Neighborhood Dogs

I feel a rant coming on, and it may offend some of you, so be prepared, because I’m pissed.

I was chased by a neighborhood dog this morning. I wasn’t carrying at the time, but I may have to start. Either a pistol or bear spray … Or both.

I have been exercise walking for a couple or three miles a day in my development for the past three months. It wasn’t much of an issue when the weather was cold, but now that it’s getting nicer out – the dogs are out too.

I don’t mind if your dog barks from inside the house or yard as I walk past – there isn’t much you can do about that, and he’s waking YOU up, not me. But this dog jumped the fence and took off after me. As soon as I saw him, I used my best guttural command voice and told him to GIT, and GO HOME! Fortunately he hesitated and broke off, but then he tried to sneak up behind me. I turned to face him and commanded him again. He got within about 4 feet of me, but when I challenged him, he backed off again. He tried a third time, and then gave up and took off in another direction. There was zero activity coming from inside the house while this was happening. They didn’t even know that their dog was gone. I was PISSED.

Don’t get me wrong – I like dogs. That is, I like well-behaved and well-trained dogs. You may say, “Awww, poochie-kins was just playing with you”.

And my reply to that is BULLSHIT. I don’t know your dog, and he doesn’t know me, and if your dog is out of your control and CHARGING me, then he is a THREAT until proven otherwise. Are we clear on this?

This is the first time I’ve actually been charged. But it’s not the first time I’ve been challenged by someone’s dog while out walking. Just last evening some lady with a big white bull terrier hybrid on a leash put me on alert. She was standing there messing with her phone and had only a tenuous hold on the leash. All the while, her dog was eyeing my approach intently while his muscles were tensing. I gave them both as wide a berth as possible, and kept both eyes on the dog. (Hers were elsewhere). Fortunately, I made it past with only some growls and barks from Mr four-legs, but it would have taken nothing for him to jerk that leash right out of her hands, and he’d have been on me in nothing flat. The leash gave that lady merely an illusion of control. In the end, it was the dog’s decision to leave me alone, not hers.

Most dog owners have even less control over their animals than they do over their kids. And I just want you to know, that if your dog attacks me, it WILL be put down – by animal control , or by me if I have to.

End Rant.

**Edit to add…

After I composed myself, I did drive back over to that house and rang the doorbell. I was polite, introduced myself, and described the dog. The fellow who answered the door confirmed that this was their dog. I (again politely) said that I wanted them to know that their dog jumped the fence and came after me this morning. His response? “Oh yeah, he does that.” …

No apology, no explanation, no offer to take steps to prevent future occurrences.

I was flabbergasted.

My response? “Well, you might want to fix that situation, because the next time, I’ll be carrying bear spray.”

I did not mention that I would also be contacting the HOA and Animal Control if it happens again.

Scott Mangarpan
May 24, 2016 at 12:08 am

Don't wait to report them, judging by the owner's comment there is a history there. Animal control needs to know about this incident. It might just be the final one that gets them to do something that will get the owners attention. We had a similar incident where our dog was attacked. After reporting the owners we found out there had been four previous attacks but nobody had reported them. I didn't want to hear about another potentially worse attack without knowing we had done everything possible to prevent it. BTW we now carry bear spray and a 9mm.
Dr. LateBloomer
May 24, 2016 at 12:19 am

Thanks for sharing your experience. I'll do that.
SOWT
June 3, 2016 at 2:15 am

What Scott said.

Comments are closed.