What is with people letting their dogs loose?

[bluestar]

We had an interesting trip to the park this weekend. We sometimes go to this small fenced in park in Oakville, that doesn't have a lot of dogs there. We spend most of our time at Jack Darling in Mississauga, but our little guy doesn't like the fact that there are so many dogs, so will spend the entire time stuck by my side and refusing to play. The small park allows him to do a little playing if it is nice and quiet there. It was just our two boys there this weekend, but as we were about to leave I see this golden retriever strolling down the path by himself. No owner, no leash, just taking a nice walk alone. As he gets close to the park, I opened the first gate and comes straight in to sniff both of my boys, still no one in sight. I'm able to get a look at his collar, he was a sweet friendly guy, and see at least he has a number on his tag. We decide to check with some of the people at the community garden by the parking lot to see if he is theirs before calling. I put him on Toby's leash and let Toby follow me since he won't get five feet away from me. Duke is ecstatic that this new guy is coming with us and can barely contain himself, thinking he has a new brother. The GR is happy to come along. By the time we get to the parking lot a van pulls in and a woman and her son jump out and start calling the dog. He starts to get excited and pulls towards them obviously recognizing them. The woman says that every time he gets out he comes straight to the park (maybe you should watch him more closely then). She wasn't sure it was actually him at first because he was behaving himself for me. Duke was a little depressed when we came home without him.

Then today as we are driving down Lakeshore, we see these two beagles playing on the sidewalk off-leash. How insane do you have to be to leave two dogs off-leash, especially on a street as busy as Lakeshore and especially a couple of beagles. We couldn't even be certain that they belonged to the two people walking behind them, or the person on the bike in front of them. I feel like we should've stopped and asked but it was rush hour and on the opposite side of the road. Some people amaze me with how thoughtless they can be. I couldn't live with myself if my dogs had ran out in traffic and been hit just because I didn't want to use a leash. Let alone the poor driver of the car that would hit them and feel terrible because of my stupidty.

[cell]

I hear you people are so dumb when they let dogs offleash ESPECIALLY in the city. The dog takes off and people are like "gee wouldn't think that would happen" I saw a guy out at night like 9 pm already dark in downtown Montreal with his daughter and weimeraner, off leash. The dog was wandering around then decided to run across the street when they were about to move on (the guy was applying posters for a yard sale) and the dog is running on the street (which was a side street) and then a car turns down the street, its dark the dog's hard to see and so the guy jumps out infront of the car to stop it from going down the street because it might hit his dog whos running around and his kid who is chasing it.... Stupid people I would have been PO'ed if I was the driver.... and these are people people who whine and cry that their dog gets hit by a car when they are the one who did the dog wrong.

[lUvMyLaB<3]

I know...

I have a neighbor across the street that has a 'rescue..so he says' he takes the dog out on to the front lawn to play ball OFF LEASH!!! maybe that would be ok but this dog has an issue with chasing cars, and everytime a car comes down the street he chases it and runs in front of it there have been so many close calls!! He gets mad at the drivers when they attempt to avoid his dog saying they should drive straight and at a constant speed so the dog can predict where they are going.. yeah it is all the drivers fault! how dare they panic and try to avoid the dog..???

He used to own a lhasa apso, a beautiful dog, I was the only one that ever walked the dog, I really liked him, but they let him run free... he would always be roaming around the neighborhood, he had a big bark and would bark and scare kids that were walking to school. He really thinks his dogs are great and I guess everyone else should enjoy them too... HE DRIVES ME NUTS.. and whenever he comes over he brings the dog, to my FRONT DOOR.. my dog goes insane and has visions of aussie shepard sandwhiches in her head whenever he does that.. some people have no respect! Or brains!

THere is also another lady a few doors down, she has 3 BC's. they are nice dogs, and she is an awesome owner, they are well trained but she will let them off leash with her outside and for walks, and I cannot stand it, it makes is very hard for people like me that have a dog with dog aggression issues, I know it is my responsibility to keep my dog under control, and I do, but it is not really fair when people have their dogs all over the place.

My lab got her issues because we were in the country when we lived there for a walk, and 3 farm dogs came at us and attacked us, the owner shot them.. anyway she has been so protective since, no matter what trainer and behaviorist I get although there have been massive improvements. If those people could have kept their dogs on their property look at the difference it would have made!! My dog would still be happy, a therapy dog and doing rally-o and flyball.. that she cannot do at the moment cuz she would eat everyone.. and those dogs would still be alive.. it is sad sad sad sad sad sad sad... people MUST take responsibility for their dogs!!!!! GRRRRRRRRRrRrrrrRRrrrRRR MAKES ME SO MAD!

[Etown_Chick]

Mmmm my only thought, is that some people are idiots.

[bendyfoot]

It's bad in the country too. We're having issues with two dogs right now...one lab mix around the corner from us keeps showing up on our property...not a HUGE deal, we don't really mind doggie visitors...until he started acting aggressively not only towards our dogs (actually went after Heidi) but towards PEOPLE, too! Not cool. We spoke to the owner twice, they did nothing, so the last time we saw the dog I called animal control. They went and told the owner to smarten up and tie the dog (like, duh).

Another lab down the road always ends up following us if we go jogging. The people at the house always holler at her to come home, but of course she doesn't listen, and they don't bother chasing her down. Wouldn't be such a big deal, except she's a royal jack and picks fights with dogs on other properties as we go along, and wanders all over the road...to make matters worse people think she's OUR dog and that WE'RE irresponsible owners!!! We do take our pups jogging sometimes, but they're ALWAYS on leash!!! The only time we allow off-leash play is when we're in the wood lot, and when they're in our yard and supervised....they know not to leave the property. If they're not supervised, they're inside, or tied.

[Dog Dancer]

I posted a while back about a woman jogging with her Ipod on a really busy road and her dog, with leash attached but not being held onto, was running along behind her - in the middle of a very busy road with oncoming traffic. Big big dog, struggling to keep up, and running right down the road. Cars were swerving, and I was going the other way or I would have stopped, but I blew my horn and so did one oncoming car and she finally woke up and went and got the dog. IDIOT woman.

[luckypenny]

Same situation here . THought that when we'd move to the country, we could take long leisurely walks without much distractions. Turns out about 50% of dog owners here leave thiers to roam. Like you Luvmylab, Penny will not allow another dog to approach us while she's leashed...makes it very difficult to enjoy a walk with her :sad:.

And then there's the family up the road who has a gorgeous unneutered male Berner, a real sweetie, who's forever on our property or meandering up the middle of the street (80 km/h speed limit ). I went to see his owners last week while he was loose and they didn't even answer the door (they were home ). The neighbors said they let the dog out loose too when they go to work for the day .

[bendyfoot]

YEah, pretty much every single dog is loose out where we live. Our next door neighbours use the invisible fence thing, and that works fine for their three, but that's about it. A lot of the dogs in the area are ok, they'll bark when you pass, but they won't leave their porch/property. The exceptions are real butt-pains though. I guess I have a double standard...nice dogs are welcome to visit our yard (like Daisy, whose invisible fence collar doesn't always work), but bullies/jerks are not welcome.