Monday morning rant (aka why I hate some people) - long

Arrrggghhhh. What a freakin weekend we had. I am really starting to dislike people who cannot distinguish between a dog "fight" and a dog "argument". I started to type out this rant yesterday but was still fairly riled up. Had I pressed submit the entire post would have been interlaced with four letter stars (****).

On Sat morning we took our three up to the park for a run. Normally on the weekends a small group of ppl meet in the mornings for about an hour to let the dogs run. We decided to take them earlier than normal to give them a hard run prior to everyone else showing up. In the area that we take them there is a fenced in soccer field and an old former baseball field (the baseball field is where we generally meet). So, we took them into the soccer field and played with them for about 30mins. They were getting tired so we decided that we would just take them home.

We looked over to the other field and noticed a couple of the regulars with their dogs. Instead of putting ours on lead, we let them run ahead of us so they could go and say hi to the other dog. What we didn't see was an older couple of people (non regulars) with their two (min-poodle and small lab mix). So best we can tell, our three run into the field and go to check out the new dogs. Lucy being a very in your face girl runs right up to the poodle. Now I don't know what happened (but wouldn't doubt that Lucy instigated it) but there was a lot of noise, open mouths, quick movements, etc from both Lucy and the poodle (i.e. an arguement). Before I could get over to settle Lucy down, the new guy pulls Lucy out of the fray. Excellent I thought, he separated them, all will be fine. But no, he then proceeds to pick Lucy up by the throat, holding her about two feet off the ground, and walks toward me.

At this point my blood begins to boil. I immediately rush up, catch Lucy (as the guy throws her to the ground), put her in a sit, and reach out to latch hold of buddy (hope he can sew cause he needs a new shirt collar). It was all I could do to not hit him. He then starts yapping about my vicious dog had how he will kill her if she ever comes near his dog again, blah blah blah. All the while his wife is coddling the poodle and mouthing off at us telling us that we need to put our vicous dog down, etc. All the while, my "vicious" dog is sitting beside me without a care in the world (making no effort to go after anyone or anything). Buddy and his wife (who is still yapping about having to take their dog to the vet) quickly pack up and leave.

We stayed for about ten mins and talked to the other people. One guy said that he didn't see what happened but did see the 'arguement' and said that it was all noise and that neither dog came in contact with the other.

What really pissed me off about the whole thing was buddy picking her up by the throat (and the yapping about her being vicious). If he had held her by the collar and kept her in place, I wouldn't have minded (essentially if he used only the force necessary to separate them). I have taken bites from little dogs when separating an altercation and have never once thought about picking one up by the neck.

So now, to ensure that we keep Lucy safe, we are considering either leaving her gentle leader on her so she cannot get her mouth very wide or getting a type of muzzle that won't make her look vicious. We are in the situation that, even if she is defending herself, she will likely be blamed because she is bigger than a min-poodle. I can certainly sympathize with all you ppl who are affected by BSL. Turn your dog into a criminal before they get a chance to commit a crime. Anyways, I've blabbed on long enough. Time for a coffee. :pawprint:

I would be mad to if someone did that to my Joey. :mad: That was definatley uncalled for. I think you need more than coffee. :)

You have every reason to be mad. I would be furious if someone did that to my dog. I think him only ending up with a ripped collar was minor compared with what could have happened to him.Buddy does the same thing runs up full speed to have a good sniff and I agree it can be intimidating but being a dog owner this is the usual stuff that goes on in dog parks.

Poor Lucy, she was probaby only telling the strangers to stay away
from her brothers and sisters. That still doesn't give ANYONE the
right to manhandle your dog. He might have really hurt her.

I've had that happen to me..

Surria ran up to a JRT (mix?) and barked- basically a doggie saying "hi"- and the guy started yelling about my "vicious dog" and slapped her across the face.

Er..I sprayed him with the citronella spray... :evil:

People have hit Boo before and my god did they get it. Somebody hitting/hurting my babies makes me enraged.

I understand what you mean about the arguments though. The regulars at our park always have to explain what's happening to the newbies. We always break it up, but it's definitely not something to get upset about.

I think sometimes the most dangerous thing in a dog park is a person who has never been to a dog park. They just can't see the signs, or don't listen to them properly.

Montana does the same thing. He runs full tilt right up to the dog and stops right at their nose. He just wants to say hi but he towers over most dogs and has scared a few. I haven't had anyone do anything to him but grab him by the collar and keep him from moving. This drives me nuts because Montana has done nothing wrong. If they don't want him near their dog then they can hold theirs, not mine. It is after all an off leash park. If they don't want dogs near theirs then don't bring them there.

If a strange dog ran up to me and had a "verbal" arguement with my dogs I think I would be a little upset too.
How was this guy to know that your dog wasn't going to attack? He probably acted out of fear and wanted to protect his dog and himself.

Last week I was walking my dogs down my street. Both were leashed and walking nicely. A neighbor let her Pug off leash and he came running towards my dogs. I made them sit and wait. This little guy came up growling. No fight ensued thankfully. Of course my dogs went crazy and the lady had the nerve to say that she was surprised mine were growling as they are usually nice dogs. They are goldens so I assume she was stereotyping them. The truth is usually they are nice but this guy initiated the aggression so what are they suppose to do?

If a strange dog ran up to me and had a "verbal" arguement with my dogs I think I would be a little upset too.
How was this guy to know that your dog wasn't going to attack? He probably acted out of fear and wanted to protect his dog and himself.



He had every right to step in and break up the arguement and I wouldn't expect otherwise. However, he stepped over the line when he picked her up by the throat, carried her by the throat with her hind legs 2 - 3 feet off the ground, then then threw her to the ground. (If I wanted to get picky, I would argue that his dogs were the strange dogs given that they have never come to this field at the times in question).

There are inherent risks when taking your dog to an off leash area. There will almost always be dogs who just don't get along; arguements that occassionaly break out (sometimes simply because one dog wasn't watching and broadsides another), etc. If you are willing to let your dog go off leash, you have to be aware that something could happen and deal with it in an appropriate manner -- attempting to injure and then threatening to kill a dog is not the appropriate manner to deal with it, given the circumstances.

I had a similar incident as well.

I was at the offleash park with my large-ish lab-rotti mix, she ran over to say hi to a poodle thing. It was far smaller than she, but she has a thing for little guys, she LOVES THEM. She grew up with a Jack russel, so she has a total soft spot.... Anyway, she was up and trying to get the little guy to play, jumping around doing the play bow etc. And the poddle started getting defensive - growling and nipping. My dog started growling back and putting her paw on the little dogs back and trying to sit on it.

Just as i called her to come to me after the fight broke out, she turned to run, and the poodle's owner came over and BOOTED my dog in the chest. My dog screamed, and ran over to me and hid behind me... Then we got the whole vicous dog crap lecture and we should NEVER come back... all this crap that made no sense.

My dog's never had any incidences with any dog at the park before, and i think this guy's reaction was completley uncalled for. One might say my boyfriends reaction was pretty uncalled for as well, the guy got beat up... but damn. i was SO upset, my dog could have DIED.

and looking at their poodle, all it had was a little bit of slobber on it's fur. it was completely unscathed.

but my dog, luckily came out ok. She's pretty skittish now with sudden movements, it's so frustrating.

GRRR

:mad: :mad: