We aren't talking about ****ing combat!!! We are talking about shooting randomly in the air as a warning shot for a DOG. Possibly in a populated area.

It is a dumb idea.

You are right: it's best that we remove the combat topic from this dog-walking thread.

After my dog being attacked about a dozen times (almost all dogs I scared away w/ my foot) I really ****ing sick and fed up with this BS. Where I live you just don't walk down most of the streets, you just don't. Other than stupid dog owners, I've had run-ins with people. Like a man in a local park attacked the car when I was trying to exit the park. That's something you avoid every every day here.

I just avoid people as much as possible. Irresponsible pet owners really piss me off and I should be able to walk down any street or in any park with my dog. I should feel safe but I don't. I do what somebody else said, call animal control on these morons with loose out of control dogs. I'll be persistent on the phone about the danger and it pays off. I have also corrected a number of irresponsible people myself.

But those are just the stupid ones...I've been harassed by a young man letting his pitbull agitate on my dog from across the road (I crossed to the other side). He even encouraged it to do so. Then in a parking lot at dusk...a guy let his pitbull drag him across the lot towards me and my dog. I walked around the corner of some bushes and sprinted out of site. I don't have a phone so I can't call the police. I think he is the same guy as the other one. That really pisses me off.

I encounter loose dogs every time I walk my three. Mine are always in line or formation if you will..Howhever they are not dog friendly. Yesterday was the third day in a row a teen let her young yellow male lab out her front door un leashed to run into the street straight at my dogs. Whilst I'm holding the two pittyx's on their back legs by their prongs and dominant dog collar backups,, this dog keeps coming as the teen yells his name meekly just as she has everyday and apologizes. Luckily my sheperd/lab is dog friendly and holds the dogs attention til the girl get's him usally he runs from her toward the house. Yesterday he kept coming at my two pittyx's and after my female snapped the air in front of his nose he still wanted to meet her. I finally yelled "Go" at him and he moved away(I don't want him hurt by my dogs there's no worse feeling even if you're the one with the leashed dog and therefore not breaking the law) the girl got him by the collar and said she was sorry and "I don't know what's wrong with him." I said,"He need's a leash that's what's wrong with him." People give me dirty looks whn I walk my three even though they are well behaved (when loose dogs are not running at them) Responsible dog owners are few are far between in my neighborhood, but the few there are usually comment on how well behaved mine are. I can always stop them when dogs come at us but it's really annoying to have to correct mine. I feel I have the right to walk and get exercise in my neighborhood with my dogs.

I'd probably stop by there sometime without my dogs and explain very calmly and mildly to the teenager and the parents how dangerous this is to their dog. If I felt unable to explain without my anger coming through and making them defensive, I might even compose a note calmly, at home, to leave for them.

It would be a kindness, IMO.

How many times have we read here (and a hundred other places) about the tragedy of the beloved family dog running out the front door and being killed by a car, often in full view of the children of the house?

That was exactly what I was thinking but I don't want to offend them. They have an older lab too and he stays on the porch. I want to go by with just one dog (my black one who is not dog aggressive)and recommend her sitting on the porch and correcting the dog as we walk by. The road is one that circles around our lake so people go slow, but still he could get hit or attacked. I've walked by several times now and she hasn't let him out, but I'm sure when the weather breaks we will see them again and then I will try to advise her. Usually I'm like "It's OK." Maybe her parents finally told her not to let him out off leash. We'll see.