Diverting the Blame!! - Page 2

 Well, around here they just don't care for the most part.  One yard near ours has 6 dogs, it's the first yard we pass, but they have a fence.  They have one Rottie, and 5 other mixed breeds.  We walk down past it about a tenth of a mile and go into the subdivision.  Down the road that leads into the subdivision there are about 5 dogs, three of them are off leash, but I think one has an invisible fence.  The others are too chicken to come out.  They're the type, fearful, and trying to scare you off.....but too scared to come out to the road.  No fences along that road.  Then you enter "oak wood circle" The left part of the circle has I think roughly 10 dogs.  A Husky type breed on a chain, another house had 3 dogs, a Chiuaua, with two larger dogs as his side kicks.  When they first got them they would come out in the street at you.  Nothing worse than a yappy Chiuaua out barking at you and chasing you LOL.  My dogs wanted to kill it.  I threw gravel at it and it never came out in the street again.  Then theres a yard (fenced in) with a lot of labs, not even sure how many.  There is a middle road going through the circle that has a lot of mixed dogs, but most have an invisible fence.  The right side of the circle has a yard with four Pit Bulls, fenced in (thank God) and then a yard with a tiny dog named Tinkerbell.....The only reason I know that is because it ran out in the street one day towards my pack and the woman was screaming out of panic TINKERBELL, TINKERBELL!!! She knew her dog would have been dinner lol  And there are a few others along that side, but they're confined typically to the back yard.  Oak wood circle leads to another subdivision type area.....One yard has a Husky, a Great Dane, and some lab type dog, all fenced in though......and they have a goat too.....not really sure why.....  And as you go on there are other dogs, mostly chained, too chicken to come out to the road, or invisible fences.  There are a couple of boxers who cause trouble, but other than that the dogs don't typically go out in the street.

Now if you go straight down our road instead of going into the subdivision you pretty much go down the road to hell.  I don't know how many Pit Bulls are down there, but it's insane.  One yard had 7 at one time, all chained, used for breeding.  A couple of them broke loose and animal control took them. If you keep going down that road it curves around onto a road that will lead back to a point where if you go right you go to oak wood circle, and left back where you just came from...our road.  Curving around it though there are more Pit Bulls owned by another guy.  I typically walk all of the roads I mentioned since we go 5 miles.  There is also a house on the street with 4 HUGE labs.  One is a master escape artist so they've finally started keeping him in the house.  He would go around the neighborhood looking for trouble.  

Basically in the beginning back when I first started walking my dogs a few years ago.....we had a lot of trouble.  Dogs literally out to attack mine, dogs out of control and in the streets.   I mean I've talked to a lot of these people and became friends with them.  So a lot do confine their dogs in some way, but there are a lot that couldn't care less so we do meet a decent number who are out of control or in the streets.  And then there are some who don't attempt to correct or teach their dogs, but they tell me they wished their dogs were as well behaved as mine......I usually just say thank you instead of getting into a long debate or argument....it's just training obviously, but passing that many dogs on a daily basis helps.  

 Crys,  the leash laws do exist, but people don't care.   I'll never forget though, the guy with the Rottie I talked about....his dog jumped their fence one time in the past, and it attacked someones small dog.  The owner of the Rottie put the blame on me and said he wasn't at fault because he had a fence and it had a beware of dog sign.......and he did all that he could do.  Sure he did lol.... In a goofy stupid sounding voice saying "alright Libby, come on"  is all he could have done.... He didn't correct or anything.   The dog is way too much for this guy to handle regardless, but his dog got in the street off leash, and attacked someones dog....but yet it was my fault since I was walking my dogs.  I also remember he started putting the dog up if he has to go to town, which saved his butt one day.  There was one day some younger kids had a little dog, and another day there were a couple of strays running around.  If it's a small dog it will send this dog over the fence.  Well, the Rottie was up, so nothing happened thankfully, but the owner never knew about this.  To tell you what this dog is like, the site of anything,  adults, children, dogs, it all has the same reaction.....it runs back and forth as fast as it can, jumping up on the fence at times, salivating and foaming at the mouth, the dog just goes crazy.  It just wants to kill.  It did that reaction towards the little dog before it jumped the fence, and attacked it.  

