Do you let your dog off leash ever?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I never do! But I regularly see people doing this, which makes it so difficult when I’m walking my dog. Their dog inevitably comes after mine.

People get so testy if you ask “is that your dog?”

Kick it. If it's close enough to your foot, kick it. That's WAY too close.

Why would you kick another dog? I walk my dog on a leash but frankly I wouldn’t keep a dog who I couldn’t trust to not be aggressive and bite if another dog came up to him. I live in a dense community and if your dog is that sensitive and prone to attack, you probably shouldn’t have it at all.

You believe that I should only have a flawless dog, just in case some ahole owner willfully and deliberately flaunts the law and allows their dog off leash, and you're mad at the idea that I might kick an unleashed dog who got too close?

I didn't even say I was with my dog. If your unleashed dog comes running up to just me, I will kick it. If you don't want your dog getting kicked, leash it and keep it away.

Y'all are entirely too fscking trusting.

Isn’t this a thread about dog owners?

I don’t think people need to have flawless dogs. All dogs make mistakes. But I do think people shouldn’t have dogs that will likely do serious damage when they make a mistake. See the distinction?

So people should only own chihuahuas, and only if they don't have small children?

Where did the post say this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We go to a dog run and the socialization is so important for our dog. The angry people on here ranting about long leashes etc likely have aggressive breed dogs, and refuse to acknowledge it.

Trainer again. “Socialization” is such a ruined term. Dogs need acclimation. They need to calmly observe and experience the world going by without negative consequences. Dogs need to lie down and do nothing while the world goes by, garbage trucks rattle, other dogs pass, babies cry, strollers stroll, etc. They do not need to play with other strange dogs.

Curated friends are a good thing! One or two known dogs with similar play styles, behaviors, mannerisms. But not a dog park. The staring border collie is rude to the body slamming retriever who is offensive to the spaniel who is scary to the tiny terrier. The person who brings their fearful dog to try to “help” is going to create an explosion of fear aggression when other dogs approach. If there is an experienced person there reading body language and stepping in and redirecting it can work with a few dogs, but 5-10-20 at a dog park is a disaster waiting to happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I never do! But I regularly see people doing this, which makes it so difficult when I’m walking my dog. Their dog inevitably comes after mine.

People get so testy if you ask “is that your dog?”

Kick it. If it's close enough to your foot, kick it. That's WAY too close.

Why would you kick another dog? I walk my dog on a leash but frankly I wouldn’t keep a dog who I couldn’t trust to not be aggressive and bite if another dog came up to him. I live in a dense community and if your dog is that sensitive and prone to attack, you probably shouldn’t have it at all.

You believe that I should only have a flawless dog, just in case some ahole owner willfully and deliberately flaunts the law and allows their dog off leash, and you're mad at the idea that I might kick an unleashed dog who got too close?

I didn't even say I was with my dog. If your unleashed dog comes running up to just me, I will kick it. If you don't want your dog getting kicked, leash it and keep it away.

Y'all are entirely too fscking trusting.

Do you kick babies and children too?

No, I kidnap them for my ritual sacrifices. Do you let your babies and children loose in the park to maul strangers? If so, please let me know which park(s).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no such thing as an "informal dog run". There may be a group of dog owners regularly breaking the law. That doesn't make it legal. The park is not your personal or collective doggy socialization zone. They do have dog parks for this, if you're interested. That's the appropriate location (or your backyard, but something tells me you'll see the liability issue there, in which case, just apply it to the potential disaster you're creating in a public park and you can answer your own question).

Yes, you should immediately begin following the laws that say you must not only have your dog leashed, but under your control. Do not let your dog approach, sniff, or bark at people without their consent. It's not "being friendly" or "socializing", it's illegal. If you use a retractable leash, STOP. They break, they're dangerous, and they don't allow for sufficient control of your animal.

While you're at it, put your phone away, and make sure your dog's license is visible and their shots are up to date (just in case).

The BS logic of "my dog would never hurt a flea" makes you sound like an idiot, BTW. You know this. I don't. My dog definitely doesn't. And, most importantly, it's not the responsibility of every other person at the public park to learn and know this about you/your dog. It's your job, as a responsible owner, to keep your dog fully under your control at all times.

