Why are people such aholes about their dogs?

[madison2000]

I just took my 12 year old arthritic dog to the dog park, and he got trashed by someone else's aggressive dog. Yes, she called her dog off, but my dog walked away limping and whimpering. He is a very submissive older male. I can honestly say he's never the instigator of incidents like this.

Why do people bring their aggressive dogs to the dog park, where all the dogs are off leash?

If their usually non-agressive dog does show agression, can't they have the basic human decency to apologize and ask if my dog is ok?

What is wrong with people?

[BentleyJD]

1. sorry to hear bout that

my first guidedog was bitten by two pit bulls.
And someone almost let one attack us when we were training at dog school.
People think if they have aggressive dogs, it makes them look macho or something.
take care
tony and dietrich

[madison2000]

6. thats horrible

[lastknowngood]

2. Next time kick the aggressive dog in the ribs. It's a great training

tool and if the asshole says anything kick them in the ass also a great training tool.

[madison2000]

4. Honestly I was so angry that if I had been standing in the right place I

would have kicked this 90 lb labrador hard enough to take his breath away. I was so angry. I love dogs, but I cannot understand how people can let their dog do that to someone elses dog and act like its nothing.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

7. You're right. It's not the dog's fault, but the owner is a jackass.

[BentleyJD]

11. labs are normally extemely gentle creatures....

it's the assholes who ruined this poor dog who deserve a kick in teh ass. Dietrich is a yellow lab and is the most gentle.playful guy you would ever want to have.
people ruin perfectly good dogs, and it's disgusting
take care
tony and dietrich

[shrike]

35. We have a female lab

And she basically ignores other dogs. She thinks she's a person, and so is interested only in interacting with people.

[BikeWriter]

33. I'd kick the aggressive dog's owner in the ribs.

;-)

[SemiCharmedQuark]

3. Years ago I took my min pin to the dog park and someone sicked

their dogs on her. They had hounds (or some other hunting dog) and told them to "get the rabbit".

[driver8]

26. That is awful.

I cannot believe that someone would deliberately sic their dog on another dog. That really pisses me off that someone would do something so stupid. If that were to happen at our dog park, once everyone found out what this asshole did he would not be welcome back.

[LisaM]

5. That's terrible! I have never had that problem

every now and then I see an aggressive dog at the dog park, but I have never seen them attack my (or anyone else's) dogs, luckily. That would make me so angry. Is there recourse? Do they issue tickets at your dog park?

[madison2000]

10. This is the second time its happened and I go there about 5 times a week

Its a huge park and I rarely see the same/people dogs twice. Both times it was a large black lab with a female owner. There are so many black labs that I am not even sure I would know the person or dog if I saw them again. They took off pretty quickly. Honestly I just don't expect that kind of aggression from a lab.

My first concern was my dog. Both times I've yelled something like "this better be your last trip to the dog park" and they ignored me. I really don't have any specific info on them, though I suppose I could have waited in the parking lot and gotten a license plate number to report.

My dog once strayed into my neighbors yard and got roughed up by her doberman. She came over and apologized for half an hour. I really felt it was my own fault for letting him stray and wouldn't have held it against her, but I appreciated that she was so concerned about my dog as well as about me.

[mermaid]

15. I Have A Black Lab

and she's the sweetest thing...wouldn't hurt no-one. She rolls over even in play...she's never the aggressor.

The owner of that dog ruined a good dog, and she needs a good swift kick in the ass.

[madison2000]

34. Most of them are very nice dogs

I know a black lab who is pretty grumpy and doesn't like anyone but his owner- but he was abused in a previous life, and he never actually harms a person or another animal. He's just permanently grumpy.
I have to remind myself that any dog can be ill-behaved, it isn't always breed specific.

[Duer 157099]

8. I wish I could take my dog to the dog park

I took her once (she's recently adopted, have only had her a few months) and kept her on leash to see how she would respond. There was only one dog there (golden) who ran up to us to be friends and they sniffed and then my dog growled and lunged. I had her on harness and was able to keep control of her, but now I'm very frustrated with how to go about socializing her when I cannot take her to where dogs are. I don't know how she would react after the initial growl/lunge -- she might just be ok, I don't know. And, I know that being on leash affects their behavior too -- they feel restrained and more vulnerable and thus more agressive.

