If you’re a long time reader of this blog, you’ve definitely read of some of my encounters with what I call DADA’s (Dumb Ass Dog Owners).
Dumb Ass Dog Owner (Jodipedia definition) Dog owners who are oblivious to the fact that not all dogs are friendly or able to be trusted off-leash.
Quite truthfully I sometimes feel like I’m smack dab in the capital city of DADA. A quick look at Google Earth confirmed this sad fact of my life.
Oh shit.
After many unsettling encounters I begin to wonder…maybe it’s not them, maybe it’s me.
Tell me what you think.
I’m walking the dogs in the woods this past Saturday. They were both on leash and our walk was going along as uneventfully as it possibly could with the two dingo’s. Right as we hit the apex of one of the trails, I heard someone behind me speak. Then I heard her speak a bit more loudly, “Sara!”
I looked behind me and sure enough there was a young woman leashing her dog up. Thankfully neither Frick or Frack heard the woman so they continued along like the status was quo.
At this point we I had two choices. Continue on the main path towards the park exit, or take the alternate route which is a bit more challenging. Typically I stay away from this route this time of year, because the pitch down is very steep and it’s covered with dry leaves, which can be pretty slippery, especially with two of the dogs from Eight Below pulling you.
I chose to go with the more challenging route thinking the other person would take the main path out.
I was wrong.
The young woman and her dog continued toward us. Now mind you, I keep looking behind me and urging my dogs to ‘hustle’ and I’m generally not quiet about it. So I turned around as woman was at the mouth of the path and said, “Are you following me?”
The girl said, “What?”
I said a bit more loudly, “Are you following us onto this path?”
She replied, “Yes, this is the path we are taking.”
I said, “Well then we have to get out of here, because THEY’RE NOT GOOD WITH OTHER DOGS.” (This isn’t entirely true, because most times they are very good with dogs, but they are so excited to see them that they get out of control.) But let a dog come up behind us or try and pass us unexpectedly, well that could definitely be T.R.O.U.B.L.E.
Now the mouth of the path is about 30 to 50 feet away from us and the way Is see it, I have two choices. I can try and wrestle the dogs past her or I can try and wrestle them off through an uncut area of the woods that is filled with debris.
Well I’m not wrestling them past her, so I start heading OFF the path through the debris filled woods.
The blue arrow indicates the path we WERE on. The picture is taken from the path we ended up on.
Now that the woman and I have had a verbal exchange the dogs are engaged and know there is another dog. So I’m practically dragging my dogs through this wooded obstacle course and what do you suppose the young woman does?
She keeps walking down the path with her dog, at one point probably getting to about 15 feet away from us.
I’m pissed now, because 1) I totally forget how to handle my dogs when I’m caught off guard and 2) I feel like she could have given me some room to at least get the dogs far enough off the path so I could safely handle them.
I finally get the dogs onto the main path and we are now walking parallel with each other, although she is considerably farther away from me than she was.
Of course I’m mumbling under my breath, because I’m still pissed and I see her shooting me dirty looks.
The blue arrow indicates the path she ended up taking.
And since this isn’t the first time I’ve felt uncomfortable with dog/owner encounters, now I’m wondering…maybe it’s me. Do I expect too much from other dog owners? How do you educate people without coming across sounding like a bitch?
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Luckily, our house is located quite a distance from the capital city of DADA. We also rarely see any other dogs, let alone off leash. We did encounter one of those morons about two weeks ago and it tried to bit Bailie in the butt, but somehow the injury was narrowly avoided and this person we have never seen before and her wild dog disappeared into outer space. We love where we live…have you considered a move to our neighborhood?
I’m still laughing at your map of DADA. Luckily, we don’t live near you. Emma may be right: you might need to move! It is so rare that we meet other dogs out on our walks here that I can’t remember the last time. Unfortunately for you, I don’t think people really listen to others any more and many are missing the common sense gene 🙁
My Jimmy is reactive so I feel your pain. Of course, he’s not the size of a Lab so he doesn’t have as much power to pull me off my feet. But if he is really amped, he will turn on Wilson if he can’t get to the dog that got him going. That’s really awful because then I’m yelling and screaming at Jimmy as well as trying to fend off the oncoming dog. And it doesn’t happen with every encounter, just some, so it’s a Russian Roulette of dog fury!
When I see someone coming, I immediately say my black dog is not friendly and will snark. If they still allow their dog to interact, they get what they get! I have trekked off into the scrub on many occasions when I know the dog that is headed toward me is likely to provoke a reaction or worse will pick a fight. Scrabbling over all the scrub is extra hard with a short-legged corgi!
No, Jodi, it’s NOT you!! Some people are just so self-involved and narcissistic that they think they’re always right and everyone else is always wrong. There’s no need in their small minds to change. They just get more indignant. Forget about that DADO woman. You’re a far better person – and dog owner – than she will ever be. And, to be more succinct, “you can’t fix stupid” so don’t try – you’ll only end up even more frustrated. People like that do not listen and learn; they turn into brick walls with heads to match.
