I’m going to add my $.02. Keep your freaking dog on a leash at the vets office.
We have two separate entrances and waiting rooms–one for dogs and one for cats. So there isn’t a risk of a dog attacking a cat (unless he can run through a wall). However, even the most friendly of dogs get scared and mean when they are at the vet. There have been dogs that have gone into exams with bites on them from other dogs in the waiting room. And get a leash where you can control your dog–you need to be able to move your dog out of the way of children in the office, bigger dogs coming and going, and dogs that are being picked up from surgeries or overnight treatments by their owners.
As a vet assistant, if your dog is on a leash, it makes it a LOT easier for me to control. Dogs have a lot of strength, especially when they are scared and get that burst of adrenaline telling them to fight and run. If I’ve got that leash, I can step on the end or shorten it so the dog can’t jump up. I can lead him to a treatment area. I have something to help me out. If there’s no leash, I’ve got to try to chase and pin down an animal, and hold him down. And I’m only 100 pounds. There isn’t a whole lot of me for that job.
Also, I really get pissed off having to clean up dog shit and piss in 50 million different places in the office. If your dog is on a leash, the only places they can be are in the waiting room, the hall, or the exam room. None of these areas are carpeted because we know that accidents happen. We don’t mind cleaning up accidents in these areas. However, when the dog isn’t on a leash and decides to run up and down the hall and into other exam rooms and the doctor’s library and the lounge and the office manager’s office and the other portion of file storage–all of which are carpeted–and have an accident, I’m going to be pissed off about cleaning it. Because it’s going to take a lot more work to get everything up and out of the carpet and to disinfect the area than it would if the dog just went in the hall.
Zwaldd-
I have to call you out on your little ancedote. First you describe the dog as a PITT BULL (fear mongermuch??) then claim that the dog PRANCED. This is not the behavior of an agressive dog. Second, your hipocracy is almost too much to take when you call for government (police) protection against oversized luggage and cell phones while you freely admit that you carry a knife. If you are a proponent of laws to regulate all human behavior do not forget that it will apply to you.
Yeah, keep your animal leashed. I don’t let My APBT leave the yard unleashed. That’s for his protection as much as anyone else’s. He’s a very friendly, loving dog, but because of his breed’s reputation many people are afraid of him and might pre-emptively attack him. I keep the gates to my back yard locked & have signs on them for the same reasons.
And to protect other people & animals: at 62 pounds he could knock down a small child easily. And he’s game toward dogs larger than himself and could easily hurt any dog.
Dinsdale, are you walking your dogs off-leash in an area where that is legal? I’m glad to hear that your dogs are well trained enough that you can control them without leashes. There is one area near my home where I can legally let my dog off leash and as it’s wooded & remote, I can do that during the colder months as no one else uses the area. I won’t do that on the streets where I live though.
And one more point. Do not tie up your dog in a public entrance entrance way or location that people have to access. Just last year, I couldn’t access a newspaper from an outside vending machine because some large dog was tied up to it. I entered the restaurant adjacent to the vending machine and demanded the staff locate the owner to remove his dog. Following the removal of the dog and getting my National Post, the owner retied his dog as before. I was flabbergasted by the blatant lack of consideration for others.
there is people, (I know one), that has been attacked in early childhood, by a dog. There is no limit how scared this woman was when a dog approching.
Once I was distributing leaflets, in Sweden, to each house. Some of the houses had to be approached because there was no post-box at the street, (very common in the Nordic countries).
Once I went to a house, left the leaflet, and when I turned, there was two big dogs that did not let me out in the street. It took me some 30 minutes to make 40 yards, one inch at time.
There was no sign “Beware of dogs” or “No advertisement”.
Here in Russia there is a problem with wild dogs. They run 2 - 5 dogs together. They are more dangerous than wolves, because they can attack a person just running alone. The wolves attacks, as far as I know, only in a pack of 5 or so. (There was one incident, last winter, not far from where I live, where the wolves killed a woman on a buss-stop, and heavily hurted her husband.)
There is a law that says that if You have a gun, You are obligated to shoot the loose running dog (outside cities). Wolves You can shoot if You like.
I am in the wooden business and I usually have something like an axe or a motor-saw with me, but could in principle buy a Kalashnikov (or a copy of it used in hunting), but has not have a need of one so far.
