The Beast Without
I'm on a rant about unleashed dogs right now. That is because we've had several incidents in the village lately that have been severely traumatic for friends and neighbors.
Our good friends, Bernard and Bernadette, who own the news stand had a horrible thing happen to them on New Year's eve; their little poodle was savagely attacked by a GSD who was being walked without a leash. Poor Bernadette was down near the Gamm Vert when this dog surged out of the darkness and bit their poor poodle in the abdomen. Of course, being New Year's Eve, there was no vet open and they had to wait until Tuesday to have him properly treated. He required stitches and was severely traumatized. Luckily, he appears to be recovering today, but I think it was touch-and-go for a bit.
The owner of the attacking dog was actually there, in the shadows. He called his dog and beat it when it came to him (brilliant behavior!), but did not go to see if Bernadette or her dog were injured, nor did he offer to pay any vet bills. It was too dark for her to see the owner's face, so she has no idea to whom the dog belonged.
A couple of day's earlier, I had been walking Maggie and the Shmoo when Sam (from the garage) ran after us. Ever since the day that he and Shmoo took off together for parts unknown, the two have had "issues," and I had a heck of a time keeping Shmoo from fighting with Sam for dominance. Unfortunately, Sam decided to follow us on our walk, which DID give me an opportunity to do some quality training on ignoring other dogs, but also made our outing a lot less pleasant.
As we were returning home, Sam got into the garden where the chickens live and started chasing them. Of course both Maggie and Shmoo were desperate to join in and I had my hands full holding them back. Then, Sam managed to get one of the chickens separated from its flock and chased it out into the path. He got it down into the ditch at the side of the path and tried to kill it. I don't think he did, but I had to really drag on my two to keep them away. I DO NOT want to be blamed for chicken killing, nor have my dogs "pay" with their lives (which I understand is a possibility in such a situation). I was very upset by the whole thing.
Yesterday, Roxie, the surfer dude dog, sliced open his foot on some broken glass. Again, he was out on his own with no one to see where he was going nor what he was doing. He needed 6 stitches in his foot and needs to be kept out of the river for 10 days.
Add to this that when I'm walking my pack, there is almost at least one or two loose dogs that come our way and I have to try to keep mine, especially Shmoo, under control. His one big flaw is that when he gets excited he feels the need to grab something, anything, with his mouth. The problem is that if Maggie is there, he grabs her and she hates it; to be honest I can't say that I blame her. I worry that one day one of them is going to get hurt, or that I will be pulled over or caught up in a dogfight.
I don't know that there is an answer to this. There is no real will in the community to do anything about this; we're in the country after all and to a lot of people it seems natural to have dogs wandering the streets. But as far as I'm concerned, the days when that is acceptable are behind us. We're going to have a real tragedy one day, and I don't want to be the one who is involved.
Ciao for now.
Randy
Our good friends, Bernard and Bernadette, who own the news stand had a horrible thing happen to them on New Year's eve; their little poodle was savagely attacked by a GSD who was being walked without a leash. Poor Bernadette was down near the Gamm Vert when this dog surged out of the darkness and bit their poor poodle in the abdomen. Of course, being New Year's Eve, there was no vet open and they had to wait until Tuesday to have him properly treated. He required stitches and was severely traumatized. Luckily, he appears to be recovering today, but I think it was touch-and-go for a bit.
The owner of the attacking dog was actually there, in the shadows. He called his dog and beat it when it came to him (brilliant behavior!), but did not go to see if Bernadette or her dog were injured, nor did he offer to pay any vet bills. It was too dark for her to see the owner's face, so she has no idea to whom the dog belonged.
A couple of day's earlier, I had been walking Maggie and the Shmoo when Sam (from the garage) ran after us. Ever since the day that he and Shmoo took off together for parts unknown, the two have had "issues," and I had a heck of a time keeping Shmoo from fighting with Sam for dominance. Unfortunately, Sam decided to follow us on our walk, which DID give me an opportunity to do some quality training on ignoring other dogs, but also made our outing a lot less pleasant.
As we were returning home, Sam got into the garden where the chickens live and started chasing them. Of course both Maggie and Shmoo were desperate to join in and I had my hands full holding them back. Then, Sam managed to get one of the chickens separated from its flock and chased it out into the path. He got it down into the ditch at the side of the path and tried to kill it. I don't think he did, but I had to really drag on my two to keep them away. I DO NOT want to be blamed for chicken killing, nor have my dogs "pay" with their lives (which I understand is a possibility in such a situation). I was very upset by the whole thing.
Yesterday, Roxie, the surfer dude dog, sliced open his foot on some broken glass. Again, he was out on his own with no one to see where he was going nor what he was doing. He needed 6 stitches in his foot and needs to be kept out of the river for 10 days.
Add to this that when I'm walking my pack, there is almost at least one or two loose dogs that come our way and I have to try to keep mine, especially Shmoo, under control. His one big flaw is that when he gets excited he feels the need to grab something, anything, with his mouth. The problem is that if Maggie is there, he grabs her and she hates it; to be honest I can't say that I blame her. I worry that one day one of them is going to get hurt, or that I will be pulled over or caught up in a dogfight.
I don't know that there is an answer to this. There is no real will in the community to do anything about this; we're in the country after all and to a lot of people it seems natural to have dogs wandering the streets. But as far as I'm concerned, the days when that is acceptable are behind us. We're going to have a real tragedy one day, and I don't want to be the one who is involved.
Ciao for now.
Randy
Labels: loose dogs, responsible pet ownership
1 Comments:
Oh dear, shades of Boulder. There were leash laws there that were under constant criticism. There were lots of folks on both sides...but the leashes remained a part of the scene there, fortunately.
Your stories are disturbing. I hope that things improve. It's not the fault of dogs, but of irresponsible owners, I fear. Our favorite comment of someone whose dog just nipped at one of us, "What did you do to him? He never did that before!"
Keep a sharp eye out when walking. You may have to protect your protectors!
Meilleurs voeux!!
By blueVicar, At 7:12 AM
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