Can't get away from dog walkers

Study the socio-political context behind the Dangerous Dogs Act 1992 for goodness sake. Dangerous is a very malleable word. Or come to one of my Criminal Law lectures. I can help.

The problem is not the dog, it’s the owner. When running, I treat dogs the same as cars; give them a wide berth. When I walk the exact same route, the dogs behave completely differently. They can’t help themselves. In my neighborhood even the super cute, nice dogs on leashes kill every single plant growing near the sidewalk with their pee. This Dave Barry quote is apropos: “The objective is not so much to walk your dog, as it is to empty him”.

I think today there is a good case to ban dogs except for the following groups of people:

Blind/partially sighted people.

Shepards/farmers.

Police/security people.

Besides these groups of people I don't think there is a good argument for owning a dog beyond selfish/antisocial reasons. With the advances in robot technology surely people can purchase something that looks like a dog and doesn't need to be taken outside to make a mess everywhere ...

dogs scare me. dog owners annoy me. plenty of dogs off leash. in united states, Leash Law. some owners too arrogant to put their dog on a leash. or the leash is extended. sometimes dogs have the nerve to lunge or bark @ me. "she's friendly" and "she doesn't bite" does not exempt the owner from the leash law. "friendly" is subjective. then the dog owners act like they are so morally innocent they have never done anything wrong before in their precious lil lives.

Letsrun tries to convince everyone that cities are lawless hellholes, but I live in a dense part of a major city where there are dozens or even hundreds of dogs out in the neighborhood at any given time, and I've never been bothered by one of them. You guys are telling me that rural areas have dogs just roaming around harassing people and pooping without anyone cleaning it up? That sounds awful.

On a more sober note, you are right...sort of. Dogs pay attention to things that we are often oblivious of as humans. The act of reaching over to pet a dog can be viewed as a sign of aggression, depending on the dog. OP, you think you are just jogging and that the dog should see it that way. But that is not how a dog's brain works.

Unrelated, but important side note: The Beach Boys hit "Good Vibrations" was largely inspired by a dog. One of the band members complained about an aggressive dog and his mother told him that dogs can sense "vibrations" to explain what happened. It doesn't come across in the final product, but it's the only hit I can think of that uses a theramin (it's the high-pitched instrument that cycles through several tones while there are no lyrics), so here it is:

Back to the point: the problem isn't the dog or really it's owner. The problem is that we naturally assume dogs are capable of reasoning like humans, when what we really need to do is think like them. Malcolm Gladwell wrote an eye-openimg essay called "What the Dog Saw," which is as good a place as any to start understanding this phenomenon (I was going to link it, but the New Yorker is now paywalled, so...It's in his book of the same title, which is worth checking out.)

I hate birds as they crap everywhere as well - especially on my deck. So if the dogs wanna kill some birds, I am fine with that.

No it's quite the opposite and anyone with self-awareness knows this. Animals are usually great with me but when I run into sketchy looking people or demonic looking people with scowls on their faces it's ALWAYS those people that have some aggressive dog. Every single time. If someone has an aggressive dog, I and most other people, KNOW the issue is the dog owner.

100 percent agree and I see this all over the US. I travel a lot for business and it's everywhere. People with aggressive dogs not on leases, bad behavior by the dogs and their owners with ZERO self-awareness or consideration of others. WE don't find your dog cute, or funny. It's annoying and it's a nuisance.

Try the motorway that's a wide road

Spotted a typo

Small runt thank me later

Okay? Then maybe err on the side of caution and pull your dog’s leash to the other side of your body and out of the way of other pedestrians?

Or continue to mask your lack of basic consideration under the guise of being a good, virtuous person by “adopting an animal from a local shelter.”

Old Shoe, it looks like you could use a pet therapist yourself, lot of anger there.

My dog has never tripped anyone on our runs or walks, well behaved and I leash her where required. How does this make me the problem?

Maybe if you had a pet as a kid you would be less hostile to innocent animals. I mean go ahead and hate the owners who don't follow the rules but hating the dog is pretty sad.

I agree. But my perspective has changed from earlier in my life where running on farm roads in PA resulted in a lot of scary encounters with aggressive big dogs. But living the past few decades in the SF Bay area where dogs are generally much more socialized and not aggressive to humans or, for the most part, other dogs.

Seems rather a utopian, though people cleaning up after there dogs could be better (but also done mostly). Even the pit bulls are mostly sweeties. Now I am just crazy about dogs and can't imaging living without these friends around. They do make the world a better place.

So maybe if I was still living in western PA where many dogs aren't socialized or trained properly I would be more anti dog. But if you have hate, hate the deed not the breed, as they say.

Just keep running bro

You know what's better? More often than not the pitbull owner will fight tooth and nail against having their dog euthanized AFTER it's killed a human being.

No, not after killing another dog, cat, livestock, or game. Humans.

Another common story are parents with a dead 2 year old who was maimed by the household 'pet' on 3 occasions before the inevitable happened the 4th time, and then they pretend there were no indications this could possibly happen (bonus for presenting a photo of the child (alive) and dog (whale eyed & distressed) together).