Dog walking and unfriendly neighbor

rh

There used to be a guy around the corner from me who did the same. He was clearly insane. I just walked on the opposite side of the street. Then one day he just disappeared. They found his body in his house about a week later. I don't know what happened and I hate to say anything terrible, but my walks have been more enjoyable since.

rh

There used to be a guy around the corner from me who did the same. He was clearly insane. I just walked on the opposite side of the street. Then one day he just disappeared. They found his body in his house about a week later. I don't know what happened and I hate to say anything terrible, but my walks have been more enjoyable since.

caseopele

I can't stand the whole "I was bitten by a dog as a kid so I'm terrified of all dogs as an adult". 2 of my uncles had dogs that bit me or went after me as a kid. One was my father and uncle's fault, they left me alone with a strange dog when we both were a little nervous. The dog could tell I was afraid and tried to bite me on the cheek. The other was my other uncle's fault, he had dobermans that he left chained up outside his house all the time. They weren't socialized and were basically used as guard dogs. One night as we were walking to the car, his red dobie Sasha lunged at me. I was lucky her chain wasn't longer or I would have lost my right ear. My point is that I didn't allow those experiences to taint the rest of my life. I realized that not all dogs are like that and learned from it. And to use Carmen's example, black, white, and hispanic people have done f*cked up shit to me in the past. Do I hate all black, white, and hispanic people now? Of course not, that would be absurd.

Again, I completely agree with Carmen. If someone just walks by my dogs, my dogs ignore them. If they shriek or jump or flail about then my dogs will take an interest in them. Mostly to figure out what the hell is wrong with them. I get that in my neighborhood as well as the psycho dog haters yelling at me not to let my dogs pee anywhere near their house. My dogs don't do that and I always pick up after them.

whatchuwant

caseopele wrote: I can't stand the whole "I was bitten by a dog as a kid so I'm terrified of all dogs as an adult".

I second that and would also add that parents who are afraid of dogs tend to pass this fear onto their children. :roll:

solamami

Hey Tennisfan, it's been a minute. Glad to see you and your fam settling in. I just wanna commiserate with you on your "big dog" frustrations. I could give you anecdotes for days, but here's the gist: Half the time I walk my biggish dog (75 lbs), I feel like a Canine Ambassador, spreading knowledge, doggie love and good will (she has the teddy-bear temperament of a therapy dog); the other half I'm seething inside by stupid comments and reactions. "Wolf! Wolf!" Or, "Get away from that dog! He gon' bite-chu!" Oh, and 92% of the time, I walk my dog with my toddler. So, yeah, vicious beast, right?

Whenever the first question is, "Does your dog bite"? I always answer, "No. Do you?" "No." "Well, dogs use their teeth to eat, just like you." When the kids see how friendly she is, they can't stop petting her. But today, while my kid and I were playing on the playground, a 3-year-old boy actually started hitting my dog with a stick!! Even still, my dog just flinched. But it was me who got rabid. "Hey! Don't do that!" But what did the grandma say to him? "You stay away from that dog!" WTF?!?! Someone else saw Like Carmen, caseopele and whatchuwant said, the whole passing down your fear to your children is just ridiculously ignorant. I get it: Yes, the 60s were abhorrent. Yet, this is a culture where dogs are used for protection not companionship. And given the unneutered pit bull-type population, there are some aggressive dogs for sure. Still, not all dogs are bad. If you grew up afraid of the water, would you deny your child swimming lessons? Does. Not. Compute.

caseopele

solamami, great post! I get the "Wolf!" comment aimed at my older dog since he's a shepherd mixed with something skinny. "Why, of course my dog is a wolf! It's the latest designer breed. Don't try to run from him now!"

solamami

Hah, thanks Caseopele. Don't people know that ALL dogs are descendants of wolves? (mixed w/ bears, I think.) Hell, all cats are descendants of the King of the Jungle, but you don't hear anyone shouting "Lion! Lion!!" at all the stray cats in front of bodegas.

