My dog + Your dog = ?

Thank you Holden, I was trying to find words for that sentiment but couldn’t do it without being nasty!

Dogs by their very nature are unpredictable. They cannot be expected to be kept completely under control of their owner by verbal command only. It is our responsibility as pet owners to ensure they are under complete control in variable areas, for their own safety as well as the safety of others.

Dogs off a lead always being under control. Haha, that’s a good laugh. I bet Joyce thinks all she needs to do to be a “good” driver is keep under the speed limit.

JoyceStanton said :

Precisely weezie! The dogs need to be in control,like mine(anytime,anywhere,anyplace)…that’s the whole point. But hey,I’m breaking the law…where no victim lies.

I think you’re wrong. How about someone who is absolutely terrified of dogs? They have a reasonable expectation to walk in a street and NOT see dogs off the lead (regardless of if you think they’re under your control or not). Are they not a victim?

If you don’t have enough room at home for your dog to run around in the yard, perhaps you should reconsider owning a pet. Alternatively, if you’re not prepared to take your dog to a designated area for them to run free, you should consider a cat instead.

I think the problem with little dogs is that they don’t get trained properly. A big dog behaving badly is much scarier than a little dog behaving badly, so people take steps to train the big dog, but the little dog just gets away with it.

That said, I hate and despise our neighbours who have a big, aggressive rottie in their backyard which goes mental everytime someone in our unit complex ventures anywhere near our carpark (which backs on to their back yard). I have never seen our neighbours walk the dog or interact with it, and they recently expanded their fenced-off deck area so the kids could have more outdoor space to play in safe from the dog. It is so tragic to see a dog trained to be so aggressive it can never be taken out or let near the children.

ant said :

Got bitten?

No, they just shit me. I quite like “proper” dogs.

Reckon you’re on to something RuffnReady @#19.

We have three yappy little dogs (all foisted on us!) and they’ll go off at anything at the drop of a hat. Interestingly, Pekingese and Shih Tsu’s are some of the oldest breeds in the world and are actually pretty closely related to wolves.

My theory’s always been that while WE see three irritating and aggravating fluffballs being a pain in arse to real dogs out on walks, THEY see themselves as mighty hunters bringing down herds of caribou on the Steppes. Sadly, reality will never penetrate the one brain cell they share between them.

Precisely weezie! The dogs need to be in control,like mine(anytime,anywhere,anyplace)…that’s the whole point. But hey,I’m breaking the law…where no victim lies.

Noting, of course, that dogs still need to be under control even in off lead areas. A friend of mine was abused when she objected to a dog barrelling up to her and her dogs (who were on lead) in such an area.

deezagood said :

ant said :

I had a boy chihuahua who used to fight next door’s husky on a regular basis. The Husky would invade, kill our ducks, chihuahua would try to fight him, and have to go to the vet. It was quite a routine. One time it happened I was at work, but my mother reported that the dog went to where my car was usually parked, ready for his usual trip to the vet to get patched up.

And earlier boy took on a golden retriever who came onto our place once. As he launched the Ultimate Attack on the retriever, and latched onto its neck, the big dog lifted its head in surprise and as the chihuahua was lifted off his feet, the look in his eyes was priceless: “what the flap do I do now?!”. He didn’t let go though.

That is a funny story Ant – sounds as though you have had a few charactors in the past. Apparently that kid’s movie ‘Beverly Hills Chihuahua’ has put the breed on top of the ‘must have’ list!

That story cracked me up!

On a different note – If someone approaches your dog while it is on lead and goe to pet it without warning and permission and the dog snaps at them. Who’s fault is it? is it always the dogs fault?

JoyceStanton said :

I take my pooch off the lead when there appears to be nobody around. I do this because the dog loves this so much,is harmless enough, and because I’m no sadist. Is it really so bad to let a dog with such a fiercely-friendly disposition,bound so freely? Oh so sorry,it’s the law. Well,back in the cage you go,doggy. It’s bad enough that law and its interpretation is/has oppressed so many humans, but can we at least maintain a civil posture towards ‘mans beast friend’?

You’d be pleasantly surprised as to how many off lead areas there are. I was.

http://www.tams.act.gov.au/live/pets/wherecanitakemydog

“It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.”

Holden Caulfield said :

Small yappy dogs are a blight on the existence of every other life form on the planet.

Got bitten?

Well, at least the bite of a chihuahua is worse than its bark.

Small yappy dogs are a blight on the existence of every other life form on the planet.

ant said :

I had a boy chihuahua who used to fight next door’s husky on a regular basis. The Husky would invade, kill our ducks, chihuahua would try to fight him, and have to go to the vet. It was quite a routine. One time it happened I was at work, but my mother reported that the dog went to where my car was usually parked, ready for his usual trip to the vet to get patched up.