You've been lucky up until now. Don't push it. You know better, so do better, and tell "all your neighbors" so they can suck less, too.

Have you ever met a golden retriever who bites? I have not. I do know Pitt bulls who have maimed and killed other animals, and various other breeds who have attacked but not with the same lethality as pitts.

Leash laws aren't just for biting. I also don't want your friendly, non-biting golden retriever running up to my 4 year old who is afraid of dogs and scaring the ever living daylight out of her. Which happened once at the "informal dog run" in our neighborhood. The dog was perfectly friendly so I was thankfully not worried about the dog mauling my kid, but it also was obviously untrained with zero recall, as when the owner sauntered up a moment later, the dog fully ignored its owner for several minutes while eating all my kid's goldfish and licking both of us on the hands and face. Were we hurt? No. Was it a totally unwelcome and inappropriate interaction? Yes.

Leash your dog.

Serious question. Why are you on this sub if you dislike animals so much? Do you have a pet goldfish?

I love animals-- I have a dog and a cat.

I don't like being licked by a total strangers dig and I ESPECIALLY don't like my kid being licked by a strangers dog.

I don't let my dog lick other people and she's not allowed to pick our faces because it's unsanitary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We go to a dog run and the socialization is so important for our dog. The angry people on here ranting about long leashes etc likely have aggressive breed dogs, and refuse to acknowledge it.

Trainer again. “Socialization” is such a ruined term. Dogs need acclimation. They need to calmly observe and experience the world going by without negative consequences. Dogs need to lie down and do nothing while the world goes by, garbage trucks rattle, other dogs pass, babies cry, strollers stroll, etc. They do not need to play with other strange dogs.

Curated friends are a good thing! One or two known dogs with similar play styles, behaviors, mannerisms. But not a dog park. The staring border collie is rude to the body slamming retriever who is offensive to the spaniel who is scary to the tiny terrier. The person who brings their fearful dog to try to “help” is going to create an explosion of fear aggression when other dogs approach. If there is an experienced person there reading body language and stepping in and redirecting it can work with a few dogs, but 5-10-20 at a dog park is a disaster waiting to happen.

Exactly. But people get a dog without training, don't hire a trainer, think it will be fine because 'its not a pit bull' and... yeah. Yikes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We go to a dog run and the socialization is so important for our dog. The angry people on here ranting about long leashes etc likely have aggressive breed dogs, and refuse to acknowledge it.

Trainer again. “Socialization” is such a ruined term. Dogs need acclimation. They need to calmly observe and experience the world going by without negative consequences. Dogs need to lie down and do nothing while the world goes by, garbage trucks rattle, other dogs pass, babies cry, strollers stroll, etc. They do not need to play with other strange dogs.

Curated friends are a good thing! One or two known dogs with similar play styles, behaviors, mannerisms. But not a dog park. The staring border collie is rude to the body slamming retriever who is offensive to the spaniel who is scary to the tiny terrier. The person who brings their fearful dog to try to “help” is going to create an explosion of fear aggression when other dogs approach. If there is an experienced person there reading body language and stepping in and redirecting it can work with a few dogs, but 5-10-20 at a dog park is a disaster waiting to happen.

The dogs at our park all get along. They know each other at this point, and look forward to playing together. It’s my dogs favorite part of the day, but obviously if he didn’t like it, I wouldn’t take him. It’s generally not more than 5 dogs at a time. I find it odd you’re so against dog parks for all dogs. Do you run one of those paid socialization groups or something?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Why did this thread turn into a discussion on pitbulls?

OP runs her Golden off-leash. OP wonders whether they should stop due to recent local dog attacks.

Discuss.

OP is the clown who brought "pit bulls" into it, because OP is a troll.

Well, admittedly I mentioned pit bulls too. They are a menace, let’s be honest

You're honestly stupid, so thanks for the announcement. That's what it means when you say unsupported nonsense like this: you're a gullible, ignorant idiot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We go to a dog run and the socialization is so important for our dog. The angry people on here ranting about long leashes etc likely have aggressive breed dogs, and refuse to acknowledge it.