Also, when people as me what breed my dog is, I say, "Black." And keep it moving.

Gotta say, I love that pic of your puppehs in your avatar.

caseopele

Hahaha, I am totally going to start randomly calling my cats lion now. That bear comment simultaneously reminded me of The Colbert Report and The Simpsons bear patrol episode.

I love my dogs, even though they're not too bright sometimes.

solamami

OMG, you just cited my two most favoritist people on the planet: Stephen Colbert & Homer Simpson.

WolfBears: The #1 Threat to America!

Also, what about ManBearPig from South Park? Let's get Al Gore on the case, stat!

leffertsgirl

caseopele wrote: I can't stand the whole "I was bitten by a dog as a kid so I'm terrified of all dogs as an adult". 2 of my uncles had dogs that bit me or went after me as a kid. One was my father and uncle's fault, they left me alone with a strange dog when we both were a little nervous. The dog could tell I was afraid and tried to bite me on the cheek. The other was my other uncle's fault, he had dobermans that he left chained up outside his house all the time. They weren't socialized and were basically used as guard dogs. One night as we were walking to the car, his red dobie Sasha lunged at me. I was lucky her chain wasn't longer or I would have lost my right ear. My point is that I didn't allow those experiences to taint the rest of my life. I realized that not all dogs are like that and learned from it. And to use Carmen's example, black, white, and hispanic people have done f*cked up shit to me in the past. Do I hate all black, white, and hispanic people now? Of course not, that would be absurd.

WOW. i have no problem with dogs, but find this post extremely insensitive. because you had a scary experience with a dog and didn't let it keep you from having a second scary experience, does that mean the rest of us have to do the same?

yelling at your dog, hitting it or anything of the like is totally uncalled for, but people shouldn't be made to feel bad if they have a fear of animals. i would imagine it's like any other of life's scary experiences (i.e., i had a bad experience with tequila and ever since i can't even smell it without gagging; or i was bit by a wasp and blew up like a balloon when i was as a kid and since then i head for indoors whenever i see one).

fear of dogs is not something you can relate to, but don't look down on other people for wanting to get the hell out of dodge when they see your animal coming.

caseopele

LeffertsGirl wrote: WOW. i have no problem with dogs, but find this post extremely insensitive. because you had a scary experience with a dog and didn't let it keep you from having a second scary experience, does that mean the rest of us have to do the same?

yelling at your dog, hitting it or anything of the like is totally uncalled for, but people shouldn't be made to feel bad if they have a fear of animals. i would imagine it's like any other of life's scary experiences (i.e., i had a bad experience with tequila and ever since i can't even smell it without gagging; or i was bit by a wasp and blew up like a balloon when i was as a kid and since then i head for indoors whenever i see one).

fear of dogs is not something you can relate to, but don't look down on other people for wanting to get the hell out of dodge when they see your animal coming.

I understand where you're coming from but you should try to look at it from my perspective. My dogs mind their own business when I'm walking them, they don't go after people or even really pay them much interest. What makes me nuts though are the people who draw attention to themselves by screaming, shouting, or jumping away from my dogs. They yell at me to keep my dogs away from them because they're afraid of dogs. Basically by doing that they have just made my dogs interested in them. They want to find out why this person is acting so crazy. The number of people who walk by my dogs and are completely ignored by them on a daily basis far outweighs the number of people my dogs take an interest in. If someone is afraid of dogs why would they want to attract a dog's attention?

And, I'm sorry but there are a lot of dogs in the city. If someone is so afraid of dogs that they freak out every time they see one then, in my eyes, they have 2 options. 1. Lock yourself in your house so you can be sure you'll never come into contact with a dog ever again. 2. Try to overcome your fear enough so that you can walk down the street without screaming at a dog owner.

