DogMom, sorry, I read it as if you had a greyhound now. Then it shouldn’t have been a surprise that it chased things. With crossbreeds, all bets are off. 
County. Nice drive-by. On par for the course, as always.
There seems to be quite a gulf between how dogs are viewed and treated in the US when compared with Europe and NZ/Australia.
That’s not to say that there aren’t dog attacks everywhere (some absolutely horrific) - but in NZ/Australia and Europe (all places I have lived) tend to be more relaxed about dogs not on leashes than what I have witnessed in the states. My US friend’s main concern was that noone would sue them, not that their dog would bite a chunck out of anyone.
It is commonplace to meet dogs on the street here, but unless in a gang or low socioeconomic area, people and dogs for the most part are chilled out. I would say that in countries like England and Germany, people are even more relaxed about dogs.
So why the differences?
There can’t be more idiots that don’t train dogs or teach them to be aggressive (wittingly or unwittingly) in the US surely?
As I understand it, quite a lot of dogs are taken from their mothers when they’re about five weeks old. This is totally idiotic, (upcoming hyperbole) bordering on criminal.
The reson is that Mama dog will teach her pups proper dog language between weeks 6-8. These are things we as owners can’t teach the dogs and without that training, many dogs don’t know how to behave when another dog tries to hump them, sniff them in the ass or play fight.
Responsible breeders and potential buyers should never separate the doggie from mom until 8 weeks.
And everyone who has ever ruined a pair of shoes in Paris by trodding through a piece of dog crap on the street has contemplated whether or not the lackadaisical attitude towards dogs in the public streets is truly a good thing.
Ah, but that is a different arguement - aren’t we talking about dogs on leashes because of threatened attacks not dog poo? (not saying that this isn’t a problem in some European cities)
I live in the country so virtually no dogs are leashed and there’s nothing that can really be done about it (even though there are leash laws). Fortunately most of the dogs are friendly and I’ll visit them in my yard when they come by.
When I go running on the back roads though, I sometimes run into problems. Sometimes the wild biters are kept behind fences, and every now and then and angry, barking scary dog will come out of nowhere and chase me down the street, scaring me shitless and pissing me off to no end.
One time I got freaked out wicked bad. I was running down a road and I saw a german shepard standing in a yard at a bit of a distance not moving. Since it was immobile and I had to go down that road to get to my house I went past the dog. Around 30 seconds later I hear jngling and a clicking noise against the pavement. I turn my head to see said dog barreling down the road towards me completely silently. The adrenaline kicked in and I hauled major ass til the dog stopped.
Unfortunately there’s nothing I can really do except not run on those roads anymore.
Anyways, cats are an infinately superior pet than dogs.
[QUOTE=Left Hand of Dorkness]
Either that, or you need to contact your democratically-elected representative and try to get laws passed against people letting their dogs run at large.
Yes, you can call the Animal Control people and they will come out and take the dog in (If they can find the dog). My point is that this is simply one of life’s little hazards. Dogs have been around people for several thousand years. They are domesticated animals.
They provide security (a lot less likely to be burglarized with a dog). Good for old people and prisoners.
There are 4-5 in my neighborhood that the owners let loose occasionally - hell one of them is so friendly that once when I left the door open the damn dog came into my house and went back to my bedroom, I had to chase him out.
So, I think people should deal with it, get a big stick or a stun gun if it bothers you that much because dogs are going to be around for a while and your elected representative isn’t going to come out and chase the dog away.
laugh
Yep, it surely wasn’t a surprise when our Grey chased things. What did surprise me was how focused he was about it. I’m pretty sure I’d call it anal-retentive, at best. He once stared at a squirrel in a tree for over 45 minutes, just HOPING it would come back down and sacrifice the remaining half of its tail (the Grey had already snagged one half of its tail). If he saw a rabbit disappear into brush along the side of the road, once we got to that exact spot he’d just fixate on it and want to plow through it. It was amazing to see how intent he could be on just one thing.
CurrentDog is…surprising, to say the least. We believe he was taken away from his Mama and his litter WAY too early - he had no idea how to play, or how to STOP playing, or how to behave properly when we got him. (He was VERY well behaved when we got him from the pound. We soon found out that was because he had a nasty case of Kennel Cough. Which they swore they inoculated for. Grrr.) We didn’t want to just give up on him - the pound said we were his last chance (we were the 3rd “family” to take him). Puppies for Dummies was VERY helpful in this regard - it tells you what the Mama dogs do to teach their puppies to play, to behave themselves, etc. and now he’s a REALLY good dog and very well-behaved.
In keeping with the OP, he is on-leash when he’s outside our yard, but we do get to take him to my parents place out in the country and there he can roam off-leash to his heart’s content. He “guards” the house from strange dogs, including those large ones that everyone else calls “deer”. 
This is a huge problem in my neighborhood–and we’re in the city. I’ll go out for a walk with my kids and not only do we have to watch out for the piles of dog crap, but we have to be aware of the fact that many dogs are not kept on leashes. Several times I’ve had dogs run right at us. It really scares my 7 yr. old because these dogs stand as tall as him and probably weigh more. Then the owner will run up and laugh, saying that the dog is just friendly. More than once I’ve told them that I don’t really care–I’m violently allergic to dogs so I don’t want it anywhere near me, and it frightens my son so keep it on a fucking leash!
I really don’t understand why people seem to take this as a personal insult–as if I’m made derogatory comments about their child! But now, when we go out walking, I’m always sure to bring along my pepper spray just in case.
I have a 10 year old Boxer (elderly, by Boxer standards) that I walk off leash, but she’s the only one I’ve ever been able to do this with. When I take her out, I have the leash in hand, and will put it on at the slightest sign of trouble.
