leash laws -

[AngieB]

Question; If you are walking your dog on a leash & have total control, if an unleashed dog overpowers their own fence and attacks, which owner would be responsible?
My husband & our 1yr Rottie have been repeatedly harassed by 2 Labs down our street when they are on their walks. These Labs are unleashed & in very inadequate fencing & have thrice jumped the fence to attack our Thor. So far Thor has behaved like a total gentleman, but tonight, things came to a real crisis & could have been tragic for any of us. I don't think it's just our dog that these dogs are reacting to, they also respond this way when there is no dog w/you. What really bothers me is that the owners have been witness to these confrontations & have taken NO action to even get control of their dogs, even when the dogs are being agressive to young children getting out of their car at their own homes. And of course, we feel if we reported it, the page would be negatively stacked; we have a "Rottweiler" and they have labs, by default of bad press, our dog could be viewed as the aggressor/instigator.
I would like to see cities take a stand on adquate fencing for all dogs, rather than to ban breeds who have bad (tho usually undeserving) repuations.
As a neighbor, do I have a right to demand they secure their animals? Or do the animal officials have to wait until they are "caught" off the leash, or god forbid they attack a child or another dog?
Sorry this was so long, I am just terribly frustrated & needed to vent along with asking these questions. We will, of course, avoid their part of the street as much as possible but our close friends live directly in front of them, but if there is a more reasonable solution w/in the law, I'd like to see action taken.

Thank you......AngieB & Thor

[Barbara Surplus]

AngieB:
Out of good neighbourliness, you might just go over and have a chat with them. Explain that you are not there to be antagonistic but that you are concerned that an incident might arise where their dogs have to be destroyed because they're not living up to their responsibilities. Perhaps these are the kind of people who have just never thought about it (how many of those types of people do we have to deal with every day?). You do have a right to express how you feel about this situation, because it has affected you, before the laws of your city are invoked. Then, if they completely ignore you, you will have no choice but to complain to the authorities. It really isn't the fault of the dogs (as we all know) but they (and others) will pay the price for their owners' stupidity.

If you get a negative reaction from them, you then know what you're dealing with. I would suspect that the owners don't view their labs as anything but the stereotypically friendly dog this breed is generally known for and they can do no wrong because they're labs.

More than one dog is a pack and these people have to realize that this pack is creating their own set of rules and causing problems with potentially terrible consequences.

Be bold and make your case but, of course, walk away if you encounter ignorance and know where that will lead.
Barbara

[AngieB]

Thank You Barbara, I think I will go over and speak to the owners. I'm afraid they will probably react negatively, but in an attempt to encourage positive changes, I owe the dogs my best effort to *educate* their mom & dad of the neighbors' feelings. I just hope that this favor will repay itself to any Rottie owner out there by getting someone who has bad feelings for a neighbor's Rottie, based on poor Rottie Press or lack of information, to stop & be neighborly about their concerns before they react & negatively change the dynamic.

Thanx again!!

[Barbara Surplus]

Angie,
Then again, they might be REALLY glad you took the time to come and talk to them.

When our border collie was about 9 months old, we got a letter from one of the neighbours telling us that the damn dog was barking ALL DAY LONG and they were sick of it and even came over and threw a bucket of water over him one day because they just couldn't take it any more. It apparently didn't stop him. And, he was jumping the fence and running up and down the street during the day and why couldn't we stop this behaviour and we were the WORST DOG OWNERS they had ever encountered and on and on and on.

We were absolutely and utterly horrified to learn that this was happening. We spent a lot of time with Danny when we were home, training and lots of play, and he had another dog for company besides. We just had no idea and the other neighbours on either side of us who were home all day, and who we knew quite well, never said a word about it either.

Fortunately, these people did sign the letter so I went over to their house, across the street, to talk to them about it. They expected, I think, to see a chick in black leather but they got me in my office gear instead. In my nicest way, I explained that we didn't know any of this. When we got home from work, Danny was always in the yard and he didn't bark when we were around (he knew we didn't like it). I told her that I was really glad that she wrote to us but why didn't she just come to the door and tell us? And could she have not told us sooner that he was getting out of the yard? Would she rather he have been hit by a car or impounded to teach us a lesson? (According to her letter, this had been happening for weeks.) Well, she said her husband was really worried that even her signing the letter would mean retribution from us. She soon realized she had nothing to worry about.

After we talked, she realized that she should have been a better neighbour and simply walked across the street to tell us. We let them know we didn't feel badly toward them (we did feel bad for THEM having to see and hear Danny going beserk around the neighbourhood though), in fact it was greatly appreciated. We now knew there was a problem and we could correct it, which we did.

As a society, we have many options which allow us to deal with these problems in a nameless, faceless manner rather than have to face them ourselves. Many of us would rather relegate the unpleasant tasks to "the law" so we don't actually have to deal with our neighbours personally. I personally try to never run from problems, and I face them head on as diplomatically as possible if the situation allows it. Then I know I've done the right thing.

Didn't mean to go on and on and I don't mean to be preachy but if we're going understand the meaning of the word "community", then we have to do what's needed to live happily in that community.

Let me know how it goes. I'll be all ears. Good luck.
Barbara

[Lady B]

AngieB: In WA state as long as you have control of your dog on lead then the other owner is responsible and has potential liability if an injury occurs. I am continually amazed and appalled at the apathy some dog owners exhibit. We, who have large guardian breeds and give a hoot, work so hard at teaching our dogs control of themselves in all sorts circumstances. The most stressful for any dog is one in which another dog is charging or lunging with hair raised and with apparent intent to do harm.

I experienced just this last weekend while walking Baron. Baron is extremely dog aggressive and we have worked so hard at getting control. He is great on lead with voice control now -- but it took countless hours to get here. We had walked by a house earlier on our way to Baron's favorite place; the football field where I train him. There were two fenced dogs, one of whom was carrying on like he wanted a piece of us. I didn't think much of it since it appeared they were well contained. On our way home the same situation occurred. I was one house shy of crossing the street when I hear the rapid sound of nails clicking on pavement. We whirled around to see what appeared at first glance an AM. Staff charging us. You can well imagine my thoughts at that instant. I had nothing to throw, nothing to shake. All I had was my voice and confidence. So I yelled at this charging creature and took one step forward. He stopped and then I saw it was a brindle Boxer. He approached cautiously but not in a friendly way so I yelled again; something like HEY, YOU GET OUT OF HERE. He stopped again and then I yelled for him to go home. He did and I started to breath again. Baron during this entire few seconds did not exhibit one aggressive motion other than to stand in front of me. He did not lunge or tug on the lead or even growl. Maybe because Mom was making all the racket and aggressive moves . I was so proud of him because for both of us we had control under one of the most stressful situations. It once again proved to me that Rotties don't usually start the situations.