Not on my turf

Yesterday I had just got home from the grocery store and was getting stuff out of my Xterra.  I had climbed almost into the back seat to grab something and as I was getting out I was met by a growling, barking, hackles raised, black pit mix.  "Great, just great" I thought to myself.  I put all the stuff that I had in my hands down to assess the situation.  Hmmmmmm, I was pretty sure that this was my driveway I'd pulled into.  I was not an intruder at someone else's house so why had this dog come over to my house to growl at me? This was the same dog who I'd seen taking a dump in my yard from my office window.

This situation was not okay, I was not in training mode; I'd been out shopping and just wanted to come home to see my dogs.  I yelled at the dog "get out of here," which only fueled the barking.  The dog was not confident, it's tail was down through the ordeal.  I looked across the street to see the owner of the dog chatting with one of her neighbors, really?  This dog was barking up a storm, there is no way she couldn't hear it.  Then suddenly a little boy appeared, he was calling the dog and trying to round it up all the while apologizing about the incident.

He somehow managed to round up the dog, it was growling the entire time.  I knew it was growling at me but I'm pretty sure it was growling at his attempt to get it back home as well.  The whole time the woman stood in her driveway, it was like she was deaf yet she was having a conversation.  I was mad, really mad.  Going to someone's house to accost them is unacceptable and very, VERY avoidable.    It is one thing to come after me, but what if I'd been unloading my dogs?

I gathered up my things again and took a step out of my car.  Instantly I heard the barking and growling, what????  It had charged across the street once again and was bound to finish this. Okay so we have a serious problem, the dog is a spooky one; I don't know what started this all but I'm going to finish it.  I will have to talk to the owners about the situation.  It truly boggles my mind when people act this way, negligent.  Especially when they have a dog breed that has got a bad rap.  If you own a dog that is deemed "one of the bad ones," then you have to go above and beyond to make sure that dog does not do anything that my be construed as aggressive.

Most people who have these types of dogs work very hard to show the rest of the world that they are not bad.  I know lots of wonderful, loving and affectionate pit bulls and mixes.  I have also met a few over the years who were not so great and it was through no fault of their own, it was their negligent owners that had caused the situation.

Allowing a dog to wander around in a neighborhood oblivious as to what it is doing is just unacceptable. If this happens again I will call the authorities.    The dog finally left and I took my moment to get out of the car and go into the house.  Looking back I could see that all of the dogs at the house were running around outside, across the street and to all the neighbor houses.  I was fuming mad, and I still am as I write this.  I'm sure that the authorities will be called as I can't see anything changing in the near future.