The others that I’ve had have either been blithering idiots (Hey Dad, that snarling St. Bernard just want to play) or have had the urge to defend me at all costs from the whimpering Bichon Frise.
FWIW, Greyhounds are very narrow-minded animals 
Legally how responsible are you for a dog’s life?
If it attacks you/girlfriend/friend/child, are you allowed to do whatever it takes to get the dog away?
Certainly trying to separate victim and dog would be first on my list, but if I see that my child’s life in in danger that dog is dead meat. Would I be in trouble if that had to be done?
Kinthalis, almost certainly you wouldn’t be in trouble.
Yesterday, I (at the humane society) got a call from a woman in a neighboring county. Although I don’t think she realized it, it’s the second time she’s called me. She was asking about whether we could prosecute her neighbor for shooting her dog to death.
Setting aside the fact that we have no jurisdiction in the neighboring county, I asked her whether the dog was off her property. Yes it was, she said.
Could the neighbor claim that the dog was menacing his family or his animals?
It was attacking his chickens, she said. But how could someone put her dog’s life lower than the value of a fifty-cent chicken?
I explained to her, diplomatically as I could, that the law in our state specifically allows people to kill dogs that were menacing livestock or pets or people. I gave her the number for her local animal control, but told her that there probably wasn’t a case there.
It’s not the dog’s fault that its owner let it run free. The dog just did what came naturally. It’s the owners fault, and sadly, it’s the dog that got punished for it.
Furthermore, in many areas, cruelty laws refer to causing undue suffering. It’s quite plausible for someone to shoot a dog, killing it instantaneously, and not run afoul of anti-cruelty laws (NOT THAT I’M RECOMMENDING DOING THIS!) IN such a case, you might be liable for theft of property, but not necessarily for cruelty, even if the shooting wasn’t justified.
County, I’ve read this quote a half dozen times:
and it still makes no sense. Good for old people, sure, but prisoners? Wha?
In any case, a dog in your house provides great security. A dog chasing someone down the street does nothing for your security. If you’ll notice, the thread is about dogs running at large, not about indoors watchdogs.
Daniel
I was told by the Sheriff where I live, that if the rottweiller I talked about chasing me up my driveway earlier came on to my property and threatened me again, I most certainly could lawfully shoot it. Just call him afterward. Let me be plain that I would not feel good about doing such a thing, and that ultimately I do not blame my neighbors dogs. I blame my neighbors for being utterly irresponsible dog owners. They have akitas that also have been loose and killed my cat on my property. But still, I blame the neighbors, not the dogs. Unfortunately, I can’t shoot the neighbors, but if it comes down to it, I can and will shoot their dangerous trespassing dogs.
I can’t believe I’m writing this.
In many ways, you’re right. While I’m not fond of cats, and very partial to dogs, I feel that a whole lot of people would be happier with a cat. If all they want is something warm, furry, nice and cuddly, that’s alive, contains a personality, and recognise the owner, then a cat is so much less work, and much easier to take care of.
I think it is very sad that you are teaching your children to be afraid of animals. A better approach would be to teach them when a dog is trying to be friendly or when it is trying to attack. Your son is probably frightened of dogs because of your own reactions. No matter where you live there will be occassions when dogs are unleashed.
In my experience, people who don’t like animals (and I don’t necessarily mean having to have them sit on your lap) lack humanity and some have no concern that animals become extinct, not realising that we are in this world together and without them we don’t exsist.
Having said that, if a dog is attacking you, your child or your own dog, I believe you should do whatever you can to stop it - sometimes trying to kill it is the only way.
In my neighborhood, we get attacked by off-leash dogs at least once every couple of months. Just the other night, we were walking the pups late, so as to avoid this sort of confrontation, and we found ourselves surrounded by three snarling dogs.
The owner had thought nothing of letting the dogs out of the car to run free while she brought her stuff into the house. Which led to a fascinating scene; me wielding an extensible steel baton that I carry for just such an occasion, fending off three dogs determined to attack our pups, while the boyfriend tried to make a strategic retreat with both our leashed dogs.
Once the dogs had the idea that I could hit them before they could get into biting distance, they retreated a bit, confused. Fortunately, I only had to poke them a couple of times.
Meanwhile, the dogs’ owner is standing back at her house, yelling her dogs’ names, and calling me an asshole.
My dogs are leashed, whenever they’re not in an enclosed well-fenced yard or dog park. I pick up after them, every single time. And if your dog comes after mine, I’m perfectly within my rights to defend myself, even to the point of killing your dog.
For your own dogs’ safety, as well as the safety of kids, adults and dogs they may encounter, keep your dogs on a leash.
What the hell is so hard about that?
I’m not teaching my children to be afraid of animals. I’m not afraid of them, I just don’t like them and I think that’s because they make me physically ill–I used to have dogs when I was a kid and I loved them very much. I think it’s perfectly reasonable that if something twice your weight, your height, and possessing big teeth, comes running up to you, you’re going to be a little leary of it.
My reaction isn’t fear, but anger that someone wouldn’t have the foresight to realize that no one else but them knows their dog isn’t running at us because my son looks like a bite sized treat to it. And I will continue to pull my son behind me in such situations because I’m not going to take a chance with his life because I don’t want him to be afraid of dogs. You can call that a lack of humanity all you like, I don’t really see it that way.
Seriously, grown dogs that attack puppies are very disturbed. Dogs are pack animals and the defense of puppies should be automatic. Call whatever authority that has jurisdiction and tell them about it.
Sorry if I gave you the impression that our dogs are puppies, Gaspode; they’re grown dogs. We just call them pups occasionally.