And earlier boy took on a golden retriever who came onto our place once. As he launched the Ultimate Attack on the retriever, and latched onto its neck, the big dog lifted its head in surprise and as the chihuahua was lifted off his feet, the look in his eyes was priceless: “what the flap do I do now?!”. He didn’t let go though.

That is a funny story Ant – sounds as though you have had a few charactors in the past. Apparently that kid’s movie ‘Beverly Hills Chihuahua’ has put the breed on top of the ‘must have’ list!

I’m with you, RuffnReady. If people want to let their dogs off their leads, they should do it with the clear understanding that they are responsible for what happens. If, therefore, their dog comes over to my dog and my dog takes a piece out of it, that’s the risk of giving them “freedom”. There are dog parks around for people who want to let their dogs off lead – let’s not kid ourselves that keeping them on lead in public areas is in any way inflicting harm upon these dogs. If anything, the opposite is true. In short, oppressive my a@se.

I had a boy chihuahua who used to fight next door’s husky on a regular basis. The Husky would invade, kill our ducks, chihuahua would try to fight him, and have to go to the vet. It was quite a routine. One time it happened I was at work, but my mother reported that the dog went to where my car was usually parked, ready for his usual trip to the vet to get patched up.

And earlier boy took on a golden retriever who came onto our place once. As he launched the Ultimate Attack on the retriever, and latched onto its neck, the big dog lifted its head in surprise and as the chihuahua was lifted off his feet, the look in his eyes was priceless: “what the flap do I do now?!”. He didn’t let go though.

Chihuahuas are so funny; they are absolutely tiny, and gamely try to terrorise my Mum’s rescued greyhound (who is at least 40kgs) on our walks – they seemingly have absolutely no idea that the greyhound could snap them in two with a well-placed nip. In fact the whole chihuahua would fit in the grey’s mouth. I admire their gumption, I really do!

Ruff’n’ready, spot on. In fact, I reckon that originally, there were many big dogs with the same mentality as small dogs now. But having a chihuahua-style dog weighing 40 kilos was not a good thing, so those types of dogs didn’t survive. So you have lots of nice, docile big dogs, and the only remaining savage dogs are the tiny ones.

I’ve got surgistrips holding my nose together, as Mr Chihuahua was evidently dreaming of his prior life as a wolf when I woke him up and he just about got the entire nose off. He was Cujo in miniture, coming back for another go. Made a real mess of it actually.

I think little dogs have a lot of the original wolf genes in them, mentally anyway.

“Your rights end where the next person’s begin.*A nonsensical statement if there ever was one* If you can verbally command your dog to distance itself from others, maybe you are right, but if not, forget it. I don’t want your dog, or anyone else’s, licking,slobbering (on or biting me, and that’s my right. *Personally, I think you should allow those dogs to take such ‘liberties’ upon you…*I doubt you’ll get any angrier than you are now,and it just might serve you mightily with regard to theraputic value.*

Oppressive as in…the price of food,alcohol,tobacco,shelter,energy consumption,misappropriated tax $’s,the lack of a right to bear arms,the lack of a right to not buckle-up…just off the top of my head…..

JoyceStanton said :

I take my pooch off the lead when there appears to be nobody around. I do this because the dog loves this so much,is harmless enough, and because I’m no sadist. Is it really so bad to let a dog with such a fiercely-friendly disposition,bound so freely? Oh so sorry,it’s the law. Well,back in the cage you go,doggy. It’s bad enough that law and its interpretation is/has oppressed so many humans, but can we at least maintain a civil posture towards ‘mans beast friend’?

We live in a legally oppressive state? News to me. I feel quite free. if you think we are “oppressed by the law” I think you have a strange perspective on oppression.

Your rights end where the next person’s begin. If you can verbally command your dog to distance itself from others, maybe you are right, but if not, forget it. I don’t want your dog, or anyone else’s, licking, slobbering on or biting me, and that’s my right.

I’ve thought long and hard about why small dogs are often so combative when they are clearly overmatched by everything from cats on up, and the answer is obvious – their hard-wired instincts are still those of a big dog or even wolf. When you think about it, selective breeding of dogs has altered many characteristics, but it takes 10s-100s of thousands of years of evolution by natural selection to modify basic behaviours. A few hundred years of artificial selection is not going to touch those basic, neurologically hard-wired behavioural instincts.

Thus, these little dogs still think they are wolves (at least in their deep, hard-wired genetic programming), and without the ability for self-reflection that our brain gives us, they are quite unaware of their predicament in taking on the world with such belligerence!

