Barbara..I have a dream or having 5 acres of land so that I could have my dogs running beside me off leash. But that's a dream for now. My dogs are always leashed when outside the confines of my property.

Phearda...OMG! I cant believe with all my experience and what I've learned and everything else I never thought of muzzling him. How stupid can I be? I will be buying one of those basket muzzles this weekend.

Thank You.

Two springs ago I took my bike down to the mailbox and then rode towards the woods in back to see if the snow was melted enough to ride horseback. As I'm riding past this house their dog comes charging out at me and scared the heck out of me. I did a dumb thing and hit the brakes and ended up falling off. I NEVER fall off my bike! I skinned up an elbow pretty bad and landed with most of my weight on one thigh. I'm on the ground and this damn dog is still coming at me snarling and barking. I'm yelling at it to "back off". The woman comes out and starts making excuses and I just told her to get her dog away from me and went home. They were not responsive to our requests to keep the dog contained so my husband took pictures of my deep thigh bruise and skinned up elbow and called animal control and the sherriff. They got a visit and guess what? They put up a fence. One of the few times I've ever been afraid of a dog. It was an UGLY dog!

I have a dear friend that was biking and a large dog raced out, grabbed his bike and crashed him ...no bite, but the friend has spent the last two plus years trying to fix the nerve damage to his hip and leg. He is in constant pain and can't even sit for more than an hour. Yeah, loose dogs suck.

One indicator of how big a problem it is, is the way people cringe when they ride their bikes past my dog and I for the first time, and the way joggers stop jogging and sometimes even cross the road to walk gingerly past us.

Usually after they've had the opportunity to see that my dog isn't interested in them, they resume their normal paces and don't hesitate to continue to do so when they see us again.

While it makes me happy that my dog can be a positive experience, it makes me feel sad that so many folks around here have had experiences that make them feel like they need to be so cautious in the first place

I was in a motorcycle accident decades ago that was caused by a loose dog running out and biting/pulling the leg of the driver.

The injuries (between us) involved metal pins (more like Frankenstein bolts), multiple fractures, multiple surgeries, big permanent scars, and more.

My niece and two nephews (all siblings) learned a valuable lesson about leashing your dogs first hand. They have a year old Basset Hound and my sister-in-law has always been adamant (and I'm sure very nagging to young ears) about the dog never going outside without a leash.

One day the kids were out playing some baseball in the yard, and they saw this little Yorkie that got out of its house. The owners were chasing it but it just kept running away. That little dog stepped out into the road to cross the street and was hit and killed instantly. The roads are windy and the dog was so small you couldn't possibly see it until it's too late. The kids all watched every minute of it. They cried for a good while. It was very sad. Luckily I was in the house helping my SIL with some things so I didn't have to witness it too.

It wasn't really the owners' fault for letting the dog out unleashed, because it just ran out the front door. But still, it just showed them that a dog can bolt out into the road at any given second.

Hard lesson learned, I guess.