- Always walk your dog on a leash.
- Only allow dogs off-leash in fenced-in areas.
- Ask someone for permission before petting their (leashed) animal.
- If someone wants to pet your dog, make your dog sit first.
Anyhow, yesterday was a BEAUTIFUL day in Raleigh. Mr. Business and I did some chores around the house and then decided to take Small Biz, TC and DT for a walk. Since I'm with Small Biz Monday-Friday, I try to let Mr. Biz have as much time with her as possible on weekends, so he pushed her stroller, and I walked DT and TC.
Our neighborhood is super small. I think there are only like 150 townhouses and mostly couples or young singles live here. A few of the folks have dogs, and we know most of them - we always stop and talk; it's a nice little group!
So - back to my super long story - Mr. Biz and I are walking, and just ahead I see 2 dogs. I take a few more steps and realize their owner is laying in his driveway playing on his computer and sunbathing, and his dogs' leashes are RESTING in the tree branches!
All of a sudden, his Australian Shepherd takes off and attacks poor DT (who is part Australian Shepherd). She took off trying to get away from this guys terror of a dog - and pulled me a few feet because her leash was wrapped (several times) around my wrist. Mr. Business put the parking brake on the stroller, and raced towards the two dogs - ours who was "screaming" (can dogs do that?) and the mean one who was growling and biting my sweet girl.
Luckily, the sunbather got to the dogs first and pulled his off of mine - there's no telling what Mr. Business would have done to that dog had he gotten there first. DT ran straight to me with her tail between her legs. I felt horrible for her.
How could anyone be mean to those sweet spots?
So as we checked our precious puppy out, Mr. Sunbather scolded his dog. But he never apologized, asked if DT was okay or asked if I was okay (my arm is so bruised from the leash issue, I can't even put my hair tie around my wrist!).
Now I'm scared to walk our dogs by myself! What if I had been walking them alone with Small Biz in the Baby Bjorn? Or what if that guy's dog had really hurt DT? Should I have said anything to him once we got the dogs separated?
I'm just really upset that others don't follow basic pet etiquette. And I'm upset that it's going to change where I'm willing to walk in my own neighborhood.
Would you have said anything to the owner? What would you do in the future? Should I just stay away from that guys house?
Thanks so much for the tip about Divine Children's Show! I'll definitely have to sign up for their e-mails! So glad to find that you have a blog! Hope your family is doing well!
ReplyDeleteI think you should have told that Mister off! And gotten his name and address. By law he would at least be obliged to pay the vet bill, should a visit to the vet be necessary. Also, you might consider reporting it to the police. They won't act on it, but at least the dog and owner will be on their radar.
ReplyDeleteI'm saying this, because last year our dog got attacked by a Sheperd while I was walking him with our 4 kids. He then decided to turn to my youngest son (then 4) and jumped on top of him and pinned him to the ground. He never bit him (thank God!), because he was really busy with some showing off towards our dog. It was only a few seconds, but it was horrific. I reported him to the police, but they didn't do more than stop by for a talk.
I was livid however, when I learned in the following weeks that several dogs had been attacked by this beast before, and none of the dog owners reported him!
Anyway, I'm glad you and your dog are okay!!!