Aggressive dogs outdoors

Skimo said:
I've kept from posting here because I have a harsh view on human / animal interaction, if you want a guard dog, you need to be responsible for it, if you have a "fur-kid" you need to grow up and control it.

The bottom line to my post is that people are stupid
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Amen.:thumbup:
Of course, seeing how terribly people do with their real kids, I see little hope of them controlling their fur kids.
 
I would argue most, I'm not saying that a goodly amount of people out there don't do a good or great job with their dogs, but from those that I've seen very few are actually in control of their dogs.
 
^ Hear hear!!!!

Everytime i see a dog pulling/dragging it's beleaguered 'owner', i know the dog thinks it's the alpha. Otherwise, it wouldn't be "telling" the 'owner' where it wants to go and the human would be *leading* instead of restraining - a very different situation.
 
^ I will agree that a lot of the times this is true but not always. When on leash my husky pulls hard because pretty much the only time shes on leash other than when shes in public is when she is pulling me across lake Champlain on ski's. She doe's know the difference on leash when walking vs skiing but she still tends to pull but not drag. a few tugs on the leash once in a while reminds her were not skiing though. Otherwise she's a very submissive dog and knows her place in the pack.
 
I do see that all the time though, 150lb dog pulling a 110lb girl flailing behind it like a cartoon. hahaha
 
fmajor007 said:
^ exception to the rule Bro!
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I have another one. My dog leads the way sometimes because he picks up scents on trails much more easily than I do trail markers visually. He prevented me from going the wrong path many, many times on only three hikes together. If things get tough, though, I tell him to sit and wait and he sits and waits. But on the topic of this post, I never let him off leash. He's very wary of and nippy with strangers, and I know it, so I never let him off leash and if other people or approaching I move to the side and let them go first and hold him close.

Sorry, he is a rescue and I've been working on his issues. The progress is slow. I may be one of these idiot owners here who can't always control his dog. Because of that, though, I refuse to let him off leash. If I can't get him to behave a certain way I have to physically handle him. The modern approach to dog training seems to discourage actually touching a dog and letting it "accidentally" (or sometimes with coaching) discover what it is you want him to do--sit, bark, go to a certain spot--then reward him for it. I kind of feel I don't have that luxury when it comes to strangers--they aren't obligated to help me out with training my dog.
 
Gary - rock on!!! That's doing it the conscientious way!!!

I'm well aware of being miles from the trailhead and cuttin' 'em loose - done it myself, but early on in pet ownership (i'm referring to my long-gone Blue Heeler - 'Reka....great dog). After a couple years i kept her leashed unless i was absolutely certain no one was around - very, very rare to know that w/certainty (usually in winter when i was miles off-road and away from ski trails).

She never, ever nipped/bit/barked at anyone else, but i didn't want to take the chance - she had tremendously powerful jaws and could really bite hard. A large (120-130lb) Rottweiler got between her and her frisbee once - a *big* mistake. It took 15mins for me to get her off the Rott (lotsa blood, but the owner wasn't upset).
 
My "dumb" Labs are better behaved than most people's kids nowadays. What's up with modern parents letting their kids run wild in public, or freak out and run screaming through department stores? During the last time I witnessed one of these fits, an older woman turned to me and we just looked at each other. "My parents never would have put up with that..." she told me.

Mine neither, I said. I've seen bratty kids that would have benefitted from zoo cages, electronic fences and shock collars. Hell, I was half hoping a wildlife biologist would dart a few and relocate them, just like any problem blackbear! At our household, if you were screaming in a public store, gouts of blood had better have been gushing out, otherwise, it was gonna get ugly. And that was with Momma. Grandmother was a 19th Century cowgirl-- it would have been worse embarrassing her in public with bad behavior. Old school people didn't put up with that crap. From animals, or kids.


Huzzah, Geezers!
 
My rescue is a bit nippy also. I have also been guilty of letting them run when I'm out in the hills. I know he barks a lot and is more scared than mean. But I'm trying to work through it and it's a long road. I try to get him around people as much as possible, but I don't expect them to watch out for him...that's my job.
Growing up we had a lot of wild dogs running around and I've killed more than my fair share.
So I believe folks should be responsible of their pets!
 
AmmoHouse said:
My rescue is a bit nippy also. I have also been guilty of letting them run when I'm out in the hills. I know he barks a lot and is more scared than mean. But I'm trying to work through it and it's a long road. I try to get him around people as much as possible, but I don't expect them to watch out for him...that's my job.
Growing up we had a lot of wild dogs running around and I've killed more than my fair share.
So I believe folks should be responsible of their pets!
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Socialization with both strange people and dogs is a tough part of training a lot of dogs. It just takes persistance. Jake isn't nippy, just overly friendly which can be just as bad. I am taking him more and more to large public gatherings such as festivals, flea markets and parades. He is getting better, but it still hard for him to concentrate with so many new people and animals to check out. He is young yet though. And I do keep him on harness and leash/check cord.
 
There are certainly some legitimate reasons to own packs of dogs. Some of those would include:
* Professional hunter or game manager
* Liscenced / registered breeder
* European Nobleman

From my personal experiences though, such people make up about 1% of the people who own a bunch of dogs. Most of the remainder are characters of ill repute. Sure, having a pet dog or two is wonderful, provided they are well trained and you have the space for them... But for some reason the type of people who are normally attracted to owning packs of dogs are almost never that smart or considerate.
 
I cant stand irresponsible dog owners. I also hate that people think everyone loves there dogs as much as them (the owner) does.
 
My rescue dog, BB' loves just about everyone.. However, she has one trait that keeps her from being allowed off leash. She likes to try to outrun orv's and snowmobiles. She has chased my quad around my brother's property several times. BB can out accelerate 4-wheeler for about 30 yards. She loves this game. One day my dog sitter was snowshoeing, on an old rail road grade with BB off leash, when a snow mobile went by. Well, the guy tried to outrun her and when BB caught up to him, he kicked her and she grabbed his leg. Because of this guy's fear, her training has been set back. Do not try to strike a large dog. You will probably loose. I have the bills to prove it.
 
I don't like running into strange, aggressive dogs when afield. I don't trust them, and trust their owners less for letting their animals behave that way.

I'll keep my own counsel on how I handle this sort of thing when it happens.
 
I'm kind of surprised how many people have the "not my dog attitude". "He/she listens, I trust them". When the reality is quite different. Just because your dog is good around people doesn't make them a good dog. How do they react around male dogs, or female dogs, or puppies? What about when people are on bicycles, or rollerblades? Despite my local beach having a "all dogs must be leashed" sign, my dog and I have been charged by unleashed dogs quite often. My dog is still a puppy and being only 5 months old, bigger dogs have knocked her around a bit. I've also had to pick her up because of aggressive dogs, looking to assert dominance. Bottom line is, if the dog is overly aggressive, I'm going to step in, and it won't always be in a friendly way. If you don't have a leash on your dog when you're supposed to, well, if something happens, you're going to deal with the consequences. Although its not your dogs fault, they will be the ones that will suffer for your stupidity.
 
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I'd sooner be greated by a stupid dog than a stupid person any day of the week. I've been lucky and met very few aggressive dogs, the worst that usually happens is the dog comes running and jumps up me wanting a fuss. This usually results in the dog getting dirty because when I come staggering out of the thicket after practicing traps and such like I'm often much dirtier than the dogs I meet !!!:D
 
Me 3....

I wish this thread would just die....
some of us hate dogs, some of us love dogs, some of us don't give a damn.
Some of us are irresponsible pet owners some of us aren't...point taken....
 
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