The dogs running lose in the cities are most gone now. It happened after August a few years ago, when the rubel devaluted 75%. The poorest people caught the dogs and ate them.
Just if You wonder:
I am living in Russia, west of Ural, even if my signature says “Siberia”. (It is a joke: A prisoner gave me a wooden comb with the text “From Siberia with love”, [in English]. I was a teacher in a prison for a year).
I have one of those little dogs you’d probably consider a yappy ratdog. Spunky (yes, that’s his name) barks a little at every dog he sees, not because he’s being aggressive but because he’s saying hi and wants to play. He goes to doggie daycare a couple of times a month when I have business meetings, and consequently, he thinks of other dogs as playmates who need to be greeted and sniffed and run around with, and really hates when I prevent him from accomplishing these important tasks.
And yes, your dog should be on a leash if he’s being walked down a street. Whether it’s the law where you live or not, it’s the safest thing for your dog. Who knows when one of those “yappy ratdogs” is going to raise your unleashed dogs ire and make him run right out into the path of oncoming traffic? Why on earth take that risk?
I feel quite strongly that as dog owners, we have a responsibility to our companion animas to protect them with ever reasonable means available to us. Leashes definitely fit within the scope of reasonable.
First you describe the dog as a PITT BULL (fear mongermuch??) then claim that the dog PRANCED. This is not the behavior of an agressive dog.
I don’t get your point. The dog WAS a pit bull. If it was a yellow lab, then I would’ve said it was a yellow lab. And it did prance - it didn’t act aggressively towards me after I stood up, which is why I didn’t take any action. Second, your hipocracy is almost too much to take when you call for government (police) protection against oversized luggage and cell phones while you freely admit that you carry a knife.
I didn’t call for police protection against oversized luggage and cell phones. I said the only solution is law/policy enforcement. Which means that if there’s a law (littering, leashes), enforce the law. If a business has a policy (no cell phones in movies, no luggage over a certain size), the business needs to enforce the policy. And I don’t ‘carry a knife’ like I’m a gangsta. The multi-tool I use for trailside bike maintenance has a knife in it, along with allen wrenches, tire levers, chain tool, etc. It just so happened that I had the tool handy as I was adjusting my brakes.
**If you are a proponent of laws to regulate all human behavior do not forget that it will apply to you. **
I didn’t say that I was a proponent of laws regulating all human behavior. In fact, I specifically stated that society doesn’t have the resources to enforce the laws we already have. You’re not much for reading comprehension, are you?
Okay, I have a story. I was out walking my sweeter-than-anything blind bearded collie )he now lives in Saskatoon with my Dad.
Farley adn I were out for our walk at a local park when around the hill came an unleashed Akita. Now, I am not going to speak badly about any certain breeds, but some are known for being aggressive and this is one of them. The owner was no where to be seen. I am not afraid of any dog, especially alone (in a pack running around they can be pretty intimidating). After a few tense moments the owner showed up and said, “Hmm, he usually reponds much worse to other dogs.”
HELL-O? Where the hell is your leash?
I think dogs should always be leashed unless they are in an area that they are legaly allowed to be off-leash, for their protection and everyone elses’. Some dogs are people friendly, but other dog-aggressive, some dogs just seem to decide they don’t like that particular person or animal for whatever reason.
Don’t be ignorant about this, most people are not directly attacking your animal, or you personally. As a common courtesy, keep your puppy leashed.
Dear Dog Owner:
That’s one thing I really hate. Yes, we live in a relatively rural area, so it’s nicer than some urban areas. But having the lovely trees instead of skyscrapers doesnt mean that there’s no traffic. Please, go stand in your yard for a minute. See all the cars going by your house all day long? If you love your dog, you won’t let him or her roam around the town, where he or she is very likely to encounter one of those cars. I know you think your dog is smart, but they’re not smart enough to stay out of the road. You wouldn’t expect that of your 2 or 3 year old child, so it’s really unfair to expect your dog, who has no more common sense, to keep themselves safe. If your dog runs out in front of my car, and despite my best efforts not to, I hit it, it’s not the dog’s fault, and it’s as much your fault for being negectiful as it is mine. I don’t want to kill your pet, so please restrict him or her to your yard!
That said, a dog needs to run around without leash, and collar. It’s good excersise and part of the animal’s way of being. Dogs want to play with other dogs, and should never do that, when on a leash. They can seriously hurt.