So, I keep her away from other dogs, and I'm sure it's only making things worse by isolating her.

[Blue Diadem]

9. I know what you mean!

My old guy was attacked a few times in his life. The last time was not very long after abdominal surgery, we had him on a leash while walking down the street and the woman was holding one dog while letting the other run free.

She didn't say a word to us and didn't even call her dog. My dog was large and could have really hurt her dog if he chose, but he didn't...it wasn't his nature. The dog only stopped biting him after they clunked heads..then it ran back to the owner.

I hope your dog will be ok. People should keep their agressive dogs away from dog parks.

[HEyHEY]

12. Sometimes peopel don't know

My sister's dog is a sweetheart and great with other dogs. But often she gets a little excited and one thing leads another

[mermaid]

13. Because...

THEIR sweet little dog would NEVER do anything like that!! They are the same way with their kids, too.

I had some asshole once, at a dog park...and the son of a bitch's dog kept trying to hump my dog, and my dog...she kept tucking her tail and running away and hiding under tables and whatnot.

Meanwhile, this dog is trying to hump every single dog in the park, male or female! and a number of the other owners, myself included, finally got pissed off and asked the owner to take their dog and leave.

He got pissed off, claiming it was a public park, and that his dog wasn't doing anything wrong...he was "just playing."

I pointed at my dog, cowering under a table. "MY dog doesn't think that your dog is 'just playing' damn you!" "My dog WAS running around happily, tail wagging, with the other dogs, until your little rapist dog came into the park!"

The other owners cheered me, and this guy meekly took his rapist dog out of the park. Ain't seen him since.

Sometimes, you gotta call an asshole out.

[driver8]

27. Do you by any chance live in Los Angeles?

I used to go to the dog park up by Lake Hollywood and there was a dog there that used to do that.

[Lizzie Borden]

14. Usually Labs are kind and gentle but...

they are also used in schutzhund (attack training). They can be good police dogs. So they can be aggressive. At the dog park I would try to stay away from all other dogs. You just never know. Growing up I had a Dachshund that attacked anything with 4 legs. You just can't tell--it's a dog thing.

[BentleyJD]

16. unfortunately, its' also true....

A lot of people make their dogs aggressive on purpose, I've even heard of people giving thier dogs gun powder with their food.
And if they knew it was an aggressive dog, they had no right brining him/her to the park.
You are right, you never know what a particular dog is going to do, but the damn owners of this dog damn well knew, I would bet.
take care
tony and dietrich
ps I didn't know labs could be trained for cops.

[shrike]

36. Labs are very smart

They are also trained as companion animals and guide dogs for the blind.

[madison2000]

17. Occasionally I've even seen a golden retriever which was antisocial

It doesn't happen very often- most of them are very lovey dovey, but its not impossible. I would't want an aggressive dog- but if I had one I would work with it- pay someone to teach me how to work with it- or pay someone to retrain the dog out of its aggressive habits.

[American Tragedy]

30. You really can't compare a dachshund to a lab though.

It's not even a matter of breed or disposition, so much as what the animal is capable of doing if they happen to succumb to fear or territorial instinct. In any given situation, a 10 pound dog is overwhelmingly less likely to put someone in the hospital than one that weighs 100 lbs.

My schnauzer, before we taught her to be marginally civil around strangers, would storm up to guests snarling and biting their ankles. She put up a great show of ferocity, but she'd wind up merely stretching or tearing their jeans, and we could pretty much brush her away with one hand.

A labrador, in contrast, could get confused and charge just one time and it could be a major emergency. It's happened before.

[Dookus]

18. trashed how?

was it bitten? I hope he's OK.

[madison2000]

19. I heard snarling and I saw the lab had its mouth around the side of my

dogs head/neck. My dog lost his balance and fell. Then there was human yelling and it was over. My dog has a very thick coat, so there were no punctures to his skin, just spit.

