Irresponsible Owners

So, today’s brainless individual.

She was walking along the pavement in the same direction that I was driving, phone clamped to one ear, other hand on the buggy and also holding one of those wretched flexy leads with some tiny dog on the end. Not paying any attention to what is going on around her as she is walking beside a bus stop in a lay-by.

As I go to pull into this bus stop to drop off, l see the dog dart off the pavement into the road abut to go under my bus.

I can’t just stand on the brake or I will have kids in a pile up on the floor of the bus because they are standing up ready to alight.

Mirror check, and pull up in the road, as I hit the horn.

She drops the phone, which was my fault.

Words fail me.
 
I rarely gripe. Have little need to really. Live and let live and all that, and I’m pretty relaxed about meeting other dogs as I really don’t see it as a big deal.

But twice this weekend We’ve had an issue with bleddy Collies. One yesterday who decided to take a swipe at Daisy (after spending a very pleasant five minute chat with the owners ??‍♀️ And then today. Dog turning itself inside out at mine prior to entering the woods. ‘Which way are you going?’ I asked, so that I can avoid you. ‘Oh it’s fine when it’s off the lead’ was the response. Bloody thing made a full on attempt at mine when we unfortunately bumped in to them later. It got a swift boot in the ribs for its effort, as its owner casually sauntered on.

My gob is always ready for action - shocked or not- so a mouthful was given!
 
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So todays arse of the week award goes to the lovely family with the hysterically boisterous golden retrevier who thought it was perfectly acceptable to let it run up to my elderly and increasingly frail on-lead dog and bounce around her barking and trying to jump on her despite being told to go away in no uncertain terms. After some pretty ineffectual attempts at recall while I was shouting 'go away' (or words to that effect) while trying to restrain my poor old girl from giving it what for without hurting her I had to shout 'call your dog' where upon they produced a whistle and peeped it a few times and the dog thankfully returned. I shouted 'my dog is old and frail and I don't want her knocked over' to which the reply was 'oh - well that's ok' WTAF! I wasn't apologising - I was pointing out your lack of reponsibility and consideration for other dog owners you absolute muppit. Can't believe they just stood and watched the shit-show from 80m away without feeling they should take any kind of action. Next time I won't be so polite and will point out their flaws in no uncertain terms even if I have to hunt them down.
 
I don't know if this counts as irresponsible (we were in our own garden) but somehow it feels irresponsible. I let Ivy out for her late night wee and followed her out just in time to spot a cat sitting on the fence. Ivy spotted it at the same time and ran at the fence, scrambled up a raised bed wall, then tried to get on the roof of the log store. All I could do was shout OHs name repeatedly while trying to get a hold of her. I think the cat got away unharmed but Ivy has a skin graze - not actively bleeding but will need to keep a close eye.

I wish I had gone out first, we always step out the front door first but got into our routine of letting her potter out to the back garden for a wee while we follow on behind. It just caught me off guard and shook me up. It happened so fast I'm really not sure if she stopped because the cat initially stood it's ground and she thought twice or because I stopped her.

She's never off lead outside of the secure field but she's not 'getting over' cats in the same way as squirrels or rabbits (we can pass them on lead with no issues now, cats are special as she's still finding them very exciting). I think we need to seriously think about using a muzzle for a while after tonight's incident.
 
You weren't being irresponsible at all, SPD. Cats venture onto other people's property at their own risk. Many dogs will chase an unknown cat out of their own garden, even if they live amicably with a cat.

Current JRT does just that, despite now living with a cat. The garden is dog proof, and there are various trees etc that a feline can shimmy up to escape, but the dog can't. It's up to the cat whether to brave crossing the garden or not.

Cat owners have to decide whether let their pets roam, or to keep them in.
 
We had to put chicken wire above all the fences in my mum's garden to stop her little dog scaling them after cats. She would go over a 5' fence by running at getting as high as she could and scrambling over the rest. Garden looked like Fort Knox when we had done it but at least she couldn't get out. It was up to the cats to keep out of her way, we didn't try to stop her chasing them, her garden after all. In later life this dog palled up with one of my cats and they used to chase each other up and down the hall.
In your shoes I would just make sure Ivy can't get out and the cats can take their chance.
 
