I yelled at another runners dog today - am I a bad person

honck wrote:

dog person wrote:

But then how do you enforce it?

Very easy. Dogs on leashes at ALL (100%) times when on property of which you yourself are not the deeded owner.

This is stupid. By your rule, people wouldn’t be allowed to let their dogs off leash at dog parks that exist for the sole, express purpose of providing a place for dogs to run off leash.

When I visit my parents, I take my dog with me. By your rule, I would have to keep the dog on leash 24/7 because I don’t own the property. Why should your rule be substituted for the judgment of the property owner in this case?

Precious Roy wrote:

I was once approached by two off leash dogs who came sauntering over from the other side of the street. I stopped running and stood quietly on the assumption that the owner would come over and get the dogs. Also, I did not want them tagging along with me as I was running 7something pace and the owner (round middle aged woman) would not be able to keep up and might lose her dogs. As soon as the dogs got up to me, they went bark, bark, bite, bite. One got me on the calf, the other leaped in the air and gave me a gash across the back. I have had dogs of all shapes and sizes for over 40 years. I had no clue these dogs were going to be aggressive. No growling, no barking, just looked like they wanted to give me a sniff.

I agree with this sort of thing. A story. I was in rural Spain once, staying at the farm house of some friends. They had three jack russel type dogs. Asked me to take them for walks up and down the country road each day. I was happy to. Lovely scenery, etc. They said only two of the dogs need leashes, the other one just naturally hangs near the others and follows you. Alright, I said.

I'm walking up the country road one day. Two dogs leashed, one dog loose. It's a dirt road through some olive trees, not totally desolate, but remote. Anyway up the road toward me comes some lady jogging. 40-ish, hobby jogger. All 3 dogs start barking like nuts. I give the leashes a yank and the two leashed dogs quiet down. The loose dog though charges this woman and is standing off, barking at her. I yell at the dog, pretty embarrassed now. The dog doesn't listen. Keeps barking. It's just a little jack russel sized dog, so not intimidating at all. Woman keeps jogging, tries to ignore the dog. Soon as she jogs past him, the loose dog rushes in behind her and bites her on the calf.

Woman screams and falls to the ground. The dog seems satisfied then and is just standing there looking happy. All the time the woman is saying in spanish, "he's bit me, he's bit me, he's bit me!" She's showing me the spot, there was a little blood. I'm embarrassed and trying to get the loose dog on one of the leashes with the other two. Pretty mortifying since they aren't even my dogs, and my spanish at that moment went pretty much out the window. I just kept saying I'm sorry, I'm sorry. The woman eventually got up and screamed at me that she'd be notifying the police about this, and limped on up the road.

I waited a bit and then hustled the dogs back to the house and locked them up. Told my friends about this incident and... they didn't even believe me! "No, he doesn't bite, that dog. He's never bitten anyone." I told them well, he did today. I think to this day they still think I was making the whole thing up. I've known that dog pretty well since then, and yeah, he seems fine. He's never bitten anyone since, that I know of, nor has he seemed aggressive. And yet, that one day, for whatever reason, this perfectly well-behaved dog who doesn't need to be on a leash ran up and bit some woman in the leg who was calmly jogging by on a public road.

I don't care how well trained, how well behaved a dog is or for how long it's been that way, you can NEVER be certain about an animal. Therefore, dogs should be leashed at ALL times when in public, with the exception of dedicated, fenced dog parks. This includes public space even in remote woods and trails. A dog is like a car. It's your obligation to control the thing, not everyone else's obligation to get out of its way or be ready for defence just in case.

But since that's not the world we live in, I've found that most dogs seem to understand what reaching down for a rock means. I've had aggressive seeming dogs coming my way, and just bending over as though I'm picking up a stone to throw most of the time seems to stop them right in their tracks. Just the motion of picking something up, not even actually throwing something, is usually enough.

czxcz wrote:

There was once a small dog barking at me when I was running towards it. When I passed it, it suddenly started to follow me. All of a sudden it jumped right at me. It was rather small, so I crouched down and caught in my gaping maw. Because it was a small dog, it went right down my throat. The owner asked me "are you going to pay for that hotdog?" I don't carry money while running, so I had to run away. It was hard to run though, because the dog kept barking in my stomach. Eventually I had to go to the hospital, where they had to cut the dog out of my stomach. Turned out that counts as giving birth, so I became the dog's biological parent.

