a99kitten's Musings

Started my hike with Shadow today on the paved path. I had him up on the path versus by the river to walk past a section where some birds are nesting. We don’t need anymore carnage. As I was coming around a bend, I saw a woman with her dog on leash yelling at another older woman with an off-leash lab. Shadow and I have met the lady and her lab before and the lab is pretty darn innocuous. But I didn’t see what happened so what do I know.

Then as the woman was approaching us on the path, I see that she is on her cell phone. She is talking but I assume to whoever she was on the phone with. Shadow was walking on my right sniffing stuff but then saw the dog and crossed in front of me to go see the dog. He’s actually really good with other dogs and likes to sniff and say hi to everyone. Then the woman starts yelling “leash your dog please!”, so I grabbed Shadow long before he got up to her dog. Easily 5-6 feet away. As she walked closer her dog starts pulling and growling and she says “Nice. Thank you sooo much for leashing your dog” quite sarcastically. As she walks by us with her dog snarling she says “you need to show some respect.” Umm. Excuse me? When YOUR dog is being the aggressive one?

I say back “this is an off leash area.” She argues that if you see someone with a leashed dog, you should put your dog on leash. I respond “No – this is a popular off leash area and every other dog is off leash as well. And YOUR dog is trying to get mine who is just quietly standing here” She screams back “You need to show me respect and leash your dog!!” Screaming like a fracking nutbag. I shake my head, say “All about peace baby” and walk away. I was *not* spoiling my walk with this freak. She was a glaring example of a modern dirty hippie. Long stringy hair, tie dyed tank top, VERY obvious unshaven arm pits (GAH! Cover that nonsense up), and heavily tatted up arms. All she was missing was a giant neon sign flashing hippie. Although one who clearly didn’t smoke enough pot this morning to take the edge off of her day.

Behind me, I hear her yell at this old woman with her VERY old off-leash dog (Shadow and I had just passed them.) WTH? Who yells at an old lady with an old dog. Also, keep in mind, she never once got off the phone and put it in her pocket. Stupid hag.

I understand having a leashed dog where there are off leash ones can be stressful. It’s hard. I used to keep Angelus and Storm on leash a lot as they were typical huskies. Take off at the drop of a hat to explore. They were only allowed to go off-leash at a fenced dog park or a beach that was very protected. Or in the snowy forest. Angelus was never aggressive but Storm could get into it with some dogs when he was younger so I would always scout out the dogs first. And having a dog on leash, in a leash-only area, and having an off-leash dog come running at you is stressful too. I’ve had that happen plenty of times. It usually ends with ever popular “Oh, my dog has never done that before”.

But bringing your aggressive dog to a very popular dog area where dogs are always off leash is just plain stupid. And irresponsible. Happened a couple times last week. First a golden retriever attacked Shadow, who just sniffed him (Goldens are not the dream dogs people think they are) and the woman asks “Is your dog a male?” Yes I say. “Oh, he is aggressive with males.” If you know that, then why the hell is he walking off-leash you stupid wench?? 2 minutes after the altercation with Shadow, I hear him do it to another dog on the path. Gah.

Then a couple days later a woman with a giant pitbull, who she could barely control, started pulling and barking at Shadow and 2 black labs he was playing with. It was a Saturday and the place was full of dogs so what the hell was she thinking? I took Shadow down to the river and I could hear her dog barking at several other dogs as she continued her walk on the path. Nice.

It boggles my mind when people think everyone around them should cater to their needs. Sorry. Not the way it should work. Unfortunately society has started to go this way more and more and people just expect it.

“All about me – who cares about anyone else.”
“I’m not responsible”

If your dog is aggressive, you need to keep him/her on leash. Period. And if they are aggressive on leash if other dogs approach them, walk them in a leashed area only. Where all dogs are on leash so there are no attempted meet and greets. Because that is what dogs do. But getting agro and yelling at people and expecting them to cater to you and your needs. No.