OT Irresponsible Dog Owners

[Gurdy]

Last night I took my 3 DD (4, 7, 9) and my dog (boxer) for a walk. My dog is very well behaved and never pays any attention to other dogs that come rushing up to their fence barking like crazy as we walk by. He just keeps walking and ignores it. So, we are walking along and my girls are a little ahead of the dog and I (not far) and another dog comes rushing out of his open garage. The dog is growling at us and my dd 4 is standing in this dogs driveway. Well my dog automatically goes into protective mode and starts to try to get at the other dog (German Shephard mix). My daughters, my dog and I start to cross the street to get away from the dog and his property, but the dog keeps coming. Now, my dog is going crazy trying to get away from me and at the other dog, I am now between my girls and this other dog, who is still coming after us, when I look down and notice my dogs collar is coming up over his ear and in one good pull he will be free. So, I yell "NO" at both dogs and tell my dog to sit, so that I can fix his collar. This whole time the owners of the other dog are NOWHERE. My dog sits and I fix his collar and start to walk him away and we finally get away from the other dog. I was so afraid that by telling my dog to sit and be submissive that the other dog would attack right then.

I am just still so upset about the whole situation, should I call animal control?

I really just want to go over to that house and knock on the door and give those people a piece of my mind... but, I am afraid the dog will attack me before I get to the door. WWYD?

A little background... This is the 3rd dog that these people have had in the last 2 years. They had a black lab that was always getting out and I would help the kids round him up, then they had a yellow dog that would also be out alot, both of those dogs were very friendly at least. Now this dog I have seen in their yard for the last two weeks, but always with the owners. Everytime in the past that I have seen their dogs out, the owners were always out with them.

[Cat Herder]

Does your area have leash laws? If so you can call and have them cited.

Our area does not have leash laws outside of city limits. Sidewalks are in the city, so that is where walkers go.

Having dogs free on their own property is common where I live. They come inside and outside on demand. That is one of the reasons people live way out here in the woods. Being irresponsible has nothing to do with it, though.

I, personally, searched for two years to find a piece of property large enough with river access so my dogs and kids could play freely together. It was VERY difficult since it also had to have a large enough playroom to accommodate my daycare. It was a lifestyle choice, YKWIM?

I am not trying to be argumentative, I just want you to know that not all of us who allow our dogs to run free on their property are jerks. YKWIM? Mine would have kept dropping tennis balls at your feet until you were well out of sight of the front porch.

That being said; I am so sorry your family were scared and threatened. I have ZERO tolerance for a vicious dog. There are too many wonderful dogs being put down in shelters everyday to deal with that, IMHO.

[Gurdy]

Does your area have leash laws? If so you can call and have them cited.

Our area does not have leash laws outside of city limits. Sidewalks are in the city, so that is where walkers go.

Having dogs free on their own property is common where I live. They come inside and outside on demand. That is one of the reasons people live way out here in the woods. Being irresponsible has nothing to do with it, though.

I, personally, searched for two years to find a piece of property large enough with river access so my dogs and kids could play freely together. It was VERY difficult since it also had to have a large enough playroom to accommodate my daycare. It was a lifestyle choice, YKWIM?

I am not trying to be argumentative, I just want you to know that not all of us who allow our dogs to run free on their property are jerks. YKWIM? Mine would have kept dropping tennis balls at your feet until you were well out of sight of the front porch.

That being said; I am so sorry your family were scared and threatened. I have ZERO tolerance for a vicious dog. There are too many wonderful dogs being put down in shelters everyday to deal with that, IMHO.

I live in a neighborhood and we do have leash laws. I live on a cul de sac and this house is at the end of my cul de sac across the street, so I have to walk by it to take a walk. Now I am afraid to take my kids and dog for a walk because I dont want to walk by that house. If the dog had come out of the garage wanting to play or friendly, that would be different. I understand that the dog was most likely being protective of his property, but I call these people irresponsible because they have a loose dog in a neighborhood where there are lots of kids and if you are walking on the sidewalk, you are going to walk at the end of peoples driveways.
I have also had my dog off leash in our yard while I am out there with him and he has never left our yard, but I would not leave him out without me right there.

I do not think you are irresponsible at all, you chose an area to live so that you had enough property to allow your dogs to run free- that is being responsible IMO.

What is also upsetting to me is this is their 3rd dog in 2 years! What happened to the other 2 dogs? Did they run off? They were at least friendly dogs- now they have this less than friendly dog- what is going to happen to him? Is he going to be running around the neighborhood menacing people? Get hit by a car? Bite a child?