Potd?

cam collar wrote:

Ok, the dog should be on a leash. But, you overreacted and the dog felt threatened.

I have a dog and I run with him off leash when we are out and away from areas where we might run into people, I put him on leash if and when we encounter someone. The guy should have had him off leash, but if you were not such a wimp the dog would have left you alone after a quick visit to say hello. When out running be happy and enjoy yourself, it is contagious.

Sometimes I run to let out steam. Imagine running a fartlek or a workout. Are you really going to be happy and contagious while hammering at an interval? You expect me to change my emotions for a F*cling off leash dogs sake? That's the stupidest thing I've read on here in a while.

Well, aren't you a badass, you run to left off steam. what are you a teapot?

And yes, you are contagious if you are sick regardless of your state of mind.

I was finishing up a tempo run a few years ago and a small dog came at me out of a yard. It went right for my calf. I had read a post here on letsrun about how to hold off a dog using a t-shirt. So I ripped my t-shirt off and held it at two ends, offering the dog the middle. The dog grabbed the middle and starting pulling. I quickly circled my hands around each other, making a makeshift noose, and pulled upward sharply. The dog's neck snapped, just like the letsrun poster said it would. I put my shirt back and and left that dead dog right there in my next door neighbor's yard.

I think it’s ok to yell at the dogs/owner just don’t take it personal I don’t.

I run with my dogs off leash all the time and I know it annoys some people. My dogs barely notice. Even if you want to take a kick at one of them I don’t think it would bother them very much. I might get pissed but I understand.

Well feel free to huck rocks at my dogs I doubt a runner is going to do much damage. My dogs seem to only dislike sketchy people.

Yell at my dog all you want, but kick him and I will kill you. Not gonna let a little whimpy runner get away with that.

Sounds like the dog was asking for it

No, sounds like the guy who stopped and made eye contact with the dog was asking for it.

If he knew anything about dogs, he would know that making eye contact is threatening to a dog and the dog will act appropriately.

Totally fine, dude, don’t think another thing about it.

I live in a suburb of Boston and it seems to be the ‘thing’ to get a [insert one breed] with a poodle. Without fail, every one of these designer dogs is a complete a-hole. You can tell from 25m away, they get that look, focused intently and twitchy, and I’ve been lunged at more times than I can count.

I’m trying to be nice because some of these dog owners are genuinely nice people and, after all, they live in our community - our kids got to school together and also are on the same sports teams. But, a couple of times I wanted to boot the dog in the face. When I’ve seen these people at social events, I raise the subject, albeit politely, and they laugh it off and agree - but nothing ever changes.

Unfortunately, if I were to kick the dog in the face, I’d look like the a-hole, and it’s not exactly like the newly toothless dog will communicate with his a-hole dog brethren that you too will get kicked in the face by trying to bite runners.

Oh, f it. On second thought, I’ll kick any aggressive dog that means harm to me. I’m a pretty nice guy, but in writing this stupid post, I came to realize that I only really care about my wife’s reaction if one of her friends is pissed about me kicking someone’s dog - and then the PNSD gets worse. Whatever, she’s cool most of the time once she grasps the complete situation, so i’ll roll the dice. Those offended can go screw and are not worth being friends with anyway

Sorry for the stream of consciousness, but thanks, LRC, for helping me to think that through. I feel much better now. What’s the copay again?

dog person wrote:

I don’t dislike kids, but I like to eat in peace and spend 11 hours on a plane in (relative) peace. It doesn’t always happen. But even if the little Ritalin sniffers are running around wild, I don’t glare (OK, maybe sometimes...) or lose my shlt at the parents and I don’t expect my state or the federal government to start regulating who can and cannot have children. Life’s not always convenient and peaceful. Deal with it.

I love how you guys always group dogs in with humans. Sorry if human child keeps you from enjoying your buffet at Sizzler, but when was the last time a grade schooler bit you, maimed you, tripped you off a trail, or gave you rabies??

Where I live the law is that you can use as much force as necessary to subdue a dog if it is pursuing or attacking you or your livestock. Now there's a law that I support!

