Why do such idiots have dogs?

Dollardog

I'd just got back from taking my dog for a walk when someone I know was passing my house with her daughter and neice. They stopped for a chat and a fuss, then we noticed, coming down the road, a woman with a staffy off the lead, so I put my dog in the house.
I've seen this woman before and so has my friend, she's always the worse for drink and never has this little dog on the lead just keeps bellowing , "JD, come here" which of course it ignores.
I've never been close up to the dog but it came over for a fuss wagging its tail, the woman bellowed at it again but it took no notice.
I said to her, "You really should have that dog on a lead on this busy road, I wouldn't like to see it get run over. She said, and repeated several times to whatever I said, "Its 10 months old now and its got to learn to walk by its mother's side without a lead" I asked her why when it would be a lot safer to have it on a lead as the road is a busy one. She said that she had bought it, she had paid for it and she didn't want to have it on a lead, she was training it. I pointed out that the training didn't seem to be working and I was sure she didn't have to bellow at it quite so loud as it didn't appear to be deaf. I asked her if she'd rather have it hurt in some way rather than it be on a lead, again she told me about it having to learn.
Then a fella appeared walking his bigger staffy on a lead, I think that staffy is nasty with other dogs as whenever he sees me out with my dog, he always either crosses the road, or if he sees me crossing, he waits. He's always responsible with it and I always thank him. He shouted to her to get hold of her dog, but of course it was too late and her staffie, JD, went over and of course a fight broke out. The fella was doing his best to get his dog under control and shouted to her to come and get hold of her dog. She walked over and picked it up by its collar :eek: , and carried it a few yards down the road. We were horrified, I told her she would strangle it or risk injuring its back or neck picking it up like that. I got told to mind my own business, so I again said that that was why it needed to be on a lead.
As the fella walked past with his dog, he said, "Did you hear me shout to her to get hold of her dog?" We said yes it wasn't his fault.
She had a lead round her neck and did put it on it, then said to the dog that one day he would get beaten up badly and it might teach him a lesson. I told her it was a lesson she could protect him from if only she would keep him on the lead and if he did keep getting beaten up it would make him nasty towards other dogs and make him dangerous which could end up with him being put down and it would be a shame as he was such a nice little dog.
She again said about him having to learn to walk with her without his lead. I said that my dog was nearly ten years, not ten months and always had his lead on when he goes out for a walk and showed her the lead I still had in my hand, she said, "Well he's not wearing it now" I said, "No, because I put him in the house as I saw your dog loose."
She'd put the lead on and it stayed on for all of about 10-15 yards, till she'd got past us, calling me an 'old bag' as she passed, then she said to the dog, "Are you going to behave if I let you off again?" and promptly took it off again!!

I give up!!

Person_one

The woman should have had her dog on a lead, but the man should have had a muzzle on his too.

You can't let it get to you too much. There's a person in my building who never has their little dog on a lead. Its less than a year old and they cross a busy inner city road several times a day. Its great that the dog is so well trained but how is it possibly worth the risk that one day he'll see a squirrel or something and bolt?

Mine do go off the lead, but not around busy roads!

zaksmum

Poor dog. I feel sorry for them when they have the misfortune to go to stupid cretin owners.

Fire_Fox

Person_one wrote: »

The woman should have had her dog on a lead, but the man should have had a muzzle on his too.

My thoughts exactly. :mad:

Police and dog warden might be interested, dog could cause a road traffic accident.

moggymutt

I agree totally that the woman should have had her dog on a lead.

I dont agree that the man should have had his dog muzzled UNLESS the dog was also bad with people and then you cant take the risk of a child running up to him.

I used to have problems taking my dobe cross out- he was ALWAYS on a lead, and I used to hate it when people let their dogs come up to him despite me telling the owners to keep their dogs away.

I used to walk Dobe with a muzzle on in public, but it did mean that when out of control dogs can up to him, he was then in a totally vulnerable position. Daft thing about people's reactions to seeing him with a muzzle on, was to cross the street away from him.

