Sociopathic dog owners (Denver, Westminster, Boulder: apartment complexes, renters, condo)

[APetersen1]

I’ve recently moved to Boulder and am frankly astonished at the entitled attitude of so many dog “guardians.” Whether it’s defecating in common areas or barking all day, there is no attempt made at being good neighbors. Also amazed at the literal fecal minefield on trails around town. It’s often hard to enjoy the scenery when you’re constantly looking down to avoid “stepping in it.” My little nephew was recently knocked to the ground when a large dog aggressively jumped up on him, and the owner just stood back and laughed. We took his picture, and have reported to the police but I doubt they treat this as a priority, given the huge number of entitled jerks we encounter.

How does everyone deal with this nonsense? Does anyone carry bear spray on the trails to deal with unruly animals? I’d love to see a harsh crackdown where every one of these sociopaths is given a ticket and fined for every infraction, no matter how minor. One of my neighbors successfully filed a noise complaint against one of the ignorant barkers at my condo, and he complained at the next board meeting that his dogs were “wonderful” and blamed everyone else for taking it to the police rather than dealing with him. Can imagine how well that would go when everyone thinks their dog is the second coming of Christ and can do no harm. We are renters and now looking to move to Broomfield. We know we'll still be dealing with the "I'm special so eff you" crowd but it seems like the selfish behaviors are less extreme there.

[hikernut]

It's not just dog owners. There are thoughtless and entitled people on highways, sidewalks, parks, trails, etc.

A few years ago I visited an area (outside Ft Collins) where I used to boulder. It was pretty sad to see the graffiti on the rock, and broken glass bottles everywhere.

[mic111]

I think you will be happier in Broomfield. The areas we use are pretty much picked up of poop. Of course there are always a few who try to leave it but myself and presumably others will call them on it when we see it by offering them a poop bag. It only takes one person allowing their dog to poop every day to ruin your preferred path because after a month you now have 30 piles of poop on the path. I think people confronting them scares them off from walking their dogs or from not picking up the poop.

We stopped walking/hiking in Boulder due to the people on bikes who will run you down and the off leash dogs that will attack ours while the owner claims 'poopsy' has never done anything like that before.

There are less off leash dogs in Broomfield, Thornton and Westminster because people like myself will call out and ask the offenders to leash their dogs. It is illegal to have them off leash here. And if enough people do it the offenders then start to leash their dogs or they stop walking them.

On occasion animal control has to be called in for repeat offenders but the system eventually works and we don't get bothered by people who leave poop or let their dogs run wild.

The worst thing we encounter is runners (presumably from Boulder or big East coast cities) who feel it is a sin to slow down or go around others on the trail and try to run over our dogs if they don't get out of the way fast enough. Usually these people look like they are in serious pain so they are punishing themselves for being miserable human beings by running. But mostly we encounter friendly people.

Once we took a dog training class for aggressive dogs in Boulder. The people who lived in Boulder actually would drive outside the city to other cities with leash laws to walk their dogs. It is impossible to walk a leashed dog in Boulder with all the untrained dogs there unless your dog is really laid back and doesn't mind other dogs running up and jumping on him/her.

So if you do move to Broomfield I encourage you to confront people on your preferred walking routes by offering them poop bags or requesting they leash their dogs. The more people proactively address the situation the better for everyone trying to use the trails. I also know where all the local off leash dog parks are and if I see a repeat off leash offender I helpfully tell them where they are. I'm sure they hate me but I don't care. I eventually get the desired result and can walk in peace. I have found that it is best to address the problem the first time I see it rather than to suffer in silence while their dogs run wild and they leave their poop everywhere. The off leash walkers are the worst when it comes to poop pick up. They always try to pretend they didn't see it so by addressing one problem it helps solve the other.

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by APetersen1

I’ve recently moved to Boulder and am frankly astonished at the entitled attitude of so many dog “guardians.” ... I’d love to see a harsh crackdown where every one of these sociopaths is given a ticket and fined for every infraction, no matter how minor. .... Can imagine how well that would go when everyone thinks their dog is the second coming of Christ and can do no harm. We are renters and now looking to move to Broomfield. We know we'll still be dealing with the "I'm special so eff you" crowd but it seems like the selfish behaviors are less extreme there.

oh my!

As a landlord... (I feel the same way) I had to displace 3 senior tenants who I had enjoyed and kept rent LOW for 10 yrs, all due to an 'entitled and permitted' Companion Pet 'Barking (24x7) permitted animal (Pet policies cannot be enforced)

These "companions" usually cost me thousands of dollars in new subflooring and carpets / paint / duct cleaning...

