# Happy New Bitchfest! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 1, 2014, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605 "2014-01-01T00:37:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 31
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/601 "2014-01-28T01:32:56Z")
Hmm, wouldn’t the threat itself be against the law? Of course, in most parts of America, if you called 911 and told them what happened, and entire SWAT team, complete with helicopter, would swoop down, shoot the dog and take the man down hard to the ground. If they didn’t just shoot him too. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/602 "2014-01-28T01:33:14Z")
**Cat Whisperer,** if his dog was ignoring his commands and running at you what difference did it make if he was in the off-leash area? Either way he didn’t have control of his dog so you had every right to be concerned. The man’s an idiot. ETA **Chimera** , I don’t think so. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/603 "2014-01-28T01:50:25Z")
> [@kayT](#): > > ETA **Chimera** , I don’t think so. 1\> A man’s dog ran at her, off it’s leash. She pulled out her mace. 2\> The owner accosted her and threatened to harm her if she sprayed his dog. Yeah, if they show, the police are going to have a chat with him about it. And God help him if his dog runs at them when they arrive. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/604 "2014-01-28T02:20:15Z")
> [@kayT](#): > > **Cat Whisperer,** if his dog was ignoring his commands and running at you what difference did it make if he was in the off-leash area? Either way he didn’t have control of his dog so you had every right to be concerned. The man’s an idiot.\ I thought about that (later, of course) - I was 100% in the right, from a few different angles - I was in the place I was supposed to be in, and no dog is supposed to run at people even in the off-leash areas. And owners aren’t supposed to threaten other people with violence _anywhere_. > [@Chimera](#): > > 1\> A man’s dog ran at her, off it’s leash. She pulled out her mace. > 2\> The owner accosted her and threatened to harm her if she sprayed his dog. > > Yeah, if they show, the police are going to have a chat with him about it. And God help him if his dog runs at them when they arrive. I thought about calling 911 later, too - the guy was working himself up so much, though, if I called 911 in front of him, I think he actually would have hurt me (not internet hyperbole - the dude _scared_ me!). ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/605 "2014-01-28T02:32:25Z")
Maybe hit HIM with the pepper spray, then explain to the nice person with the badge that he was threatening you and you had reasonable cause to believe you were in danger of harm from both his ill-mannered mongrel and its even more poorly-behaved owner. (The dog might be redeemable with PROPER training, the “human” seems beyond hope.) ---
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/606 "2014-01-28T02:50:21Z")
I’m a new dog owner, but all the dog parks/off leash areas I’ve seen have been fenced. Buttercup is a Very Good Dog who always comes when she’s called, but I’d be pretty nervous about letting her run free and fenceless. Even Very Good Dogs can get distracted by a squirrel or frightened by something and take off. > [@kayT](#): > > **Cat Whisperer,** if his dog was ignoring his commands and running at you what difference did it make if he was in the off-leash area? Either way he didn’t have control of his dog so you had every right to be concerned. The man’s an idiot I agree with this. All dogs in public should be under control. If the dog does something that alarms a person, the dog should be corrected and/or removed from the situation. (Buttercup once badly frightened a young child on a sidewalk because Buttercup is a dog and the child was afraid of dogs. I apologized and we turned around and went the other way until the lady (who also apologized and then thanked me for understanding) was able to calm her child and go on their way.) ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/607 "2014-01-28T02:57:07Z")
I’m afraid I’m missing how there’s off-leash area that’s accessible to the point that dogs need to be leashed. Are they actually separated by a fence and the dog’s owner was reading the signs to mean if he could see them the dog could be off leash? I dunno. Sounds like if there could be misunderstandings, I would just avoid the area altogether. People really can get nutty about letting their dogs run amok. (I also carry pepper spray, off leash dogs being just one reason.) ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/608 "2014-01-28T03:54:01Z")
