Oh, no, it was certainly a leading question. I think you answered it quite adequately for my purposes. You go right on ahead and opine that the average person should not have a dog for companionship by drawing equivalents to controlled substances or weapons.
porcupine I’m not going to cite you a reference to prove that dogs have killed, sigh – I guess everyone will just have to take my word for it.
If your dog can’t be trusted to say ‘hello’ nicely to other dogs - or a brief but cordial sniff of the bum, then it hasn’t been socialised properly. I can’t stand owners who immediately put their dog on a lead or pick it up if it’s small enough when they see any other dog coming along.
They’re pack animals. You screw up your dog by not letting it interact with other dogs.
Ofcourse, how you get around aggressive, poorly socialised dogs trying to attack yours is another matter.
Thankfully in NZ, on the whole, people are very good about socialising their dogs.
And yes, one of my dogs was attacked by a German Shepherd who wouldn’t let go of him and had to have a screw driver used to pry his jaws open, whilst my dog was screaming in pain.
That said, the joy he gets over talking to other dogs is great to see (German Shepherds excluded).
Hehehe. I hope you said that with a Tim Curry accent. I have an image in my mind of you rubbing your hands together gleefully and walking off to write the following diary entry:
cankerist – dog-hating bastard. He is first against the wall when I take over things.
You original statement was not “dogs have killed,” but “dogs are killers,” The first statement only requre one dog that killed, whereas the second statement is a much stronger claim that you haven’t even defined the parameters for yet. If you’re packpedling to the weaker claim “dogs have killer”, rather than “dogs have predisposition to kill,” then yes, there’s nothing else to be said. If you’re still arguing the stonger claim that you made later, that dogs have a *predisposition[/] to kill people, back it up.
If you think the only problem is with irresponsible owners, not with the dogs in general, I think we’ll all in agreement here.
Yes, my problem is only with irresponsible owners.
Some of what I said earlier might well be construed as an attack on all dog owners - didn’t mean it that way.
However, I also pretty much hate dogs and if that makes me an ass, then so be it. IMHO, there are too many Cujo’s for every Lassie out there.
Dogs are killers? - true/untrue. Well, you can make up your own mind of couyrse, but bear in mind that killing another animal is still “killing” as far as the word is defined in my personal lexicon.
As a dog trainer, I admit that what you said is very true. Picking up the small dog makes it an easy prey for the big dog who walks up to it. Do not assume that even the unleashed dog is only there to pounce and kill little Muffy. But if you put Muffy up in your arms, be prepared to be jumped up on. A big dog will think you’re holding an interactive squeaky toy out of its reach.
Anyway - on the nature of the “but he just wanted to say hi”… sometimes the dog who snaps isn’t the offender.
For all people who have pets, this may be a good article to read:
http://www.flyingdogpress.com/sayhi.html
We hand this out at our dog park, and some trainers in town use it in their classes. I do too.
Skip past the introduction block (though it puts things in perspective for some dog owners). Her tips at the end are very valuable.
Nah, the list is pretty big by now. You’re 347th against the wall when the revolution comes, after the people who make Cheerios cereal.
Thanks Ino.
To all - in retrospect, my initial post was a bit extreme (trollish?), sorry about that. I was having a bit of a ‘vent’.
Repeat to myself “Anonimity is not a license to be rude, Anonimity is not a license to be rude, Anonimity is not a license to be rude”.
Aw, he’s really gonna be pissed now - you called him Ino. 
That’s it. This means war.
[sub]It’s lno, not Ino.[/sub]
whoops! Thanks for pointing that out porcupine
I don’t understand these people.
We have two big dogs. When somebody comes to the door, they get VERY excited. Now, while WE know these dogs are harmless, they are also big and excitable and have most impressive barks. Most of the people who come by are delivery people who then leave. We are working with the boys on barking at them to alert us to the fact that somebody is there and then to SHUT UP.
The meter reader is scared of them. So when he comes by the dogs are securely shut up in the house. They are NOT allowed to jump on people; there’ve been a couple of times where people said, “That’s fine with me,” but our response is that not jumping on people is a house rule. The jumper of the pair is getting noticeably better about it, though he has a ways to go.
There are rules, and when they behave within the rules they are spoiled rotten. Dogs LIKE that. Isaac tries SO hard to be good; he really wants to please us. When they don’t behave we let them know it. Aside from Rusty’s anxiety problems, they are very happy pups.
If people are scared of our dogs, we remove the dogs. If the dogs are out and about they are on leashes, and any dog poo is picked up. If they snapped they would be in TROUBLE, though I honestly believe they wouldn’t do so except in highly unusual circumstances. That, though, does not mean we let them run wild.
We have WONDERFUL dogs. Not everybody thinks so, so we respect that opinion. How hard is that?
Perhaps if you had a camera also you could better document the situation. If the ‘lady’ in question sees you taking her picture while she is breaking the law, she may decide to leash the dog. Of course she may also sic the dog on you too! 