Watch out for invisible fences!! We were attacked by a neighbor's french bulldog during our daily walk. That dog charged us constantly, but would stop at the boundary. This gave us a false sense of security, because one random day he just kept on coming. It happened so quickly I had little time to respond. Our neighbor came outside to find me kicking the crap out of his dog in order to keep him from getting to our 12 month old GSD. Thank goodness she had the sense to stay behind me.
He gave me some excuse about his fence not working-but honestly the rest is a blur. I have no idea what I said to him, but I'm sure it wasn't very ladylike.
I found myself becoming increasingly nervous passing that house. I was afraid my pup would pick up on this, so I went out and purchased some pepper spray. This makes me "feel" more confident, not sure if it would actually stop an attack.

I know this doesn't really fit, but for some reason Anne your post made me think of this. The other day we are having lunch on a dog friendly restaurant patio, and Tanka is sitting/laying down at the end of the table between us. A lady comes out and she says, "I would really like to pet him, but is he mean, because I always thought they were all mean." Now I'm trying to help dispel the myth about rotties, but my first thought was to say, "Oh yes, he's ferocious, that's why we let him sit on a restaurant patio with us! Duh!" Geez.

Tracey when you said screaming pack of jacks I had to scroll up to check if we lived in the same city, we do not, but I also have the same thing here.

Glad to see im not alone, well not glad but you know what I mean...Also glad Im not the only one blessed with incredibly dog friendly, tolerate being attacked friendly, but do not want to be distirbed, annoyed, attacked etc....as well Aurora has a vaginal infection and does not appreciate being sniffed there as it really hurts her, oooh maybe this can be my new excuse!! Genius!!! Make them feel like a tool rather than like Im just a bitter old bag! Not true, if people ask and their dogs friendly I will allow it sometimes.

I think that the invisible fences are a joke. Give most dogs enough of an incentive & they will run thru it. Then you have a dog on the loose...'cause there is NO WAY that they are going to breach it again to go back into their yard.

The particular brand of twit I encountered recently with the foul screaming child was so incapable of ‘getting’ my body language, and was so preoccupied with beaming at his brat, he wouldn’t have recognised anything less than me booming ‘NO! DO NOT TOUCH THE DOG!’ which I found was most effective!

Fortunately, he and the aforementioned brat were so stunned; they stood frozen to the spot.

What pisses me off, is that if Kaiser had freaked out and lunged, he would for sure have sent the kid flying, and I would have had plod on the door step for owning an out of control dog.

I think there should be some breed specific legislation brought in for out of control children, and the moronic parents that own them!

Parents and owners. Ugh! I feel strange saying that considering I am both There are things that are easily tollerated- like the small, autistic boy that went from walking past me to hugging Tanner in a nanosecond. With all of T's crazy fear issues, kids are his one absolute joy. He plopped his but down and wouldn't move aside from the thumping Lab tail. Scared the pants off his profusely apologizing parents but we chatted for another 5 minutes or so after they saw how much both of them were enjoying the time together. Kids who try to grab my dogs and SHOULD know their boundaries with their half amused idot parents bug me terribly.

Edited by Amy VandeWeerd (02/19/2013 12:28 PM)
Edit reason: sp

dont even get me started on children, dont have em never want em! Its great for people who want em just not my cup of tea, if i can control my dogs and aren't letting them harass people who may be afraid or dont like dogs pls control your child b/c not everyone appreciates children harassing them in a public place!

And pls dont let your barely walking child half crawl half waddle halfway across a huge park and come right up to my dogs while you stay exactly where you are watching this all take place. I let baby come that close b/c I know my dogs wouldn't do anything and out of curiousity wanted to see how long it would take, how close baby would get before these parents of the year would get up to come grab their child. Answer: they didn't, I had to ask them if they were going to come get their baby?...I coulda grabbed it and ranaway too for heaven sakes, thats how far they were away!! Soo crazy!!!

 Quote: Cat Richter

I would never call the police unless a dog was agressive, and even then they will usually just take off by the time they get there.

Even if they can't catch that particular idiot the police presence gets noted by people. The officer responding will stick around and write a few citations if they've got some initiative and time. The increased volume of reports also gets noted. Eventually they may decide to have an "enforcement day" where a few officers get to walk around handing out citations to all off-leash or unlicensed dogs. It's happened before in areas where off-leash dogs have been an issue.

Nothing short of their dog dying stops most of these idiots but they do at least tend to avoid areas that have had the leash law enforced recently. My local law provides exceptions for some types of training but all other dogs are to be carrying a license and be on a leash not longer than 6 feet.

About getting flustered: It happens to everybody. You may need to practice in front of a mirror firmly telling someone to control their dog. It's best to figure out a specific phrase or warning that you like. Say it until you feel really comfortable and get someone to evaluate if your tone and posture communicate that you mean it. If you have a friend/family member in law enforcement they would be the one to ask.

Unfortunetly, its rarely the police who respond here, unless a person is being attacked. It is bylaw or animal control.

Cathy thanks for the advice, I will definitely try that. Just pick a good phrase and say it with confidence

Cat, it doesn't take a booming voice. I had two Border terriers and JRT out for a walk in the park. All on 6' leads.
Some "lady" cam along with some sort of fuzzy little dog on a flexi-lead. As she was coming towards us I asked her nicely to reel in her dog. Famous answer of course. (Oh, he just wants to meet your dogs. She allowed the fuzzy little dog to walk up to my JRT (wrong dog) and stick it's nose up his butt. My JRT went ballistic and she started screaming and hollering at me about my nasty dogs.
I calmly asked her how she would like it if I walked up to her and stuck my nose up her butt.
She left in a hurry. Go figure!