How Confrontational Do You Get With Dog Owners?

and this thread is an example of why people dont take runners seriously.

ridgebacks are usually some extremely tough dogs, though when I was walking one for an expat in Mali, it was totally dominated by the neighbor's smaller German shepherd.

I ask people to leash their dogs or shorten the leash and I tell people about leash laws. I stop to confront dogs when they run to attack me and so far it has worked but the owners have to at some point get the damn dogs and they are amazingly slow to do a damn thing. One thing to avoid bites is just to know about good routes where you can concentrate on your running and not have to stop to deal with dogs. Another thing is to never run a couple feet from a dog being walked because its instinct is always to jump at you and of course the dog owners can never believe that their sweet, innocent dog would ever harm a flea. I once saw a dog ahead of me jump at a runner passing by in the park. I then passed by and the dog jumped at me and the lady said the dog had never done that before. So, apparently, you have to become delusional or a compulsive liar to own a dog.

MAURICE wrote:

maybe it's true that dogs can smell fear, so when you pu#sies wet yourself from fright when the local chihuahua "confronts" you, it makes them "aggressive"? Seriously, I do truly wish one of you assmonkeys would confront me when I'm walking my dog unleashed and he takes a big dump on "your trail". Try throwing the crap at me and see if you don't end up eating it, you whiny loser fairies.

Just love OP's description of how he "screamed" at some dogs and then "screamed" at the owner. Were you also crying at the time, you freakin' sissy? Too bad the lady didn't kick you in the nads & leave you in a crumpled heap..

It does seem true that dogs can sense fear. In college we had a loop we ran & every time this one dog would go after the kid who feared dogs the most. I've run solo on this route many times & the dog would always leave me alone. This dog was a black lab. In other words, he couldn't harm a thing. So the owners out there are most likely correct when they say say their dog is gentle & harmless. The problem's when people start acting like little girls & then it riles the dog. Stop being afraid of harmless little hairballs!

As for poop, yeah the owners should pick that up.

Some of you people really hate animals... Pretty sad.

Stop being such pu**ies and the dogs won't do anything to you.

The Gray Zone wrote:

Fluffy, are you a dog trolling on this site?

No, I'm a cat. Meeeeeeoooowwwww ;)

I don't hate animals. I hate dog owners.

prajna101 wrote: The dog was on lease.

How long was the lease? Did she have to return the dog at the end of the lease?

BTW, this didn't happen. If it did, you should have been booked for assault. Stop promoting your own blog here.

If I had to guess, I'd say that the best possible way to avoid aggression from unfamiliar dogs would be to angrily yell at them without provocation. If you want to be extra sure, try accosting their owner.

Every time I see an off-leash dog, I cry heartily and store my tears in a little spray bottle which I use as dog mace. That seems to help.

That illustrates how foolish dog owners are. Dogs will chase anything from instinct. They are hunting animals. Some even chase cars. They can be set off by fear but they chase runners because they are running, fear or no fear. If you stop and walk, in most cases, the dogs won't chase, because instinct tells them to chase only what runs or what is in their home territory. If you don't know that, you lack any intelligence. I run a few feet away from leashed dogs not because of any fear but because of knowledge. What I'd like explained is how dog owners are so ignorant about the kind of animal they own.

I love dogs; I hate unleashed ones. For the people saying those of us who want leash laws to be obeyed are just whining...I know two runners that have had surgery because a dog jumped on them during their run, and another who had to go through the series of rabies shots right before an important race. I'm a 5'2" woman. Lots of these dogs actually outweigh me; so yeah, it is a little intimidating to be chased by a huge, growling dog. If you're ever unlucky enough to lose months of training because some jerk didn't keep their dog on a leash, please don't come on here and complain about it.

If a dog is attacking you, punch in as hard as you can right in the face over and over again. It will work.

check out the Kenyan Running Grandma thread - she don't give a rip when a stray dog comes out and "chases" her down the train tracks.

dogs pretty much do what they're told, and screaming at them and their owner is basically telling them that you're some crazy attacker. just chill out and the vast majority of the time dogs are not a problem.

I drop my pants, take a sh*t right there and shout "GOBBLE GOBBLE, MOTHERF*CKER!" It works every time.