Dogs; what to do? (Read 1448 times)

But he was a killer. All three pounds of him. I'm considering suing for damages, too. Anybody know what those plastic things on the end of your shoelaces are worth? Cuz Max swallowed one of mine.

Too funny!

Yea sometimes though damn yappers are the worst.

But you can kick them a LONG way!

Know why he attacked? Because he's so damn vicious that the electric collar had burned holes in his neck. Bleeding, puss-oozing holes, that I'm now seeing up close and personal. That shouldn't be possible. Most dogs, they get zapped once or twice and never go near the boundary again. Not Cujo. He burned holes in his flesh, he wanted to get at his prey so badly. So what did the owners do? Of course - they just took his collar off. What blithering idiots. Admittedly, with most dogs, it would have been okay. With most dogs, once they get zapped, they don't really need the collar. They stay away from the boundary, collar or no. Not Cujo. Evil little bastard knew he was free and clear as soon as they took it off him.

Ok, I'm absolutely not defending Cujo or his dumbshit owners here, but...the holes were probably not from multiple fryings from crossing the magic line. If his collar was not fitted properly, (not tight enough or too tight), it would have rubbed holes into his neck rather quickly. Especially if the dog was extremely active (aka, rushing at JK everytime he is on a run). Personally, I think that if your dog is a friendly mutt that loves to visit the neighbors down the street, it is acceptable to use underground/invisible fencing. If your dog is a vicious man-eater, you need a kennel that the dog can not dig, jump or climb out of. Or better yet, a shotgun & a shovel!!

As the name implies, I run the back roads a lot. The back roads in a little town where people have a wide variety of dogs, from mini wiener dogs to border collies to pitbulls. I, surprisingly, have never had a problem with a vicious dog. I thought, on my long run Sat, that I was about to have my first problem, but he just wanted to sound tough and to check my dog out. My biggest problem with the area dogs is the ones that seem to think they should follow me on my runs. Early in my running days, I'd turn around after a quarter mile, run little Sparky back to the house he came from and knock on the door to let them know he was coming home with me. Now, my theory is: your inability to train your dog to stay put is NOT my problem. I do not wish any ill will to friendly dogs, but if I'm running a tempo run & I mess up my times because your damn dog can't stay home, I'm not going to be happy. Pretty sure that if your dog follows me & gets hit by a car, I'm going to feel a little guilt, because I can't stand for bad things to happen to animals, but it is still your fault and I'll tell you that! This may sound heartless, but after you take Sparky and Spot home 45 times in a summer, you run out of heart! I run with my dog most of the time. She is a beautiful, sweet, gentle and extremely well trained, well behaved border collie/Aussie shepherd mix. I don't take her with me when I run right from my house because I don't want her to think it is ok to take off down the driveway to the road. We live on a busy highway (several hundred yards back from it though) and the dogs know they are not allowed to cross the ditch and that anything past the green gate is going to get them in serious trouble. However, when I park elsewhere, the dog accompanies me. I take her along for company (she always runs my pace, doesn't care if I talk or not and is never late!), so that she gets exercise and as a freak deterrent. Granted, she doesn't look vicious and just licks most people, but she gets pissed if you threaten me. Now, confession time for me: In a 9.4mi run on Sat, she had a leash on for exactly 150 feet of that run. I carry the leash with me all the time. If a not friendly dog comes along, I put it on her so that I can hold on to her & get between her & the scary dog. When I cross the two major highways that I sometimes cross on my long runs, I put the leash on her for her own safety. Other than that, she stays leash free, even through the center of town. We run past cows (remember, she's a cow dog & lives to chase them!), rabbits, squirrels, children, other dogs, etc and she never leaves my heel. If she gets a few steps ahead, a clearing of the throat or a quiet "Anya, heel" is all it takes & she is on me like glue. THAT is the way dogs should be!!

I called Animal Control, but they didn't come out. I am going to call them again and ask why, probably because I didn't get bit. The thing is these animals have been out a number of times and have made moves agaist my daughter too, and animal control has been called a number of times. I think I'll call the police too and see what they say when I tell them if they make a move against me again I'll kill them. ( The dogs that is.)

This makes me so mad. In MI, we have a state-wide leash law. Your dog is either on your private property without one or on a leash off of it (obviously people don't always have their dogs on a leash off their property, but most people can use common sense too). So if the pooch comes out onto the public road while I'm running by, law is broken. Problem is proving it. It could get a little crazy following up on "complaints" that people create falsely just because they have a problem with the people who own the dog...neighbor feuds, divorce, etc. The animal control/ police actually have to see it happen to act on it, they can't just take the complainants word for it. They can document the complaint, which would help if something did happen, but not much else. I tell you, I would be the one to go out and videotape the animals (from within my slow moving car- LOL)!!!! My bf (husband now) and I went out running once and had *3* dogs around us. The most scared I have *ever* been. And they were scary looking dogs too...not just nice house dogs with their fur standing on end. I called the owner and didn't pursue it, but now I know better and would if it happened again, just for the sake of saving someone else some grief, especially a child.

Glock will aid you in your next dog encounter.

I've been thinking about dogs a lot lately, because my runs are getting longer and I live in a rural area where you can always encounter a random, loose dog. A dog followed me yesterday but didn't get close. I was nervous about it, so I just bent down and picked up a rock and raised my arm a little. Someone told me to do that and see if the dog will run away. Well, this one took off like a shot. I suppose he's had rocks thrown at him before! Anyway, that won't always work, obviously, and my runs are branching out to somewhat unfamiliar areas. I bought pepper spray but I'm worried about it affecting me too or about just not using it correctly or getting it out in time. My husband says you can buy a dog whistle that emits a horrendous only-doggies-can-hear-it pitch that will make them flee. Anyone heard of this or use it? Or is he confused?