Hi I live in an area where many people ignore leash laws or just don’t care if their dogs escape their home and are on the loose, and don’t even seem to care or are aware that their dogs are roaming free. This is not just a danger for their own dog but for humans, dogs, and other critters. I don’t know how many times I was walking my dog when a dog off-leash charged toward us. In some cases, my dog was attacked. In other cases, I had to lift my dog off the ground to protect him or used a stick, kick, or yell like a monster to scare off or block the loose dog from approaching.
Just yesterday, my 79 year old mother was walking our dog, as she has done before when I was out, and a neighbor’s dog came running toward our dog. Afraid the strange dog would attack, she attempted to protect our dog and was in the process badly bruised, possibly fractured her hand, and was so shaken up we were also worried about her heart.
Of course we took my mother into a walk-in clinic for care and our dog seemed also to avoided injury, but the carelessness of neighboring dog owners infuriates me because now my mother can no longer feel safe walking the dog down the block as she used to for many years, or even stepping out.
Has anyone experienced this and what have you done?
Meanwhile, even if your dog acts calmly toward approaching dogs, what do you do if the dog in the loose is aggressive regardless?
#PetBehaviorandTraining#escapees#offleashdogs