Just remembered another time when a man in a cowboy hat pulled his truck over near my college xc team, pulled out a shotgun and threatened to shoot us all.
Just point at him in a stern voice and yell, "Go home!"
I live in a neighborhood where people let their dogs wander off leash. They walk through everyone's yard crapping everywhere and picking garbage out of our garbage cans. They always tell me, " oh it's okay it's all about trust," but really they're just a terrible dog owner and assume the burden is on someone else to "handle" a stray.
My dog has been attacked twice by neighborhood dogs. I usually intervene because my dog isn't aggressive and usually doesn't realize an attack is coming. I don't own a dog for protection and I don't need to play into the weird power dynamic dog owners are always telling me about. Coincidentally, my dog listens to everything I say as I've set clear boundaries unlike the dummies who ramble about leadership lol
If you’ve set clear boundaries, you’re leading right. Dominance based leadership is not leadership, so I agree.
you’re neighborhood also sounds like a sh!tshow of bad owners, don’t want it to seem like I support that. I’m speaking strictly on dog encounters while running. (In my experience, mostly parks and trails)They are going to happen and if you know how to handle it a bite is very unlikely.
Funny enough (as if the universe wanted to put me in some of your shoes) I was JUST walking my 3 when an off leash dog approached us. Initial greetings were fine, but the dog wouldn’t go on its way even after my dogs lost interest and I inserted myself between them to send him on his way. He was clearly interested in trying to display dominance over one of my males. I eventually had to let my dog reprimand him and send him scurrying home. (Don’t confuse this with running through a neighborhood, this dog wouldn’t have approached me if I didn’t have dogs with me). This was a heavy dog-walking-traffic part of the neighborhood and these owners definitely suck, want to make it clear I’m not condoning this type of ownership behavior.
This experience gave me some sympathy for those who have had encounters running in a neighborhood or country road with dogs running around off leash. I never felt like me or my dogs were in danger, but I didn’t want the dog to continue following us with tense energy. Had a dog fight occurred between mine and him I would’ve had to punt the dude. But breaking up a dog fight is not the same as kicking a dog because it excitedly ran up to me or won’t stop following me.
Educate yourself on how to handle the situation (big hint, if you’re continuing to run you are usually triggering a prey or herding drive) and stop letting such an encounter turn into something you fume about forever.
If there’s any question on where I stand: dogs off leash in a field/park or on trails are generally ok in my book. I expect them there and most owners letting them off leash in those areas are generally good owners who are rewarding them with a little freedom from the leash. (Is it illegal, sure, but how many times did you jaywalk on your run today?) Off leash, unattended in a neighborhood sucks, bad owners which automatically makes me question the dog, but I’ve experienced it plenty of times and know how to handle the situation without it ruining my run/walk.
Finally, if you have to, reach to the ground as if you're picking up a rock.
I find it remarkable how effective this is. 99 percent of the time the dog will flee. My throwing arm is no threat to any dog, but they don't know that. There doesn't even have to be a real rock. Just pretend to pick one up and throw it.
Fear of projectiles hurled by primates must be hard-wired into dogs.
I find it remarkable how effective this is. 99 percent of the time the dog will flee. My throwing arm is no threat to any dog, but they don't know that. There doesn't even have to be a real rock. Just pretend to pick one up and throw it.
Fear of projectiles hurled by primates must be hard-wired into dogs.
Same with mountain lions. There was that video a year or two ago of the runner being followed and charged at by a mountain lion. It eventually left him alone after he started grabbing rocks. Bet he wished he thought of that 5 min earlier, made for a viral video though.