Stranger was mean to my dog!!!

[mischloss]

Oh I could just scream right now I am so mad. I went for a walk with hubby and my D son out in our woodland, called the Greenway. It has walkways and is very nice. Right by our house. We were on the way out and a man with two small girls was coming down the walkway. The children passed us by, no incident. We have a 30 lb. Jack Russell Terrier Mix doggie named Biscuit. He was panting and pulling us up the slope of this exit, the guy came toward us and as he got closer Biscuit started to bark madly at him and tug at me. He does have issues with some people, mostly men. I think he might have been abused as a puppy. We got him at about 1 year old. Anyway, I pull back on Biscuit and tell him No loudly and say, come on Biscuit let's go. Come on. The guy just stops in front of the dog, staring him down, dog gets even more upset and I have to actually pull the dog around this guy at this point. Then as I am passing...(hubby is ahead of me at this point) the guy says pretty loudly, "your dog needs a good kick in the head that will cure him!" Can you believe it???:eek: Oh my God it took all my Logical sense to not release Biscuit right onto the guy. I even mumbled about my dog biting you *ss if you don't shut up but with all the barking the guy didn't hear me. I was just shaking mad. It was like someone telling me they want to kick my kid in the head. Honestly! Hubby of course who is not the best as loving dogs said with a shrug well not everyone likes animals, you just have to accept that. AAAAAhhhhhh!!!

I just kept thinking it would have felt so good for a moment to have Biscuit go head on with this guy and see him running for the hills. But then of course I knew if that would have happened, they would have called the Animal Control on Biscuit and I would have lost him forever which would have broken my heart. So I am glad that I had the control. But being part Italian my blood came to a huge boil and I would have personally loved to have knocked his block off.

Thanks for letting me vent. This was just sooooo frickin hard to take.:mad:

[KeltonsMom]

For starters no dog deserves to be kicked in the head :mad:

Mean people are cone butts (whatever a cone butt is) I am sorry he was mean. I am glad you didn't let go of the leash and allow your doggie bite his legs off :D

Just because some people do not like animals doesn't give them the right to say mean things to pet owners..:mad:

[StillMamamia]

That is really mean!! I can understand you about wanting your dog to go after that idiot!! Glad you didn't though :cwds:
I've 2 dogs and have had my share of nasty remarks. I just let them slide...my DH, however, will say something back.

[mischloss]

I think the ones that don't own pets can't understand how loyal we are to our "fur children." I would defend my dog from anything and any body just as a child. Once there was a huge dog, like a shepard coming towards my dog and it freaked out my dog but I got between them immediate and just towered over the other dog and told it to back off. Luckily it was so startled by my action and lack of fear (I watch the dog whisperer!! :p) that it just stopped and went around the other way.

but yeah people can be so nasty to our pets. Seems like if they (the pets) don't understand what the person is saying then I guess it must be okay to say nasty things to them. :(

[CJ's Mom]

I would have stopped and given that guy a nice roundhouse kick to the head and say, "Did that cure your stupidity?" Sorry, in a nasty mood today, I'll go sit in a corner...

Here's a doggie story:
Had my 168 lb. rottweiler at a little league game. Small school, most of the kids and their siblings know or know of our dog. He's very gentle and LOVES the attention he gets from kids of all ages, even toddlers. I decided to take Mosie for a walk and as we passed this man sitting on top of a picknic (where's the darn spell check!) table, this little chihuahua pokes its head out of this guys jacket and is just going to tear us apart. Mosie looks at this little dog like, what's your problem, lets out one big WOOF, and we keep on walking. Well, the mom of this dog yells, "That big dog is going to attack my little Foo Foo!" We kept on walking. Wanted to turn around and say, no, he'll just swallow it whole. FWIW-nothing against chihuahuas.

[hold48398]

I am thinking that man has bigger problems in his life :rolleyes:. What a pittyful and nasty person. Good for you for controlling yourself...I am know to speak my mind, especially in situations like this. I once had a guy say a really nasty comment about Mia when she was little (she was just being a toddler), so I turned around, tapped the guy on the shoulder and told him to his face that he was a bitter old man :eek:.

[saxmaniac]

I'm not a dog person at all... I don't know which ones will try to eat me or not. You may know that, but I don't. If a dog starts going nuts at me I get really nervous. My aunt got her hand chewed off by a neighbor's "nice dog that never attacked anyone". This doesn't justify the guys really rude behavior... but people do weird things when scared.

I think you should have acknowledged to the person that your dog was the problem, and said "Sorry". Just like if you walk into someone who is standing in line, or accidentally sneeze on someone... the etiquette is to apologize. He was probably angry that you didn't seem to care about scaring him, and were rude to him first.

