I said, so I give her a brief but stern lecture on yes, I pepper sprayed the dog and this is the reason for leash laws and I saved her dogs life. Had I allowed her dog to get to mine it would have been over quickly.

Am I supposed to tell my dog to lay down, it won't eat much!? Just because a dog is small and probably won't win a fight, it's alright to pick a fight!? This irks me to my core. People with aggressive small dogs, but they don't have to control them because they are small.

So I leave the area thinking I should have been able to stop that dog in it's tracks with the amount of distance I had to start my routine. Usually from about the distance of "across the street" and farther I can get a dog into a rethink the situation mode. Most of the time, from a certain distance, I can effectively show them that they will be met with resistance..beware.. and I can see them rethink whether or not they want to pursue the situation. Alternately, if they are a certain distance close, they are not able to be swayed and my only option is to "win", and keep them away from my dog. For me winning is pepper spray. But I HATE using it.
I should have been capable of keeping this dog away with my voice and body language. So I couldn't help but wonder if I am not as effective a deterrent on rollerblades?

I can't help but to feel quite resentful of the possibility the advice I receive being "just don't take your dog rollerblading". I enjoy it a ton, and it's a good way to exercise Aries well in a small amount of time. If I drive elsewhere to do it, the driving to that other place takes time which renders it obsolete for when I am in a time pinch, which is often with a new baby. (baby definitely does not go rollerblading with me fyi) I highly doubt I need to worry about encountering these specific dogs off leash ever again, but I'd rather not pepper spray a good portion of the neighborhood because dogs aren't intimidated by me on wheels. On the other hand, better pepper spray than a hammer.

Nicole, you cannot imagine, how much I understand your awful situation. I myself do not roller blade (74 years), but nevertheless I could add a whole novel to similar happenings. I don't have pepperspray and no weapon (not allowed here). People here are very often angry because of the many strays here (which by the way they produce themselves - no castration etc).

But the strays normally are used to other dogs and are not territorial, so they might be curious, they might also chase a bycicle, moto or I guess a roller bladler,( we don't have here because of the awful streets full of holes), they bark, but don't attack. At least within 5 years I´ve never experienced this.

But ~yes - there are quite a lot of owners who don't care in the least about what their dogs are doing. I had recently an attack from a bulldog who lives behind a sloppily constructed barricade. He always behaves like mad when I pass there with one of my dogs (always on a leash). He succeeded to break through and attacked my Lab-Mix.
I yelled at him and fortunately the owner was nearby and came running to hold his dog back. Mostly he is not there, as the house is in construction, only the dog lives there alone and is of course frustrated, when someone passes by.

I don't know, what would have had happened, if one of my Pits had been with me. They don´t attack humans nor other dogs outside their territory or when we are nearby. But in a situation of self defense?????

I then shouted at the owner, if he was crazy for being so extremly careless and leaving a really aggressive dog behind such a ridiculous fence. He ownly shrugged his shoulders and said, that such things can always happen.

I could continue with such examples. They want to have what they call a protection dog, but don't care that such a dog should be safely locked away.

Now, I already know that some webboard users cannot imagine how negligent some owners can be and would recommend you to avoid this road. In my case, I could do this, yes, easily. I would simply have to turn into the next road and would have to pass by a house, where the next sloppy idiot doesn't care, what his "protection"dog does.

I'm so sorry, I cannot really give you an advise, if you live in such a region as I. Safest way - stay at home! Crazy. I'd never imprison myself and my dogs.

I threatened those people I'd call the police next time. Perhaps in your country exists something like that. Here not. More exactly: they don't engage enough policemen, so the whole thing is worth nothing at all.

IMO, you don't need to feel resentful for roller blading. If you have the possibility to impeach such owners, do it for heaven's sake. they don't learn anything at all, if they don't get a clear and tough answer from above.

Don't hesitate to use your pepperspray!

I have taken to carrying my smart phone with me in case that I need to document roaming dogs behavior, that wouldn't help though unless you had a gopro strapped on though.

I have taken to carrying my smart phone with me in case that I need to document roaming dogs behavior, that wouldn't help though unless you had a gopro strapped on though.

Thanks for the warm heart Christina! Sorry for your problems. In my case I can almost always scare away dogs of all sizes without having to resort to pepper spray, including a rather aggressive bull mastiff that escapes his yard and menaces my neighborhood regularly. Of course the first time I encountered him Aries was a 4 MO old pup and I did have to use pepper spray. I'm thinking he remembers me because all I have to do now is tell him to get back!
I'm more complaining because it seems that when I am on wheels, I am more reliant on the pepper spray. Like dogs aren't as afraid of me. Luckily Aries knows the drill so he stands by my side or just behind me while I do my thing. His hackles are up and he's ready to go if I need him but he won't lunge or move to the other dog. As far as he's concerned I am the badest cat around and trusts me to handle the situation. He is a super strong dog so if he wasn't trained to me the way he is I wouldn't be able to scare any dogs away because all of my effort and attention would be on keeping my dog under control.

Document to turn in to animal control Kristin? I am a bit hesitant to turn them in because, like I said, I really doubt I will be seeing those same dogs again. My daughter's coydog found a way through our backyard fence once by using our next door neighbor's brick retaining wall that's under their fence as a step to jump OUR fence. Now we know she is not to be trusted to respect barriers and she is smart enough to figure a way around them so she isn't allowed unsupervised. But there was a learning curve that I am grateful my neighbors gave me. If I continue to have problems with those dogs I will alert the authorities. Thanks for the advice! What's a go pro by the way?

If you could rollerblade with a stock stick, which I'm certain you can buy in Texas, that might be your answer. 6 ft long, light weight poly, nice handle. Stiff, not whippy.

You can keep other dogs away pretty well with a stock stick.

A stock stick? Interesting. I will have to look that up!

Also called a "sorting stick".

 Quote: Betty Landercasp

If you could rollerblade with a stock stick, which I'm certain you can buy in Texas, that might be your answer. 6 ft long, light weight poly, nice handle. Stiff, not whippy.

You can keep other dogs away pretty well with a stock stick.

I will try it with a stock stick too, if I can find something like that here. Not to beat or injure the other dog, but to scare him away. Or in the case he is human aggressive, there is a good chance, that he-d bit in that stick, not in you arm.

I intended to buy a taser, but this is forbidden her too. a prerogative of the police or of some big firms.