# Dog walker LIED about what happened to my cousin's dog! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 4, 2010, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-walker-lied-about-what-happened-to-my-cousins-dog/556053 "2010-10-04T21:35:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-walker-lied-about-what-happened-to-my-cousins-dog/556053/61 "2010-10-06T14:48:56Z")
> [@EmAnJ](#): > > She gave them until today to respond to her letter asking for $1000 ($700 for the cost of the dog, $300 for printing posters and spending time putting them up). She has already consulted her family lawyer who said that if they don’t pay, she should sue for $25K. Regardless of if she gets that amount, the bad press will be enough. > > What can people say or post online about this company that wouldn’t be considered slander or libel? I wouldn’t say much of anything till the matter is settled legally. At most, a factual description of events, careful not to interject opinions. And I’d still leave out the names of the \*\*people \*\*involved. I am not a lawyer. This is just my common-sense, reasonable-person advice. ---
**Author:** ![Moonlitherial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-walker-lied-about-what-happened-to-my-cousins-dog/556053/62 "2010-10-06T14:49:22Z")
Sounds like the owner hasn’t yet learned that lies lead to more lies and to more lies. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-walker-lied-about-what-happened-to-my-cousins-dog/556053/63 "2010-10-06T23:31:46Z")
> [@EmAnJ](#): > > Also, in the beginning, the owner of the company said that ‘she’ had lost the dog, but Amy and Matt later found out that they had a new dog walker with the dogs that didn’t have the correct training and tried to cover it up. > > Apparently the witness that called Amy and told her what happened talked to the dog walker immediately after the incident and both acknowledged that they coyote got Kaiya, so it’s not like the dog walker didn’t actually see and know what happened. When I read this yesterday, my reaction was that the walker should be fired and that the company (or its insurer) should pay up for the cost of the dog and the effort to find it. But this information makes me think the company should be taken down. My daughter worked for a pet sitter in high school and over summers, and would never do this. She got her ex-bf a job there, and he wasn’t responsible, and got fired, because the owner actually cared. What does your lawyer think about going to the press? I’d not want to trust my dog to any company that pulls this kind of stuff. We have a dog that just retired as a guide dog breeder, and since she was worth somewhere over $50K, I was absolutely paranoid about putting her in any danger. She got to run off leash, but only in the school field which is protected or on a protected path. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-walker-lied-about-what-happened-to-my-cousins-dog/556053/64 "2010-10-07T00:56:19Z")
> [@EmAnJ](#): > > > [@SeaDragonTattoo](#): > > > > That just sounds like such a bad idea. I guess I can’t really say they don’t do it for sure in Chicago, but if they did it would be a direct violation of leash law. There are some dog parks and beaches, which are fenced, and aside from people’s own fenced yards, those are the only places dogs can be off-leash without risking a ticket. > > It’s the same here. We have designated off-leash parks that are fenced. That’s where the dog walkers take them. We have strict leash laws here too. I see. I think I have it all put together in my head, now. Still, seems like a park big enough to have coyotes might not be the best place to off-leash dogs? I don’t know. It kinda hurts my head, thinking about what this dog walker did. And the whole “wrong leash” thing? unbelievable. The ending of that should be “…and this is why the dog walker didn’t take your dog out,” not “it’s your fault for providing the wrong leash.” Really, that’s a thin. squiggly, gray line, and a bad path to go down. This dog walking service owner sounds like a really stupid douche, trying to blame the dog’s owners, when it’s the walker’s fault for using the leash anyway. (Not that it was the “wrong” leash, once the entire letter of the law is included.) Sounds like the $25,000 lawsuit is the way to go on this one. Something that will put them out of business. Does Calgary have a consumer-review website similar to Yelp? They could post a simple phrase about this company that would not be libel or slander as long as it was the truth. Something like, " I hired this service, now my dog is dead." ---