My dog once got an inch deep puncture wound in his rear end from a German Shepherd who lives in my neighborhood. It didn't bleed much and I didn't see it till a few hours later when it was too late to stitch up- took 2 months to heal. Now whenever we walk by that dog's house the German Shepherd is in the yard with a high fence -he rarely gets a walk- and my dog mouths off at him.

Its like he's yelling "Hey asshole, I'n getting a walk and you're stuck in the yard all day, asshole!" My dog doesn't mouth off anywhere else so its pretty obvious he remembers what happened and hates that dog!

[LisaM]

20. There's a German shepherd like that in our neighborhood!

We call him the Squire because he lived next to an Irish setter (thankfully moved) that for no good reason used to have it in for my dog Scott (we called them "Mortal Enemy" and "The Squire".) The Irish setter's owner would walk one or both of them and he would often have the setter off leash. For no reason we could ever fathom, the setter would start growling and barking whenever he saw Scott (sweet cocker-golden mix) and go apeshit, trying to attack him. Unbeknownst to Mortal Enemy, Scott and his equally sweet sister Zelda were littermates and could act in tandem against any threat. They would not put up with his crap and once after he tried to attack Scott, he was seen limping around the neighborhood for a week or two. Served him right. The stupid owner would never control him and rarely had him on a leash - what did he expect? I still never understood why he hated Scott so much.

[kodi]

21. I wish I knew. Sorry about the incident.

I never take my dogs out of the yard unleashed and I do not let them off the leash in parks.

Unless one has had their dog undergo real obedience training I don't see how one could expect an unleashed dog to stay under control around other dogs, especially ones the dog has not met before.

I own 3 big kuvaszok. When I had just two and each was 18-24 months, I used to go to a park in Danville Virginia. both Aja and Kodi (my DU namesake) were on leashes one day as I walked the park. Aja was about 80 pounds, Kodi was over 130 pounds and both could clear a 5 foot high fence on a run with no problem.


Well, this family was about 100 yards away with an unleashed rotwieller, who upon seeing me and Aja and Kodi, immediately ran towards us. I shortened the leads on each leash and tightened up, expecting trouble, and trouble was what I got.

This 150 pound rotweiller dove in on Aja (who was not a dominant dog at all) as I held her leash. Kodi was going berserk and it took a grown man like myself to hold her off the other dog as it attacked Aja. I dropped Aja's leash immediately so she could handle the other dog (think "Romeo and Juliet" and Mercucio's knife fight) and held Kodi back.

Within seconds Aja had the rotweiller on its back and had slashed its throat and had bitten its ear nearly off.

the owner came running up screaming at me to get my dog(s) off his dog as it ran away bleeding like hell. I still held Kodi back as Aja stood next to me without a scratch on her as I picked up her leash again..

I started screaming back at this guy and his wife that I had my dogs on leashes and it was his dog that had initiated the attack and that he had been lucky that I had not let my bigger dog off the leash or it would have killed his dog.

A couple of cops had seen the whole thing and came running up and separated me from the other guy and his wife and gave him a ticket for having his dog off a leash in the park and told him to get the hell out of the park with that dog.

Luckily, I had met the two cops before as I walked th park with Aja and Kodi and they were aware of how sweet my dogs were and had given them biscuit treats on a number of occasions.

They told me that I was lucky to have dogs big and tough enough to defend themselves they saw lots of dogs attacked like mine was at the park.

If I go to parks with my dogs, I leash them and carry mace and/or a stick to protect myself and my dogs from other dogs whose owners are as stupid as those I encountered in Danville.

[NC_Nurse]

22. I stopped going to the dog park.

My dogs aren't very big and are easily intimidated. They got freaked out by big aggressive dogs whose owners didn't seem to notice their dogs being bullies. We just go to other places now to frolic. Works better for them.

Both of mine are rescues and I think at least one of them was treated poorly so I don't want to subject her to stressful situations if I don't have to. They get along better with the kitties at home anyway. :-)

[Duer 157099]

23. So what to do with an adult, non-socialized dog?

Their socialization period during puppyhood is when they learn how to behave. What to do when you adopt an adult who hasn't been socialized well? Isolation makes the problem worse.

