That's why I like school grounds. People are very well aware if any dog hurts a child, that is a death sentence.

Even so, there are still some nuts, pushing the envelope with their uncontrolled dogs.

Duane, I'm sorry but I have to respectfully disagree with you. I have reread Sam's post several times and there is nothing that indicates his pup did not meet new people by mutual agreement, there is no way of knowing if Sam has not been to this place a million times and is familar with the people there or that they were not agreeable to meeting his pup. Sam states that his pup stayed very close to him AND came when called. When he mentions the garbage he only states the pup got "jammed up" who knows what that means? He certaintly does not specifically state the pup did not come. Personally, I feel pretty bad that someone wrote a happy little post about enjoying the day with their dog and it got twisted. I suspect had Sam used terms such as he worked on "socializing" his pup with distractions and worked on recall he would of gotten a lot of atta boys. Yes, like everyone else the truck stop wording was confusing, but assumptions were made (imo) that he had let a marauding beast out to harass the citizenry. I debated on writing this, and we'll have to agree to disagree.

Edited by Jodi Moen (12/18/2013 02:32 PM)
Edit reason: spelling

Sam's pup is what 14-15 weeks? Something like that? Maybe 16 weeks...

At that age, they are starting to get a little independant. They may wander a little further away from you. They may not respond immediately when called. They jump. They lick. Typically they are mouthy and will grab things like hands with their mouths. They eat stuff from the ground when you aren't looking.

This is not a trained hunting dog. This is a PUPPY. In my opinion, puppies should not be off leash in an open area in public. Too much can go wrong.

But I don't think that the OP was about Sam and his experience with his puppy. I think it's just a general post about some people that let their dogs run amok in public.

Seriously, this was FREE advice from a public forum. Take it for what it is. If you learn something from it, GREAT. If not, well, maybe someone else will. Maybe it will prevent someone else's puppy from getting run over by a Kenworth (though I think those have Cat engines, not Detroit Ds).

Keep in mind that many times answers to posts are not directed only to the poster. In most of mine, I try to think about others out there that are lurking that may be reading the posts. We are trying to give advice that will help everyone keep their dog safe and healthy and happy.

So, egos get bruised. It's better than picking your dog up from the middle of the road. Or taking the dog to the vet because it got into some antifreeze and it took you longer to get to it because it was not on lead.

Just sayin'

For me too, puppies are just not off-leash in unenclosed public places.

Again, a huge part of this is probably from decades of seeing very bad things happen with completely innocent beginnings (I listed several and Kelly adds a couple more).


But what I care most about is that Sam doesn't take this personally! It's NOT personal.


I hope really really sincerely that Sam sticks around. Nothing posted in this thread comes from anything except caring about dogs.

"But I don't think that the OP was about Sam and his experience with his puppy. I think it's just a general post about some people that let their dogs run amok in public."

Thanks Kelly. That is exactly what I was posting about. I tried to explain that to Sam, but I guess he still took offense. Believe me, none intended. Some posts just get me thinking about stuff.

 Quote: Carol Blumlein

Some posts just get me thinking about stuff.

That's good- that's how great discussions often begin.