[Cat Herder]

Wow!! Yeah, I would definitely call. Get your other neighbors to call too. The more calls they get the more likely they are to do something about it.

If your area has sidewalks it is generally known that dogs are to be restrained!!! Summer is coming and that is terribly dangerous for the neighborhood kids.

I live in a cul-de-sac too...we just have 5-20 acres each. When any of us get a new dog we introduce our dogs to every neighbor (12 of us). It is about respect and safety.

[Live and Learn]

I am just still so upset about the whole situation, should I call animal control?

Yes, call animal control.

Better to call animal control now than 911 this summer when a kid gets bit.

It is all about the safety of our kids.

[MyAngels]

I think I would try to contact the family about the situation before I called animal control on them. If I read it right, you said they've had their dogs out before, but you normally see them with the animals, so it's at least possible that the dog got out and they were not aware of it. If that's the case, they need to know it so they can find a way to confine the dog. If they were not 100% on board with keeping their animal under control, then I would place a call to animal control.

[daycare]

I am scared to death of dogs so I would have freaked out!! I would have called 911. Lol

Honestly I would call animal contol instead of confront them there is nothing worse than a feud with a neighbor. Calling animal control would be anonymous.
If you really think this dog could hurt someone call
Otherwise maybe walk a different route to avoid that from happening again.

[Gurdy]

I think I would try to contact the family about the situation before I called animal control on them. If I read it right, you said they've had their dogs out before, but you normally see them with the animals, so it's at least possible that the dog got out and they were not aware of it. If that's the case, they need to know it so they can find a way to confine the dog. If they were not 100% on board with keeping their animal under control, then I would place a call to animal control.

This was my first thought, but honestly, I am afraid to go to their door because of the dog. Then, if it happens again, and I call animal control- they will know or at least think it was me.

I just do not get it, I have a very friendly dog, but he is a boxer, and I know that he can appear intimidating and I would never let him run loose and scare people. Why would these people allow the dog to be off leash even in their yard without supervision?

I guess I just keep worrying about what could have happened... What if there was a car coming and my dd4 couldn't have gotten across the street in time and she got bit? Or worse yet..crossed anyway with a car coming? Or what if the dog attacked and I had to let my dog protect us and the dogs faught? I just keep going over it in my head and now I have myself all freaked out. I really just dont want to take anymore walks because this could happen again.

Maybe I am just overreacting... What do you all do when you are out walking with your kids and your dog? Do you ever have any problems?

[Kaddidle Care]

Putting your dog in a sit was a GOOD thing. You were telling your dog that you were taking control of the situation.

Do walk on the opposite side of the road or avoid passing that house if you have to.

What did the other dog do once it followed you to the other side of the street? Obviously your "No" did something as there was no attack or fight.

I tend to avoid walking past certain houses that are known to have dogs out off lead. If I do have to go by, I walk on the opposite side of the road. That way if anything happens, it's not on their property and they can't say their dog was protecting it.

It wouldn't hurt to call animal controld and just speak with someone and see what they suggest.

Hopefully the owners just didn't realize the garage was open. It's a shame they didn't take heed to their dog barking - which means their dog probably barks pretty consistantly.

[Gurdy]

Putting your dog in a sit was a GOOD thing. You were telling your dog that you were taking control of the situation.

Do walk on the opposite side of the road or avoid passing that house if you have to.

What did the other dog do once it followed you to the other side of the street? Obviously your "No" did something as there was no attack or fight.

I tend to avoid walking past certain houses that are known to have dogs out off lead. If I do have to go by, I walk on the opposite side of the road. That way if anything happens, it's not on their property and they can't say their dog was protecting it.

It wouldn't hurt to call animal controld and just speak with someone and see what they suggest.

Hopefully the owners just didn't realize the garage was open. It's a shame they didn't take heed to their dog barking - which means their dog probably barks pretty consistantly.

Yeah, I think the "No" was what stopped the situation. The other dog stopped for a second and when i put my dog in a sit to fix his collar, my dog calmed down immediately. Of course my girls were a safe distance away at that point and I wasn't worried for them then. Once I fixed my dogs collar and started walking him away the other dog was growling and walking towards us. I said "no" again and he stopped again for a second and then he just kept walking and growling with his head real low and his hair on his back was standing up. It was very scary... It looked like he would just pounce and attack at any second. Finally, after he was about two yards away from his house I said "No" again and he turned and went home.

So, I did call and report it to animal control. I hope that I never see that dog loose again.