Do you have trouble with dog owners?

you need to stick to a treadmill.

so tired of hearing crap from insecure rickheads that think the whole GD planet is lane 1 of a track and everyone is in their way.

Dog mace (HALT!!!). I carry it and use it on any dog that chases, even if I am sure it won't bite me. People need to learn to keep their dogs contained. The stuff I use is colored and stains their fur too.

BTW, I love dogs and wouldn't do anything to hurt one permanently, but there is such a thing as tough love. Maybe it will keep one from chasing a car, the wrong person. or keep them from running out into the road and getting run over.

Last year I was out of a local conservation trail that is fairly residential. This lady was standing in the trail, holding her Chihuhua (sp?) and had a basset hound on a leash. The Chihuhua started barking and as I ran past I said "he sounds like a killer" and laughed. She said, "yeah, watch this" and proceeded to let the Chihuhua on the ground to chase me. I stopped and it stopped. When I started running it chased. Finally I kicked it and it ran away. 10 minutes later when I was circling back she and the dogs were still there. This time she was talking on the phone. The little sh1t chased me again, and again, I kicked it, ran back to her as she was still on the phone, and yelled right in her face. "Put your fvcking dog on a leash you crazy b1tch." She was speechless. I guarrantee though that she didn't change her ways at all. Some people are inconsiderate beyond imagination.

Leashed dogs are fine, and a lot of dogs are okay even off leash, but because there are a few that are well-behaved, everyone thinks THEIR dog is the well-behaved one because it hasn't bitten any babies yet or something. So 90% of people let their dogs off leash, and give a little chuckle as it stares at me taking up the entire trail as I head toward it, then moves the same direction as me at the last second as I either hurdle it or trip over it. I'm tempted to either (a) carry my cell phone and call the cops when someone has their dog off leash against the law, or (b) kick it in self-defense when it charges me.

But I don't, because I'm too nice (a.k.a. I'm a runner and therefore have zero testicles).

I don't have trouble with dogs, but a big problem with stupid dog owners.

Sucks for us good dog owners that some douches let their little monsters run crazy.

But then again, I don't know if people go home and tell horror stories about seeing me and my dog (who's off-leash in non-designated areas whenever possible). I run by plenty of people with my dog off-leash who tell me I should leash her, I kindly tell them "no thanks, she's fine" and we're gone in less than 5 seconds. No harm. Ever. She has zero interest in anything other than running and noises in the bush. Period. She runs by yapping little sh*t dogs, aggressive dogs, people, everything with no mind to what she's running past unless it's a small creature making rustling sounds in the brush off-trail. One track mind. Nearly a decade of this.

But with all the I'll-sue-McDonalds-for-giving-me-coffee-thats-too-hot type A-holes out there, I'm sure someone will go home and start a thread on some anonymous board about a seven foot 300lb giant sprinting past them yelling obscenities, brushing shoulders and knocking them down while their hell-hound snarled and nipped at them, drawing blood.

I guess my point is that yes, there are plenty of douches that shouldn't let their dogs off-leash out in public. But there are many more douches that overreact to harmless dogs off-leash because they're dipshits. If you went on a run where you yelled at eleven different people about their dogs maybe you should change your running route. Or be significantly less of a douche.

Injured By Dog wrote:

Do others have problems with dogs?

Bear Spray

Yes you seem to be one of the A h*les who can't figure it out. Get your dog on a leash. Runners have no idea which dogs are going to get in their legs or bite. We shouldn't have to disrupt our runs all the time because of idi*ts like yourself. "No he's fine" is not the point. The point is "I am not fine". I can't try to figure out which dog is going to sit there, and which dog is going to attack my feet. Next time I come by your dog off leash, The little sh*t might get punted through the goalposts. Wise up.

I rarely encounter dogs on runs, but in the past month I had two bad ones. The first was returning home during a night run around 9:00 pm, I was cutting through the same park/field section I do every night. Out of nowhere a large black dog charges at me from about 30 yards away, no leash or owner visible. I come to a trot preparing to do what ever was required to evade or defend myself. I hurdled it and I then hear the owner yelling at his dog to stop. Owner says don't worry he is just excited, well after the fact his unleashed black German Shepherd charged me.