I hate those flexi-leashes (expanding) becuase it doesn’t give the dog the freedom it needs, but it doesn’t give me the controll either. Get a proper leash.
And fer godsake, raise your dog to obey you, at all times, without you needing the leash to controll it. If you can’t do that, you shouldn’t own a dog in the first place.
I will continue doing what I’ve always done - whenever possible, let the dog be without the leash. Never on a playground though.
And if you live so you can’t have a dog running free, you should consider not having a dog at all.
I speak as a former co-owner of a 158 lbs Dogo Argentino.
Even in places where there’s a leash law? If so, would the consistent enforcement of leash laws, say by citations and fines for instance, change your behavior?
There are a lot of bad dog owners, and I agree with most of what’s written here. There are laws regulating it here, but they’re more like the curfew laws for teens in parts of the US (if they still exist) - meaning, they are enforced, if the law sees a reason to enforce, as with a bad dog owner.
As long as I can controll my dog, nothing WILL happen.
But some people fear dogs. Little kids can be a problem, so I put him on a leash, when there was need. However, I picked where to live, for this reason too. It’s still urban, but talking out the dog without a leash is NOT a problem.
we don’t leash our dog (alsation/lab cross) because we don’t take her where she needs to be leashed.
she is taken for walks on the beach and in the forest, not in parks.
and CERTAINLY not in playgrounds.
she needs to be unleashed because she runs to and fro, jumps over fallen trees, dives in the sea for thrown stones and chases sticks. she simply wouldn’t get enough exercise if she were leashed.
but she has her lead on in the carpark, when walking past picnic areas, or anywhere near horses.
she will come to heel instantly to be leashed.
some people do not train their dogs well enough to do this, or are not prepared to drive out of their city to walk them properly.
those dogs should be leashed at all times. because a badly trained, unleashed dog in an urban park is asking for trouble.
‘Nope, you won’t let your dog off the leash where leash laws are in effect’, or ‘Nope, consistent enforcement of leash laws would not change your behavior’?
I don’t know if that is illegal where you live or not, but I wish you wouldn’t do it. Just for an example:
My neighbors are from Pakistan. The wife and the daughter are deathly afraid of dogs. They won’t go into their [5’5" solid-wood-privacy-fenced] back yard if my dog is in our [same fenced] yard. One time she came over to give me some mail that they’d gotten, and she saw our dog behind me in the house, LYING DOWN IN THE HALL and she screamed and RAN into her house.
I don’t even want to think what would happen if she saw an unleashed dog outside.
There are a lot of reasons not to have unleashed dogs in public, and courtesy is up there at the top. Especially when it’s illegal to do so.
I’ll add another request here - please don’t give your children the responsibility of exercising your dog unsupervised. They are unlikely to be able to hold your dog should it decide to bolt after a cat or another dog, and they could be seriously injured attempting to defend their pet from an attack by another dog.
Given some of the nasty incidents I’ve witnessed lately involving dogs which were suppposedly under the owner’s control, I’d like to see leash laws extended to include compulsory muzzling of dogs in areas where leash laws are in operation.
Compulsory muzzling is more than a bit over the top, reprise. As someone who wholeheartedly supports leash laws, pooper scooper laws, and mandatory vaccination, I’m all for anything that improves the safety and well-being of animals or protects the public health. I gladly vaccinate, license, leash, and scoop my pets, but if you tell me to put a muzzle on my dog, you’ll be wearing that muzzle as an anal accessory.
For one thing, muzzles are annoying to most dogs, and they drive themselves crazy trying to get the damn things off. Ever try to walk a dog that’s franticly clawing at it’s snout all the time? Not to mention the hell that can break loose when a truly bad dog gets a muzzle off. For another, these incidents are rare enough that there’d be a minimal benefit, not nearly worth the costs of such a law. Finally, if my dog was muzzled, she’d have no way to defend me or herself from vicious strays or vicious humans, would she?
The only danger Sparky poses to people is knocking them over (he’s 80lbs, thinks he is a puppy, and he’s kinda stupid) and/or crotch-sniffing them to death. Putting a muzzle on him would be absurd and would really reduce his quality of living during the time that he is outdoors.
I would be in favor of a law that required muzzles on any dog that has attacked someone in the past, however.