Group therapy with muzzles all around?

I've never seen one advertised... do they exist?

[madison2000]

24. I know people with adult non-socialized dogs who have worked with a

trainer to gain better control of the dog- it was an investment of a few hundred dollars but if you're keeping the dog its worth it.

[driver8]

25. A couple of dog park stories

I had a roommate who had a Bassett hound -- the biggest, most loveable hound you have ever seen. I used to take him to the dog park almost everyday -- he was like a local celebriity and everyone at the dog park loved him. Anyhow, one day he was playing with another dog and they were chasing each other. They ran past this guy and his lab who were playing fetch. I guess the dogs got too close because the lab attacked my hound -- he pinned him and bit him on the top of the head so there was a big puncture wound. The lab owner finally got off his ass and got his dog off my dog and he came running to me...crying all the way. When the other people at the park found out it was my hound that got attacked, they ganged up on this guy. I guess his dog had attacked another dog a few days earlier. He was practically chased out of the dog park. It was cool to see people get so pissed. The guy never apologized for his dog attacking mine.


I have a Border Collie who I took to the dog park a couple of times. His herding instincts are so strong, all he wanted to do was herd the other dogs. If one went after a ball, he would cut them off and herd them back towards "the group." He would get as many dogs together as he could and then run around them in a circle so they wouldn't get away. I finally had to quit taking him because he was such a pain in the ass. Plus, he would run until he dropped -- he was obsessed with herding the other dogs.

[RadicalMom]

28. Some of the pet stores carry a spray, similar to pepper spray. Carry

it in your pocket whenever you go out. We had to do that for years with our first dog, who was evryone's "puppy chow," and attacked a lot on regular on-leash (for him) walks. The brand I used to get was "Halt," though I haven't had to buy it for years. I also wouldn't dream of taking any dog to a dog park for so many reasons. It just isn't worth risking your dog. Bites, for dogs and people, diseases, etc. are all possibilities. We even had to buy the biggest nastiest looking leather harness we could find, to try to protect his neck and shoulders, where they were most likely to attack. Poor boy looked like he was into bondage. Of course, people insisted their dogs didn't do it, weren't let loose, were under "total command control." I heard it all. Nobody ever would pay a vet bill. People suck.

[American Tragedy]

29. Like any breed, some labs can be surprisingly vicious.

I should know. I still have raised scar tissue along my arm from when I was mauled by a yellow lab at the age of eleven.

Naturally, the owner refused to accept it or even acknowledge that it happened, since her precious dog would never do something like that. What the hell is wrong with people?

[bkcc]

31. Some pet owners are clueless.

I take my dog to the local dog park everyday...and everyday there's a guy who brings his big, hyper-active, unneutered male dog to the park.

He refuses to get the dog fixed. If you know anything about dogs, you know that unneutered males around neutered males is a bad idea.

There is a fight everyday between his dog and others. And he refuses to understand that he can actually fix the situation. He's not breeding the dog or anything; he just has some macho, pigheaded issue with getting the dog neutered.

FYI...I'm not speculating on that macho thing. He actually told a group of us that was the case. (Didn't actually use the word "macho" but that was the jist of it.)

Needless to say, we steer clear when we see him and his dog coming.

[madison2000]

32. When I lived in Chicago, there were few choices about where to walk

a dog so we all ended up at the same park. There was a man in the neighborhood who had a 150 lb young bull mastiff which was un-neutered. Not surprisingly, the dog often tried to dominate other dogs and most of us crossed the street when we saw him coming.

All of the dogs at the park were neutered or spayed. The bull mastiff's owner said he wasn't planning to breed the dog, but wasn't ready to neuter him either. He said he was concerned about his dog's sexuality- whether the dog would have a complete life without sexual experience.

The owner was a philosophy PhD student.

[Liberal In Texas]

37. My dog hates the dog park

We went once. I'll never take her back.