National dog day was a complete fail for us

[beliefbite]

Seriously, how ignorant and selfish do people have to be?! Lets take a test!

You see a reactive dog pulling towards you and barking and the owner is crossing the street away from you and pulling the dog away while trying to calm her down, do you:
A. Stay across the street until the dog passes?
B. Walk directly towards the dog having a meltdown?

If you picked B. stay home.

I know Luna is reactive on a leash. Believe me it’s exhausting. I would love to do all the cool things like hikes and walks at normal times. Instead, being a responsible owner I walk Luna at 430 AM and at 7 PM and purposely cross the street anytime there is anything with more than one leg or less than 4 wheels.

We need to educate people. It was exhausting.

A family of 5 and their small dog were walking across the street. I know how Luna is and I immediately started walking the other way. Usually I can re direct her before she catches sight of the other dog but not today. She started going nuts. So I grabbed her collar and got between her and was trying to get her to sit. And what does this absolutely lovely family do? They decided that when Luna was having a complete meltdown they should B line straight to her. I don’t understand. It absolutely ruined our night walk. She was way too excited and we had to go directly home.

At least we have this community to turn to!

 

[gjridley]

@beliefbite I get this so much!

In one of my weakest, most frustrated moments - when I had been dodging, weaving and CLEARLY avoiding this MF for about a mile - I finally looked back and shouted, “can you give me some fucking space!?”

It was not a single road/route situation. This asshole was just was blindly letting his dog follow mine and was oblivious to my clear (looking over shoulder, speeding up, changing course, etc) attempts to avoid an interaction. Ugh.

 

[david1812]

@gjridley I did this yesterday, just turned around and screamed at a man as he was just bringing his dog along and walking it behind mine, as my dog was losing her mind and I was clearly trying to redirect her and get outta dodge.

 

[mawmaw5]

@gjridley That happened at my apartment complex and I was SO MAD! I was clearly turning around, doubling back, weaving between buildings,and this lady decides its best for her and her dog to follow me and my screaming dog. At one point she was only 2 feet behind us after I had just started walking in the opposite direction of her! There’s also some awesome dog owners at my complex though. Just this morning I took my dog and out and went to turn right, our usual morning potty route, but I saw a dog coming. We went left instead and the guy stopped and waited for a minute so there was enough distance between us that my dog wouldn’t scream. I definitely appreciated it!

 

[fray404]

@gjridley Oh man, that reminds me of a walk a few weeks ago. A couple with a well-behaved dog snuck up on us by appearing over the crest of a hill while my reactive dog was finishing pooping. My dog WAS being really, really good.

I called out to them to hang on for a sec so I could get some distance but they kept coming.

I waved my arms and called out more loudly for them to hold up for a sec, nothing.

I put my hand out in the "stop sign" way and YELLED for them to please stop for a sec. Still lurching towards us rapidly kind of like zombies.

My dog finally lost it and I had to drag her off the side of a very steep hill to get any distance. I called out to them as they passed by from above that she needed some space, and the woman just kind of blankly stared at me and said "ok" and kept walking.

So aggravating!

 

[gjridley]

@fray404 Ha! Zombies indeed.

Some people are just so clueless.

 

[kands77]

@beliefbite Ugh my dog my was being super good so I ran inside for a second and of course some dude was walking his dog by our fence right at that exact moment. I just heard dogs barking and him yelling “beat it!” Rapidly over and over again. I get onto the deck and see him kicking the fence and yelling at my dog to beat it while his dog is also freaking out at mine.

It was a total mess, and he stopped making any sounds and booked it once he saw me. Maybe I shouldn’t have left him alone in the yard, and maybe my expectations for people are too high—but how does it make sense to kick my fence and yell at my dog for barking???

 

[mauricio512]

@kands77 What the fuck. We literally just redid our fence (used to be chain link and we switched to a privacy fence) because people were harassing our dogs. Shaking the fence, teasing, yelling. It didn’t help that my two puppies were really young. So now they hate fence people.

 

[tinkerbells]

@mauricio512 People are asshole but fence people are the absolute worst

 

[amichan]

@tinkerbells Omg, THIS. Why do people feel the need to antagonize other people's dogs through their fence? I never had a problem when it was just my Mini Aussie and my Chinese Crested. Then I got my beautiful Doberman and suddenly all the assholes came out of the woodwork. It is a daily occurrence to have people (usually children!) scream at my Dobie, or RUN ALONG THE FENCE and have her chase them along it. All the while she is barking her head off and jumping at the fence. I have beware of dog signs. She's a big dog. Why would anyone do this? This one kid in particular I even caught recording my dog's reaction to his bullshit on his cellphone. I yelled at him to stop that time, but he still comes back and pulls the other crap everyday when he is walking home from school.

 

[kands77]

@mauricio512 I wish we could change our fence, but we’re on a corner and city ordinances suck . People suck, I don’t get why they think stuff like that is okay to do.

 

[rohan]

@kands77 Seriously, what is wrong with people. I would like to say I would go off on him and told him he should beat it away from my fucking fence, but honestly, I would probably be too shocked someone can even behave like that and the moment would pass.

 

[kands77]

@rohan Yeah I was flabbergasted that he did that. Afterwards I was super pissed, but in that moment I didn’t even have words.

 

[enterkin]

@beliefbite And then the owner goes “he’s fine, don’t worry, he’s harmless,” gesturing expansively at their own dog, who looks pretty worried about my ugly, pulling mess on a short leash as they wander straight toward us.

I gesture at my dog and shout “this ones not fine!” - watch them get their dog in line...

 

[abstractsbybrian]

@enterkin I do that and most of the time it works. Last week someone completely ignored that, came really close with their two unleashed dogs and started off with “you're doing it all wrong...!“ when i told him “i didn't ask for your opinion“ he was really offended and marched off, screaming “people like you will never actually have a dog“. Like fuck off....

 

[italianstallion]

@beliefbite I know. I can only assume that people have no idea what a reactive dog is, and they think they can 'come and help'.

 

[trowe]

@beliefbite Oh man, it's like an instant rage when I'm trying to avoid another dog and the owner is all smiles and trying to follow me like "Aw she wants to play! Mines super friendly!" And then act like I'm the asshole when I say to fuck off because mine CLEARLY isn't.

 

[beliefbite]

@trowe Seriously! My dog is literally trying to eat yours. Clearly she’s not friendly.

 

[imagebeastmarkbeast]

@trowe My pup kinda has the opposite, her trying to initiate play looks like she is about to start a fight. She is tiny but loves to play with big dogs so she plays very rough to keep up with them.

 

[calwalnut]

@beliefbite I have a smallish (~40 pounds) ACD, which apparently means that anyone, with or without knowledge of dog etiquette, is welcome to just walk up and pet her. I used to feel bad telling them not to, but nowadays, I don’t feel bad at all. I would rather look like an asshole than have her taken away (or worse) if something were to happen to a kid that thinks, or whose parents think, it’s perfectly fine to run right up to a stranger’s dog.