….Is a little common sense. Sometimes that seems like too much to ask.
We are joining the DADO blog hop hosted by Heart Like a Dog and Tales from the Backroad. Join the hop and share your experience of dealing with one of these dog owners, many of who have no common sense.
I first found out that our beagle Cricket was leash reactive because of people like this. It was two springs ago when I was walking her on the rail trail one town over from us (which happens to be the town I grew up in), along the beautiful lake. It was a favorite place to walk our beagle Kobi but this time I only had Cricket. I previously wrote about this in a post titled “Walking the Other Beagle” that March (early on in my blogging career so not many saw it!).
We encountered two women with two dogs, a large mixed breed and a smaller Shih-tzu looking dog. Neither of the dogs were on leashes, Cricket is always on leash. I really didn’t think much of it, because Cricket has never had a problem meeting another dog. For some reason this time when the dogs approached her she did the opposite of what I expected, and started barking, snarling and growling, pulling at the leash. I keep her on a short leash when approaching people, so I was able to pull her away. The other good thing is that neither of those dogs were looking for a fight, they retreated (their people called them to them also), and I quickly apologized and moved on, dragging the crazed beagle with me.
Now I could cut these women some slack, if it wasn’t for this…..
The only bad thing about our rail trail in this situation is that chances are if you pass someone once, when you turn around to go back, you will probably pass them again. There are no round trips on this trail. Sure enough, we encountered this group again, and the dogs were still loose (I’m not sure they even had leashes with them). I yelled ahead a little and asked them to just hold their dogs while I got by with her quickly. The younger woman got the large dog to her and held him. The older woman called the smaller dog in and I thought would hold on to him but she didn’t. I don’t know what she did, but again the dog ran towards us and Cricket went off. Luckily, the dog was smarter than its owner, because it retreated and I hauled Cricket off as quickly as I could.
Really? My dog wants to beat your dog up, and you’re going to let it run towards us again? Common sense, people, that’s all we ask!
That is a beautiful stretch of rail trail but now that Kobi is gone, I don’t walk it much. I did take Sheba there, because she’s my only dog that I can count on to be friendly in every situation. The last time I took her there, we weren’t on the trail for two minutes before we encountered a man with two small dogs off leash. By the way, there is a leash law in that town, but apparently many people don’t feel obligated to comply. Luckily there are plenty of other places to pick up the rail trail and walk, though I do miss the pretty scenery by the lake sometimes. Unfortunately, sometimes the best way to deal with a DADO is to avoid them, if you can. My thought is that you can’t teach common sense.
We run into these types occasionally and just don’t get it. When you say the dog may not be friendly, why let your dog continue to approach off leash and say it is friendly. If mine isn’, that doesn’t change anything!
I know, people seem to think if their dog is friendly, everyone else’s will be….like it’s contagious or something!
Beautiful trail it’s a shame you can’t use it more.
There’s always people that will ruin things for everyone else!
“You can’t fix stupid!” Boy, do we have a lot of that fit into that category around here! I think besides being behind the rest of the country in everything else, we are way behind on the progress of dogs as family members. Like Mary, loose dogs are the bane of my existence. Every house in my neighborhood has a privacy fenced back yard. I cannot tell you the number of people who let their dogs out front unleashed to poop in other people’s yards. Hmmm, I better join this hop next week! LOL!!
Unbelievable! It sounds like you definitely have some stories to tell!
Oh!!! I forgot about this hop!!!! GRRR!
Anyways, we have leash laws too, and I don’t understand why people just don’t listen. I see so many incidents where dogs end up going at each other due to one of those dogs being off lead. Think about it people!!!
ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
People just don’t think, do they? That’s really the problem!
Unleashed dogs are the bane of my existence. Luckily we are out early enough and remote enough that I can avoid them. I must admit I used to be one of them, but no more.
Getting out early is always a good plan too. Stupid people tend to be lazy as well…LOL. We also at least have other quiet places to choose from around here.
The problem with us humans is that we occasionally — and some a lot more often than others — allow our egos to overrule our common sense. That’s when we get into trouble. Unfortunately, some have never been taught manners, or just scuffed-off the lessons as irrelevant. It just really ticks me off when I meet up with people like that. I try not to judge them; but being human as well, I often fail miserably. 🙁
I know exactly what you mean. I try to cut people slack, and I’m sure some of them deserve it…but many don’t. Like I cut these woman slack the first time around….but the 2nd time it was obvious they didn’t deserve it (or one of them didn’t anyway).
