Forums >General Running>A question for owners of aggressive dogs
Feeling the growl again
Thanks for all the comments, folks. I must say I'm a little surprised that nobody said I did the wrong thing. By the way, I didn't "kick the shit out of" the dog. Just one quick solid kick to let it know not to mess with me. The dog was obviously fine and got its pride hurt, if anything. My one regret is that I didn't stop and get the guy's name so that I could report him to animal control. I also would have considered filing a complaint for attempted assault. It would have been fun to really tell him what an ass he is, too. But, I probably did the right thing by just continuing my run. Sigh.
"If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does. There's your pep talk for today. Go Run." -- Slo_Hand
I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills
Yikes... the cats are even worse!! I've only run up on one of these twice (well, twice that I'm aware of)... but I nearly had to clean out my shorts both times.
They say golf is like life, but don't believe them. Golf is more complicated than that. "If I am still standing at the end of the race, hit me with a Board and knock me down, because that means I didn't run hard enough" If a lot of people gripped a knife and fork the way they do a golf club, they'd starve to death. "Don't fear moving slowly forward...fear standing still."
What is it with little dogs? Napoleon complex?
I've had plenty of larger dogs join me on my runs (which is kind of nerve-wracking when they first appear, but it's usually apparent very quickly that they are just friendly).
Books I Have Read
Last Race: Portland Maine Half Marathon October 5 2014
Right on Hereford...
One day at a time
I once had a dog tag along with me. The only thing that concerned me was if the dog got lost or hurt (hit by car, attacked by another dog, etc). In the end I figured I would enjoy the dog's company, and try to not think about worst case scenarios.
That happened to me a couple of months ago! A dog started following my friend and me. I didn't think about it, because I didn't consider it my responsibility. Several blocks away, out of the corner of my eye I saw the dog dart out into the street. I instinctively closed my eyes and then heard THUMP. Ugh, what a sickening sound. The car stopped, but the dog ran off! It was limping a little, but we couldn't catch up with it. I wished I'd remembered the exact house it came from, but I couldn't. In the future, I will at least try to shoo dogs off.
#2867
Neither the dog nor I were at fault. I was doing as runners do and he was doing as dogs do.
By the way, I didn't "kick the shit out of" the dog. Just one quick solid kick to let it know not to mess with me. The dog was obviously fine and got its pride hurt, if anything. My one regret is that I didn't stop and get the guy's name so that I could report him to animal control. I also would have considered filing a complaint for attempted assault. It would have been fun to really tell him what an ass he is, too.
The second time I was attacked by a dog and felt a need to kick it, the dog bit at my hip through my winter running clothes and clawed at my legs. Thankfully, I had full length pants on. The owner threatened to call the police on me when I had the gall to kick his dog when the dog ran out of his yard, ran across the street, and attacked me. I told him to go ahead and kept moving, and then called the police a few minutes later when I got home. That guy gave me the evil eye every time I ran by and he was outside after that, but he always grabbed his dog when he saw me coming. Unfortunately, I think he only controlled the dog when he saw me coming, because about a year and a half later the dog had to be put down when it attacked a kid on a bicycle. It was not the dog’s fault, but I guarantee that the dog’s owner still has not taken responsibility for what happened.
Run to Win25 Marathons, 17 Ultras, 16 States (Full List)
This is so true--my experience is that little dogs are more aggressive than big dogs, or at least more willing to bite. When we first bought our house the neighbor down the road had two obnoixious corgis...I hated those f-ing dogs. I was dog-sitting for my parents' shih-tzu/cocker mix and those corgis ganged up on him and tried to bite him. I'm not ashamed to say that I kicked them away...not a hard kick to either one but enough to tell them who was boss. Luckily that neighbor moved away a few months later. That would be my dog. She loves to join runners. Most of the time we're outside with her when she's off-leash in the yard so we can go grab her before she gets too far down the road, but there have been a few times that she's gone on our neighbor's 5-miler. Fortunately people around here kind of expect dogs to be off-leash (either in their yards or walking down the road...it's rural), and we haven't had any problems with anyone. She's not aggressive in terms of barking/snarling/nipping, but she does look like a pit bull (she's actually lab/boxer), she's incredibly fast, and looks pretty scary running out of the yard. We're also fortunate that the only people running/walking by are neighbors and other "regulars," we're too far out of town to get any random passers by so by now everyone knows her and knows she's friendly. I don't blame the OP for kicking the dog, you have to make a decision based on your interpretation of the situation. If a new runner ran past my house and my dog when running after him, I might be annoyed if he kicked my dog but I can understand that some people might have interpreted her running as aggressive. That being said, I would probably ask the runner to "meet" the dog so that they would see that she is not aggressive, and apologize that she had scared them. Hopefully avoiding the situation in the future.
Blaaahhhh