I just want to see how other people see these situations. There is a girl at work who is big into animal rights, and she does agility competitions and a lot of training with her three dogs (larger dogs).
First of all, she complained to me about a message her town's mayor wrote online, about being responsible pet owners. It had to do with handling aggressive dogs correctly, and making sure that any animals off-leash are in a fenced yard. The mayor wrote something about how this will help protect "precious children" and other pets. The mayor wants to make sure that there are no aggressive animals in town that are able to get out and hurt anyone else. This girl had a problem with that because she doesn't HAVE a fenced yard, and she is not going to put her dogs on a leash every time they want to go outside. One of her dogs is also aggressive (in barking only - has never had an incident). She is worried that someone will see that and report her and she'll have to put her dog down (I'm not sure where she jumped to this conclusion).
But....
.... why not build a fence???? I just don't understand how she is so irate about the mayor posting that all animals that are not fenced in, need to be on a leash. I agree completely!
Second to that, she told me that over the weekend at an agility competition, one lady who she respects a lot somehow left the crate door open during a social break, and her dog got out. Another woman's dog was out as well, and the first dog is known for being aggressive, and he got at the other dog and tore a strip of skin off the second dog's back leg. The missing skin was so big that they couldn't even stitch it together. Obviously it's a horrific accident that could have been prevented, but now the agility group is saying that the aggressive dog should not be allowed to come to their competitions anymore. The girl from work thinks that is totally unfair, because this woman lives for agility competitions and it was just an accident.
I agree that there should be some reprimand though - the dog was obviously not calm and comfortable to attack like that and maybe just doesn't do well in social situations with other dogs! Why keep forcing it? Plus, I think all owners at all times have to be responsible for the dog's actions. My coworker mentioned that since she also has an aggressive dog, she feels she is going to be shunned from doing competitions too, and if her dog does attack another, she doesn't think she should have to stop competing with him just because of that.
What do you think about these situations? I feel like I can't be the crazy one agreeing with the rules! They make sense to me...