[frizzyrazzy]

I'm not a dog person at all... I don't know which ones will try to eat me or not. You may know that, but I don't. If a dog starts going nuts at me I get really nervous. My aunt got her hand chewed off by a neighbor's "nice dog that never attacked anyone". This doesn't justify the guys really rude behavior... but people do weird things when scared.

I think you should have acknowledged to the person that your dog was the problem, and said "Sorry". Just like if you walk into someone who is standing in line, or accidentally sneeze on someone... the etiquette is to apologize. He was probably angry that you didn't seem to care about scaring him, and were rude to him first.

yeah, I have to agree with Scott on this one. While YOU know what your dog is going to do, those of us who are deathly afraid of dogs do not. and it sounds to me like the guy was a little pissed off to be in a public place and have to have a dog bark at him and probably was thinking that what would have happened if the dog had barked at his kids. I'm not saying he wasn't rude, but it sounds like he was just very scared and was yelling about it.

I know that I can't walk at my local park much anymore because of the dogs. I shouldn't have to be accosted by dogs while I'm trying to exercise and it really shakes me up if a dog walks up to me because my first instinct is to kick it to get it away from me, sort of like if a strange man walked up too close into my personal space and started yelling at me - I'd kick and scream. I'm sure you all would.

Just like you guys all consider them your fur babies, you have to realize that there are many of us who don't. :)

[mischloss]

I usually always apologize and pull my dog close to me safely. Always am on the lookout for anyone around us. He is more "dog aggresive" really than people aggressive. But what struck me odd is that I didn't have time yet to say anything except try to calm down Biscuit by saying No a lot. And what struck me as odd was that the guy could have kept on walking, he was a very safe distance from the dog like about 5 feet away, and yet he stopped and deliberately just stared at the dog as if to comfront him and then told me that he deserved a kick in the head. That is what was so odd and I got all shook up about it.

I have been in situations as well, when animals behaved badly but I never was "in their face" staring them down. I mean that is the last type of behavior you want to do in front of a mad dog. Staring them in the eye is a massive form of aggression.

[CJ's Mom]

"he was a very safe distance from the dog like about 5 feet away, and yet he stopped and deliberately just stared at the dog as if to comfront him "

That is exactly how the dog saw it/felt, like he was being confronted.
(Dog WHisperer too)

[EmmasPapa]

I have been in situations as well, when animals behaved badly but I never was "in their face" staring them down. I mean that is the last type of behavior you want to do in front of a mad dog. Staring them in the eye is a massive form of aggression.

You had your dog legally leashed and physically controlled - the man may have had reason to be annoyed by the barking but his behavior was inexcusable. Besides, a leashed Jack Russell is hardly a fearsome beast.

[mischloss]

Besides, a leashed Jack Russell is hardly a fearsome beast.

Yeah right up there with a Beagle! :p

[frizzyrazzy]

You had your dog legally leashed and physically controlled - the man may have had reason to be annoyed by the barking but his behavior was inexcusable. Besides, a leashed Jack Russell is hardly a fearsome beast.

That may be the case but the man clearly didn't know that. I have no idea which dogs are mean and fearsome and which are not. To me, they are all fearsome.

[frizzyrazzy]

I usually always apologize and pull my dog close to me safely. Always am on the lookout for anyone around us. He is more "dog aggresive" really than people aggressive. But what struck me odd is that I didn't have time yet to say anything except try to calm down Biscuit by saying No a lot. And what struck me as odd was that the guy could have kept on walking, he was a very safe distance from the dog like about 5 feet away, and yet he stopped and deliberately just stared at the dog as if to comfront him and then told me that he deserved a kick in the head. That is what was so odd and I got all shook up about it.

I have been in situations as well, when animals behaved badly but I never was "in their face" staring them down. I mean that is the last type of behavior you want to do in front of a mad dog. Staring them in the eye is a massive form of aggression.

I'm not saying you did anything wrong. :) I'm just trying to point out why some people overreact to dogs that are barking. 5 feet away for me doesn't feel like a safe distance, even if the dog is leashed and as you said he was straining on the leash. If I was 5 feet away from a barking dog straining on his leash I'd probably freak out, especially if my children were near and I felt that they were threatened (even if that threat wasn't real to the dog owner). Does that make sense??? i'm not saying you're wrong or your dog was wrong. I'm just trying to say how people who are really afraid of dogs feel.

[OSUMom]

I hear what Scott and Michelle you guys are saying, but in this scenario that Maria is describing this guy doesn't sound scared at all - he sounds like a jerk in my opinion. Dogs bark sometimes.

