Heads up, rant ahead.
Sometimes I feel all I do is bitch about other dog owners. I’ve come to the conclusion that the people in my neighborhood are the most clueless dog people I know.
Like for real, there’s the people across the street whose three bull dogs live on their deck. They are always out on that deck, when I walk Sampson and Delilah at 6:00 AM they are out. When I walk them at 2:00 PM they are out. When I walk at 6:00 PM they are out. When I say the dogs live on the deck, I kid you not. Once a week the guy goes out and shovels the shit off his deck.
Then there’s the people in the house behind them. I hear their dog yipping sometimes at 11:00 at night. I’ve walked by that house and they have a crate under their deck. The yard is not fenced, nor do I see a sign for an E-fence, I have no idea whether they put the dog in the crate at night or not.
Then of course there are the people who ‘walk’ their dogs. Friday morning I’m walking up my street in the dark and see a person in a reflective vest at the street crossing. I see this person start heading away from the area I’m walking and think, whew, I’m off the hook.
Nope, they turn around and I see something very small, very fast with red flashing lights on it. It’s 6:25 in the morning and my sleep deprived brain says, “Is that a remote car? WTF is someone doing with a remote car this early in the morning?” Then I realize it’s a very small dog on a flexi-leash.
I pull the dogs off the road into someone’s driveway and start feeding them treats, as this person continues to walk down the middle of the street with the dog zigging and zagging from one side of the road to the other. As she gets closer I say, “Could you move to the other side of the street!” Meanwhile my dogs start straining to see the other dog, and the other dog starts barking so naturally Delilah lunges.
I think to myself, how can one person be so clueless?
Then Saturday I decide to take my dogs up to the field. Sampson wanted to sniff out one of the trails we haven’t been on since his injury, and I indulged him. As we headed back up the trail into the field I noticed people there with at least one dog playing frisbee. I circumvented the field and walked through the trails.
As we hit the trail leading out I debated heading back towards the field or taking a different path. I had a decent view of the field and approached cautiously. There were people there with dogs and the dogs were off-leash, but they were heading away from the way I was, so I kept going.
Just as we got to our turn, here comes a dog. I have my two and I’m trying to get them away, but this dog keeps coming. I shout, “Get your dog, Get your dog, Get your fucking dog!”
This guy comes running, “He’s friendly, it’s okay. Relax, it’s okay. He’s friendly.”
“Mine might not be,” I said.
Then as his dog continues at my dogs, I dropped the leash,
The dogs all sniff each other, “See, it’s okay,” he says.
“It’s not okay” I said calling Sampson and Delilah and walking away, fuming all the way home.
I’m not trying to criticize you, but you do get a bit hysterical at times.
Maybe I should just stop walking my dogs.
Or maybe I should move somewhere and buy a large piece of land where I can walk my dogs without encountering anyone.
Rant over.
I, too, get annoyed with dog owners who let their off-leash dog run up to animals they don’t know. I had an unsocialised and reactive dog; I understand the frustrations of trying to give one a nice outing. But you need to calm down. All your neighbours are not going to stay inside while you walk your dogs, so try to relax and enjoy your walk. Yes, that’s easily said, but damn, the whole world is not trying to annoy you.
And remember your nervous attitude would be communicating itself to your dogs.
Oh, Jodi, I know what you mean with that last sentence! The older I get, the less I like clueless people! Maybe we should buy adjoining pieces of fifty-acre property. And we all need to rant sometimes.
I completely understand worrying about other dogs barking and it causes Delilah to lunge. Gus does the exact same thing. I am always worried about loose dogs and other dogs that might bark and lunge towards Gus. He, has pulled me completely off my feet, if I miss the cue. I have learned to hold him close to his harness, especially in more populated areas. I feel personally responsible when he acts out, as if no other dog ever does.
What really upsets me are the three dogs that live on the deck and the other little dog that is outside yipping late. Poor babies. There is a yellow lab that lives outside. summer and winter. She sits at the door looking in. Breaks my heart. Occasionally they are outside and pay no attention to her. I have seen them on walks. The owner is either running or walking briskly. No time for smelling! Don’t you wonder why some people have dogs when they appear to be neglected. Dogs are a lot of work and expensive to not really seem to enjoy them. Gus brings me so much joy, as I know Sampson and Delilah do. We just hope and wish all dogs are well loved.
Gus’ Mom
If you think the dogs on the deck are being neglected (and it sounds like they are), you can always report it to your local animal abuse hotline.
I hope you have a better day today.
Now don’t get us started. We are forever having to try and avoid certain dogs on our park and it makes for a less enjoyable walk. Grrrrrr. Have a marvellous Monday.
Best wishes Molly
Off leash dogs – ugh! So scary!
We don’t get it when Mom says we might not be friendly and they keep letting their dog approach us. What is there to not understand??? Luckily, we don’t often run into others when we are out.
I do not understand clueless people. But I do blame the newer methods of dog training which basically teach people that all dogs are friendly and all dogs should be friends. I think of this as the dog park mentality.
Very true, we totally agree.