I take my pooch off the lead when there appears to be nobody around. I do this because the dog loves this so much,is harmless enough, and because I’m no sadist. Is it really so bad to let a dog with such a fiercely-friendly disposition,bound so freely? Oh so sorry,it’s the law. Well,back in the cage you go,doggy. It’s bad enough that law and its interpretation is/has oppressed so many humans, but can we at least maintain a civil posture towards ‘mans beast friend’?

Must be that time of year.
People a few doors up got a small dog for Xmas and now it is old news. Spends most of its day out of the yard barking and annoying everyone who walks by. The owners just say “it’s too small to hurt anyone”

The kids have to pass it to get to the bus stop and it chases them barking but the owners don’t seem to think that’s an issue.

Whatsup said :

My big dog is frequently snapped growled and barked at by little dogs either on or off lead in parks. He often ends up hiding behind my legs, all 39kg of him.

My small dogs only ever attacks big mutts when she’s on a lead. On the few occasions she’s slipped her collar she’s either legged it, or had a chunk bitten out of her.

Serves the damn stupid mutt’s own fault then.

My big dog is frequently snapped growled and barked at by little dogs either on or off lead in parks. He often ends up hiding behind my legs, all 39kg of him.

good on ya, weeziepops, for your responsible dog ownership. i have a rotty, who is a big sook and intensely friendly, wanting to play with everything and everyone. she walks in the street on a lead but is free to interact with other dawgs in the oval, and when she fetches (sometimes!) the ball…

i know she’s pure friendship [as she nuzzles under my arm licking me while i am trying to type this!] but get annoyed when little yappy things think it their right to yelp, snap and attack her as we pass on the street. there is a bit of an alpha female dog next door and while my dog is still always wanting to play, dognextdoor still gets snippy on occasion and they wrestle – mine, in play, still manages to dominate the neighbour who is in earnest, so i wouldn’t like to have her (mine) ever in a real fight.

but her nature is to slobber, not slaughter…

it’s a great pity more owners aren’t more responsible, and we’d all get along, innit!

Yep, our 13 year old 3-legged chihuahua starts more fights now than she ever did.

I often wonder who would be at fault if a dog on lead had a good snap at an off-lead intruder? If some damage was done, which owner would be held accountable. I would hope it was the off-lead dog but am not sure?

That sounds exactly like my my dog! She is the scourge of backyard starlings.

i have the same problem i’ve had many disagreements with a lady who walks her 3 maltesse’s off leads at our local oval yapping at everything they see we (my 8 year old girls and partner)had too change where we walk our dogs 3 rottweilers all on leads and halters as we feared for our dogs attacking them if they invaded their personal space as one is not good with other dogs after beening attacked itself as a puppy.
we were informed that even if her dogs are off the lead and our were on their on theirs we would more than likely lose our beloved pets if they attacked her dogs although we weren’t in the wrong

weeziepops, I have 2 purebred Bull Mastiffs and people crap them selves when the 3 of us come down the street. However the little yapyap dog next door has bitten at least 3 people, myself, their owner and my wife, and my dogs have never threatened anyone. My dogs also do not yap or bark, as they are well loved, fed and cared for.

What is the point of stupid little dogs which serve no purpose but to annoy people.

And given how much money owners of special breed small dogs are prepared to pay for them, I would have thought they would want to protect their investment a bit better – two small dogs versus traffic as well as versus me and my dog, well, the odds aren’t really in their favour. These dogs don’t know any better, but their owners should. Next time, I’ll be taking my dog home and going back to pick up the poms and take them to the RSPCA so they have to pay a reclaim fee to get them back – might make them consider keeping their pets in their yard.

PB – staffords do get a bad rap for no good reason, but it’s nothing to how people react to my poor old mastiff cross. Talk about passing sentence before determining guilt or otherwise! It comes down to people whose poor ownership practices impact on undeserving dogs.

Well no-one ever said dog owners were a considerate bunch if the continous yapping of a dog three houses up is any indication.

All kudos to responsible pet owners but thumbs down to the selfish ones who don’t care about shift workers needing their sleep.

Agreed. Despite that, they don’t seem to sense that even a restrained big dog will make a meal of them if they go looking for trouble. Hence, it’s up to the owners of these guileless little dogs to keep them out of harm’s way.

Yes, small dogs will often go out of their way to pick fights. They’re often quite savage and seem to like fighting, the bigger the other dog the better.

Pomeranians and other small dogs have little man syndrome.

Staffy’s are lovely dogs with an undeserved reputation. (I’m biased)