I don’t expect other people accommodate me and/or Blueberry. She’s not unfriendly, but most dogs can be rude with her. She’s like that kid in grade school who gets beat up every day because they wear corduroy pants or shoes that aren’t “cool” or because they just smell weak. So when I see someone coming – I don’t assume they have any common sense and I will always get as far off the trail as possible to allow them time to move by. Thankfully, B is fine with this arrangement and I will feed her treats as the (sometimes spastic at seeing another dog) dog and its owner pass. There have been far too few encounters with people that have common sense for me to actually expect anyone to be respectful. Even getting off the trail is no guarantee that B won’t be bothered by off leash dogs – but at least we have a few minutes to brace ourselves for these interlopers and because B assumes her “don’t hurt me” stance (and I ready my hiking stick just in case), the dog(s) will usually give a rude sniff and then move on. I think an unmoving, non-confrontational target bores them. I also check behind me about every 500 feet to make sure no one is about to come up behind us – and the funny thing is, B does this too! I don’t know exactly what she is doing it for, but I know we are like two peas in a pod when it comes to watching our six!
It’s not you, it’s your neighborhood. Hey – do you want to buy my house? You’d be closer to your sister! 🙂 Our neighborhood is pretty good. My experience has been when on hikes to places where everyone thinks their dogs can run loose is that with at least 50% of the people, if you tell them your dog is not good with other dogs, they would ask which way you are going so they can go the opposite. Why would you want your dogs going anywhere near other dogs that might be an issue? That’s what I don’t get. I wonder what it’s like to live in oblivion where you think nothing bad is ever going to happen?
If you are living in the midwest capital, then I am currently in the west coast capital. Everybody brings their dogs here and leaves them off leash. I never know what exactly we are going to encounter when coming and going with the dogs. Plus none of them pick up their dog shit, which really pisses me off because I’m out there with a shovel doing it so I don’t walk in it. I can’t walk down the lane that goes to the main highway because there are 2 dogs, one who is a pitbull, that bark like crazy and don’t let us pass. So no, I don’t think it’s you. It’s those DADA, and they are EVERYWHERE!
oh boy does mom know the feeling you should hear her HBO words
Lily & Edward
Sounds like a millennial…….lol. That’s my running joke when I’m faced with situations like this.
Remember, there are no guidelines when you adopt a dog, like there is when you adopt a child. Meaning: ANY DUMB ASS CAN ADOPT A DOG!! You’d think the dum ass would have gotten the hint when you asked her if she was following you. Some people just don’t use the brains or the common sense they were given!
Have you thought about publishing “Jodi’s Book on Dog Walking Etiquette” and passing them out to the DADOs? Although their reading comprehension must be pretty low. Maybe a video.
Bahahaha – funniest comment yet!
What an eventful walk!
Our town has a leash law and our apartment complex has a leash rule. Neither of those is even on the radar of the DADOs. Cupcake is usually fine for a butt-sniffing hello with an on-leash dog, but I don’t encourage it unless there’s nowhere to duck-in to get away. It’s not you. People need to get a clue about common sense.
I totally feel your pain. I am living in an apartment complex and I swear we are surrounded by DADOs!! It’s incredibly frustrating.
I also had a similar situation the other day where we were hiking in the woods and a lady with a pack of dogs came up behind me. One of her dogs was incredibly sketchy. The dog came up behind me and poked me with her nose in the back of the knee, when I turned around the dog started doing a “fear bark” at me and I swear, I thought I was definitely going to get bitten.. The dog kept following me, poking me and barking. The lady didn’t do anything! We also ended up off the trail going through a bunch of brush, etc. to get away from her and she hardly even tried to call her dog off.
I was pissed.
Cocoa love to play at the pup park but on leash she is not friendly. And if she sees the other dog and gets her attention on it. Yikes!! She is so strong and if she gains another pound or gets stronger I am not sure what I will do!! I do not understand why someone would not be like, oh ok I’ll wait for you or go the other way. It’s not you!!
DADA-I am so stealing that! I do think it was a bit rude of her to encroach on your space, when you made it clear that you and your dogs needed space.
I think I’d rather seem like a bitch if it involved the safety of everyone included. One of my pet hates is people who walk their dog off leash on the foreshore when they’re clearly marked signs all a long there that say dogs must be kept on leash at all times. Or walk their dog off leash across a busy road.
I don’t think passing someone or them passing me and the dogs at 15 feet (on lead) is unreasonable. We are in many situations where we have to pass at even closer distances. We work on that all the time and if they choose to act up I will let them know it is not acceptable behavior.
Nope, that dingbat is clearly the leader of the DADA’s. Sorry for your encounter. 🙂 Safe travels my friend whether you’re headed up or down the path.