Off Leash Dogs, grrrrr
 

Yesterday we were walking Daisy and Teddy on a school track that allows dog walkers on days when there is no school. We walk there when we can bc of all the dogs that people let run loose in all of the parks around here. Daisy has been attacked twice by unleashed dogs in the parks and was not hurt but she was involved in a vicious looking fight that I had to break up. And it is not easy to break up when only one dog is attached to a leash and can be pulled back. One attacker was a beagle and one was a corgi, both bigger than her. Teddy bear was nipped by a dog running loose when we were walking on our own street. So they are both afraid of loose dogs running up to them.

So walking towards us we see a lady walking a loose pug. We called to her and asked her to put the leash on the dog but she ignored us. Daisy and Teddy were taking a break and riding in the stroller at the time. The pug made a beeline for the stroller. John tried to block the dog and it got around him and made it to the stroller. I was turning the stroller every which way to get rid of the dog. The owner strolled up and finally put the leash on the dog without saying anything.

What's wrong with people? There are leash laws for a reason. It doesn't matter if you consider your dog friendly. Guess I just needed to get that out. There doesn't seem to be any place that we can walk our guys without having to worry about loose dogs.

I feel your pain! Loose dogs are at the top of my list of complaints. I resent people's carelessness for the impact it has on my doggies' life. We are so limited in where we can walk because of it, and even then, I am always on edge.

We can't even enjoy our own little neighborhood. :(

I'm glad neither Daisy or Teddy have been hurt in your encounters.

Thank you. Teddy is such a meek, scared little guy anyway. He used to love greeting other little leashed doggies on our walks. After he was nipped he was terrified to meet any dog that resembled this white border collie looking dog. He still likes to greet leashed doggies that run up to him and don't pose a threat, but he is much more cautious. I just wish people would be more considerate of others.

If I was going to continue to walk my dog in public, where the people there refuse to keep their dogs on a leash, I would carry a taser. Next time you see someone approaching with a loose dog, do like you did in THIS instance and yell to her to leash her dog.....if she ignores you, get her attention by telling her you have a taser and if her dogs get near your dogs or threatens them, you will be tazing her dog. She will hear THAT and respond! You can also substitute tazer with "Bear repellant" (which is MUCH stronger than just regular pepper spray), "club", "baseball bat", etc. If she thinks her dog may get wholloped, maybe she will lease it.

Thanks for all of the ideas. I think I will check into the bear spray first. I used to carry a can but it leaked and I unknowingly got some on my fingers and then rubbed my eye. Boy that stuff stung! But I think I might try it again. I was reading about baton tazers which I think I will check into too. If you have to use it on an attacking dog at least your hands would be away from the snarling dog. But I guess I have to find out if they are legal to carry first.

Real taser are expensive and don't always work. You need to hit a moving target and it takes skill. Pepper spay works well but owners get mad. They will talk to you then. I spray a couple times a year so I know. But what works to is a loud can blow horn. Scares them bad. Seems ppl still get mad

Your foot would have worked well too! For the dog and for the owner!

I really feel exactly what you are saying :cry:

People are so ridiculous. Judy, those are great suggestions.

Personally, I think the bat, foot, tazer, ect should be used on the owner, not the dog. Its not the dog's fault its off the leash.

Agreed.


Plus, there might be laws re: assault on animals in the area from using certain things or even the threat.


But, the suggestion was still funny! Imagine batting away a pug...lol.


I used to own a pug and I wouldn't have wanted it to be batted away!!!


Glad that your dogs haven't been hurt, Doodle! We can't control the actions of others. We can only be aware of the potential dangers and safeguard our own. That's what makes us good parents!

The blow horn sounds like a good idea but it would scare the dickens out of my scared little Teddy. Where do you find them?

I tried stomping my foot on the ground and yelling "git" to the beagle that was stalking Teddy Bear. It was the same one who attacked Daisy on a previous walk. The owner was a big bruiser thug of a guy who told me he would "hurt me" if I ever touched his dog. I reported him and his dog to the county parks department and even posted a picture of it stalking Teddy. But I was afraid to go back to that park after that so I never did. He was a really ignorant dog owner who has his dog off leash at the park every day. He acts like a tough guy and talks about all the guys he has beat up in bars. Yeah, I'm staying away from him. I have heard that his dog has attacked other dogs but he seems to think the rules don't apply to him.

Lol, you got that right.

Thanks Misty. I am just so sad that we have to "arm" ourselves just to walk our pups. In the old days I was more worried about encountering a weirdo in the park. Now I have to worry about the weirdos AND the loose dogs. But it's just not fair that I can't walk my dogs, so I will keep trying. They have been indoors all winter and just want to take one lap around the track without them being bothered or attacked by a loose dog. It doesn't seem like a lot to ask.

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I don't know if you will be able to see these but the first pic is the dog owner wearing blue, with his buddy's sitting at the park while his beagle runs loose (he is the one who threatened me), the next one is after I stomped my foot on the ground the dog tucked his tail and walked across the grass to the picnic table where his owner sat (you can see how far away this dog roams from its owner), the next two are the beagle approaching Teddy. You can just see Teddy at the bottom left. These are the pics that I showed the parks dept.