Trainer again. “Socialization” is such a ruined term. Dogs need acclimation. They need to calmly observe and experience the world going by without negative consequences. Dogs need to lie down and do nothing while the world goes by, garbage trucks rattle, other dogs pass, babies cry, strollers stroll, etc. They do not need to play with other strange dogs.

Curated friends are a good thing! One or two known dogs with similar play styles, behaviors, mannerisms. But not a dog park. The staring border collie is rude to the body slamming retriever who is offensive to the spaniel who is scary to the tiny terrier. The person who brings their fearful dog to try to “help” is going to create an explosion of fear aggression when other dogs approach. If there is an experienced person there reading body language and stepping in and redirecting it can work with a few dogs, but 5-10-20 at a dog park is a disaster waiting to happen.

The dogs at our park all get along. They know each other at this point, and look forward to playing together. It’s my dogs favorite part of the day, but obviously if he didn’t like it, I wouldn’t take him. It’s generally not more than 5 dogs at a time. I find it odd you’re so against dog parks for all dogs. Do you run one of those paid socialization groups or something?

Your park? Is it a private dog club or something? Do you reserve a timeslot just for your group somehow?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We go to a dog run and the socialization is so important for our dog. The angry people on here ranting about long leashes etc likely have aggressive breed dogs, and refuse to acknowledge it.

Trainer again. “Socialization” is such a ruined term. Dogs need acclimation. They need to calmly observe and experience the world going by without negative consequences. Dogs need to lie down and do nothing while the world goes by, garbage trucks rattle, other dogs pass, babies cry, strollers stroll, etc. They do not need to play with other strange dogs.

Curated friends are a good thing! One or two known dogs with similar play styles, behaviors, mannerisms. But not a dog park. The staring border collie is rude to the body slamming retriever who is offensive to the spaniel who is scary to the tiny terrier. The person who brings their fearful dog to try to “help” is going to create an explosion of fear aggression when other dogs approach. If there is an experienced person there reading body language and stepping in and redirecting it can work with a few dogs, but 5-10-20 at a dog park is a disaster waiting to happen.

Exactly. But people get a dog without training, don't hire a trainer, think it will be fine because 'its not a pit bull' and... yeah. Yikes.

Who said the dogs aren’t trained? Most people I know have well trained dogs. Not perfect, but thankfully an imperfect moment generally won’t mean my dog loses an eye

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I never do! But I regularly see people doing this, which makes it so difficult when I’m walking my dog. Their dog inevitably comes after mine.

People get so testy if you ask “is that your dog?”

Kick it. If it's close enough to your foot, kick it. That's WAY too close.

Why would you kick another dog? I walk my dog on a leash but frankly I wouldn’t keep a dog who I couldn’t trust to not be aggressive and bite if another dog came up to him. I live in a dense community and if your dog is that sensitive and prone to attack, you probably shouldn’t have it at all.

You believe that I should only have a flawless dog, just in case some ahole owner willfully and deliberately flaunts the law and allows their dog off leash, and you're mad at the idea that I might kick an unleashed dog who got too close?

I didn't even say I was with my dog. If your unleashed dog comes running up to just me, I will kick it. If you don't want your dog getting kicked, leash it and keep it away.

Y'all are entirely too fscking trusting.

Isn’t this a thread about dog owners?

I don’t think people need to have flawless dogs. All dogs make mistakes. But I do think people shouldn’t have dogs that will likely do serious damage when they make a mistake. See the distinction?

So people should only own chihuahuas, and only if they don't have small children?

Where did the post say this?

"people shouldn’t have dogs that will likely do serious damage when they make a mistake"

What dogs would those be? Under what circumstances? The only example I could think of would be an adult with a chihuahua, but never around small children. Literally every other dog could do "serious damage" especially to a child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We go to a dog run and the socialization is so important for our dog. The angry people on here ranting about long leashes etc likely have aggressive breed dogs, and refuse to acknowledge it.

