Angelique, They're beautiful!!! I love the one in the middle.

You were probably nicer than I would have been under the same circumstances.

Regards,
Debbie

 Quote:

He got the comment he derserved.I am not a mean unkind person but to let your dog enter a danger zone and not be concerned for one second, what do you think I should have told him, " Good day!" He needed to have his eyes opened up, cause he was sleeping at the wheel!

I can see your point Angelique, but I can also see Andrew's. I think you missed an opportunity to educate an ignorant dog owner. You insulted his ability to handle his dog and then walked away. Instead you could have said "You really shouldn't let your dog run up to big dogs. I know people who have lost their dogs that way." (not really a lie 'cause we all know it's happened before) Then, instead of putting him on the defensive and probably thinking "what an uptight b----" he could be thinking "oh maybe she's right, I would hate to lose my little foofie."

Then again, maybe little foofie is his wife's dog and he's trying to snuff it out...??

Anyway, I always try to be cheerful with the idiots because I like to be a walking propaganda machine for good dog training. My rescue dog is a very friendly-looking border collie mix, but he was put into a shelter because he killed a chihuahua, and I have no hesitation about telling that to little foofie owners. It usually gets them reeling in the flexie leads and hopefully makes them think twice. <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

p.s. your dogs ARE gorgeous!

Anne ,I am not going to take time to educate a man that has been alive longer than I have, I have young children that would have reacted better than this man. I also did not yell at this man "next time it's fair game" I said it nicely.But a kiss on the cheeck is not what he was going to get.Andrew has no point , he wasn't there.My dogs have never hurt or killed a little dog or a cat for that matter.I think his dog showed more aggression than mine.
I don't want to beat to death this story but again he deserved what he got.My father is older than that man in question and HE would have done things differently.So elderly or not, he was plain careless, and I bet he drives the same.Scary. <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

And thanks for the compliment,I appreciate that <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />
Angelique

Angelique et al, this is a bit delayed but here goes.

First, I'm sure you aren't "unkind." I've read your posts and I have respect for your accomplishments, opinions, and what I can garner about your philosophy of life and dogs.

I was too harsh in my observations. Sorry. However I stand by my more general points concerning risk factors etc.

My observations had to do with how we might expect a member of the public with an untrained small dog to react in a situation as described.

My main point is that I find the consensus on this forum concerning expectations of the general public are too high. there is a bit of "preaching to the choir" on this thread.

The guy didn't recall his dog, because he knew it wouldnt come. 98% of dogs don't have a reliable recall. This is to be expected. It is normal. If one goes to a place where dogs are found off lead, this is what you'll find. I don't see any point in being frustrated by the immutable.

If I had a dog heading toward three workings lines GSDs, and it wouldn't recall, I wouldn't really know how to react. I would have been very much short of information and viewed any sort of intervention to be risky for myself, and my dog. I'm sure I would have been more attentive than this fellow on the bench, but I doubt I'd have squared off with Angelique's PSD with a little dog in the midde.

In my opinion, the "lead intervenor" would have to be the owner of the large dog, even with limited aggression shown.

There is here a philosophy espoused on this board that we are each responsible for protecting our dogs from other dogs. There is a lot to be said for this, but it has its limitations. I can tell you that when my dogs dominate other dogs, it is me, and not the owner of the submissive dog, that puts the situation in order and regulates the new pack order. The context in which I've experienced this is wilderness treks.

I would conclude by saying that there is probably less disagreement than meets the eye on this thread, and I'm sure that is pretty much all my fault. Angelique, I look forward to your future posts.

AM

PSD should have read PPD, rgds, andrew

 Quote: mike arnold

"Prey. They are looking for prey. I don't feed them. They have to find their own food."

Mr Mike, I think that phrase is brilliant, you should print it on t-shirts.

And thanks to who started this thread, it worked as some sort of online support group for me

Cheers
Mr Luis

Well this thread has gotten very off topic but I would like to share a story of mine that is related to the original poster.

I have a 70 lb male Catahoula hound that is 16 months old and starting to get dog aggressive especially toward other males. (We are working on this).

I live in a neighborhood that backs on to a large public park with 3 baseball diamonds and 4 soccer fields, lawn bowling, skating arena, etc. Lots of people walk their dogs there, and in spite of the leash law in my city, they don't use leashes.

There is one lady that lives kind of close to me that walks her dog in the park, the dog is a large male blue rough collie, and the owner does not even bring a leash with her on her walks. The first time I met this dog was before I had a fenced yard and I was taking my 16-year-old dog with cancer out for a potty break. The dog came right up into my yard, fortunately both dogs were friendly. I could hear the lady in the park, calling her collie but he was completely ignoring her. So this is my introduction to this stupid lady. I consider her the stupidest dog owner I know. Fortunately the collie is friendly.

Back to my Catahoula. I walk my dogs in the baseball diamonds in the park, because they are totally fenced in. I walk my Catahoula separately because I am trying to train him. Anyway, along comes this lady with her collie, of course no lead, and not even a plastic bag (I watched her dog take a crap in the public area of the park and she didn't even pick it up.) My dog sees the collie and starts running the fence and barking like a maniac, of course I didn't have a line on him at the time and couldn't get near him. The collie comes running over to the fence and they start running up and down the fence, the collie is being playful, my dog is just running and barking.

By the time this woman gets close, my dog is jumping up and down and frothing at the mouth (like you see in the movies when a dog is really vicious). My dog has never attacked another dog before, but he looked like he really wanted to get a hold of that collie. Keep in mind that Catahoulas are extremely rare where I live (Canada), and mine is a black and tan one that looks kind of like a dobermann crossed with pit bull. Many people who meet my dog are afraid of him just because of the way he looks (pit bulls are banned in my province).

So as this lady is coming up to my maniac dog, she says, "is he friendly?" I answer "no" but she doesn't hear me above my dog's barking. So she gets closer and says "My dog is very friendly, can he come in and play?" (I can't believe my ears. He may be friendly but my dog is foaming at the mouth and barking at her dog). I'm just like... "no, my dog will bite your dog" (now I don't know that this is actually true, but I sure as heck didn't want to find out the hard way). The lady is taken aback. She addresses my dog, "what's the matter?"

I had to turn away because I was just so incredulous at this person, also I am too "nicey nicey" to "educate" her.She walked around the baseball diamond on the outside with her dog, my dog following the whole time barking his fool head off, running up and down the fence.

Anyway that is my story about idiot pet owners, I didn't know when I started typing that it was going to be so long!

And yes my greatest pet peeve is that I have a large working breed of dog who needs a great deal of exercise, that he rarely gets, because I can't find anywhere to take him where there are no other dogs. I feel all your pain!!! Sadly my dog is not under control yet like yours are, so that makes it 100 times worse, because I *AM* that idiot owner whose out of control dog approaches other dogs. I don't want him to, but I try to take him somewhere there are no other dogs and lo and behold, someone else ends up popping up just when I think it is safe to let him run.

Angela, get a long line. It could just be some random cotton clothesline with a clip on the end. That way if your dog refuses to listen to you you can just grab it, correct, reel himb ack in to you.