Soooo… this week while I’ve been ill, MIL has been sending me messages that are clearly trying to make me feel guilty for infecting her with an illness that she hasn’t even caught, from the hour she spent with my son while I wasn’t even there, and she’s been keeping from me that the grandson she babysits for two days a week had come down with the stomach bug first. I’m disgruntled. ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/609 "2014-01-28T04:40:44Z")
Allergies in January WTF:confused: ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/610 "2014-01-28T05:16:21Z")
I’m pretty much done with this weather. And I want my laptop to start behaving (which probably means replacing the motherboard). And I don’t want to have to dress in 3 layers to work in the office, damnit. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/611 "2014-01-28T05:27:56Z")
> [@SeaDragonTattoo](#): > > I’m afraid I’m missing how there’s off-leash area that’s accessible to the point that dogs need to be leashed. Are they actually separated by a fence and the dog’s owner was reading the signs to mean if he could see them the dog could be off leash? I dunno. Sounds like if there could be misunderstandings, I would just avoid the area altogether. People really can get nutty about letting their dogs run amok. (I also carry pepper spray, off leash dogs being just one reason.) This off-leash area is a disaster of misinformation and misleading information, made even worse by dog owners who have never bothered to look up the city bylaws regarding dogs (there aren’t all that many - it would take them about two minutes if they bothered). All city paths (multi-use paths - for biking, walking, skateboarding, whatever) are on-leash areas - all dogs on these paths are required to be on a leash that is less than two meters long. The multi-use path that takes me directly to Safeway runs through an off-leash area; the dog owners here mis-interpret that to mean that the path is also an off-leash area, which it is not. The signs as you leave the path say you are entering an off-leash area - it doesn’t, however, say that the path is an on-leash area. That lunacy aside, the dog owners in this particular off-leash area are extremely lax about controlling their dogs while off-leash. They seem to think that “off-leash” means “take the leash off and let the dog roam free, doing whatever it pleases while you don’t even watch it.” In the four years I’ve been using this path, I’ve seen it many, many times - the dog is a block ahead of the owner, or a block behind the owner, doing whatever it wants (like dropping a load that the owner doesn’t even notice), or young kids taking a horse-sized dog to the area, or the dog just bolting away from the owner and ignoring all calls to come back. I am just going to stay out of the area from now on - the assholes have won. I’ll take the long way to Safeway and avoid these hassles. [This is the young kids and their dog in the off-leash area](http://s151.photobucket.com/user/featherlou/media/Dog%20Problems/DSCN0959.jpg.html) - tell me those kids can control a dog that size. [Here’s a typical scene on the path.](http://s151.photobucket.com/user/featherlou/media/Dog%20Problems/DSCN1473.jpg.html) [Here’s another one](http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s142/featherlou/Dog%20Problems/DSCN0890.jpg) - you can kind of see the sign indicating that you’re entering an off-leash area in the distance. [And another one -](http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s142/featherlou/Dog%20Problems/DSCN0895.jpg)you tell me where that dog’s owner is - I don’t see him. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/612 "2014-01-28T05:44:17Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > [And another one -](http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s142/featherlou/Dog%20Problems/DSCN0895.jpg)you tell me where that dog’s owner is - I don’t see him. He’s right behind you! Here, the off-leash parks are gated and completely separated with no mistaking them for pathways meant for everyone. While I’m on your side about the path being a space that should be safe passage, I don’t see how the difference can be enforced without a barrier. If I walked through that area I would feel I was in an entirely off-leash zone, as the dog people seem to have decided. That said, I still think someone walking on the path and minding her own business has every right to pepper spray someone’s lunk of a dog charging at her and clearly not under control. _sigh_ It’s unfortunate. The only way I think you can get a safe path back is to get the city to put up a fence. