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Yes, that is a good assumption to make when you first meet a dog imo.
So who was wrong, the woman who took the aggressive dog to a restaurant or the friendly passer by? What if it was a child who saw the cute little dog - would the child be responsible for getting bitten in the face?
Yes, I do own a dog. And personally I don't allow strangers to approach my dog if I can help it even though I know she would be fine with most people. But it's that one time that something about the situation freaks her out and she lashes out that makes me cautious. It's unreasonable to expect that a dog would be a perfect angel in every situation. Like I said before, you don't know if this dog is always aggressive or if there was something about that situation unbeknownst to all parties involved that freaked the dog out. I would be much more on the side of "What an awful situation!" if we were talking about a dog that was off-leash and uncontrollable. But as you said, the dog was on a leash and the owner pulled it back when it became aggressive.
So who was wrong, the woman who took the aggressive dog to a restaurant or the friendly passer by?
This is the wrong question to be asking. I think the right question is this: Knowing that some dogs are aggressive, and some owners irresponsible, what should a friendly passer by do to minimize the chances of being bitten by a dog?
Hope I'm not derailing the topic but want to tell this story - last year I was in a fairly remote section of Eno River State Park - I was on the trail, but quite far along the trail - had my dog with me, leashed. She's been attacked and is not crazy about other dogs running up to her. Here comes a couple with their two dogs off leash. One was growling like crazy, but stayed back with the couple (fortunately) - the other was a very enthusiastic older puppy who promptly ran up to us and jumped all over my dog. My dog took it well (she wouldn't now - this has happened several more times and she's gotten less tolerant). So earlier in the thread someone noted that they let their dogs off leash in remote areas and don't care. Well, I'd say that had my dog been injured, the other dogs, or any of the humans, it would have been a very long walk back to the cars, and I could not have carried an injured dog all the way back.
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This is the wrong question to be asking. I think the right question is this: Knowing that some dogs are aggressive, and some owners irresponsible, what should a friendly passer by do to minimize the chances of being bitten by a dog?
I agree. I always want to go up to dogs too but you just never know. I might have even done the same thing if the dog looked friendly - this reminds me that it's probably not good to do ...
I was attacked by a dog in downtown Raleigh tonight. There is a lot of outside restaurant seating in the Wilmington St area and it is common to see dogs with owners at tables. We stopped to chat with a woman outside a coffee shop and she had a medium sized dog with her.
One point of your post that hasn't been discussed is the dog's location. Was the dog seated at an outdoor table with it's owner? I thought Raleigh made this against the law. ??? If so, looks like there was 2 reasons to call the police... the lunge and where the dog was.
One point of your post that hasn't been discussed is the dog's location. Was the dog seated at an outdoor table with it's owner? I thought Raleigh made this against the law. ??? If so, looks like there was 2 reasons to call the police... the lunge and where the dog was.
Nope perfectly legal here and up to the restaurant owner's discretion.
I want to say again that I did not just go right up into the dog's space and start petting it. We were talking to the owner at her table. As we started to leave, I was walking past the dog and put my hand out for the dog to sniff. At this point my hand was about 2 feet away from where the dog was laying down on the sidewalk. The dog jumped up and put her nose up to my hand, then tried to bite it. I snapped my hand back, and the dog lunged toward me, jumped up on me and went crazy. I think I approached the dog cautiously and I did not go into its space. Apparently the dog was extremely territorial and aggressive. The point is well taken that I should not approach any dog in the future. I probably won't. However, I do believe that owners have the ultimate responsibility for their dogs, and had I been bitten she would have been responsible. There are also people that may approach dogs, such as children, who might not be so cautious. Owners need to be careful, is all I am saying.
I have to ask, why the heck do people believe dogs should be at restaurants even with outdoor seating? What if cat owners decided Fluffy deserves to get some fresh air while the owners eat lunch? What kind of chaos would ensue? Seriously, dogs at home, parks or nature areas. Not at restaurants, not in stores. I would assume if you take your dog out in public, it can be trusted to not lunge, bite or attack. They are animals, unpredictable, therefore they don't belong in busy public areas.
I would have been ticked off if a dog lunged at me in such a situation and I would have called the police to report an aggressive animal out in public.
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