Warning: Rant ahead.
Oh yes I will.
Last week I came as close as I’ve ever come to going West Virginia backwoods hood-rat on someone because of their off-leash dogs.
Here’s the scene. Delilah and I are casing walking the neighborhood. As I approach a house, I see a small brown head peeping out at me. Just like little Ernie from FRANKly and ERNESTly speaking.
Frankie and Ernie – FRANKly and ERNESTly Speaking
Except this isn’t Ernie (and he wasn’t wearing bunny glasses.) Then I see another dog. I pull Delilah in just a tiny bit closer, she’s paying no mind whatsoever to these dogs. I hear the woman call one of the dogs, “Eli, Eli come here!” I turn. The little dog that looks like Ernie, is steadily, stealthily, coming at us. Not barking or growling, just a dog on a mission.
The woman says, “Oh my God! He’s going after her.”
At which point I turned around and snarled, “She will go after him!” As if on cue, Delilah turns around, hair up and says, “RAR, RAR, RAR” which is dogspeak for “Get the woof away from my Mama.” Because I’m pretty sure she’s reacting to me reacting.
I spin my head forward urging Delilah to move away from the dog, but when I look ahead, here comes the other dog! We’re trapped, being stalked by two weiner dogs, one from the front and one from the rear. My heart is racing, I’m not sure what to do. I reach around to my back pocket fumbling for my pepper spray when I realize those few seconds might very well mean the difference between us getting away and a horrible altercation. I urge Delilah to move faster and I yell over my shoulder, “GET YOUR DOGS!”
Delilah and I turn the corner and I hear the woman yell, “Sorry!”
The. Very. NEXT. Night.
The next night Delilah and I head up the hill. From about two houses away I see a small black bundle in the road, barking it’s fool head off.
Are you freaking kidding me? I say to myself as I turn around. I look back and the small dog has run off. Delilah and I turn back around and as I approach the area where we saw the dog, I see a woman working in her yard. I call to her, “Is it okay to walk past? Your dog won’t come after me?”
She indicates a pug sitting on the front steps and says, “Her? No.”
I say, “Well I saw a black dog just a moment ago.”
“That’s their dog,” she said pointing towards the house next door, ‘They just open the door and let it out, (don’t even get me started on this) he comes over and poops in my yard. It’s not friendly,” she adds almost as an after thought.
Great. Just fucking great. There’s a mean little dog with a Napoleon complex on my street.
I’ve worked super hard with Delilah to help her not react to other dogs. Just the other day as we walked past a house, the garage door opened and out came a dog, who as soon as she saw Delilah started barking and running around like a nut. Delilah gave her the dog equivalent of a raised eyebrow and turned to me for her cookie. **Random useless thought…I call this look “the Legolas” Legolas is an Elf in The Lord of the Rings and he rarely shows emotion, but sometimes he gets this quizzical look on his face and sort of raises his eyebrow. **End Random useless thought that is not relevant to this post.
I am the peeper, a sweet chocolate seeker.
I’ve also worked her hard on the dog in the e-fence who likes to peep at her. There used to be two dogs there, the peeper and the posturer, but I haven’t seen the posturer in a while. Still you can tell she’s watching for it as we approach the house and I usually just pull out a cookie and hold it in my hand as a redirect and we sail past it. Except for the times she tries to get in front of me (but that’s a rant for another day.)
Back to the subject at hand. I called the dog warden because my concern is one day I will not be able to prevent an altercation and I’m concerned that Delilah is going to be labeled as an aggressive dog and she is not. I’m almost 100% sure she is reacting to me, who is freaking out that she will react. I can change this. It will take some work on my part, but I can do it.
Animal control did assure me in that situation, if Delilah (who would outweigh the dog by 60 pounds) were to hurt the dog, as long as she was on leash, licensed and up to date on shots, she would not be in trouble. But that little dog very well could be.
This is serious business people and one we’ve been writing about for what seems like forever, how do we get this message across? It’s not just the dog that is being approached that is at risk, but the approaching dog could be injured or worse!
My next question is, what makes Delilah a target for these off-leash dogs? But that my friends is a question (and quite possibly a ran) for another day.
Rant over.