Also, why should I and my dogs be getting yelled at when we're walking down the street minding our own business? If people would just shut the hell up and walk by us my dogs won't even notice they're there. This happened to me late last night, a woman was sitting on the steps of a building when we walked by. She yelled at me to keep my dogs away from her because she was afraid of dogs. We were practically at the curb and almost completely past her. All she accomplished by doing that was getting my dogs attention and pissing me off. And why is it that the people who are so afraid of dogs are always shocked that a dog is near them? They aren't paying attention, don't hear the dog tags jingling until we're walking right by them. Then because they get surprised they yell at me and my dogs? I would think they would be watching out for the thing they fear so badly.

Just because I'm not afraid of dogs doesn't mean I'm not afraid of anything, everyone is afraid of something. But when you let that fear control you or you try to control other people because of that fear, then I have no sympathy for you.

Disclaimer: When I use the word YOU I mean the general YOU, not one specific person here.

solamami

And Tyra Banks has an irrational fear of dolphins... apropros nothing.

caseopele

solamami wrote: And Tyra Banks has an irrational fear of dolphins... apropros nothing.

But dolphins have saved people and they're so cute! Like these lifeguards who were being circled by a great white shark and a group of dolphins came to rescue them.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=3613343

solamami

Oh, I know. Dolphins are AWESOME creatures (as are beluga whales, my fave. Of course, it's the dolphin whale). Hence, the irrational part. Tyra grew up in central L.A. But porpoises INVADED HER DREAMS, dammit. Still, she got in that tank and faced her dolphin demons.

And now, I shall remove my tongue from my cheek.

daver

Dolphins are cruel, violent, sexually abusive animals which make us admittedly dodgy humans look tame in comparison. If dolphins had a television station, it would be x-rated and Mary Whitehouse would be spinning in her grave.

Charges: Murder, attempted murder, and frequent gang rape of own species. Attempted murder of anybody who wants their food. Repeated attempted murder of humans after beguiling them by swimming past looking what people mistakenly call 'cute'. And they beat up seals.

fivefifths

solamami wrote: And given the unneutered pit bull-type population, there are some aggressive dogs for sure.

Whats wrong with unneutered pit bulls? I have 2 and they are the sweetest ever. Its not the breed its how the dog was raised. I was viciously attacked by a damn cocker spaniel. Never by a pitbull. As a dog person, you should know better than to stereotype breeds.

daver

fivefifths wrote: Whats wrong with unneutered pit bulls? I have 2 and they are the sweetest ever. Its not the breed its how the dog was raised. I was viciously attacked by a damn cocker spaniel. Never by a pitbull. As a dog person, you should know better than to stereotype breeds.

The most vicious dogs I have met have been chihuahuas.

I think that they are genetically predisposed to having people own them that don't give a crap about teaching them how to behave properly.



I'm not kidding though.

solamami

Notice I said pit-bull types. I wasn't trying to lump them all together. Lest you think I'm a doggie racist (or is it breedist?), I used to volunteer for a rescue group, and I've known and cared for many, many supremely sweet pits... but it has a lot to do with the owners, too. The bigger the asshole, the less trained/conditioned is their dog. I was putting more emphasis on the large unneutered dogs, which generally makes them more aggressive (see: Staten Island story). Even the Dog Whisperer acknowledges that's the breed's instincts. Yet one of his prize dogs who "schools" the others is a cool-ass pit named Daddy (who is awesome!) And also, what Daver just said pretty much just nailed it.

Oh, and Daver, thanks for clueing me in on dolphin gangbangs. So Tyra was raped by a dolphin then? Just in her dreams, mayhaps.

fivefifths

solamami wrote: Notice I said pit-bull types. I wasn't trying to lump them all together. Lest you think I'm a doggie racist (or is it breedist?), I used to volunteer for a rescue group, and I've known and cared for many, many supremely sweet pits... but it has a lot to do with the owners, too. The bigger the asshole, the less trained/conditioned is their dog. I was putting more emphasis on the large unneutered dogs, which generally makes them more aggressive (see: Staten Island story). Even the Dog Whisperer acknowledges that's the breed's instincts. Yet one of his prize dogs who "schools" the others is a cool-ass pit named Daddy (who is awesome!) And also, what Daver just said pretty much just nailed it.

