Yesterday I wrote about our snowy walk in the woods, but there was something that I didn’t write about.
We ran into a woman who walks a pack of dogs up there frequently. Her name is Brenda and she always has six dogs with her, which of them are hers I really don’t know, because she takes other people’s dogs for walks too.
She almost always has another person and their dogs with her as well. Yesterday she had a lady who had at least three of her own dogs.
The ladies and their dogs were getting ready to leave so I took the my dogs up the hill just so there weren’t three sets of dogs attempting to get into three different cars.
Alas, when we headed back down the ladies were still loading their cars.
Sampson and Delilah jumped in the car, Brenda finished loading hers and drove off, but the other lady just stood there. Waiting.
She said, two of her dogs had run off, but they would come back and that they did this all the time.
She told me where she thought they were and said they made her wait because they knew she wouldn’t leave them. I suggested that maybe it was time for her to leave them and offered to stay and wait if she wanted to drive down the street.
She got in her car and slowly started driving down the street, I called “Here puppies” and whistled. Nothing.
I walked over to the side of the road and looked between the two houses where she thought they had gone and didn’t see them.
Meanwhile the woman had turned around and come back, and she told me that they usually didn’t make her wait longer than five minutes.
Sure enough as we were driving down the street I saw the two dogs running from an entirely different direction than where she thought they were.
The incident disturbed me for a couple of reasons, one being that her dogs were running on other people’s property and two that she has no control over her dogs and worse yet, she’s not even trying to control them.
I’ve seen this issue raised on other people’s blogs on a variety of topics but my question is, how do we educate people about being a responsible dog owner? Or just being responsible around dogs?
Book update: My book has 17,339 words.
Good luck making her see that her actions are wrong. I do not understand people who allow their dogs to run at will like that. Very irresponsible.
I agree, I’m all about letting my dogs run, but I would never let the run up and down a road, and some people really move up that road.
Unfortunately, the only thing that might convince her is if one of the dogs got hurt or worse.
It was, however, nice of you to try to help her by watching for the dogs while she left. Do you think hearing the car pull away caused the dogs to return to the parking lot?
It would be very sad and a hard lesson to learn.
No, I don’t think the car pulling away made a difference because she only pulled just past the street they were on and then she turned around.
The kicker was that they were not even where she thought they were.
Pet owners like that really piss me off.
Yup, me too sweetie.
Yep good luck with that one. Not only would I be concerned about the dog being injured I would also be very concerned about the dogs possibly biting someone. I know people say all the time “oh my dog is friendly they won’t bite” but a dog is a dog and you can never guarantee that they would not be put in a position that might provoke instinctual behavior.
With all the paranoia about dogs, they don’t really even have to bite anyone. Someone could say the dog ran into my yard and knocked me over and she would be in trouble.
I agree, I don’t believe my dogs would bite but I will never knowingly put them in a position where they might.
I’ve said before that my biggest fear is one of our dogs getting lost. I’m so paranoid about losing one of them and when I read/hear about people like this, I just don’t get it. Unfortunately, I think the above comment made by Pamela is correct–It’s going to take some landmark event happening to make her realize that they shouldn’t be allowed to be run off by themselves, and unfortunately and sadly it’s probably going to be one of the dogs that pays the price for that lesson.
That scares me too Kim. There are some really unscrupulous people in this world that might even do harm to a dog.
When I can’t see one of my dogs I am in panic mode, my heart is racing and I’m freaking out. 🙂
How can someone be so cavalier with those precious little ones?
Sadly, I feel Pamela’s comment might be spot on – for some people, it takes a tragedy for them to realize their actions.
It was good of you to stop and try to help her though and the dogs took longer to return than usual, so let’s hope she might be more responsible with them from now on.
Thanks Barb, I really want to see people succeed with their relationships with their pets. I want my dogs to run free but they also have to understand that they don’t get to do exactly as they please unless I agree to it.
Besides, the danger is too great for them to be running free in that area.
I find it amazing that someone would let their dogs off leash in an unenclosed area with the absolute certainty that they won’t come when called. Gwynn’s recall isn’t 100%, but if it weren’t good enough that I was confident of him coming back to me (when I say, not just when he decides), he would not be allowed off-leash. There are, in fact, areas that I know he isn’t reliable in. He stays on-leash there, because I love him and want to protect him from things that could hurt him.
I’m in agreement with you Lexy, that is why Delilah is on the 30 foot leash and there are certain areas I know she runs off in so I keep her close. It is stupidity on this woman’s part.
Man. I just don’t understand the mentality of people who can let their dogs run free with a hope and a prayer they will come back. Dogs are animals! Just because we can train them does not mean they will listen to us. Ugh. I probably would have made a snide remark about reporting her to Animal Control for negligent behavior (or AT LEAST the actual dog owners if those dogs are not hers!)
It really leaves me feeling lost. I hesitate to make any waves with anyone when I have my dogs with me, I know people are vindictive and I don’t want someone fabricating something about me or my dogs, I just try and do the best I can, but I may put in a call to animal control and at least have them scope out the area.
I agree with all of you and it also pisses me off when this foolish woman lets her dogs run free knowing that they routinely don’t immediately return when called. The first time should have been enough to teach her that they need to be kept on leashes until trained better. As the owner of very small dogs I am also indignant that these dogs could easily attack a small dog that is being properly walked on leash. I’ve also witnessed the death of 2 big dogs at 2 different times killed on the busy road I used to live on, both were outside without leashes. People like that don’t deserve to keep pets, let alone raise kids… but that’s another subject.
You’re so right Sassy! These dogs could do damage to a smaller dog (or even a big dog) or a cat, even a human. Never mind that they themselves could be hurt!
I know I don’t care to have stray dogs in my yard because I don’t know the dog. There is totally another story that happened yesterday too about a similar circumstance. OY, it makes me nuts but I just do the best to keep my puppies under control.
you’re an awesome person for offering to help her! i’m not sure that there’s a good way to get someone like that to understand there’s a better option. :-/ i mean, i imagine she’d see any input as an insult, but i hope that your short time with her gave her a jolt.
Thank you, and I agree. Trying to give advice to people with dogs is like trying to tell someone how to raise children. People get pissy, the best I could do was let her see that even if she left the area, the dogs didn’t come immediately back. That should tell her something.
There isn’t a way, not really. This kind of thing is not only potentially dangerous for the dogs but it’s also usually against the law. If people choose to ignore such laws, there isn’t much we can do. As one of my favourite people says all the time: “you can’t fix stupid.”
That being said, I think it was super nice of you to help this woman, even when she was acting irresponsibly. Maybe if more people like you stop and question her like this, the more she will think about how silly her actions are? Or maybe not. I just hope her dogs remain safe.
You are right Kristine, stupid is an epidemic in the United States, it starts in our government and rolls down.
I hope her dogs remain safe too, that is the most important thing.
I’m not as vigilante on training my dog as you are. I’m very happy when she listens to me to go straight into the yard, and come out of the yard back into the house. That being said, I would NEVER let her off her leash and just hope she came back to me at some point! That is just CRAZY!
I can’t even imagine letting my dogs off leash in the first place if I didn’t have a great recall on them. The fact that the dogs do it regularly is scary. It was great of you to offer to help her, and it was a good idea to see if her driving off had any affect on the dogs. Even more scary that it didn’t!
I hope she learned her lesson Jodi.