You're lucky though to not have had any encounters with dogs charging. Someone told me if anything happens call the Sheriff and not animal control? Is that true? I know one time in the past that lab I talked about in another comment, jumped the fence and attacked one of my dogs.  I called animal control and they never came.....ever.  

 Yeah, I guess I will do that if it happens again.....call the sheriff I mean.  The Rottie is a nut.....the Lab who attacked my dog though, it doesn't matter if you're near the property or not, if the dog is already out. He lives about 6 tenths of a mile away from me, and one day I saw him just trotting along down the road.  My dogs were not out at the time (however our yard is fenced), but he went along to mess with other dogs in other yards.  If he's out, even away from his territory and he sees you and your dog he will go for your dog.  There is a Pit mix like that too who is kept on a chain.  I have to be very forward and assertive if that dog is coming towards me or else he will attack.  He's got a Chow as his buddy, the chow is off leash and usually couldn't care less about me.  The other day the Chow was too close to the Pit mix, and the Pit attacked him the second after they saw me.  Still on chain, the Chow was just right in his space, and he wanted a piece of me.....well you get the idea....

The guy with the Rottie told me one time in the past that he wasn't going to lose his dog.....I was just thinking in my head, if it attacks someone you will.  That dog is well over 100 lbs now, a female, and could easily kill a dog, or even some smaller people or children.  That's why I worry when I see people walking with their kids down the road past that yard.  But THANKFULLY this guy is moving soon.  His wife is about to retire, and then they will be moving. 

Don't you love examples of how good our breed really is? What's the ole saying? "Not a bad dog, bad owner!" With a lot of these scenarios/examples there are so many variables involved........... The majority of the time we can only worry about our "area of control" but at other times the situation will dictate. To the person walking past all the dogs/yards on their daily ritual..........IMO, those dogs are just lawn ornaments! The majority of the owners either don't know how to raise them, don't want them or toss them outside so they're not bothered by them. Poor dogs are wasting their lives away. And then to be chained up? 24/7?

To the person about Animal Control/Sheriff: Check with your area. As a former police officer our areas' Animal Control responded only for dog bites and injured and suspected rabies. They would not respond for say stray dogs, nuisance barking or after hours and holidays. The reason you need to call the sheriff or police is to document, document and document! If "Neighbor hood A" sates that the Smiths' dog at #1 Place st. is an aggressive dog or a dog biter or an excessive barker at all times of the day and night but there is no documentation to substantiate it then it didn't take place. And these issues are CIVIL MATTERS not CRIMINAL MATTERS. Also, look into ordnance violations, neighborhood association rules/regulations/policies. Also, see if their is a legitimately concern by multiple individuals? Do you have town/city meetings?   

Bottom line is PROACTIVE and not REACTIVE. Yes these owners (the majority) are ignorant and don't train their dogs like we but can you imagine how things would be if indeed a small child was mauled or killed? And if an honest attempt was indeed attempted to voice concerns to the individual besides an act actually happened then you did everything possible on your behalf.

Now with this last paragraph, I don't want to cause controversy; but for the person walking the dogs past all these uncertanties? If something did happen? Say the 100 lb rottie got over the fence? What would be the outcome? And is this the only route to take? I know we look at our dogs as "The one", "The better one" but you made the choice to walk past that stimuli. My point is I know (but not 100% til that exact situation arises) what my dog will do but why would I (if I didn't need to) put them into that situation daily or maybe twice a day? There's a saying in the police world..... Don't put yourself into a situation you might not come out of. Yes, the world knows you're brave etc; etc. but when you're by yourself and you come upon say five subjects, THINK about what could happen and how the situation could go south. Wait for back up if you have it but  most importantly think because you initiated the situation. You chose to approach the subjects. Now if you're responding to something, it falls in your lap that is different. JMO