A week later, different park, I am coming to pass a woman and her leashed doberman. I approach, cough loud enough to make her aware and say excuse me about 10 yards back. She turns around, looks, and keeps walking in the middle of the path. At this point the doberman is already barking at me and at the maximum length of the leash. Not anything I fear, and only want to avoid the woman and her dog. I jog outside the path through some brush. I happened to still be in the radius of the dog and it bites my left calf. Using my right knee, I followed through to knock it off my leg with some decent force. The women proceeds to yell at me "WTF are you doing?!? Don't touch my dog again or I will call the police."

Seriously. I take my hand and direct her to the 6 inch bleeding gashes on my calf and tell her to watch her bleeping dog. She has none of it and continues to berate me as I continue the run.

I have been attacked by off leash dogs while jogging. Owner had no clue. Said that the dogs never hurt anyone. I also had off leash dogs come steal my little baby's toys while having a picnic in the park. It took the owner ten minutes to get the toy back. Did not offer to pay for the chewed up and slobber coated toy. Worst experience ever was walking with a friend who had one of those dogs described above who was never a problem off leash. The dog took off into the woods at the park and was found later that day on the side of the road after getting killed by a car. Unless your dog has told you that he understands that he should not chase people and will look both ways before crossing the street, you need to keep your dog on a leash. Dogs may seem to be great off leash. But dogs cannot tell you that they have a sore ACL that is partially torn (very common in dogs with shep/lab body types) and they are a bit scared that someone might attack them when they cannot run away full speed like normal. Dogs like that seem fine but can be aggressive for no reason when under stress because they have an injury that is undiagnosed. My dog got into a big dog fight at an off leash park. Turned out she (total wouldn't hurt a fly sweetheart) had a torn ACL and was aggressive out of fear. Dogs should never be off leash when there are strange people, dogs etc around. No matter how well trained, things can happen to dogs that make them a danger to others and to themselves.

In my experience when the owners say "he won"t bite" "He wouldn't harm anyone" they are being truthful. However that isn't really my problem at all. The problem I mostly have is when the dogs follow me near streets. I don't want that dog to get hit by a car, so I run back towards the house and it can take a while and can ruin my rhythm a lot. I love dogs as much as anyone, but I don't really like getting my run interrupted because owners think its fine because "he wouldn't bite me" Hell if it is a little ass dog I would rather have it bite me so I can get back to running quicker.

Now if it is a hot girl's dog it is a totally different story.

wha huh? wrote:

Dog mace (HALT!!!). I carry it and use it on any dog that chases, even if I am sure it won't bite me. People need to learn to keep their dogs contained. The stuff I use is colored and stains their fur too.

BTW, I love dogs and wouldn't do anything to hurt one permanently, but there is such a thing as tough love. Maybe it will keep one from chasing a car, the wrong person. or keep them from running out into the road and getting run over.

Excellent post.

I've found the line, "I'd hate to see a good dog have to be put down because you're an irresponsible owner" to be very effective in getting the dog owner's attention.

OH NO!!!!!!! wrote:

I've found the line, "I'd hate to see a good dog have to be put down because you're an irresponsible owner" to be very effective in getting the dog owner's attention.

Now THAT is a good response!

If I care about my dog, I'm keeping him on a leash for HIS protection as well as for everyone else. No matter how adorable your dog is (really, he IS adorable and therefore deserves the protection a lease provides), it's still an animal. Animals do unpredictable things...like bite people when they've never shown even a hint of aggression before. They can unpredictably run into fast moving traffic for no reason. That's because, no matter how much you love your dog, it's still an animal. If you really love the dog, keep him on a leash for HIS protection.

This is beside the fact that, in the majority of cities, you're breaking the law by allowing your dog to be off leash.

McFlounder wrote:

so tired of hearing crap from insecure rickheads that think the whole GD planet is lane 1 of a track and everyone is in their way.

No doubt, this attitude exists among runners. There are also lots of dog owners who think the whole GD planet is their own personal dog park and that everyone else is in their way. It would be a better world if both sides could learn a little consideration for others.

Anyone remember Gronka?

There used to be a man who would walk his little (unleashed) yippie ankle biter dog in my neiborhood. Thankfully, this was the type whose bite wouldn't have broken skin even if he had been able to reach above my shoes. Nonetheless, the little dog would TAKE OFF after me every time I ran by. Always followed me for close to a football field's length. The whole time, the owner was left looking like a fool, chasing after the dog and pleading with it to come back. It was quite funny, actually. You'd think that after about the dozenth time, the guy would have gotten a hint and a leash...but no.

If the dog had been a doberman, the scene wouldn't have been nearly as humorous.

I just plain have trouble with people, dogs, cats, and basically anything alive.