The sun feels good on an old body
Yep; if you are a member of my Just dogs with Sherri FB or my The Standard Poodle FB then you already know that yesterday I was fuming. As usual it took but a quick trip to the park to inspire a blog. Although yesterdays trip inspiration was not from simply watching others; we were involved. It was a typical Saturday morning; I dropped Luke and my hubby off on the street near the park where they start their trek back to us. I drive Tilley and Jessie to the parking lot of the park and we meandered at an old snail pace until we meet up with the others.
I had just got the girls out of the car and we headed on our way when I noticed a woman getting her dog out of her car. The dog saw us an immediately charged; hair up and menacing growling assault. I immediately yelled at the dog loud enough to stop it. It signaled to me by dropping it's ears and body. I yelled to the woman that my dogs were old and didn't need this in an angry voice. She then proceeded to reassure me that her dog was indeed fine; "no worries" she said. As I looked back the dog made a huge growling, toothy lunge at Tilley knocking her to the ground.
Enjoying the peace of her own backyard
In an instant I jumped to stop any further assault while yelling at the woman. She said she was shocked; I think not. Once I got home I had time to reflect and realized we'd had a run in with this dog before. She asked her dog over and over again "why did you do that?" Hmmmmmmm; yes I'm a fan of talking to your dog but really? This woman let her dog out of her car and remained fishing around in her car while this all happened. She was not paying the smallest amount of attention.
I was fuming; of course I was, here my old 14 year old girl who wouldn't hurt a flea was knocked onto the sidewalk and having a hard time getting herself up. Tilley is a neutral dog; a dog who gives off no threat, just neutral behavior. It is this reason that I have used her over the years to help aggressive and fearful dogs. No dog has ever attacked or gone after her.
The woman who owned this dog immediately jumped to save her hide. She kept saying how beautiful Tilley was; I mean a ridiculous amount of times. I then realized that it was her way of hoping I wasn't going to report her. I checked Tilley over and we went on our way in hopes of erasing this mad situation. I wanted Tilley to forget this; so we moved onto a fun walk.
I'm sure Tilley was hurt; like elderly people, falling down is much more serious when you are old. If this sceanario would have played out with Luke instead of Tilley the end would have been far different. This woman is clearly in denial about her dog and she has no control nor does she desire control obviously. People like this should not have dogs. If you cannot control your dog; never take off the leash. The owner of the dog is solely to blame in this situation which is generally the rule, not always but usually.
Tilley is fine now; no doubt she is sore but she seems okay. I on the other hand am still fuming.
Unbelieveable! I can't imagine why that woman would of remained in her car while she let out her dog. So irresponsible!
ReplyDeleteOh Sherri that's hard to hear. I too have encountered this a few times with a small pup I had, schnauzer/jack russell mix. Once attacked at the lake, the guy had a dog and was letting her run loose, he said ,"Oh she won't bother you" - then the dog proceeded to attack my pup which resulted in a 18 stitches around her neck barely missing her jugular, vet said,"That dog was trying to kill her". Another time there a Rodesian Ridgeback came charging madly and tried to get into the back of my truck to get to my pup. Each time, although they say not to, but it's just instinct, I got between the attacking dog and y pup to stop it. I thank GOD I wasn't injured - but the mind is not in control when these things happen so fast, and you just react.
ReplyDeleteWhen I commented yesterday that my new pup just LOVES everybody and is hard to break of wanting to lunge at them - well it's a whole lot different than what happened to you here. But I also realize it is an unacceptible behavior, and it could possibly be taken wrong or cause injury. I currently am trying a harness that pulls her back around when she tries to take off - I am doing everything in my power to break her of this habit! Hey, any suggestions that would help would be greatly appreciated - so that I do not appear to be an owner like the one you encountered yesterday.
All and all though, I have learned thru the years to be EVER VIGILANT! You just gotta be!
no such thing as a bad dog - just bad owners. This dog has evidently not been socialised and the owner has no control.
ReplyDeleteThat could have been a child and I'm sorry but you should have made a note of her registration and reported her.
Bad behaviour needs zero tolerance otherwise we will all be prevented from owning a dog.
So sorry to hear about what happened, unfortunatly, even though this type of dog owner you incountered is rare, it is the standard that ALL dog owners are judged by. we can't get a dog park approved in our town, and most places are not dog friedly- just because of people who acted like this women. Just a little common sense and percautions on her part and the whole thing would have never happened!! From the way you descibed her, I feel sorry for the dog, It's probally a nervous wreck!! I hate when people complain about what their dogs do, but then don't teach their dogs what to do!
ReplyDeleteWe are friends of Bailey Ponack and saw your comment on Facebook about poor Tilley. That is one reason we have stopped going to the dog parks as much. That has happened to our Yellow Lab Sasha more than once and she is also old and very mellow and neutral. Agree with what Robin said and also in one of the other comments on FB that some people should not have pets Or kids.
ReplyDeleteSure hope Tilley is doing OK. What a scary thing.