Sometimes I think that dogs that are off-leash look at leashed dogs as weaker or something similar. I doubt they see it that way, because I have my doubts that they’ve ever seen a leash before in their lives; but that’s just what it seems like to me at times. I think the ones around here have finally decided they’re afraid of Vlad though, and that helps me out a lot.
This particular situation gets me so worked up — I hate seeing poorly trained, rude, off leash dogs! The only thing worse is someone hiking the same trail as me -texting- while their dog is spooled all the way out on the end of the flexi (and no, not friendly.)
There will always be irresponsible owners. Good to check with the warden though. Hope you never need the legal backup.
Some dog owners really suck. We have no leash law here but the next council does. Funny it is always the bad dog owners who walk with their dogs off the leash and usually they are not the kind of dogs you want to say hi too. Our hearts have been in our mouths when we had Ancient Pip so many times. We understand only too well the need for a good old rant. Have a wonderful Wednesday.
Best wishes Molly
Off leash dogs are the worst. Actually their families are the worst! Get a grip, people. If you don’t care about my dog, at least care about yours. Ugh.
What is up in our neighborhood? We only see dogs like that if they have escaped from home somehow. We are lucky…but wait, our luck we will be under attack when we go out this morning! Hope not. Don’t like loose dogs running up to us at all!
Ugh Jodi. I’m so sorry. We’ve had several run ins with off leash dogs in my neighborhood, and a few of them are repeat offenders. I hope you find a way to curb it. I do carry citronella spray now, and I did spray one dog that came too close to Toby (he’s been attacked before) and it worked. The dog shook it’s head and stopped approaching. I think it’s a lot more humane than pepper spray, and if it can prevent a fight, then it’s worth a shot to the face.
Good Morning! Perhaps it is not Delilah, specifically, who is the target for that little bully, but ANY dog, person, or other “critter” who happens to be near bully’s territory. So much the better for bully if at least one of his/her targets is anxious.
Yes, it is serious business, and I wish I had an answer for you. But, at least you know that Delilah would not be labelled “aggressive” by AC. If nothing else, let that be your comfort factor while you’re working on your own anxiety.
I would vote that little shit dog goes after every dog. Not to be mean or anything, but someday, it will get in trouble in a big way.
There are just too many darn pet owners out there who seem to think it’s ok to let their dogs off leash or out of the house as they just go running up to random dogs. People just don’t care. It amazes me how dumb some people can be with this stuff. Maybe one day they will learn when their dog (god forbid) gets hurt in one of these scenario . It is sad that it would even have to come to that. And even still you have to wonder, would they learn even then?
ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
If you get any answers to why the little dogs target the big dogs on leashes, let us know. Could it be like the cute little brother who starts a fight with the big brother, because little brother knows there won’t be any consequences from mom for him? I dont’ know….but I’ve been down the same road (metaphorically) with Thumper. He’s just like Delilah…can I refer to him as Delilah’s long lost brother? They even look alike. I can’t limit my rant to little dogs though – I think my scariest incident was a big black dog that looked like a Lab/Chow mix. Scary looking as hell. And Delilah’s long lost brother wasn’t about to back down from that bully. It’s enough to make a person want to go Mississippi Backwoods Redneck on them. Where’s the BB gun?
Can you have the Animal Control Officer talk to the owners of these dogs? Sometimes a little authority helps to remind people that they are helping their dogs break the law.
Mom is about to beat people up, BOL. She DESPISES off leash dog/owners and says lots of HBO words
Lily & Edward
I am so sorry you have to deal with that on your walks. Why all of it happening to you and Delilah? Sorry I do have to laugh at how you tell your storys, you go girl go all rat ass on them!
Ugh. There is one house in our neighbourhood with two dogs that bark and growl and really get in the face of other dogs. At night, the guy likes to let the one out for a bathroom break on the front yard – sans leash. It’s a black lab or something. Dog sees us walking and freaks out barking and growling and I could probably count all of his teeth. Of course this sets off Alma. But his proximity and intensity also gets a rise out of Moses. Which is to be expected – at some point it is perfectly healthy for my dogs to stand up for themselves.
