Pepper spray person I love you. These careless "my dog is harmless" owners can shot it up their ass. Not only does your unleashed dog traumatize kids, but rescue dogs on leashes with horrible pasts can be triggered beyond belief by your unleashed angel. Stop being a selfish ass. Put your dog on a leash or go to a dog park. You are not above the law.

Haven't read all the posts yet, but OP I could have written your post. I love dogs, major dog lover, but this is what I have to say to all those careless owners..

1.) Shut up about how friendly and special your dam dog is. There are leash laws and you are not exempt.

2. ) The nicest dogs have indeed attacked other dogs and people. I have heard far too many stories about "nice" unleashe dogs

3.) I don't give a dam if your dog loves kids. He just pounced and knocked over my kid and my kid is sobbing.

4.) My kids are afraid of dogs thanks to all the unleashed dogs that have jumped on them. The dog will run right by the "all dogs must be on leashes" sign and the owner is usually near the sign chit chatting and oblivious.

5.) Go to a dog park if you want your dog to run free or get a home with a fenced in yard. It is not my problem. I should be able to take my children to the park or go for a walk with my kids without your beast jumping in the stroller and licking my child's mouth. My baby does not want to make-out with your slobbery fur baby.

I am a dog lover and this drives me INSANE especially when people think they are Caesar Milan and their dog is so well trained they can walk th off leash. When my first baby was an infant I was walking with the stroller and my dog (leashed) when my neighbor's 2 dogs were going from their house to the car off leash bolted at us. They attacked my dog and knocked over the stroller in the middle of the road. All because she thinks her dogs can go off leash because she is a dog trainer. Dogs are dogs, even the most well trained dogs can bite. They should be leashed when out in public

Anonymous wrote:These same people must also set off fireworks 3 weeks before the 4th of July, bring their children's siblings uninvited to birthday parties in parks, have illegal basement apartments, say "Let's get together soon." but never actually make plans, and refuse to use washcloths.

A lot of them are people with fancy yappy dogs or yuppies who think the dogs are their kids.

They are not the fireworks type of people. Different crowds.

"Unfortunately, some pets and their owners don't always consider other guests."

This sums it up, plenty of people think their snowflake doggie is speshul and different, and that the leash law is for everyone else

Yes. Please keep your dog leashed in parks and on trails. We frequently hike in Rock Creek Park and EVERY SINGLE TIME someone's unleashed dog comes up and gets in the face of my kid. It's obnoxious and anti-social.

Anonymous wrote:The dogs off the leash threads always are so over the top.

"off the chain" I think is the term you are looking for:

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=off%20the%20chain

Wow, seeing some of these responses is eye opening. Well, I guess rather than try to be nice about mentioning it from now on, I'll just go straight to Animal Control or whoever handles this with the county. It is the law after all, so it doesn't really matter if a dog owner disagrees with it or not. (And for the record, MOST of the dog owners I know and see are perfectly fine and understand that not everyone knows and loves their dog.)

Thanks for making me feel better about going this route!

The dogs off the leash threads always are so over the top.

Anonymous wrote:If you let your dog off leash in a public place, you are a terrible person.

My neighbor's three-year-old was attacked ON THE FACE by a "friendly" unleashed dog that ran up to him in a public park (with signs to leash your dog and everything). The attack was completely unprovoked.

Thankfully the dog was put down and the neighbors sued the owner big time. But it will never fix their son's scars.

Again, if you do this, you are HORRIBLE.

And this is what scares me. Even the friendliest dog can attack a toddler unprovoked. You are putting both small children and other leashed dogs at risk here. There are laws for a reason. So incredibly selfish!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I have no fantasies about hurting any animals. I don't want a dog to put their jaw on my leg again. I'm not going to wait for that to happen next time - if your dog comes right up to me, I will pepper spray it. My safety comes before your dog, always. If you don't care about your dog, if you don't care about others, if you think your laziness and incompetence comes above your own dog or other people, you are a horrible, horrible person.

Well, you know what you narcissistic psycho - it's an assault if you attack my dog unprovoked. And "coming up to you" without more is not a sufficient provocation. So you and your little gaggle of prissy rotten peaches can tut and clutch your pearls all you like about the four pound dog being walked unleashed, but guess who is actually going to get the cops called on them?

No, it's not an assault if I pepper spray your off-leash dog. I have no way of predicting your animal - your legal responsibility is to be in control of your animal at all times. If you're not in control of your animal, good luck trying to explain that to any police officer or animal control officer. Both have explicitly told me that I am well within my rights to pepper spray an unleashed or unrestrained dog if it comes up to me.

Good luck explaining your illegal behavior to the cops - I would love, love to see you try.

NP, I agree- your dog needs to be CONTROLLED by you at all times. If it is out of your control, then passersby have every right to protect themselves. Any court would find that the owner who did not have control of his/her dog (not on the leash) would be at fault. That's the LAW.

In my area, it's not called a leash law but it's the same thing, your dog needs to be leashed or in your control at all times (on your property). If you are walking the dog, then it needs to be on a leash.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DH does this. He thinks it's cute. Drives me nuts. To be fair, the dog weighs 4lbs. and is as old as Methuselah, so not a danger to anyone but himself.

To be fair, and not an idiot..., there is not a weight limit to leash laws. It doesn't drive you nuts if you allow him to keep breaking the law.

Don't care how small the dog is or if your idiot DH thinks its cute. If it bites my child, then I will own you and your DH.

We had a neighbor's dog that ran across the street to my kids (a BIG dog). It didn't bite nor was it aggressive, but now my oldest is afraid of dogs. Now I have a problem because of some a-hole that can't keep its dog on a leash.

Months later, they left for a few days and the dog got out and nearly attacked my DH while he was taking out the trash. We called the city and so did other people on our street. The city took the dog away. I hope it was sent to a home where it was taken care of and not put down. Some people shouldn't have dogs.

Anonymous wrote:A reminder to DC residents. DC has a leash law. Your dog must be leashed. Further more, the leash length limit is four feet. So, these long leash "reels" are unlawful.

HURRAH! A voice of reason. At last.

In Fairfax County (and every other county I know of), there are leash laws.

LLeash laws are optional only in PP's little inconsiderate imaginary world of one. That world is going to get her into serious trouble!

If my dog ran away (which it does every 4-5 months) for a few hours because the fence was hit by a tree or some other act of nature or stupidity (me leaving the door open for a second when a deer is across the street), I would be pissed if it was pepper strayed but I certainly would understand. A big hairy dog coming up to someone could create fear.

I'm not afraid of dogs and would not need to use pepper spray in almost any dog situation, other than maybe a pack of pit bulls attacking me at once.

Anonymous wrote:Is it true that dogs are allowed to run unleashed in state parks? We walk at a state park near our house frequently and all the dogs we see are leashed. (In VA).

No. People were also complaining about leashed dogs smelling them.