(To clarify why Dobe had to be muzzled- I got him at 18months old, after him having been shut in a tiny back yard as a guard dog, and tormented by kids over the wall. I adored him, we had 13 great years together, luckily living in the middle of nowhere, but if we went near peole he didn't know, he was muzzled)

A friend of mine had a neighbour who thought it okay that her large dog attacked my fiend's little dogs. One day though, the large dog attacked Dobe, who just picked him up and threw him on the floor. When I rushed off to tell the owner they laughed, until I pointed out that their dog had come off worse... They kept their dog under control after that.

Person_one

moggymutt wrote: »

I dont agree that the man should have had his dog muzzled UNLESS the dog was also bad with people and then you cant take the risk of a child running up to him.

No, sorry, it does need to be muzzled. The owner seemed to know that if another dog approached his would attack it.

Fair play to him for keeping it on lead and trying to avoid that, but you can't account for every situation and you can't guarantee you'll never be approached by an offlead dog, so if you have a dog that attacks others, it needs to wear a muzzle. Even the best owners occasionally make mistakes, and no dog has 100% recall, even though some have 99% you can't forget about the 1% left over!

moggymutt

If muzzled, his dog can get ripped to pieces by anything that attacks him. I know that was the risk I always had with my dog being muzzled, but in Dobe's case he had been so mistreated by humans, that he had to be muzzled in case, when people were around, say, a child ran up to him. If he had a muzzle on up the forestry when he was attacked by another dog, he would have been badly injured/dead.

Attacking other dogs is prevented by the dog being on a lead, a muzzle sadly means the dog on the lead has no chance of defending itself. I'm glad my dog wasn't muzzled when he was attacked.

Dollardog

I have to say that I agree that the man's staffy doesn't really need to be muzzled. He is a responsible owner and does try to avoid confrontations, although I don't know why he does that, I'm just guessing that it is not good with other dogs. He might just cross the road as he sees mine is elderlyand a lot bigger than his and gives him some space.
The loose staffy went to it in a confrontational way which started the fight. The man was well able to get control of his dog, it was the loose one which was the problem. If she had had it on a lead, it couldn't have gone to his dog.

chucknorris

Dollardog wrote: »

then she said to the dog, "Are you going to behave if I let you off again?" and promptly took it off again!!

I give up!!

It was good that she ensured that the dog would behave before letting it off the lead again.

Dollardog

chucknorris wrote: »

It was good that she ensured that the dog would behave before letting it off the lead again.

Err - don't think so really.
Saying to a dog, something along the lines of, "Are you going to behave?" is not really 'ensuring' that the dog would behave. It didn't answer her and went off doing its own thing again.
It seemed ok with people, came up to us wagging its tail and being friendly, but seeing how it went up to the other dog in a confrontational manner and doesn't seem to take a blind bit of notice of her recall, I wouldn't trust it off its lead even if it had said to her that it would behave!!

I firmly believe that all dogs should be on leads while being walked, particularly on busy roads. I let my dog off his lead but only in a safe area. Any dog can become distracted by something, another dog perhaps on the other side of the road, a loose dog coming up to it, a squirrel or something, someone it knows in the distance. If its off the lead, it takes a split second for it to go and no matter how good the recall, that split second could mean life or death to it. I love my dog far too much to risk that.
I remember when we had a dog when my parents were alive, I used to do a paper round at the time and, even though the papershop was where I got off the bus from school, I always used to go home first and get my dog to take on the round with me, so she got a good walk twice a day. I had a part of my route that was facing a park with only a footpath and no road between the houses and the grass, I always used to take the lead off and she pottered about whilst I delivered the papers. Sometimes, if we had been out as a family, when we got home, usually when it was dark, my dad used to take her out for a walk, he would never put her lead on and used to take her along a busy road. It used to scare the life out of me, I used to worry sick until she was back safe, yet I couldn't go with them for fear of seeing her killed or injured. He always said she would do as he said, and she would, she was very well behaved and it was also on part of the route we went twice a day but there is always that risk and personally, I wouldn't take it.

I know some will come on her and say that their dogs would always recall or not go off, but that is the risk you have to decide to take yourself.

chucknorris

Dollardog wrote: »

Err - don't think so really.
Saying to a dog, something along the lines of, "Are you going to behave?" is not really 'ensuring' that the dog would behave. It didn't answer her and went off doing its own thing again.
.

That was exactly my point! I guess you don't do humour.