Errin Paddywack said:
We had to put chicken wire above all the fences in my mum's garden to stop her little dog scaling them after cats. She would go over a 5' fence by running at getting as high as she could and scrambling over the rest. Garden looked like Fort Knox when we had done it but at least she couldn't get out. It was up to the cats to keep out of her way, we didn't try to stop her chasing them, her garden after all. In later life this dog palled up with one of my cats and they used to chase each other up and down the hall.
In your shoes I would just make sure Ivy can't get out and the cats can take their chance.
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This completely.
 
I think a lot of different things are true here.

Outdoor cats will often roam into gardens. It is a cat owner’s choice whether to let their cat roam or not. Some cats don’t tolerate indoor living, and vice versa. Some dogs will chase cats in their own gardens.

I believe all of the above are true, however I still couldn’t use any of those statements to logic away how wretched and guilty I would feel if a dog of mine killed a cat - even if it was ‘on my property’ - for the sake of me not having a quick check first.

You can go back and forth on who would be right and who would be wrong, but for me, if I knew I had a high drive dog who would kill a cat, I’d do everything I could to make sure that didn’t happen.
 
I would be really distressed if she got hold of a cat, it was a reminder just to do a quick check when we go out there. Chasing is one thing but with her speed, catching up is a very real possibility - I don't know if she would go for the kill but I certainly do not want to leave it to find out. We never see cats up this end of the garden, on the rare occasion we see one they are right down the far end which is fenced off to her. My copy of the Total Recall book is due to arrive today ? We didn't think about the climbing potential of the raised bed and log store, tbh she wasn't haven't great success scrambling up there but her height got her close to the top. We rent so there's not much we can do but will be checking more carefully before she goes out and supervising even more closely while she's outside.

Her graze looks okay this morning, no bleeding and doesn't seem to be bothering her but will keep an eye and keep it clean.
 
I think this takes the biscuit for irresponsible dog owners!

On Thursday we took our own 2 Labs and the 10 month old that we look after while her owner is at work to a local park. One of ours was still recovering from her spay and was still wearing her vest, so only allowed on-lead exercise and we had been taking them out and about to provide mental stimulation, instead of off-lead walking.
The park has a dog-friendly cafe, where you can sit in a conservatory or at outside tables. We opted for inside and made for the disabled-friendly door. Unfortunately the outside table near to the door was inhabited by 2 women with 2 pug-type dogs, which were at the walkway end of their table. The pugs started barking, snapping and snarling as we approached, looking for the push device on the wall to open the door. Women laughed 'shut up' but did nothing to remove them out of our path..
We settled ours at a table with sister and while I went to order, I heard the pugs barking and snapping again.
Later that day the pup's owner told us about a fb post where the owner of 2 pugs was boasting and laughing that her dogs had 'got an Asbo' at the cafe. We assume that means that they are banned even from the outside tables.

What I really don't understand is why the 2 pugs hadn't been sat at the opposite end of the table, out of the way of passersby. Goodness knows how a wheelchair user or someone with an assistance dog would have managed in that situation.
 
Turns out, nothing to worry about, I should just let Ivy get on with chasing stuff because that's what she wants to do and it will meet her needs so she magically won't want to do it anymore. Now I get the concept of giving appropriate outlets for dogs' various drives/jobs, but this was said in context of a social media 'dog trainer' whose philosophy seems to be just don't train your dog because it's mean to not let them be dogs. And was accompanied by a video of his sighthound chasing deer, with the caption 'how I stopped ny dog running off'... while it ran off. Admittedly it did give up halfway across the field but seems very unfair on the deer!

With 'professionals' like this no wonder there are so many owners who don't know/care about what their dogs are doing.
 
I absolutely love greyhounds but the 'cat issue' is a big downside to them for me - with the usual caveat that I know some of them are fine with cats, but a lot of them are not - mine is a menace for them and as @SaddlePsych'D says they're fast enough to catch them. Leaving him unsupervised in the (secure) back garden is a worry and I generally choose not to do it because I've had cats jump down off the fences while he's been snoozing and had some very close calls. And it's sad, because he loves sunbathing and sleeping outside but despite assurances that it's his garden and would be a cat's fault for coming into 'his territory', I would still be so upset to have to tell a neighbour he'd killed one. Not to mention it probably wouldn't be in one piece when handing it over.
 
