My big rant about other dog owners

[NYRed]

Originally Posted by DrEarth

Yes, that is just what we need... more irresponsible gun owners on an ego trip.

I would not call defending myself or my dogs from an attack irresponsible...If you choose to be defenseless so be it...I would defend my property...

[latetotheparty]

Originally Posted by TabulaRasa

I don't go to a dog park to socialize my dog, I go to give him off-leash exercise, since he can jump the fence in our yard, but not the one at the dog park. We walk him lots, but I like for him to get to run freely. Our dog park isn't very crowded, and we tend to go at offpeak times to further take advantage of relative-to-complete emptiness.

We socialize him with other dogs we know, and know the owners...the neighbors' Bassets, my brother's lab mix, my colleague's shepherd mix, etc.

ditto for me and bailey and dave......they have a backyard that has room for some running and they get a 1 to 1-1/2 hour walk in the park EVERY morning.... but .... even when i am moving as fast as i can on our walks, neither breaks out of much more than a quick trot..... both need room to run (dave in particular), and the encouragement to do so that comes from playing with other dogs in an offleash area....... they do not go the dogpark "to be socialized" ..... they go there to play unencumbered by leashes......alaskapat .... you are fortunate that you have the space for your dog(s) to roam and run ..... but for most of us living in the lower 48, that is just not an option.... and i, for one, could NOT take the winters you have there..... i am miserable enough here in the midwest.......

[SheridanPDC]

I give Riley a pretty decent walk if it's above 10. Below 10, just a short walk around the block. She's very thick coated though & I don't mind the cold.

[Aptor hours]

Sounds like you both were in the wrong. Both parties had unleased dogs. Both parties were mouthing off to each other. I'm not taking sides

[GypsySoul22]

Today I was walking my dog around the complex grounds (leashed of course) and my neighbor's poor dog comes bounding around the corner, unleashed. She is no where to be found (neighbor). This is a dog who NEVER goes out for more than 5 minutes (I see her let him out and bring him in). He's a lovely collie type dog who is home 8-10 hours alone (the dog 'mom' is a single woman who works).

Fortunately we know this dog by sight and he is about the same size as my dog so she was pretty calm. I told him to go home (the neighbor's dog) and he was very skittish.

If I didn't have my dog I would have taken him back to her and remind her that 1) that unleashed dogs are not allowed on these grounds
2) he could get hit by a car

I would have taken him in...he is such a lovely dog...

The worst thing you can do is keep a dog locked up and NEVER walk him. My parents had dogs like this (we had a big yard w/a fence, though). They are so likely to bolt...which this dog obviously did.

[ymmud123]

The first thing I would do was to invest in some dog repellant and use it the next time an unleasxhed dog came within range.
It does not hurt the animal but definatly changes it's attitude>
If the owner raises any stink about you using dog repellant, inform them that there is a leash law and since they did not deem to obey it, the only recourse that you had to protect you and yours was the repellant.