RANT: Leashes!!!!

[jobob]

Back when we lived in Richmond our dear departed Bozo Kitty was sitting on our front steps, and probably thumbed his kitty nose at a passing pit bull being walked on the sidewalk in front of our house. Wise, he was not.

Said pit bull broke free of his leash and proceeded to make mincemeat of Bozo. The pit bull got a few good scratches for his effort though, Bozo was quite the fighter himself.

After Lee tried to pull them apart with no success (meanwhile the piece-of-sh!t owner screaming at Lee not to hurt her dog!! ), Lee ran into the house to grab a lead pipe with the full intent to bash the pit bull's brains in, but by the time he got back out the piece-of-sh!t owner and her vermin had run down the street and jumped into a car & sped off.

Needless to say, Lee was devastated, he and Boze were good buds. As was I, but I didn't have to live through the experience of watching our beloved pet being mauled on our front steps, and then have to load him up and speed him to the vet. Bozo's injuries were way too severe to keep him alive and suffering, so he had to be put to sleep. Even the vet was choked up - Bozo was a very beloved kitty.

So, I have zero tollerance for dog owners who can't, or are too lazy, to control their dogs.

And I used to loathe pit bulls on sight, until I met a friend's, which is one of the sweetest dogs imaginable.

[bmccasland]

Maillotpois - hope you're feeling better this morning. How's the shoulder? When you and your fine pup head back out there for a walk, keep your confidence, head up, shoulders back, you own the raod.

Although the thought of cowering from Joe Bassett is rather amusing.

And my personal pet peeve - the stinking expandy leashes. The human does NOT have control of the dog at the other end. Have had far too many near misses with those. Why can't people use right and proper standard leashes?

[OakLeaf]

And my personal pet peeve - the stinking expandy leashes. The human does NOT have control of the dog at the other end. Have had far too many near misses with those. Why can't people use right and proper standard leashes?

The human does have control of a retractable. It's not the leash's fault if they choose not to exercise it. There's a thumb lock, you keep the dog on a short lead when the situation demands it, you reel the dog in if something approaches while the dog's way out. No harder than reeling them in from a 6 or 10 foot lead.

[redrhodie]

It happens here ALL the time, too! My boss and I walk her dogs every day before I leave, and one day last week we had one loose dog coming at us from the front, another from the rear (separate owners, BTW). Somehow we managed to get out of it with everyone in one piece. The stupid owners of the free dogs never seem to think there's an issue.

Wish I had some advice, but all I can say is, I feel your pain!

[Tuckervill]

Yeah, most people would never believe THEIR dog would do something like be a dog.

At our youth baseball park last week, a family brought their 10 month old pit bull on a leash. Sweet dog, happy and tail-waggy. Someone else brought their small poodle--but without a leash--and of course it had to go see the pit bull. There was growling and snapping but no one got hurt. Most people who heard the story immediately assumed it was the pit bull's fault, until I let them know that it was the POODLE OWNER'S fault for not having the durn thing on a leash.

Now I'm faced with an outright ban of dogs at the park (difficult, since it's in the middle of a city park), and/or enforcing the leash law that is already on the books. Had to enforce it last night--a guy carrying a clearly nervous Schnauzer. It was so nervous I didn't even ask if I could pet it, and I love petting dogs!

My last resort is going to be to call Animal Control and have them start writing tickets. Even for the little 5 year old with her new puppy. sheesh.

Karen

[Andrea]

I hope you had some good wine & chocolate.

On a lighter note, I have a funny unleashed/uncontained dog story:
I was warming up before my last road race when I heard/saw a huge, droopy basset hound running across his front yard towards me @ full speed. As he approached the road, he jumped the small ditch between the yard/road... only to land with both front feet on his ears. At the speed he was traveling, this resulted in a massive face-plant into the landing side of the ditch. He made a loud THUMP... I have no idea if he kept chasing, because at that point I was laughing so hard that I almost fell over.

That is the only time I've ever felt sorry for a chasing dog. Poor thing didn't know what hit him!

[tulip]

...As he approached the road, he jumped the small ditch between the yard/road... only to land with both front feet on his ears. At the speed he was traveling, this resulted in a massive face-plant into the landing side of the ditch. He made a loud THUMP... I have no idea if he kept chasing, because at that point I was laughing so hard that I almost fell over.

If I'd been drinking my tea, I would have spewed all over my computer!

As for chasing-dogs, I find that squirting them in the eyes with a well-aimed shot of gatorade usually does the trick long enough for me to get away.