Fair or not? Your opinion

[Miabella]

This morning I was walking to work (sans dog) through a city park. This is not a dog park, nor is it fenced, but people still allow their dogs off-leash all the time. There were 3 off-leash dogs (Golden-mix, Spitzy thing, small Spaniel mix) in front of me, as well as a lady walking a nice looking Pit Bull on a leash.

As the lady with the PB walked closer, the off-leash dogs swarmed her dog. The PB was a bit overwhelmed, and broke his heel to look at them and tuck his behind. He was not growling or lunging, no aggression but he was clearly in a compromised position with the off-leash dogs and wanted to turn and face them head on.

The Pit Bull's owner proceeded to give him several harsh collar corrections and kept walking. The PB tried hard to refocus his attention on her, but the off-leash dogs kept following hard. Never once did the PB owner shoo off the other dogs or say anything to their owners who were right there. She continued to correct the PB, who seemed to be doing his best to keep up despite the pack of dogs molesting his hind end.

I thought this was extremely unfair to the PB. He seemed like a nice dog, well-trained and trying hard in a very difficult situation. As I was trying to decide if I should catch up and give her my unasked for opinion on the matter, she crossed the street on a "No Walk" signal and was gone.

What do you think? Unfair correction? I wish that she had done something to protect her dog. Or was this the ultimate attention proofing exercise?

[LynnS]

I definately think this was unfair to the dog.

If it had been me I would have done everything in my power to get the owner of the off leash dogs to call them off of my dog.

[Judi W]

Oh, to be honest, I think it is one of those things that is no one else's business. You do not know what these two have been through together to get to the point where the dog is not responding with hostility.

[LynnS]

Oh, to be honest, I think it is one of those things that is no one else's business. You do not know what these two have been through together to get to the point where the dog is not responding with hostility.

Gee I never thought about that angle! Excellent point!

[DNeff]

Originally posted by Miabella

What do you think? Unfair correction? I wish that she had done something to protect her dog. Or was this the ultimate attention proofing exercise?

IMO the one needing a harsh correction was the owner of all the dogs involved. If your dog is off lead and harasses another dog you had better be over there in a flash retrieving your dog.

And to allow your dog to be harassed by strange dogs and then punishing him for try to either trying to calm the other dogs with postures or looks to me is so wrong!!!!

If you own a dog it is ALWAYS your responsiblitiy to protect it from wayward dogs or strangers. PERIOD. If not, you are setting your dog up to have to defend itself and no one wants to see that happen. Especially if you have a rottie or a pit, because you will be the one to blame because of your breed.

Proofing in a controlled setting is one thing, but she knew nothing of those dogs intent. The chances of things going sour is quite high and then you have only taught your dog that strange dogs can possibly harm him and your owner will not defend you and instead may punish you. ACK!!! This kind of thing drives me crazy.

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[Miabella]

Originally posted by Judi W
Oh, to be honest, I think it is one of those things that is no one else's business. You do not know what these two have been through together to get to the point where the dog is not responding with hostility.

Well, I would think that would be an even better reason to defend your dog from a pack?

[LavenderRott]

We can disagree all we want about whether or not the owner of the apparent pit bull should have dealt with the other dogs. The truth of the matter is if she had stopped to defend her dog and if a fight had broken out, you can darn sure bet that her dog would have been blamed. I think that if I had been in her shoes I would have hoped to get out of there with my dog paying attention to me before something happened.


And by the way, I don't think it is fair that this woman and her dog were put in that position.

[moondog]

I wonder if she WAS protecting him by using her focus to keep his. For all we know she did what she had to to avoid any direct interaction between the dogs? If I was worried about my dog's reaction, I might do the same thing if I was concerned that losing my focus by hollering to the other dogs' owners would give my dog an opportunity to challenge and possibly create a problem. Hard to guess without knowing more.

[Miabella]

I understand what you are all saying, but what still doesn't jive with me is that she walked directly into these dogs when she could have gone around. Seemed like she was setting him up.

Oh well, guess we'll never know and it's a good thing I kept my big mouth shut. :D

[Judi W]

I will tell you that once or twice I have trashed a dog out in public with a specific purpose in mind. Luckily for me, people are not inclined to think that monster little woman is abusing that large Rottweiler. They are amazed, but not horrified. I have seen true abuse, but this as described falls a long way from abuse. As my mom would have said "keep your own council".............

Unsolicited opinions are usually (and rightly so) met with hostility and resistence.

[flyballmom]

Wellll...in a "normal" situation, ie: a dog on a leash that's not a Pit Bull, then yes, I'd say the owner of the on-leash dog was being a bit harsh. That said...my young male Pit Bull behaves very well on-leash. He mostly ignores other dogs, goes into chase mode very rarely...BUT if a pack of dogs, friendly or otherwise, swarmed him, put him in a situation where I was unsure of what his reaction might be, then I might also correct the heck out of him to KEEP him on his good behavior. The difference in my reaction though, be it good or bad, would be to yell at the owners of the off-leash dogs to control their animals. And yes, I'd get the heck out of there as fast as possible just in case my guy got perturbed. On-leash or off, if a Pit Bull puts a tooth on another dog, it's going ti be the Pit Bulls fault, with more negative attitudes, etc.

[Bucky's Mom]

Originally posted by Miabella
Oh well, guess we'll never know and it's a good thing I kept my big mouth shut. :D

No - you are a GOOD dog person - EVER vigilant - but you WOULD have got the shock of your life if the person you ran up to and corrected was JUDI W :D

:)

[moondog]

LOL! :D That puts a different spin on it! Ya never know!

I had someone "think" I was interfering with them one day when Luna and I were still working on politely passing other dogs in the neighborhood. As we passed by each other I gave Luna a pop and said in a low voice, "Mind your own business". The lady yelled "Dogs ARE my business!" LOL :D I giggled all the way home over that one and it still makes me giggle when I think of it. I doubt Judi would have misinterpreted that situation, it was quite obvious that I was talking to my dog...:)

[scubajohn]

Ever think she knew the other owners and they had the encounter planed to distract the dog on the leash ? I would guess she did not if she did not stop after or come back and talk with them, but just a thought.

[lblax]

Originally posted by Judi W
Oh, to be honest, I think it is one of those things that is no one else's business. You do not know what these two have been through together to get to the point where the dog is not responding with hostility.

exactly judi i'm with you....when im walking my dog and we are harrassed by off leashers we just keep walking if he daunters and trys to pull away he gets corrected ...it is absolutly fair because that is the action i want and a well trained dog can just continue on with these types of distractions....to stop and try to shue the others off would just invite a dog fight ...if the owner is not smart enough to collect there dogs they are certainly not smart enough to take critisism in the manner it was intended....