Common manners definitely play into these things too, and you are right that many people never learned them.
GRRR! I write tickets for no leashes all the time. The leash law says “dogs must be on leash.” Despite what people think, there is no clause that says “unless a dog is small, cute, friendly, owned by a City resident, not a pit bull or there are less than 10 people on the beach.”) The excuse I usually get is “But my dog is friendly.” Here are situations I’ve dealt with involving friendly dogs:
1) Friendly unleashed lab knocked down an old woman and broke her hip (woman still in pain a year later. Law suit pending.)
2) Friendly unleashed dog attacked by a leashed, no-so-friendly dog (not-so-friendly not at fault in eyes of the law therefore not culpable for damages)
3) Friendly unleashed dog attacked by three unleashed dogs running-at-large (Owner of those dogs never found, so “Friendly’s” owner eats the $2000 vet bill)
4) Friendly unleashed dog hit by car (driver sues dog owner for damages to car and wins)
5) Friendly unleashed dog had leg bitten off by alligator (there were signs that said “WARNING: Gators in the lake” and dog owner had been warned several times. However, dog died and 10 gators were killed because we couldn’t prove which gator did it)
6) Friendly unleashed dogs turn out to be not-so-friendly towards children or mailmen (several children are now scarred for life; mailman sued 3 separate dog owners)
Wow, Kelley, great illustration of all the things that can go wrong for off leash dogs! As an ACO, I bet you have endless stories on the subject. Some of those are just so sad! I’m headed to your blog now to see what else you shared on the subject.
Sadly, you can’t teach common sense. Or give it in pill form. LOL
If only, right? 🙂
I am not leash reactive but mom never knows how I’ll react to a dog so she usually figures it out by how the other dog approaches me. If they have manners and approach slowly and allow for a cordial sniff good, but if they are over excited and pulling on a leash I’ll start snapping at them to back off. Great post! Love Dolly
Thank you, Dolly! And who can blame any dog who doesn’t want another foolish dog in their face demanding attention?
Thank you for joining the blog hop and sharing Cricket’s story. I think there are so many dogs that wouldn’t be reactive on leash if other dog owners had their dogs under control. Not all dogs want to be approached whether it’s by a leashed or off-leash dog.
I do my best to avoid the situations. Sometimes turning around and heading back the way we came.
I wonder, is it common sense, lack of education, or just stupidity on their parts. 🙁 It seems so unfair that you can’t enjoy the beautiful lake because of stupid people, especially when there are leash laws.
I think it’s all of the above. I hate to say it, but that side of the lake is the lower income area and that could be part of the problem.
I never had an issue with Cricket before running into off leash dogs. She has barked at other dogs at the vet’s office, but as soon as she knew they were leashed and not going to come at her, she was fine.
We have had similar incidents. It’s scary when someone’s dog attacks your dog!
We’ve been lucky that no attacks have happened with our dogs. So far the dumb people we’ve run into really did at least have friendly dogs. But you can’t assume all dogs are friendly, because they just simply aren’t!
There should be a life course in common sense that’s required. And long. And very, very thorough.
I wonder how many people would actually pass? 🙂
There’s no fixing stupid, so it’s best to avoid them.
Sometimes it’s just the only answer.
This sounds like the greenway where ours humans ride their bike. Most folks keep their dogs on leashes but let the leads out several feet so the dogs roam all over the place. And then the people stand in bunches right in the middle of the pathway talking and ignoring everything going on around them. Brain dead dumb asses! And they don’t have to be dog owners. And they live everywhere! Purrs and paw-pats, Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth and Calista Jo
It comes down to not just common sense, but common consideration. People seem to have so much trouble thinking of others instead of themselves these days. Thanks for coming by, kitties!
I agree that common sense seems to be a most uncommon attribute of humans more and more. I really think dogs have a lot more of it.
I think you are right, Jan. Dogs seem to learn things far more quickly than some humans!
I agree, too, that dogs have more common sense. And I believe it’s because dogs don’t have egos that get in the way of – or prevent them from – using the common sense they were born with.
And as we know, common sense is not all that common.
So true!
Ugh, what is with all the people who think the leash laws don’t apply to them?? It’s the same in our ‘hood. And I agree, sometimes avoidance is the best option for dealing with a DADO!
That is one of my pet peeves….people who think the rules are for everyone but them.
I’ve never understood why common sense is so difficult!
People just don’t want to stop and think….or show common consideration either!