Moron dog owners who ignore leash laws (lame.)

The BBQ Pit
1

Three days ago my SO’s nephew comes by in a panic - he has to make an emergency trip to Texas and has nowhere to kennel his malamute. Can we put him up for a week? Sure, we’d love to help out. The dog, let’s call him “Beast” seems gentle, fun, and relatively low key. In hindsight we should have known better. But the SO wants to indulge her nephew and I love dogs so what the hey.

Beast is about ninety pounds, one of the biggest malamutes I’ve ever seen. He comes across as very genial. He absolutely does not defecate or urinate in the house, and he doesn’t chew up everything in sight. Despite his genial manner he’s extremely ferocious looking - the first time he walked into our back yard, he looked up into a tree and growled mildly, causing a pair of raccoons hiding in the tree to charge out of our yard like the Demon Asmodai was pursuing them. That’s about all you can say about his good qualities.

On the other hand, his bad qualities started emerging pretty quickly - he lunges at our 12 pound Boston Terrier every chance he gets, terrifying the poor guy. This means that we have to keep Beast shut in the rec room, where he gets bored and howls and howls and howls. He jumps on everyone who he meets and tries to hump their leg (he’s unfixed! Gah!) My SO lost her sense of balance after a head injury, so she pretty much can’t be around him unless she wants to be knocked over. And oh yes, when I tried to walk him, he nearly pulled me over and wrenched my hand in the leash suffciently to make my hand hurt for the rest of the day. I’m a 6’7’’ 240 pund guy - I’m not used to having dogs pull me over, even malamutes.

So I finally get some time to work with Beast today - I put him on a short leash, hold his head right by my hip and take him for a slow walk around the park. Beast is really not into this, until he realizes that good behavior means an occasional treat. We walk for long time, frequently changing direction, Beast slowly but surely learning to accept me as the boss and try to walk with me rather than charge off wherever he wants to go. It takes a looong time to make any progress with this guy, he’s got a lot of bad ideas to unlearn. Every time anything enters his field of view, he loses focus whether its a bird, a ball or the occasional kid.
But he really loses it every time he sees another dog. He lunges for the other dog with everything he’s got, and I have to put him on the ground before he can pull himself together. I honestly don’t know if he wants to play or if he wants to fight, and with malamutes it’s really a moot point since the line between playing and fighting can be pretty thin with them. Best to play it safe.

Everything’s going fine until dipshit shows up with his offleash bitch. She’s charging all over the park and of course dipshit isn’t watching her. You can’t have a dog offleash anywhere in the city, but dipshit doesn’t seem to think the laws apply to him. Beast, of course, goes insane when dipshit’s bitch comes prancing around. “Hey” I yell “Put your damn dog on a leash”

“She’s fine. She won’t come near your dog” says dipshit, and then gives me a look, like I’m the irresponsible one for walking a dog who lunges at other dogs. Then he walks off. His dog runs in the other direction from him; dipshit doesn’t notice or watch his bitch.

Hey dipshit, does this look like a fucking chinchilla I’m walking here? Should I follow your sterling example and take Beast offleash too? Do you need to see your dog gutted by another dog before you do the right thing and keep your dog restrained? I briefly entertained the thought of letting Beast on dipshit’s bitch to teach him a lesson, but Dipshit’s bitch shouldn’t have to pay for Dipshit’s stupidity. I then breifly entertained the idea of provoking dipshit, and then letting Beast make dipshit Beast’s bitch, but I didn’t like the way it would play in court afterwards so I refrained. Dipshit’s probably home tonight saying “Can you believe that guy yelled at me to put my dog on a leash! As if!”

Keep your fucking dog on the fucking leash, you fucking dipshit. There are offleash dog parks you can go to if you insist on letting your bitch run.

2

If only all dog owners would watch ‘The Dog Whisperer’.

3

So, while your nephew is out of town, help him out by getting this dog fixed. Extra benefit: he will be at the Vet’s for a few days, so you don’t have these problems in your house.

And a dog with these disposition issues should not be used for breeding, anyway. There are plenty of malamute studs with good disposition; let them be the ones to reproduce.

4

I’m sure that many of the worst offenders watch the show, but you have to remember that Sparkles is ssssssssspecial and doesn’t need training. Shitting on the carpet and attacking babies is just her way of being clever :mad: :rolleyes:

5

Leviosaurus, good on you for trying to bring some structure to the dog’s life. Folks that have big, powerful dogs and don’t train them are just asking for trouble. (Lots of folks with little yappy dogs don’t train them either. I think that’s because they see them as Precious Little Angels, since they can scoop them up.)