Teddy will hopefull have time to get picked up first. Then time to scare the big dog. But dogs are coincided property by the law in most places. If another dog bites,mane or kills your dog Not much will happen. Except you dog may die and the other owner may get stuck with some Vet bills. So imo Pepper spray a good kick whatever is worth protecting your dog. If a groups of dogs come and I feel threaten ...well they will get shot. If I fear for my life nothing will happen. Bad owners ..poor dogs but mine comes first imo. Can air small size
Amazon.com : Falcon Safety Super Sound Horn : Boat Horns : Sports & Outdoors

Owners letting their "friendly" dogs off leash. I have had several of these encounters with my past girls. My last girl was traumatized twice by loose "friendly" dogs, poor thing was SCREAMING from fear and shaking . Owners said he's very friendly, I said yeah but my dog don't know that, just look at her. One was huge Husky, another was a huge Belgium Sheppard, that was years back in MY community, I never walked my dogs after that. I walk Cody in my community because should he ever get loose he will know the area and come home (I pray) but, Cody is a challenger, a stare you down dog, this is dangerous for his safety. But I like to walk him but am so scared, I keep looking over my shoulders to make sure a dog is not sneaking up behind us, checking the wooded area in case a dog comes out. Thankfully nothing tragic has happened to Cody on these walks so he prances on, sniffing this and that. But if he ever sees a dog, he will lunge at it. It is very sad that we have to have such fear when we walk our dogs. I have wasp spray that sprays 25 feet, I have bear spray but does not spray that far, I would rather spray at 25 feet distance then have a dog closer that will cause Cody to go into Cujo mode. I have used wasp spray many times and know about wind direction, I don't advise anyone to use it unless they have worked with it and know what they are doing. And I would be very happy if there is a owner with the dog that I would spray, let them get mad because their dog got sprayed, may teach them to keep dog on the leash.

Thanks. I am going to get on of those horns. I guess Teddy being frightened beats him being attacked.

I was just hearing somewhere about using wasp spray for protection because it sprays farther. Think I will try that. Hopefully it will not permanently damage dogs eyes. It's not really the dogs fault that their humans are Stupid.

Unleashed dogs are exhausting to deal with. I had an encounter with a daschund(sp) about a year ago while walking Rasta. It was loose and territorial. After that I started walking with an old broom handle. During the summer, a neighbor's Great Dane puppy ran out of the house. Luckily it was friendly, so I just picked up Rasta and stood still waiting for its owner to get him(everytime I would walk away he would follow me). I'll be ordering one of those horns. Once people see you mean business, they usually get themselves and their pets together.

Like I wrote, I don't advise to use wasp spray unless ppl know what they are doing, I use it a lot in the summer as hornets and wasp build nest on the rafters of my decks, you have to be very careful of wind direction other wise it will spray back on you, also the can is very big, long. No, I don't want to harm any animal, but when it comes to my precious babies I will protect them with my life. If it comes to my lil dog getting mauled, getting his throat ripped open, get shaken like a rag doll, you better believe the spray will be used before that dog gets close to Cody. No dog should be running loose, dogs here where I live dart out of doors, owners make no attempt to go after them. Before I adopted Cody many dogs would end up by my house, I keep loop leashes at the front and back door of my house to leash up these dogs, if they get into the woods behind my house they will be gone forever. I leash them and go house to house to find where they live. Ppl open door so their dogs can roam the community to pee and poop. When I find their home I say nothing, just return them and say they were about to enter the woods, then I report them to the board where they get a warning, does that help some yes, others no. No it's not the dogs fault, it's the owners, but it is not an owner that is about to harm my dog. Be very careful if you decide to use wasp spray.

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agree 100%

Well said !

A telescopic umbrella is a hand thing to carry , when you press the button to activate it to open up it give you something to put between you dog and the other dog to keep the apart, and it's not illegal to carry it, even on sunny days lol
We have had problems in the past with unleashed dogs running up and Lottie has ended up so nervous because of it.

I have only used wasp spray to spray behind my shutters where they build nests every year so I never had to deal with wind direction. I wonder if the bear spray would be better but I guess you would have the wind direction problem too. The umbrella is good. I am pretty sure the pug would not have hurt them in the stroller but if mine were walking, I think they would have confronted the charging pug and then possibly a fight would ensue. It still scared them that the pug was charging up to them. They dont know if the pug is going to fight them or bite them. The umbrella would probably have scared it away temporarily at least. I'm surprised that so many people are dealing with this issue. I am not alone.

Any spray there is always wind direction to take into consideration, air horn, is good, but, it will also scare your dogs, When I was married and boating we used this, at that time I had a Poodle, that horn would scare her to death, but it was needed. A BIG automatic opening umbrella is good to stop an on coming dog, but, what happens if it doesn't run away, or just stops the dog for that one moment? Lots of "what if's" isn't it sad we have to think of safe protection JUST TO WALK our dogs, makes dog walking a stressful event instead of an enjoyable one, I go through this every time I just want to walk my dog.

Yes, it is so sad. If ppl would just put a leash on their dogs we wouldn't have to go through this. It's not fair.

Wasp spray can get you into trouble. Not recommended by manufacture.
So it brings up a liability. snopes.com: Wasp Spray for Self-Defense?

The air horn. Scares your dog. yes it does. But it may save there life. Another good thing is a Cattle prod. They cost more but if you have a livestock store near you it maybe cheaper. You also get the use of the prod for a baton/bite stick if the battery malfunctions Amazon