My trainer solidified what I already thought to be true – not all dogs like other dogs, not all dogs are social butterflies, just like people aren’t all friendly or people persons!
My Ziva is picky about her four legged friends, she is not dog “aggressive” but she doesn’t like all dogs and it seems to be based on energy and approach.
We avoid dog parks where people don’t pay any attention to their dogs or their dogs’ body language.
It is so not just you, in fact I have a very similar rant in the process of being written. If i had a dollar for every time someone told me “my dog is friendly…!” I hate stupid people, can we make people take a test before they are allowed to have a dog??
WE understand… Some peeps on our road let their two dogs LOOSE to RUN THE ROAD… and to come into OUR Yard to POOP and PEE on OUR stuffs… and to cause US to chase them… OFF OUR PROPTERTY… WHAT is UP with these crazy Peeps in this world?
Frankie & Ernie, Hi! Callie, etcetera’s Mom here. What’s up with people like your neighbors is that they’re just plain lazy, ignorant, inconsiderate butts. When I was in my 20’s, we had a neighbor who used to let their dog out their front door to come & poop on our lawn. One day, my Mom decided she’d had enough. After they left to go somewhere, Mom got my pooper scooper, picked up their dog’s latest mess, and carried it across the street and dropped it on their front porch, right at the door. Shortly after they returned, Mom & I heard the mother scream “Oh Shit! David, you tracked dog shit all over the house! Go clean it up now!” Mom and I laughed so hard that our sides hurt! But that dog never left his poop on our lawn again.
Sampson and I met a lady a couple of weeks ago. She told me a similar story, how her neighbor would let the dog out and it would poop in her yard. She spoke to them repeatedly with no results.
SO….one hot and humid day she picked up the dog poop and put it right on the hood of their truck. Talk about a steamer! It was a steamer/streamer as the hot humid weather on the hot hood of the truck created a bit of a hot, poopy mess. LOL
As you know we are staying in Al’s mom’s driveway until we can get the hell out of Utah. The people around here win the dumb ass award for dog ownership. There is a small chihuahua that has the run of the neighborhood, that Al said almost got hit the other day. The other night a large dog was roaming the streets and the stupid people across the street let their two dogs out of the house so they could run it off. So now there are 3 dogs running loose, and I was worried there could be a dog fight. We saw a tiny fluff ball running hell bent down the main road yesterday. And the other night a small dog barked ALL NIGHT LONG. I say moving to 50 acres where there are no dumb ass people is a wonderful idea. (Maybe i will write a blog post too on the idiots around here, we can start a dumb ass blog hop)
I guess I should be grateful there are so few dogs in my neighbourhood!
I couldn’t agree with you more. We have a LARGE friendly white dog that lives in our condo/apt complex where the RULES state that ALL dogs must be on-leash when outside. Well, this white dog NEVER is. Granted it IS a sweet, friendly dog but when Dakota is out doing his business, often this white dog comes bounding over, startling Dakota. Dakota is NOT thrilled about this dog at all, probably because he feels threatened since he is on-leash and the other dog never is. The owner REFUSES to put the dog on a leash. It truly upsets me.
Rant away! We live in a very rural area and it’s been a long time since we encountered other dog walkers. Rarely do we even encounter dogs. The dog walkers are another dog crazy couple that live “on the corner” about 1/4 mile from our farm. When they walk, they walk all 7 of their dogs with 1 off leash. The off leash is an ancient black Lab who immediately responds to their “sit” command while the humans decide how to pass each other or turn around. There is no barking and no anxiety. I love good dog people. Walking anywhere else (translation: out in the world) means crazy people who do not ever believe us when we say our dogs are not always good around other dogs. (Well, truthfully, they don’t immediately like or trust all people either.) Like they know our dogs better than they do. Drives me insane!
I’m not even going to get into the long story about our next door neighbors who kept several dogs on chains 24/7 until the coyotes got them. Then they built a sort of doggie concentration camp. Chainlink fence compound. Huge. With dog houses. And new dogs. On chains attached to their dog houses. I’m pretty sure there’s a place in hell reserved for these folks.
Wouldn’t it be great if people had to pass a test to get a dog, like they do to get a drivers license? Maybe they would appreciate the privilege more.
Yikes. Apparently, dog ownership comes with dealing with moron dog owners we will meet along the way. I typically keep to open ranges where I can see far off and if I see another dog – I change course. There are a few dogs that Blueberry is comfortable with – but for the most part ignorance abounds and I find myself going as early as possible and on the paths I know are not normally inhabited. And by now you know that I don’t walk B in the neighborhood. Too many loose dogs and moronic owners. Walking our dogs should relax us – not add stress. I suspect that if Sampson and Delilah were more fierce looking (for example, a bully breed) those dog owners would be more respectful. I know I often assume a lab or golden is automatically friendly and I have to stop myself from ignorantly approaching them without asking first. And I’m not sure if it is my facial expression (I’ve been told I look really stern or angry even though I’m really not) and body language that causes a surprising number of dog owners to leash up their dogs when they see me and B getting closer. I can fashion a mask for you (my frownie face of course) and mail it to you and you can wear it on your walks. See if that helps. 😉
Negative – they are not more respectful…but should we get into an altercation my dogs would be blamed! 🙁 Grrrrrr….