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/613 "2014-01-28T07:24:36Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > I walked over to my bank to do some banking today. I walked through an off-leash area as I often do; the area I walk in is an on-leash area - the off-leash area is beside it. The dog in [this picture](http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s142/featherlou/Dog%20Problems/SAM_4977_zpsc6b8e224.jpg) ran towards me, ignoring his owner’s commands. As the dog approached me, I got nervous and pulled out my dog pepper spray, as I always do when strange dogs approach me. I ended up getting into a verbal fight with the owner - he got upset when I took my pepper spray out because he thought he was in an off-leash area, I tried to explain to him that the path was an on-leash area, but he wasn’t listening - he pointed at the off-leash sign beside the path and called me a fucking retard. We had a couple more exchanges after that, with him getting more excited, and I was worried about his dog attacking me then to protect his owner. He threatened me with bodily harm if I sprayed his dog, and then I walked away. He was still yelling things after me as I left. > > It took me a long time to stop shaking after being accosted like that; I was afraid of the owner as well as the dog, and I can see that argument going even worse than it did. I don’t think I’ll be walking through that area again, even though it is my most direct route to the local shopping centre. :rolleyes: Ya kinda have to wonder about anyone who discusses the option of inflicting bodily harm upon a person holding a can of pepper spray… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![madrabbitwoman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c37758/32.png) [@madrabbitwoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madrabbitwoman)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/614 "2014-01-28T07:56:51Z")
It sucks when aggressive arseholes do stuff like that. I gotta say though - he threatened you - you had every right to call the cops on his arse. Do whatever you feel you need to do though and I sure as hell would be avoiding that area too. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/615 "2014-01-28T14:28:49Z")
> [@eenerms](#): > > Allergies in January WTF:confused: You must be in California. The weird weather has pollen running amok, apparently. My grumble there (aside from I didn’t even HAVE seasonal allergies until I moved to Sacramento!) is that the “twelve hour” claim on the Claritin (OK, a store-brand clone) is a lie. I’m lucky to get eight. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/616 "2014-01-28T15:16:16Z")
I take an Allegra clone (fexofenadine), and it lasts me a couple of days. Maybe I’m just lucky. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/617 "2014-01-28T16:41:42Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > This off-leash area is a disaster of misinformation and misleading information, made even worse by dog owners who have never bothered to look up the city bylaws regarding dogs (there aren’t all that many - it would take them about two minutes if they bothered). … I concur with most of your rant, and especially most wholeheartedly agree that the misleading signs are the source of the problem … but I think you’re being unrealistic to think that most average people look up city bylaws. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/618 "2014-01-28T16:47:40Z")
> [@Seanette](#): > > You must be in California. The weird weather has pollen running amok, apparently. > > My grumble there (aside from I didn’t even HAVE seasonal allergies until I moved to Sacramento!) is that the “twelve hour” claim on the Claritin (OK, a store-brand clone) is a lie. I’m lucky to get eight. I didn’t have them until about 10 yrs after I moved here. I have found that the real Claritin (the kind you have to get from behind the counter) and not store brand, is the only thing that works for me. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/619 "2014-01-28T17:49:57Z")
> [@Seanette](#): > > You must be in California. The weird weather has pollen running amok, apparently. > > My grumble there (aside from I didn’t even HAVE seasonal allergies until I moved to Sacramento!) is that the “twelve hour” claim on the Claritin (OK, a store-brand clone) is a lie. I’m lucky to get eight. I hear that. My dog is shedding and the daffodils are up. I used to live in the Sacramento area and had hay fever in the winter. The student health center said it might mean that I was allergic to tree pollen. Not sure if that’s accurate, but winter hay fever is apparently common in California, even in normal weather. Or as normal as California gets. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/620 "2014-01-28T20:14:19Z")
You know, Gencon, when 90% of your housing is requested in the first hour that the website is available, it would be advisable **that the fucking thing work right**. It took me 40 minutes and 4 attempts to get it to take my credit card and not time out. A friend wasn’t able to get it to work for him at all until after all the downtown hotels were booked solid. There is no ‘work the kinks out the first day’ in this line of business. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605.md?page=30) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605.md?page=32)