How often do you confront dog owners of unleashed dogs?

[pauls1015]

For me its about 30% of the time lately. Even called animal control recently for a dog who's owners left him out in the cold for about 3 hours. But I still feel like maybe I should be doing more, i.e. calling out every person I see who isn't leashing their dogs. I'm usually pretty polite about it despite how angry it makes me, unless my dog is being attacked which has also happened recently. But there's also the reaction of the owner which you've got to account for. I guess I'm always fearing the worst which is that the owner will become hyper-aggressive of their irresponsible behavior and cue their dog to attack me, if not attack me directly themselves.

Is this irrational or coawardly? Should I be calling people out more?

How about you guys? How do you handle unleashed dog owners?

 

[juliuscaesar]

@pauls1015 I’m unfortunately dealing with something similar, unleashed dogs coming into my yard and my dog actually JUST got into a little squabble with a dog that came into our yard. At my job people will let their dogs run around off leash and thankfully the state I work in has a leash law so I just tell people “your dog needs to be on a leash, we have a leash law.”

 

[hubble9458]

@pauls1015 I walk my dog on my own 95% of the time - he’s always on lead because he can’t be trusted around other dogs, mostly just being over friendly. I wouldn’t say anything to anyone walking an unleashed dog unless it was out of control/bothering mine.

 

[timotheous]

@pauls1015 My dog gets attacked about once or twice a year by unleashed dogs. I now carry protection. I find that open carrying while walking my dog sends a very strong message and I don’t even have to say a word. If I did feel I needed to do something more. I would just put my hand on my belt and that is all I’ve ever had to do since I started carrying.

 

[slenderfender]

@timotheous This is creepy

 

[timotheous]

@slenderfender If you think that comment is creepy, you should watch some videos of small dogs, getting torn to shreds by aggressive, big dogs. Right in front of their owners. Happens often. We owe it to our dogs to protect them. Don’t get a small dog and walk it around without protection. It’s not fair to the dog.

 

[ryannate]

@slenderfender No, it's just American lol

 

[pauls1015]

@timotheous My state does not allow open carry otherwise I would definitely consider.

People really don't understand that certain dogs are essentially weapons; they can hurt or kill people and if they are not trained or restrained, considering lethal force as a potential means of self-defense (of you and your dog) is totally justified.

Not to say that I'm gonna shoot someone's fully harnessed Pit or unleashed Chihuahua. But you get the context

 

[timotheous]

@pauls1015 EXACTLY. It’s ludicrous that people walk around with some of these things….and sometimes they’ll even lunge at me or my dog. One small mistake like the leash slipping through someone’s hands and I have to die a gruesome death???? Or watch my dog get torn to shreds? Even if you can’t legally carry, you can find something that’s legal…..

 

[mnmlst]

@pauls1015 If the dog is not causing an issue leave them be. Reporting every dog you see off leash is like reporting every person you see jaywalking.

 

[pauls1015]

@mnmlst

behaving better off leash than a leashed dog then personally I think you can keep your opinions to yourself. If you were to come up to me I would impolitely ignore you and go back to attending to my dog. Because if you see me with my dog off leash in public we are working on something.

Fair point. Too much energy and there's only so much you can do.

 

[lutheranrose]

@pauls1015 If the dog is under control (staying close to owner and listening) and then no harm no foul. If the person is struggling to keep their dog behaving then you can politely inform them that there is a leash law. Look into the state laws as well if in the USA as some states have leash laws. Don't start the conversation accusationally more so of a friendly neighbor not wanting them to have any issues. That opens the doorway to let them know that you've noticed some unleashed dogs have started altercations and you want to keep your pets safe.

I've noticed if you're accusing, people tend to do it more out of spite.
And as for dogs being outside try be aware if there's dog doors or hidden fences. Sometimes there's more to it than we can see. If you call animal control on a situation ask for a welfare check on the animal for the same reasons as above.

 

[pauls1015]

@lutheranrose Fair points thanks for your suggestions

 

[pauls1015]

Yeah I’m mainly talking about big dogs with no recall and running up to me. Not really concerned about a well behaved lab playing fetch with their owner at the dog park

 

[torrako]

@pauls1015 If my dog is at my side, behaving better off leash than a leashed dog then personally I think you can keep your opinions to yourself. If you were to come up to me I would impolitely ignore you and go back to attending to my dog. Because if you see me with my dog off leash in public we are working on something.

Don’t always assume you are right and someone else is wrong. If there is a danger, report it. If there is not then leave the person be. You don’t know the situation and you do not need to insert yourself in the situation.

 

[pauls1015]

@torrako

Because if you see me with my dog off leash in public we are working on something.

Don’t always assume you are right and someone else is wrong. If there is a danger, report it. If there is not then leave the person be. You don’t know the situation and you do not need to insert yourself in the situation.

I should have given more context, sorry about that. There are leash laws in my town that specifically state that all dogs must be leashed, except for designated areas. Additionally my apartment complex explicitly states in the lease that dogs must be leashed. The instances that I am describing have always been in non-designated areas, and thus I have always been in the right to tell them to leash their dog.

I'm guessing you've also been somewhere where your dog is allowed to be off leash when you were approached, sounds like during recall training as well.

My question is about dog owners who have unleashed dogs in public areas that they are not allowed to have them legally and/ or based on private property owner policies, glad I could clarify that.

 

[torrako]

@pauls1015 Actually no, I have had base security confront me. I laughed, they laughed.

Are you a resident or the apartment manager? If you are a resident then you have no authority to confront the other residents, report them to the management if you feel it necessary. If you are a member of the management team then take appropriate action.

 

[pauls1015]

@torrako Got it. Base life is pretty different from civilian life so makes sense they'd handle it differently on site, especially if it's a work dog. Don't really see how having a dog off leash in that situation would present a problem.

I am a resident, and I don't need authority to confront anyone about city laws or building policies. Confronting them is my courtesy to them to not report them. I've reported plenty of owners who've had their dogs off leash and there've been plenty instances where both management and AC had to follow up with the offending resident. It's tiring but it keeps the community safer.

Again, to clarify, I'm asking for advice about how to confront them effectively so that my courtesy will work and they don't have to be penalized legally or by the building.

There will always be entitled assholes who think they're exempt from the law because they and their dogs are special and somehow they're the main character of their own little movies.

I'm asking for advice on talking to them so I can give them the benefit of the doubt and so that I don't have to report; rather be direct and upfront than have to report every time. But if you're saying to just report them outright, guess that works too.

 

[torrako]

@pauls1015 It was not a work dog. Base resident life is similar to apartment life, you have no idea.

Again, you have no authority. Good luck overstepping.