But this happens to often that Alma looks expectedly at that house every time we pass (basically every day – they’re at the end of the cul-de-sac). So she’s super primed if the dogs are there, which is not fun.
Once, both his dogs ran past him as he opened the door for UPS and Moses and I were walking by. My solution? I dropped the leash. I was pissed because this was like the third time they’d escaped past him through the open door, so go ahead, Moses. Let my 150lb Newf handle two 60lb dogs. Take the leash – and me – out of the equation and see what happens. They’d get close, but it was all noise – they had no intention to start something serious. Moses returned the attitude he was getting, and they both immediately backed off and the owner got them from the middle of the street, apologizing. I picked up Mo’s leash and we continued on without a word.
Seriously people. Pull your heads out of your asses.
As you can tell, I share in your frustration, but have no solutions to offer.
Also, I know dropping Mo’s leash COULD have gone way worse, but it didn’t. I read the situation correctly and it worked out.
Sadly, this is why I choose not to walk Blueberry in my neighborhood or at times when other people are typically out with their (poorly trained, rude) off-leash dogs. It’s really too bad because Blueberry does enjoy other dogs – on her terms – when they aren’t running at her with their hackles raised. This is why when I am hiking I have to not only be on the lookout for snakes, gila monsters, coyotes, jack rabbits, mule deer, and of course ill-mannered children – but I also have to be on the lookout for off-leash dogs. When I see them in the distance, I automatically pull B off the trail a good distance and wait for the human to either take notice and leash their dog or wait for the inevitable rude approach – my hiking stick at the ready to beat that strange dog back if necessary. So far I haven’t had to use my hiking stick – but let me tell you – I would in an instant if another dog threatened her. I actually think it is the hiking stick in my hand that prompts people to leash up their dogs more so than anything else. In my pre-not hiking with a stick days – not many people leashed their dogs and B had way too many rude dogs approach her aggressively. I thank God she is so mild-mannered and does her best to show these rude dogs she isn’t a threat. I think the list of things that irritate me go: off leash dogs with clueless owners that claim their dog is friendly even though the raised hackles suggest otherwise, dog poop left on the trail, dog poop left on the trail in a poop bag.
The end. Ranting just feels good sometimes…but at the same time I know I am ranting about the same things over and over. Don’t you just wish that we as responsible citizens had the power to ticket and fine these ignorant dog owners? Wait, better yet we would have these iggies line up outside and we (the responsible dog owners) could fling dog poo at their faces. First offense: 1 load of poop to the face; Second offense: 2 loads; Third offense would be watery poo at their face in addition to a shock from a dog shock collar. Oh if only I were in charge…mwahahaha. I choose dog poop to the face for any offense – not just failing to scoop poop.
I am so sorry you have to deal with this. I cannot stand irresponsible dog owners. Indiana law is quite clear on liability regarding dogs, and if you were here, the other dog would be at fault. Blegh.
Hi Y’all!
Oh, they “just want to say hi”… isn’t that what the owners say???
Y’all come by now,
Hawk aka BrownDog
If you find your answers let me know because those are the same things we struggle with. It is the reason I don’t walk the dogs much if I have to do it alone.
Was animal control going to go visit those people and talk to them? That’s what they usually do around here. I don’t know what the answer is, but this is definitely a serious problem, people need to have their dogs under control!
It’s so difficult not to tense up and react, I think it’s harder to train ourselves not to do that than our dogs!
OMD OMD SEVERAL of your posts came up at one time…. we are LATE Seeing this…
NOPE … thankfully it wasn’t ERNIE… WHEW.
When our peeps lived in TOWN… they kept the short hairs… INSIDE their Fenced Yard… or on Leashes…
THAT is the RESPONSIBLE thingy to do.
Sorry you had these bad experiences… BUTT glad you made that CALL… just to be sure YOU are IN THE RIGHT.
I hate when other people don’t control their dogs. Some advice I was given was to sing in your head as you walk along (or if you want to do it out loud at the top of your lungs, you go for it girl!!) as this will help relax you meaning you won’t tense on the lead or react in any subliminal way when you see another dog so you won’t send any signals that there is anything to worry about? Unfortunately when I tried this I forgot the words and so got a little stressed about that, but not the dog :0)