An eventful day

Not sure if this is the correct place to put this.
Today I went with my dad on a walk with my dog Dakota, she is a queensland terrier mix and is such a sweetie pie! She loves people and our cats. Well her breed naturally i guess doesnt do to well with other dogs and can get a little aggressive as they are a cattle herding bred. On the corner of our block, we were walking about to cross the street when i turn to see a big dog running towards me and dakota, it is always a fear that a loose dog will hurt or even kill my dog! I panicked and tried to drag her away, while my dad tried shooing the dog. Dakota was growling adn snarling at this dog and was about to attack it, the other dog didnt seem to be looking for a fight but was all up in dakotas business and dakota doesnt know if this BIG dog is gonna hurt her? Dakota was on a leash and always is as it IS the law here. The owner came out and was like oh he is friendly, my dad being all hot headed kinda yelled and said the dog should be on a leash as it is the law the guy then tried to blame it on my dog!! Saying she was agressive and other things i couldnt hear as i was trying to get as far away as possible. My dad said he is going to report him, the guy was really rude and broke the law and this could have ended worse. Dakota was just trying to protect herself it is instinct. She is perfectly fine with dogs on leashes, she may kinda ruffle her fur at them but wont do anyting else but if they are not on a leash its a different story.

This is about the 5-6 time i have encountered a loose dog on my walks and sometimes their is no one with me and no one to get teh other dog, it kind of scares me to walk her anymore even though i have owned her for over 6 years since she was a puppy. Several months ago where i live a pitbull got loose (nothing against the breed, but the dog was probably used for evil things or treated so ) It killed two dogs, one was being walked on a leash and the lady tried to stop it but the pit was too strong then it ran into someones house and killed a dog, soo i do not take loose dogs easily. Do you think i am right to feel this way?

Leash laws are made for good reason

I am behind them 100%. No, you are NOT wrong in your thinking whatsoever.

I do have to mention tho, that occassionally dogs do get out by accident. I don't know if that was the case here.

My dog has gotten off her line 3 times since we lived here.... she has a clothesline type of run to go potty.... 2 times the clasp broke, the other time one of my kids did not attach it fully.

1 time, we found her. The other two times, thankfully, once was a relative of a neighbour (who saw my dog, and put her in the car and brought her home), the other was a lady a few blocks away that called the number on my dogs collar.

I felt awful all 3 times.... as soon as she was discovered gone, we went out hunting and calling for her. I can say that I might get heated if I was accused of something...ex. if someone told me I should have her leashed, and after I explain what happened, they are still peeved and giving me a hard time, then honestly yes I would get a little peeved as it was an accident.

Now, people walking their dogs with no leashes is BS.

We had a neighbour, 3 houses down. They had 2 huge German Shepards. The younger one was fine, the older one was NOT. Several times, the young one got out..... no biggie, twice I brought her back to the house reminding them to fix the gate on their backyard.

The last time though, I almost poo'd myself. I was bringing the young one back to the house, one hand holding her collar... our houses, you can't see the front door if you're approaching from the garage side as the garage sticks out furthur than the house... I got to the garage and started to round to the door. The door was WIDE open.... I let go of the young dog just as the older one came charging out.... I screamed at this huge german shepard coming at me, and started walking backwards around the other neighbours lawn....shaking, but calm, still yelling at the dog to stay....

Finally the female owner came out, who had been napping and called him off. I was p!ssed. We live on a crescent full of children here. If I had turned and run, I have no doubt that dog would have had me on the ground. That broke the straw for me, and I threatened to care animal care and control if they could not keep their dogs inside their home, or safely restrained.

Aggressive dogs NEED to be taken care of...secure fences, strong leashes and the like.

In your case, noone needed to be rude....I think your dad got the dog's owner up in defense mode, especially if the dog got out accidently. But he should have apologised (as I have done when Brandy got loose) and taken the dog home instead of getting into it with your dad.

I do completely understand your fear.... the young german shepard came over to our yard... luckily my dog's bark kept her back. If the big one had come, I can safely say that my dog would be hurt and I would be too.

Personally I find kids walking little dogs without leashes the worst of all. You never know who's going to dart where - it makes me extremely paranoid when driving.

And even weirder, as far as people letting their pets run loose, is the family a street over that always lets their rabbits run around in their front yard (by the street) unattended...


I just don't understand people.

I am pretty sure the dog didnt just get loose, i have seen the guy sitting in his garage smoking with his dog before, which i think he was doing this time. Yes my dad should not have raised his voice the way he did, but he told me he is sick of people who just think the law doesnt apply to them and they can do whatever they want he is a real piece of work!! lol. If i was alone I probably would have explained to the man that my dog is not so friendly to other dogs when they arent on leashes, and if he did not come to the aid i would have had to somehow get that dog off mine any way i could... but the guy was rude to begin with, never apologized and worse i dont think he felt like he was in the wrong, if his dog did something the owner is to blame. I just dont want anything to happen to this dog, like get taken to the pound and not get adopted...

In the past dakota has gotten out, little sneaker but i caught her before she could get anywhere, she is a real lover to people, but we have worked really hard to make sure all doors are shut tightly so she cant squeeze out.

ohh it is so frustrating! There is also a family on our block that has this big dog that can jump over their 6ft or so fence....dont know how but i have seen him do it! and he will just roam around and knock over your garbage cans, run across the street when you are driving...very dangerous!

Personally, I think what bothers some of us about people acting this way is simply because we make an effort to follow rules and be respectful. It's a bit like being slapped in the face.

That "I can try, why can't you?" question goes through our heads over and over until we snap. Your dad probably couldn't help it. Examples of this here are venting threads, especially the reoccurring grammar threads.

Report the dogs as being loose, that's all you can do.

I guess I'm lucky that there are rarely loose dogs on my street - aside from the lab dragging his leash a couple days ago and other escapees. There's also several police officers (yet another one moved in recently) and a highway patrol that live on this street as well. People are probably know they can't get away with it.