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Am I being that guy? (Dog question)
Dark_Side
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
A couple of months ago I was walking my dog in an area I don't usually walk him and came across a somewhat aggressive german shepherd loose on the street. I say he was aggressive because his posture and demeanor said "I'm nervous and I'm going to bite your dog" and he plainly was unhappy we were walking past him. I figured he'd gotten out and didn't have my phone close by, so no call to animal services that time. And I quickly forgot about him.
Fast forward to tonight and I happen to randomly take the same street, and while walking by the same house I encountered the german shepherd at the first time, sure enough I hear barking from inside the house. The GS slowly emerges from a wide open doorway with a low growl and begins stalking myself and my dog off his territory. His posture was definitely one of fear and aggression and I had to work to make sure my dog didn't see it and respond accordingly. Hence the problem, I have a large pit, who has dominance issues in that if he sees a challenge he is ready to throw down. Obviously this is a problem, but on walks when he meets other dogs they are leashed and I can make sure I retain full control of the situation.
But I can't control the situation when someone else's dog is not leashed and the owner is nowhere to be seen. And because of my dog's breed, if he was to get into a fight he would most surely be blamed and it would be a huge mess. So this pisses me off. The problem is that it's been months since I last walked that street and obviously this dog must not be that big of a problem since he's still around and still not contained, and he may just not like my dog.
So do I call animal control and make a complaint, or do I just let it go? I'm leaning towards yes, but I want to make sure I'm being reasonable about it.
Fast forward to tonight and I happen to randomly take the same street, and while walking by the same house I encountered the german shepherd at the first time, sure enough I hear barking from inside the house. The GS slowly emerges from a wide open doorway with a low growl and begins stalking myself and my dog off his territory. His posture was definitely one of fear and aggression and I had to work to make sure my dog didn't see it and respond accordingly. Hence the problem, I have a large pit, who has dominance issues in that if he sees a challenge he is ready to throw down. Obviously this is a problem, but on walks when he meets other dogs they are leashed and I can make sure I retain full control of the situation.
But I can't control the situation when someone else's dog is not leashed and the owner is nowhere to be seen. And because of my dog's breed, if he was to get into a fight he would most surely be blamed and it would be a huge mess. So this pisses me off. The problem is that it's been months since I last walked that street and obviously this dog must not be that big of a problem since he's still around and still not contained, and he may just not like my dog.
So do I call animal control and make a complaint, or do I just let it go? I'm leaning towards yes, but I want to make sure I'm being reasonable about it.
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A loose aggressive dog isn't something to ignore, even if you think it may not pose a problem to others.
Another loose dog or a kid that looked at it the wrong way could get hurt.
They cast a shadow like a sundial in the morning light. It was half past 10.
There is a dog just like that near my parents place. Except you can't avoid it when walking the dog. Its also bitten several people. The owner just denies everything and nothing can be done about it.
so long as the dog doesn't attack you or your dog its just making you nervous. ask them about it.
go without your dog first and introduce yourself. thats the first step.
To echo Thanatos' and other's sentiments, a german shepherd can be quite a large dog and if not properly trained can do a lot of harm. There is a reason that they are the choice breed for police afterall.
Call the SPCA or animal control to find out to whom you need to report the owner. Sounds like a bad situation waiting to happen.
I think both approaches suggested would be worthwhile, depending on your personality - if you personally are afraid for yourself when you walk by the house the SPCA would definitely be the right call. If the dog makes you feel uncomfortable because you have a dog with you - then perhaps the visit sans dog is the way to go.
"Oh what a day, what a LOVELY DAY!"
This isn't a bad idea, I'm not entirely positive I could pull my dog off another in a fight since he's all muscle, the mace would clear up a fight right quick.
You can lock this one up then, I'm satisfied that I'm not overreacting about this.
thats a weasel phrase to get out of interacting with them. don't be afraid to voice your concern and go up and introduce yourself, its a lot better than simply calling to make a complaint. If they are douches, then you can still make the complaint having tried the civil option first but to assume that they are going to deny the problem without ever talking to them stinks of "I don't want to have a confrontation so I'm going to passive agressively report them"
also, 10 to one animal control won't do anything unless the dog is loose at the time of the call. so long as the dog stays on their property he doesn't have to be leashed and can growl at whoever he wants.
Not necessarily. The leash law in my city says that dogs must be leashed at all times if they are not on enclosed property. Not that people actually obey that law, which can be lots of fun when I am walking my dog. :x
Fair enough, but I will say at least in my experience that people irresponsible enough to allow their large dog free reign on the street, usually aren't too interested in hearing about how they should stop that habit. More often than not they get super defensive about it and I get the old chestnut about how "Oh my dog is a sweetheart, he would never do any such thing, you probably provoked him."
I should also point out that if the yard was fenced there would be no problem, since yes he can growl and bark all he wants behind a barrier, but as it stands he appears to be given free reign onto the street and sidewalk. The first time I ran into him he was hiding in the shadows under a bush by a parked car, the second time he did in fact follow us down the sidewalk for a short time.
Edit: I should also point out that I am bit biased because as a pit owner, I have to deny my dog a lot of luxuries, for if he ever got loose on the street you can bet I would be hearing about it from animal control, and so on.
Either try talking to them or call animal control. Anonymous or otherwise.
Back in highschool, I was walking my leashed dog by someones yard. They'd come out to the front with their unleashed dog (to check the mail, or something). The owner started walking back to their door, and called for the dog who followed for long enough for the owner to stop paying attention.
Then it circled back and latched onto my dogs neck and started thrashing. I had to dive into the mayhem to try to get it off my animal, in the process both my wrists and my left hand were bitten pretty badly. The owner insisted she didn't do anything wrong. Insane.