Lots of dogs like Malamutes see smaller dogs as prey. Be careful with him and your Boston.

Tell your friend to take the dog to an obedience class.

6

Yes. And have a long, long talk with him about getting the dog neutered.

7

Or Sparkles had an abusive puppyhood and just couldn’t possibly be put through the terrors of being trained.

8

He’s right. He should have had his dog leashed, true, but by your own admission that’s because you’re barely restraining a dangerous animal that thinks other dogs are bar snacks. Then you toyed with the idea of letting your dog kill his dog to teach him a lesson, rejected it, and toyed with the idea of provoking him in order that your dog could attack him. I sincerely hope that was just hyperbole, because otherwise you should not be allowed to own or look after a dog.

9

Simple solution for dog problems in cities - no dogs allowed. At first glance that sounds like an extreme solution to a small problem, but it would end so many problems - no more dog shit everywhere, no more people getting bitten by uncontrolled dogs, no more people getting threatened by dogs, no more neighbours listening to their neighbours’ dogs barking all damned day, no more dogs getting hit by cars and traumatizing the person who was just driving, no more dogs causing problems on multi-use pathways. All of these problems could be solved by people looking after their animals properly and not being assholes, but as any city dweller can tell you, that’s only happening in Fantasyland. So, all you dog owners who won’t do what you should do with your dogs so that they can co-exist with the rest of your neighbours, you lose the privilege. Problems all solved.

10

Seconded, absolutely. The obedience class is a good idea, too. People who keep an unneutered, undisciplined large dog are just asking for all kinds of trouble.

11

Failing that, owners rather than dogs ought to be licensed. Similar to a car or gun license, it should involve stringent owner education and testing, and be revocable if the owner breaches any of the strict conditions: if you allow your dog to yap all day and howl all night, shit on the footpath, intimidate passers-by or bite small children, your license is revoked and your dog is taken away, in addition to any civil or criminal penalties.

12

Thanks for the support, all. I’ve had a long talk with my SO and we’ve agreed to give a stern talk to her nephew - the next time he brings Beast over, one of the two of them better be neutered :smiley: If he leaves the dog with us for any length of time again, it WILL be fixed.

I’m all for taking him in right now, but SO pointed out that we have no idea what his health history is, what shots he’s had, etc. She also pointed out that while we’re working to improve Beast’s behavior, we can take the opportunity to improve her nephew’s behavior as well by encouraging him to do the right thing and get his dog fixed. If he still doesn’t, I guess we will have to lock him in the rec room and listen to him howl too.

I am REALLY proud of Beast today. I took him for another walk in the park, and by the end of our session, I was able to walk him on the long leash. He stayed in pace with me for the entire walk home without pulling, right by my side, turning when I turned and stopping when I stopped. I was so thrilled, when I got home I made the SO watch out the window while I walked him down the block and back, with slack on the leash the entire time. Good Beast!

:rolleyes: Lighten up. Don’t make me sic the malamute on you.

13

I agree with this strongly. People who aren’t responsible with their dogs make it a lot harder on those of us who go to great pains to ensure our dogs are well behaved.

14

In related business: Don’t walk your goddamn dog without a leash at ten at night on the unlit bike path!!

15

My BIL’s Airdale was almost killed today becuase they don’t use a leash. Him and his wife were washing one of the dogs when they notcied that the other had wondered across the street. They yelled for her to come back and when she did she was hit by a car. She’s been in the ICU at an emergency vet since yesterday around noon. It’s still very touch and go. Last night they had to start thinking about surgery on her very destroyed leg or putting her down. The vet didn’t have an MRI but is fairly sure the dog has brain damage. The decided to wait until morning and figure it out then. They got a call in the morning from the vet saying the dog took a turn for the worst. At noon today they went to make the decesion, most likely to put her down. But when they got there the dog was in good spirits, knew who they were, running, jumping, peeing on her own.* They’re going to have the surgery tomarrow. They were lucky this happened in fron of a fire station (my BIL is a firefighter/EMT. So they got the dog bandaged, splited and on a board to make it easier to move the dog around.
I feel bad for the dog, feel bad for the driver, but BIL should get a ticket for not having his dog on a leash.
*I just realized that statement trivialized the extent of the damage to her leg. Her paw was bent backwards all the way and apperently there were two bones coming sticking out of her leg. I’m guessing the running and jumping was a bit of an exageration (and a dog excited to see people she knew).

16

Please allow me to add to the rant:

Yes, I see your big manly pickup truck. Yes, I see the big tires and the (choose one) Auburn/Alabama/Georgia decal in the back window.