Trainer again. “Socialization” is such a ruined term. Dogs need acclimation. They need to calmly observe and experience the world going by without negative consequences. Dogs need to lie down and do nothing while the world goes by, garbage trucks rattle, other dogs pass, babies cry, strollers stroll, etc. They do not need to play with other strange dogs.

Curated friends are a good thing! One or two known dogs with similar play styles, behaviors, mannerisms. But not a dog park. The staring border collie is rude to the body slamming retriever who is offensive to the spaniel who is scary to the tiny terrier. The person who brings their fearful dog to try to “help” is going to create an explosion of fear aggression when other dogs approach. If there is an experienced person there reading body language and stepping in and redirecting it can work with a few dogs, but 5-10-20 at a dog park is a disaster waiting to happen.

The dogs at our park all get along. They know each other at this point, and look forward to playing together. It’s my dogs favorite part of the day, but obviously if he didn’t like it, I wouldn’t take him. It’s generally not more than 5 dogs at a time. I find it odd you’re so against dog parks for all dogs. Do you run one of those paid socialization groups or something?

Your park? Is it a private dog club or something? Do you reserve a timeslot just for your group somehow?

You don’t refer to your local park in a familiar way? Odd.

We all tend to meet up in the AM around the same time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We go to a dog run and the socialization is so important for our dog. The angry people on here ranting about long leashes etc likely have aggressive breed dogs, and refuse to acknowledge it.

Trainer again. “Socialization” is such a ruined term. Dogs need acclimation. They need to calmly observe and experience the world going by without negative consequences. Dogs need to lie down and do nothing while the world goes by, garbage trucks rattle, other dogs pass, babies cry, strollers stroll, etc. They do not need to play with other strange dogs.

Curated friends are a good thing! One or two known dogs with similar play styles, behaviors, mannerisms. But not a dog park. The staring border collie is rude to the body slamming retriever who is offensive to the spaniel who is scary to the tiny terrier. The person who brings their fearful dog to try to “help” is going to create an explosion of fear aggression when other dogs approach. If there is an experienced person there reading body language and stepping in and redirecting it can work with a few dogs, but 5-10-20 at a dog park is a disaster waiting to happen.

Exactly. But people get a dog without training, don't hire a trainer, think it will be fine because 'its not a pit bull' and... yeah. Yikes.

Who said the dogs aren’t trained? Most people I know have well trained dogs. Not perfect, but thankfully an imperfect moment generally won’t mean my dog loses an eye

Actually that's a hell of a lot more likely than you seem to understand, especially when you and your untrained friends and their kinda-trained dogs are at a dog park-type, off-leash, low-control environment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.thesun.ie/news/13237882/plastic-surgeon-restricted-dogs-ban-attack-psychological-damage/

What a classic example of a breed ban that doesn't solve the problem it's trying to solve. What kind of dog bite doesn't cause psychological damage? How many people don't like dogs because they were bitten as children? Were all those biting dogs "banned breeds"? No.

This is exactly the point. All dogs can bite. If you want fewer bites, you need more responsible owners.

Make an exam requirement to obtain a dog license. Increase the fines for off-leash dogs, etc. and use the funds to pay for more animal control officers. Remove the "two bite rule" and make it "one bite and you're out", encouraging owners to both better train and better contain their animals. Ban retractable leashes and other useless/dangerous equipment.

Those things would solve the problem. Breed bans only attempt to solve the PR problem some breeds have, when all breeds bite and any breed off-leash in public is a liability.

So you would ban dog parks?

No. Contain the stupidity. Some people are going to do this anyway, regardless of the fact that it's a terrible idea, so it's best to give them a specific location to do it.

I would never take my dog to one, but I believe they should exist. Every city that allows dogs should have a "central stupidity area", if for no other reason than to prevent the OP's brand of public space hijacking.

Why do you think dog parks are stupid??

Dog trainer: they’re pretty terrible. The risk of injury/attack/illness is so much higher than the benefits of “socialization”. They are the equivalent of a crowded bar with new people approaching you asking for your number every day. And those people behave weird, and can’t take a hint when you’re tired and want to be left alone. And also all glasses are shared and you lick each other. Hello, viruses.