Cosign on the bolded part. Its male unneutered dogs that may exhibit the aggressive behavior. I had one such dog in the past he was fucking NUTS!
The girls don't get like that.

leffertsgirl

caseopele wrote: [quote=LeffertsGirl]WOW. i have no problem with dogs, but find this post extremely insensitive. because you had a scary experience with a dog and didn't let it keep you from having a second scary experience, does that mean the rest of us have to do the same?

yelling at your dog, hitting it or anything of the like is totally uncalled for, but people shouldn't be made to feel bad if they have a fear of animals. i would imagine it's like any other of life's scary experiences (i.e., i had a bad experience with tequila and ever since i can't even smell it without gagging; or i was bit by a wasp and blew up like a balloon when i was as a kid and since then i head for indoors whenever i see one).

fear of dogs is not something you can relate to, but don't look down on other people for wanting to get the hell out of dodge when they see your animal coming.

I understand where you're coming from but you should try to look at it from my perspective. My dogs mind their own business when I'm walking them, they don't go after people or even really pay them much interest. What makes me nuts though are the people who draw attention to themselves by screaming, shouting, or jumping away from my dogs. They yell at me to keep my dogs away from them because they're afraid of dogs. Basically by doing that they have just made my dogs interested in them. They want to find out why this person is acting so crazy. The number of people who walk by my dogs and are completely ignored by them on a daily basis far outweighs the number of people my dogs take an interest in. If someone is afraid of dogs why would they want to attract a dog's attention?

And, I'm sorry but there are a lot of dogs in the city. If someone is so afraid of dogs that they freak out every time they see one then, in my eyes, they have 2 options. 1. Lock yourself in your house so you can be sure you'll never come into contact with a dog ever again. 2. Try to overcome your fear enough so that you can walk down the street without screaming at a dog owner.

Also, why should I and my dogs be getting yelled at when we're walking down the street minding our own business? If people would just shut the hell up and walk by us my dogs won't even notice they're there. This happened to me late last night, a woman was sitting on the steps of a building when we walked by. She yelled at me to keep my dogs away from her because she was afraid of dogs. We were practically at the curb and almost completely past her. All she accomplished by doing that was getting my dogs attention and pissing me off. And why is it that the people who are so afraid of dogs are always shocked that a dog is near them? They aren't paying attention, don't hear the dog tags jingling until we're walking right by them. Then because they get surprised they yell at me and my dogs? I would think they would be watching out for the thing they fear so badly.

Just because I'm not afraid of dogs doesn't mean I'm not afraid of anything, everyone is afraid of something. But when you let that fear control you or you try to control other people because of that fear, then I have no sympathy for you.

Disclaimer: When I use the word YOU I mean the general YOU, not one specific person here.


i hear ya and i'm thinkin' you'll get farther by being kind and educating people about the results of their reactions. i'd try not to let it piss me off so much...they clearly haven't spent time with dogs and just don't know that by playing it cool, dogs will leave them alone. make it a teaching moment! as my grade school teacher would say.

caseopele

LeffertsGirl wrote: i hear ya and i'm thinkin' you'll get farther by being kind and educating people about the results of their reactions. i'd try not to let it piss me off so much...they clearly haven't spent time with dogs and just don't know that by playing it cool, dogs will leave them alone. make it a teaching moment! as my grade school teacher would say.

I had a great response all typed up this morning until my foster kitten jumped on my keyboard and made me lose it! I still have no idea how she did it, she's just lucky she's cute.

Anyway, it was basically thanking you for reading my long ass post. And I do try to educate people about the safe way to behave around dogs. Sometimes though it's late or I don't feel good and I just want to be on my way. I do get happy when a kid asks to pet my dogs first or a mother tells her kids not to worry about the dogs since they're not paying attention to them. A small ray of hope!