I also see the beautiful dog in the back. The beautiful UNRESTRAINED dog in the back.

You are an idiot. Oh, your dog won’t jump out? Isn’t that special. That is very close to what the dog owners say when they bring in a dog with two broken front legs and major road rash - “he’s never jumped out before!”

Duh, numbnuts - it only takes once. Since is costs the income of a small country to put gas in that monstrosity you call a truck, you’ll probably choose to have him put to sleep. After all, there’s nothing “manly” about a Dobie with casts on both front legs, is there?

And you, with the aggressive Rottie - you seem to think it is funny when your dog goes nuts at people working in their yards as you drive around wasting gas. I promise you, if that dog comes out of that truck at me it is going to be on. I love animals but I keep a hoe at hand and I will not hesitate to use it on your dog if it comes at me.

I know it isn’t cool to obey the law, but the city/county ordinances against unrestrained animals in the back of trucks are there for a reason. The people behind you in traffic don’t want the guilt of hitting your dog. The emergency teams don’t want to have to respond to a wreck caused when someone brakes suddenly to avoid your dog. The vets don’t want to hear you bitch and moan about how much it will cost to save your dog’s life.

Center restraint systems for the back of trucks aren’t all that expensive. Buy one. Use it.

17

And even if he would never never ever ever jump out, he could easily be flung out if the driver has a wreck, or has to come to an emergency stop. At roughly the speed the truck was going.

18

Substitute in the word child for dog, and I’m with you. :wink:

19

My dog is ferocious looking but always leashed and muzzled (because of the law), and he is not dog aggressive at all.

Twice he has been attacked by off-leash dogs, so I am always a bit nervous around them. Once a dog approached us in the (on-leash!) park, barking. My dog wanted to play, but he always wants to play (although ferocious looking, he doesn’t have much of a self-preservation instinct). I looked around to see who its person was; nobody was easily identified. The dog got closer, I got more nervous, and once a human finally looked over at us, I yelled “Is that your dog?”

The bitch glared and snarled at me, and refused to call or restrain her dog. As if I was the criminal, and my dog the rude one! It was shocking to me, dog people are usually (at minimum) pleasant to each other at the park. But if you have a dog that acts rudely and aggressively with other dogs, do NOT fucking let it off leash at the park. And if you do, for the love of god, it is YOUR responsibility to keep it from being rude and aggressive with my dog! And I’m not the rude or aggressive one for asking you to control it!

Argh! these people make me crazy. They don’t deserve the love of a dog. :frowning:

20

We should just apply this solution to everything that is problematic in a city environment.

Take away all motor vehicles and you get rid of congestion, the city saves millions of dollars because they no longer have to maintain roadways up to driving standards (they can go back to making cobblestone or brick roads which, while uncomfortable to drive on last ages longer than pavement), you also reduce pollution (both air and noise pollution.)

In addition to cars, what about sports venues? How common is it that because of a major sports venue in a city you have tons of unruly, drunk people flooding the streets after a game? Not to mention the enormous strain big games will put on the city’s mass transit system. There are certainly reasonable, well behaved sports fans out there, but because some of them are drunk and prone to rioting and committing other crimes, the entire city should be penalized by losing its teams and venues.

Most of this would probably apply to rock concerts and other large spectator events as well.

Of course the more I think about it, a lot of problems that cities face come from children. Think about all the time and resources that are used by a municipality when it comes to educating urban youths. Think about all the police resources used enforcing curfew laws and dealing with youth offenders (typically ill-behaved because of poor parenting.) It’s really a vicious cycle, the problem youths grow up to be problem adults who have problem children of their own. By banning children outright you eliminate this problem completely. I’m sure lots of the “trendy” young, single city dwellers out there would have no problem with this solution. No more people getting terrorized by uncontrolled children, no more people getting threatened or mugged by teens, no more neighbours listening to their neighbours’ kids screaming all damned day, no more kids getting hit by cars and traumatizing the person who was just driving, no more kids causing problems on multi-use pathways.

Of course, the only problem with this whole line of thought is, eventually you come to the conclusion that the only real way to get rid of all the problems presented by city living is to pretty much depopulate the city and move everyone else to the suburbs. Guess what, put something like 400,000+ people in 60 sq. mi. area and there’s going to be a ton of inconveniences in your day to day life, there are also going to be a ton of cases where your life is directly inconvenienced by someone else. Don’t like it, don’t live in a city. Because the only regulations that can meaningfully reduce these effects would, by their very nature simply serve to depopulate the city–which sort of undermines the concept of what a city is.