Got a good case of fleas (a few times this yr) from all the 'lap dogs' allowed (?) on planes.

Got a pet? be considerate.
BUY a home
and
charter your own airplanes. (or ship the pet in baggage)

go to the park? take a SCOOP shovel!

[NorthDenverGirl]

Sounds like Broomfield may be a better. fit. I live in Thornton and as mentioned above we see a lot fewer dogs off leash. Boulder also have that special certification dogs can get so they can be off leash so there are a lot more off-leash pets running around on trails and certain areas.

There are some lovely parks and trails out Broomfield way, not the same as Boulder but you are so close you can take a quick drive to hit any of those Boulder trails and in the meantime you can enjoy friendlier neighborhoods

[sunsprit]

Nothing new about this situation.

Lived in Boulder in the mid-1960's and these "dog problems" and rude bicyclists were an issue then.

CU Boulder had so many loose dogs on campus that they issued "new" regulations requiring all dogs to be leashed. This was a new attitude at the time, although in my observation ... rarely enforced. The concept of cleaning up after your dog was years away and nobody did that.

Was on the CU campus at the time of the "landmark" case when a bicyclist ran a 4-way stop sign at some speed and T-boned a car that had legally stopped and then entered the intersection. The rider sustained injuries and sued the car driver. The car driver countersued for his damages and to everybody's amazement (it made news in the Denver press, too) was upheld. The bicyclist was held liable for the damages and responsible for his own injuries and losses. Up until that case, it was assumed that any bike/car incident was the fault of the car driver even though bicyclists were supposed to follow traffic laws re stop signs, speed zones, and lane assignments. It wasn't unusual even then for groups of bicycle riders to obstruct traffic through town on some major streets ... or to be moving faster than posted speed limits through areas of pedestrian traffic mix.

[pikabike]

Ohhhh, yes, Boulder is well-known for having lots and lots of inconsiderate, entitled dog owners...OOPS shoulda said "guardians" instead of owners...

Many of the dirtbag Won'tPickUpTheirPoop owners are drifter/bum/parasitic "urban travelers" (Denver Mayor's term for these human dregs). You know--the ones who call the dog their Emotional Support Companion or something like that. Keep that in mind. And these bums are in many other cities and states, too. They just get heavily concentrated in a place like Boulder.

Others will try to convince you "It's natural." But dog feces take a long time to break down, and in the meantime they STINK, attract flies and other disease vectors, and are just plain disgusting. If these same owners had that mess where they lived, there would a lot more cleaning up happening! NIMBY to the max.

Boulder is also where a woman's pitbull killed another dog in a public park, then tried to attack another two dogs, and mauled a woman who tried to protect either someone else or their dog. The dog went after the POLICE DOG when a cop arrived. So far, this scenario is not terribly unusual. What sums it up, though, is the owner's rationalization for the dog's attacks: "He had a bad puppyhood."

Wow. I hope that woman is sterile. Hate to think what her kids would turn out like.

Boulder parks got so inundated by dog poop that someone GPSed all poop he found while walking their trails. The results were dumbfounding. But then again, at least one beautiful Jefferson County park also was so filled with dog poop that the park was closed.

And if you think Boulder and/or Denver area is bad for entitled doggists, stay far away from the Puget Sound area of WA!

[Mike from back east]

Correct me if I'm wrong (it's a bit of a sport on forums everywhere, eh) but wasn't Boulder the place where the authorities did DNA checks of offending dog droppings to trace it back to who owned the dog?

Failure to pickup after your pet is one of my wife's biggest gripes with pet owners and a reason we won't have a pet. My mom didn't raise me to walk around and pickup excrement behind livestock, er, I mean pets. If it has fur, fins or feathers it belongs in the wild or a barn.

All that being said, I love to see a well kept and well trained dog, especially service dogs leading a blind person, that's awesome stuff.

[brown_dog_us]

Originally Posted by Mike from back east

Correct me if I'm wrong (it's a bit of a sport on forums everywhere, eh) but wasn't Boulder the place where the authorities did DNA checks of offending dog droppings to trace it back to who owned the dog?

It was suggested at a city council meeting but never followed up on. Poop testing is done at apartment complexes, so the tech and companies to do the tests exist. The problem is how do you collect a dna sample from every dog that enter the city of Boulder? I know, some of you are thinking "how do you pay for testing every dog's poop?". Trust me, we know how to collect fees.

[CosmicWizard]

Over here in Grand Junction, the poop piles extend to the sidewalks as well as the trails. Not merely along the sidewalk, but right on the sidewalk too. Boulder has no monopoly on *sshol*s!