I have dozens of client dogs whose reactivity and resource guarding and aggression increased due to dog park use. I have yet to have one whose behavior improved because of one.

The worst was a sweet little cavalier who was happy go lucky perfect little dog until another dog grabbed him roughly. He was physically fine, but we worked YEARS to fix the aggression, and never fully did. Just not a risk I want to take.

Dogs need mental and physical exercise, but they don’t need to be in a pack of strange dogs. If you don’t have the resources to meet a dog’s needs without the dog park, maybe reconsider the breed/age/species of pet you should get.

Hello, rational dog lover with good advice! Thank you for your service.

It will of course be ignored by the people who adopted large, energetic dogs while living in small homes with no outdoor space in dense urban neighborhoods. That's who goes to dog parks. They set their lives up so the only way for their dig to run around off leash is at a dog run filled with other dogs, so they try to justify it by claiming their dog lives the socialization, but really that part is for them. What the dog needs is a yard or to live in a place where there are more places to be off leash in open space with fewer dogs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We go to a dog run and the socialization is so important for our dog. The angry people on here ranting about long leashes etc likely have aggressive breed dogs, and refuse to acknowledge it.

Trainer again. “Socialization” is such a ruined term. Dogs need acclimation. They need to calmly observe and experience the world going by without negative consequences. Dogs need to lie down and do nothing while the world goes by, garbage trucks rattle, other dogs pass, babies cry, strollers stroll, etc. They do not need to play with other strange dogs.

Curated friends are a good thing! One or two known dogs with similar play styles, behaviors, mannerisms. But not a dog park. The staring border collie is rude to the body slamming retriever who is offensive to the spaniel who is scary to the tiny terrier. The person who brings their fearful dog to try to “help” is going to create an explosion of fear aggression when other dogs approach. If there is an experienced person there reading body language and stepping in and redirecting it can work with a few dogs, but 5-10-20 at a dog park is a disaster waiting to happen.

The dogs at our park all get along. They know each other at this point, and look forward to playing together. It’s my dogs favorite part of the day, but obviously if he didn’t like it, I wouldn’t take him. It’s generally not more than 5 dogs at a time. I find it odd you’re so against dog parks for all dogs. Do you run one of those paid socialization groups or something?

Your park? Is it a private dog club or something? Do you reserve a timeslot just for your group somehow?

You don’t refer to your local park in a familiar way? Odd.

We all tend to meet up in the AM around the same time.

And there are never any new dogs? Ever? Are you being willfully obtuse or do you honestly not see the risk here?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have an English Yellow Lab and an English Chocolate Lab. Both are 90+ pounds and extremely friendly, but we operate under the model that all other dogs (the exceptions being dogs that we've previously meet and are aware of the temperaments) do not know that our dogs are friendly, and since they're big we know that they can intimidate smaller dogs or people who aren't dog lovers.

Because of this, our dogs are ALWAYS leashed for their safety when we're out in public. They are well trained and have great recall but there are so many poorly trained, aggressive dogs out there, we don't want to take any chances, and we realize that we have responsibilities as dog owners.

The only time they go off leash is when they swim, which we do often since they both love it, but we're always aware of our surroundings and other people or dogs nearby.

We had an interaction with a large GSD a few years ago in the water that made us realize that there's no way to control the actions of other people and other dogs, so the safest thing we can do is control our dogs.

OP, just because you own a Golden Retriever who "wouldn't hurt a fly" doesn't mean that there's no risk associated with letting it go off leash in an informal dog run. Our incident with a moody GSD a few years ago occurred in what sounds like a similar set up. The unleashed GSD approached our dogs when they were swimming in a park pond and started growling and snapping at them. The owner came up to the waters edge and she acted as if this was nothing for us to be concerned about and settled right down on the shore presumably so her GSD could swim with our dogs for awhile. Safe to say we quickly called our labs out of the water and went on our way. Some of these owners are completely clueless. Please don't be one of them, OP.

This post restores my faith that not all dog owners are clueless people who think their dog has the right to roam the planet unleashed.