My Ziva is not dog aggressive but she doesn’t like ALL other dogs. If she is approached too fast she becomes nervous and will bite, any dog exhibiting crazy energy or too much excitement also makes her reactive (we’re working on it by taking a class right now). Most dogs she is cool with so long as we get a proper introduction.
Their is a field near our house, it’s privately owned by a church and we are allowed to be off-leash there. Both my dogs have near perfect recall – always a work in progress. In this case Dante and I were playing having a great time when this old man entered our field with a tiny yappy dog that wouldn’t stop barking at us.
They were on the other side quite a distance away so I wasn’t concerned, the yapper was also leashed and Dante was too into playing so he was ignoring the dog. Well the old man decided that regardless of the fact that his dog was barking at us, he was going to let her off leash….and yup she charged! Racing towards us like a tiny rocket! Thankfully Dante is dog friendly but I didn’t want her to bite him or him to protect me so I called him in, placed him between my feet, held his collar and as soon as she got close I yelled, “NO!” She got probably 10 feet from us barking, snarling, growling before the old man came to get her. His comment? “She doesn’t really like big dogs.”
Boy did I chew him out! His dog could have been injured if she bit Dante and he defended himself.
I love reading your rants, because it makes me appreciate where I live more. Even though we’ve had some stupid people encounters, they are pretty rare (just because there’s less people overall).
I could maybe say you’re overreacting….but I know I would do the exact same thing. Don’t blame you at all.
No argument with any of this. I have a scar on my wrist that says every friendly dog off its leash has the capacity to become not-friendly without a lot of advance warning. I wish I had a pithy way to express that to irresponsible dog owners.
I’ve had every single one of these experiences myself! I completely feel for you. I particularly hate those flexi leashes. Years ago I was taking my special education class to the farmers market in Union Square. The market was packed and I was wheeling a child ina large wheel chair. I hear one of my coworkers yell watch out and stop the chair, it turns out I nearly ran over a 3 lb Chihuahua on a flexi leash the owner didn’t even see. There she was in the packed market iwht her tiny dog on a long lead where it could easily have been stepped on or hurt. I was so relieved I didn’t hurt the dog and from that day on Ive hated flexis
retro rover
I have come to the conclusion that I’m the best dog owner ever and I’m so thankful that I don’t live in a traditional neighborhood, because I’d be judging dog owners left and right. Today, I have a group of friends and acquaintances who are just as snobby as I am and I can blend in well with very little frustration except for when we’re judging others. I know it’s wrong, but sometimes the things people do with their dogs just frustrates the hell out of me. I’ve finally reached a point where I have to bury my head in the sand most days, because I know that because of my blog and obsession with our dogs, I’m never going to be satisfied with the average dog owner and how they raise their dog.
So I get it and I appreciate your rants. Someone has to say it!
You are so brave to drop your leash when a dog runs up to you. How did you get the guts to do it the very first time?? I keep thinking I need to try it, but I’m such a chicken.
I too have a scar on my leg from an off-leash “friendly” situation.
Mom Kim here – you just go on and rant all you want – I think many if not all of us have our own tales of inconsiderate pet owners – I live surrounded by a few. It reminds me about what I say about other drivers – you can be as defensive and safe a driver as possible – it is the OTHERS who will cause problems and when they do – they will wonder what happened – it was someone else needing to be more careful.
I have two neighbors with NO fenced yards – one who let his beautiful German Shepherd run loose-
saying that she ALWAYS stays by the house and NEVER goes to the road – yeah right. I needed my Beagles to train me the right way – IT ONLY TAKES THAT ONE TIME for something to go wrong as it did for the neighbor with the GSD, only it was the GSD who suffered for my idiot neighbor’s stupidity who then tried to blame the vet for not catching the dog’s injuries soon enuf and it didn’t take long that the dog had to be euthanized. I have another neighbor – lives right next to a super busy street and doing the same thing as idiot neighbor – no fence and allows dog to run loose when out. Luckily I know the dog – know he is a sweetheart but I fear that someday…….
When I first moved into this house – nobody close by had dogs and now I am surrounded. I”m glad my neighbor on the other side off me has a privacy fence for his two Boxers. The neighbors across the street have a Toy Fox Terrier they keep on a leash when out walking and next to them is a neighbor with a Lab that is only out when they are and on a tie-out.
My sister and I (she has a Westie and is a responsible pet parent sometimes would like to move somewher by ourselves – oh well…………..
People are clueless and yes yes you need to get a big piece of property so they can run free.
I’ve been lucky, every time a dog has tried to get in Elka’s face, I’ve been able to body block and keep that dog away with my body language. But clueless owners…I could bitch endlessly about that…
Rant away, because it’s totally true. There are just way too many of these clueless nits. I’m always amazed they can actually get themselves safely out the door. What I love is when they act like you’re the one doing something wrong and they get snarky. Ugh, from where do these people come ? Sigh.