'Don't fling that in our direction' I thought on seeing ball launcher in hand of terrier's owner as they approached along the grass track. It was flung but not too far. 'Hmm' I thought, but surely not again as we got closer to passing each other? Ball was flung again, hit the ground near us and then rolled right at us with terrier flying after it, who then got grumpy at Ivy for being too close to the ball (very not Ivy's fault!) Owner apologised but did get a sharp 'yes thank you for that' from me. Like, can your dog not wait 10 seconds longer rather than flinging the ball at other people and their dog?!

On the plus side I was so pleased Ivy wasn't interested in joining the chase and didn't react to being ran and grumbled at.
 
Just out with my girls and we stopped and moved out the way so a rather flustered lady could get through a narrow bit with her lab. Mine were on leads and her lab was. Lady seemed rather flustered as her dog pulled her over towards mine, telling me, “if he starts jumping, I can’t stop him” in an almost accusatory tone, like I shouldn’t be on the path. My dogs were nicely waiting and didn’t react when he shoved his face in theirs and invaded their space, while flustered woman attempted to drag lab away.
I felt like I’d done something wrong for daring to walk the same path!
 
AND another: 64 yo man killed whilst looking after his son's AB in N Wales. Dog has been put down, even though according to daughter in law, "It was only playing"... Apparently the dogs owner bred Abs.

Hmm, my terrier is a bit uncouth and rough when he plays, but I have never been to the practice nurse, let alone died, as a result of injuries from him.
 
Smitty said:
AND another: 64 yo man killed whilst looking after his son's AB in N Wales. Dog has been put down, even though according to daughter in law, "It was only playing"... Apparently the dogs owner bred Abs.

Hmm, my terrier is a bit uncouth and rough when he plays, but I have never been to the practice nurse, let alone died, as a result of injuries from him.
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A bit of a dim question - by AB do you mean an American Bully?
I wish I was shocked.. Saying it was only playing when someone has died is a new level of denial though I have to admit!
 
It was a American Bulldog. It bit him on the leg hard enough for his dil to see the blood through his clothing when she came through from the next room, and she tried to stem the bleeding by applying pressure. He then had a cardiac arrest. It's not clear yet if that was directly caused by the blood loss/injury or not.
 
I think it was a pocket bully. Unless things have changed dramatically, it looks a lot smaller than what I know as an American Bulldog. They used to be big rangy things.

Been bred from at least once.
 
CorvusCorax said:
I think it was a pocket bully. Unless things have changed dramatically, it looks a lot smaller than what I know as an American Bulldog. They used to be big rangy things.

Been bred from at least once.
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One of these things? Less than knee height but I'd still think they could put a sizeable dent in a leg!
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Whereas this is an American Bully as I would recognise one:

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An elderly couple, their daughter and a Yorks terrier-type dog came to the next table. At no point did any of them tell the dog to sit and it was wandering about, round their chairs/under the table. Until, it sat on one of the chairs. I'm not sure whether it jumped up or was picked up but I certainly heard the elderly woman say "That's better, you can see all around now".
 
I don't know if 'Bullies' and 'American Bulldogs' are the same thing or maybe they are sized differently.
A guy who was trying to introduce American Bulldogs to the UK/IRL stayed with us for a while, his female was large and white and looked like a massive boxer with a slightly longer snout/a Pit Bull on stilts. With a tail. Definitely taller than my own dogs and the one in the pic. Like I say, maybe things have changed, it was about 20 years ago.
 
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I think, although I’m no expert on ‘killing dogs’ that an AB is as you describe, CC. Like the photo above.
An XL bully is a mutant looking thing, basically a giant version of a pocket bullie.
 
Actually what am I talking about I **do** know people who own/bred American Bulldogs in the UK ?
Looking at pics, they would be bigger/longer legged and more athletic than the pixtures of Cookie in the press, have full tails and ears etc but I suppose it's hard to tell from pictures.
I guess I am just confused by all the variants of 'bull' breeds/types.
 
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