DIRTY_XL wrote:

dog person wrote:

I don’t dislike kids, but I like to eat in peace and spend 11 hours on a plane in (relative) peace. It doesn’t always happen. But even if the little Ritalin sniffers are running around wild, I don’t glare (OK, maybe sometimes...) or lose my shlt at the parents and I don’t expect my state or the federal government to start regulating who can and cannot have children. Life’s not always convenient and peaceful. Deal with it.

I love how you guys always group dogs in with humans. Sorry if human child keeps you from enjoying your buffet at Sizzler, but when was the last time a grade schooler bit you, maimed you, tripped you off a trail, or gave you rabies??

To you and the rest of the Lack of Reading Comprehension Posse: I wasn’t “grouping” dogs with humans; I drew a comparison between situations where an X group of people is bugged by things that happen when a Y group of people doesn’t live up to the responsibilities they’ve taken on. The X folks don’t train their dogs and/or respect public spaces; the Y folks let their kids run around like little heathens, thereby also disrespecting public spaces.

I’ve never been maimed, tripped by, or given rabies by either a dog or a human child. If you have and expect to have it happen again in the future, I suggest you do something about it. Getting a whistle or pepper spray is more likely to produce better results than wishing and hoping that a whole cohort of irresponsible dog owners to suddenly become upstanding citizens.

As for your other sad little ad hominem comment, I’ve never been to Sizzler, but I do wish seat kickers, snorers, and chatty Cathys didn’t fly business class. Since they do, though, I have a beer and great headphones that allow me to enjoy most flights.

Cheers.

dog person wrote:

I’m pretty good at reading dog language so while I end up with paw prints on my clothes from other people’s friendly dogs, I have rarely felt threatened. ....Life’s not always convenient and peaceful. Deal with it.

Gawd I hate this attitude. I don't CARE if your dog is friendly. I don't want his dirty paws scratching me--how hard is that to comprehend? The inability of dog freaks to understand that other people don't want to be bothered by their stupid dog will never cease to amaze and infuriate me.

A few weeks ago I was running on a trail in a regional park 90 seconds from civilization--not out in the wilderness. Along comes an off-leash mid-sized dog towards me, with the stupid bull dyke owner trailing behind saying "He's friendly" (has there EVER been an irresponsible dog owner who didn't feel the need to say their mutt is friendly?).

Sure enough, the stupid dog jumps up and paws my chest. Now my shirt is covered in muddy paw prints and my chest is scratched by his claws. I admit ---I lost it. I shoved the dog aside, scooped up some mud, and pawed it all over the bull dyke's gut in an exaggerated pawing motion, yelling "control your fuxxin dog!"

She was stunned for a few breaths then started screaming obscenities.

I'm a runner and a dog owner, and I believe the OP was 100% in the right. Few things on this earth irk me more than dog owners who don't keep their pets on a leash. It's irresponsible and dangerous. I contacted our state park system here in Maryland to tell them about the problem after running into multiple off-leash dogs at four different parks over the course of two months. They vowed to step up leash law enforcement, so if you have that option, maybe reach out to someone who can do something about it. Be careful confronting dog owners, though. You never know what kind of psychopath you're dealing with.

I own a dog. I leash that dog where-ever it goes. Except for designated off-leash parks or in my own home. And I don't use a trip-wire retractable "leash" either. Those aren't really leashes.

Why? Because that's what responsible dog owners do for a number of reasons:

- Makes others more comfortable, because some people aren't ok around dogs for a variety of reasons.

- Safety of other animals - my dog won't go off chasing "prey" like cats, dogs, or other animals; he doesn't normally, but he could.

- Safety of my dog - if another dog starts to go after my dog, I want to be able to control my dog, and I can't do that if he's taken off because of someone else's off-leash dog.

- The Law - most municipalities have leash laws - and I don't like the fine potential.

- Protection from stupid people - my dog is NOT a fan of being petted by other people. It's easier for me to say "please don't pet him" when he's close by my side than if he is a little ways away. He won't bite I don't think, but still not worth the risk if he does get angry (like from having his ears or tail pulled - which I've seen happen with other dogs).

In my opinion, dog owners who let their dogs run off-leash when they should be leashed, aren't thinking about others and that there are large numbers of people who don't like dogs.

*gasp*

Ur nice I would of Maced it and then cursed the owner for the grimace. I hate entitled dog owners that think their dogs can run loose, lungs, and bite at people. I don’t let my toddler come up and throw rocks at you...but maybe I should