**Author:** ![misterW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@misterW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/misterW)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-walker-lied-about-what-happened-to-my-cousins-dog/556053/65 "2010-10-07T01:09:22Z")
> [@](#): > > It’s not just your dog that is an issue when walking off-leash – it’s the least common denominator of every other dog out there too. If a well-socialized off-leash Yorkie runs up to a _leashed_ dog of unknown propensity, the Yorkie could be in trouble even though he’s well-behaved, and the dog-aggressive dog was on a leash and under control. And it’ll be the Yorkie-walker’s fault, but both dogs will pay the price, not to mention the law-abiding leash user. > > And no amount of training is going to avail your dog against a speeding Ford F-150, unless you replaced his bones with adamantium or something. _Everywhere_ is near traffic if your dog runs off; the literature is full of stories of journeys of hundreds of miles. I think a part of the problem here is that we’re dealing with a catch 22. There is no way to know how your dog will be off leash until you have walked him off leash many, many times in a variety of conditions. And without knowing how the dog will react, how does one walk him off leash at all, let alone many, many times? Perhaps my perception is skewed – where I live, it is a rural environment, and there are a million places to safely walk off leash from day one. If your dog has followed you around since he was a pup, you will know how far he wanders from you and thus be able to assess the safety of a new environment. If your dog never gets more than a stone’s throw away, its a fairly safe bet they won’t cross hundreds of acres, let alone miles, to reach the nearest freeway. Obviously, if you are concerned your dog may actually run off, its not a good thing to do anywhere. > [@](#): > > This summer two dogs in a town a few miles from me were killed by poisoned meat thrown over their fences. They weren’t pit bulls, but idiots sometimes can’t tell or don’t care. Taking it up with the neighbors after the dog is dead is no substitute for being present in your dog’s life. The poster in question was apparently already aware of the neighbor’s murderous intentions. Consequently, it seems that there is the option of dealing with them before anything happens and not solving the problem by depriving your dog of the outdoors. > [@](#): > > Also, it’s possible to run great distances (even with one’s nose to the ground) while leashed to a sufficiently athletic human. Yes. But not with anything near the effectiveness of an off leash walk. Sure you could take your dog for a 5 mile run in the morning – but will you repeat that in the evening? Walking off leash, your dog may cover 6 or 7 miles for every 2 that you walk. And it is more stimulating for the dog as well. Dogs don’t just run in a straight line, taking note of smells they pass – they follow scents, dig around in the dirt, and otherwise explore their environment. I agree with you that off leash walking presents many challenges that are not always possible to overcome. And, even in an ideal environment, if you are determined to reduce chances of accident to as close to zero as you possibly can (as one would imagine a professional dog walker would do), then a leash is the way to go. I only disagree with blanket statements suggesting that off leash walking is dangerous, or neglectful. It is becoming more and more difficult to find places to walk off leash these days and sentiments such as that no doubt contribute to that trend. When one can no longer take a walk in the woods with their dog running around beside them, then something beautiful has been lost. ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-walker-lied-about-what-happened-to-my-cousins-dog/556053/66 "2010-10-07T03:31:18Z")
**MisterW** , while I can appreciate your love of taking your dog off leash in a rural environment (the woods), I believe it is never safe in an urban environment to take your dog off leash. When push comes to shove, your dog is still a dog. If your dog chooses to “take note of smells they pass” in the line of a speeding car, your beloved dog won’t win. As to the OP, the dog walking business in question is clearly not interested in staying in business. The bad publicity this will cause can (and probably will) destroy them. This is a classic example of a small minded business owner who would rather try to deflect a claim like this by (mis)quoting the statutes and/or telling lies about what happened rather than taking responsibility. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-walker-lied-about-what-happened-to-my-cousins-dog/556053/67 "2010-10-07T04:43:17Z")
**misterw** – you’re also talking about YOUR dog. Not someone else’s dog that you’re responsible for. (And we can’t trust my dog off of a leash.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-walker-lied-about-what-happened-to-my-cousins-dog/556053.md?page=3)