Dogs?

[LiisaM]

Does anyone else have a dog problem? Dogs are not supposed to be loose where I live, but some people don't know, and folks can get a $1000 fine if their dog is out, but I imagine that seldom happens. I am asking about this because I have run into some vicious dogs on occasion and a neighbor lady actually got bitten. Because of dogs, I don't always take the nicest route.... (And yes, we have a dog, but we don't let him go loose....)

[Irishprincess Graduate10]

Don't.Get.Us.Started.

[misswobble Graduate10 in reply to Irishprincess]

No!

[Mand102]

My daughter tripped and almost fell on our last run together thanks to an idiot letting his dog wander about with a long lead dragging behind it!

[LiisaM in reply to Mand102]

Glad to hear that it was an almost fell instead of actually fell!

[Irish-John Graduate10]

I hated when I had to badly hurt a dog a long time ago that bit me - I wish I could have punished the true cause of the incident, the rotyon iwner who let the dog loose and probably also raised itbadlyso it was a Biter.

[LiisaM in reply to Irish-John]

I sprayed a dog once with pepper spray--in my own driveway!

[Irish-John Graduate10 in reply to LiisaM]

Unfortunately it is not then legal to spray the owner

BTW - the 'PC' crowd are at it again. I have been informed that it is no longer 'acceptable' to refer to a canine as a 'biter' or 'vicious' or 'mean' etc?

Nope - now we have to 'respect the boundaries' of - (sigh) -

'Reactive Dogs". Honestly - sometimes I wonder if it would not have been a bad thing if the Commies had won LOL LOL LOL

[DebJogsOn]

I find dogs with their owners are often worse than any running lose. Those extendable leads in the wrong hands are lethal. A dog ran straight up to me, jumped up an literally put his front paws on my shoulders a couple of weeks ago and when I pushed him off - his owner (trailing behind with the extendable lead) actually laughed as he said 'he's just being curious'!!!

I love running at the local reservoir as dogs aren't allowed - you do have to dodge anglers casting their lines occasionally though 😊

[LiisaM]

The reservoir sounds wonderful for running!

[ClarriePan]

I hate dogs jumping up. They seem to always come from behind and take me by surprise. A couple of weeks ago this blokes dog ran up to me and jumped up. The owner said ‘haha he’s a ladies dog’. I was not amused and told him ‘no he’s a jumping up dog and you needs to train it not to’.

[LiisaM in reply to ClarriePan]

I hate the dogs that act like they're going to take a bite out of my running legs.... Because of "dogs" I am not free to run wherever I'd like to run. Dogs affect my running places which doesn't seem right to me.

[ClarriePan in reply to LiisaM]

I am of the mind it is the owners at fault not the dogs. Unfortunately there are a lot of irresponsible owners and if you stand up for yourself they don’t like it.

[LiisaM in reply to ClarriePan]

I absolutely agree with you.

[WalkingWithLabradors]

I love dogs and have two of my own. My dogs come to recall and sit at heel if they need to. I even get a thank you from some runners!

I think those extendable leads should be banned!!! There is no way an owner is in control of an animal using one of those. The dogs are just ‘on a line’. I was tripped over on a pack walk by one of these ‘leads’ and have asked the organisers to say to the owners to keep the dogs on short lengths and controlled.

The dogs are better off lead and trained to respect other people’s space.

Rant over. 😁🐶🐶

[APScotland Graduate10]

I regularly encounter loose dogs on one of my running routes. Owners are safely indoors while the dogs terrorise passers by. It's irresponsible! My partner is terrified of dogs after being bitten years ago. I love dogs, despite having being bitten too, but I don't love being chased / snarled at / tripped up. Particularly when I'm following my audio coach and en route to a PB and have to stop to defend myself!

[LiisaM in reply to APScotland]

How do you defend yourself against a dog who is terrifying? I stop and wait for the owner to get their dog to back up or go inside. Sometimes I have had to reverse directions--very irritating!

[APScotland Graduate10 in reply to LiisaM]

The owner is rarely visible where I live! If the dog gets too close for comfort, especially if it come up behind me, I stop and face it. They're far less likely to bite when you're facing them. Sometimes just stomp confidently towards them and they'll back off. The most important thing is to show no fear. I've tried various tactics - "who's a good dog?", said with enthusiasm, can quieten them down. If you know their name, it helps - "hello Fang! There's a good boy"... but often they don't back off or stop barking / snarling. Try picking up a stick and throwing it for them - once in a while that works. If not, pick up a stick or stones ready to defend yourself! Not sure if this works on foot, but on a biking holiday I resorted to roaring "no bad dog" at dogs which showed any inclination of chasing me to surprisingly good effect. It helped if I was going downhill. .. It's just annoying that dog owners don't keep their dogs safely contained in their own gardens instead of running around on the public road! On the other hand, I met THE sweetest little dog (brindle chihuahu) on a walk 2 weeks ago wearing a pink collar complete with bell. It galloped up to us and was utterly delightful ... and decided it wanted to come on our walk with us. I took it back to the only house nearby and knocked /rang on both doors - no reply. So we tried ignoring it - it came anyway, so we dropped it off with the nearest neighbour half a mile away. If we were in the dog-napping business, Twinkletoes would be living with us now - see, we even have her a name

[LiisaM in reply to APScotland]

Great ideas! Thanks!

[mfamilias Graduate10]

I feel your pain; I was chased by a dog that had got out of its owner's home without them seeing, I saw the peak in my running speed on my Garmin until the owner called it off. I was bitten by a Delux dog when I was a child - it was on a lead, and I wasn't interested in it in any way. The owner gave me a hanky and disappeared into the blue. I got away with my index finger being ripped open - I dread to think what might have happened if it hadn't been on a lead.

However, I haven't had any problems with dogs when running except for small dogs on extendable leads that cross the lane and trip people up. I used to take the lead with me when I took my Golden Retriever out running and walking, but never needed it - she behaved impeccably, stayed by my side and always listened. It's not just the dogs that need educating, it's the owners too

[LiisaM]

Sadly, where I run, people sometimes leave their dogs out on their unfenced property to "do their duty." These dogs are naturally interested in defending their territory and this makes running near them impossible to me. The result is that I stick to routes on sidewalks/paths next to traffic because dog owners along those routes don't want their dogs to die in traffic so they are constrained to backyards or indoors. This is how dogs affect my running, and I don't like it.

[Sillybilly1]

Last year I had a Jack Russell bite me on my ankle.... the owner just laughed🤬, well, until she had to fetch him out of the canal!!! Still see the dog now, but he now won’t come anywhere near me 😂

[APScotland Graduate10 in reply to Sillybilly1]

You may have saved future runners from being bitten! Another dog who obviously had an irresponsible owner who couldn't be bothered to train it. Jack Russells are the most frequent dogs I encounter on my runs too!