[frizzyrazzy]

He may be a jerk, but if you read the way Maria wrote it "the guy came toward us and as he got closer Biscuit started to bark madly at him and tug at me. He does have issues with some people, mostly men." The guy didn't do anything to provoke the barking, the dog just started barking at the man, and then the guy stopped and stared. To me, stopping and staring sound like the man was frightened even thought we all know that staring at a mad dog is a no no. Then she said " dog gets even more upset and I have to actually pull the dog around this guy at this point." That's when the guy yelled.

so when I read that what I see is the dog barks, the man freezing, the dog got more upset and Maria had to pull the dog away and then the guy lashing out.

I guess what you see from the situation depends on what side you're on. :) Again, I'm not saying Maria did anything wrong or doesn't have the right to be pissed that some stranger yelled at her dog. I would be pissed if some stranger yelled at my kid. I'm just trying to point out why someone would behave like that. :)

[saxmaniac]

I mean that is the last type of behavior you want to do in front of a mad dog. Staring them in the eye is a massive form of aggression.

Non-dog people don't know this. I've never owned a dog, and couldn't tell you what to do here.

If you run in to a bear, do you cower, or stare him down? How about a mountain lion? Do you know offhand?

The guy certainly was rude and escalated it unnecessarily, but perhaps the whole thing it could been avoided by apologizing up front. It's hard to tell from a verbal account and I wasn't there, though.

[etringali]

T"he guy didn't do anything to provoke the barking, the dog just started barking at the man, and then the guy stopped and stared"

Though the guy didn't provoke, the staring almost sounds like he was challenging the dog. Most dogs-not all mind you, but most dogs only get aggressive towards another person if they feel they're territory is being threatened. Dog may have felt his person was being threatened(i'd feel threated if some guy stopped 5feet away and stared).
None the less, whether the guy felt threated or not, telling someone their animal needs their head kicked in is just plain mean, imho. obviously a boot to the head didn't do that guy anygood......(ok, I'm being a wise@$$)
I probably would've gotten my head kicked cos I would've shot back to the guy that a kick in the head obviously didn't help him any. My mouth has a mind of its own sometimes......

[frizzyrazzy]

LOL you guys - I want to be a fly on the wall when you're all talking about this at dinner because you both have totally different views.

it's like me and my dh. DH loves dogs and his family tells the story of the dog they had growing up - Candy. Candy was this wonderful beautiful dog who followed dh and his siblings and cousins everywhere, and from all accounts was the perfect best dog in the universe. I thought "oh wow, even I could get used to a Candy"

Then one day I happened to hear from dh's aunt more of the Candy story. Seems Candy bit every child in the neighborhood. If the kids were playing in the yard and a friend came over, the dog would bite them thinking that the other child was going to attack her "people". if the newspaper boy walked into the yard, the dog bit him. If the kids were playing tag the dog would run out and bite someone. Now this was back in the 60's and apparently no one in dh's family thought this was a big deal the dog was only being protective.

so looking at it from dh's family viewpoint - the dog was wonderful
from the neighbors viewpoint - not so wonderful.

who's story is right? dunno. But no matter what I say I cannot get dh's family to understand why I don't think Candy was a good dog and no matter what they say they can't convince me she was. It just depends on what side you are on.

[OSUMom]

My thoughts are for some this situation may have scared you - and rightfully so if you're not dog lovers - but this guy did not behave in a way that he was scared.

If I'm scared, I get the heck out of dodge - I don't return or stay and confront. :confused: ;) :cwds:

Maybe we're overanalyzing a simple vent.:D

[mischloss]

Wow, this is turning into a dog fest! ;)

Well, I think more than anything the comment out of the guy's mouth was uncalled for. I was doing the correct thing by holding onto my dog tightly and dragging the dog as best I could out of the way and continuing with our walk. I mean it is not like I was standing there and enjoying the fact that my dog was barking at this person. Truly I feel for people that are confronted by a "worked up" dog. But it would never enter my mind to tell someone that their dog needs to have their head kicked in. I think that was the shock factor to all this. I mean to me it was like having a little child throw a tantrum in a store lets say, right in a line or something and someone in the line say to me, you child needs a good *ss whipping in my opinion. I mean, yeah, okay the kid is causing a scene but does that give you the right to say your kid needs a beating?

Okay I will get off the soap box now. I know it is a dog not a kid. :rolleyes:

[mischloss]

I probably would've gotten my head kicked cos I would've shot back to the guy that a kick in the head obviously didn't help him any. My mouth has a mind of its own sometimes......

Yeah me too....I was so close to unleashing my tongue big time. I grew up in the Bronx, can't take the fighter out of me. ;) But then with people like these, you don't know where it will end, and the whole time I was concerned he might call the authorities on me about Biscuit. Which of course would have just prolonged the whole incident. Sometimes the best thing to do is walk away and drop it and just know that people like that will just be that way no matter what.

[mischloss]

Now does this look like a ferocious creature to you guys? ;) Okay had to just put the angel wings on him! :p


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/blackeyeball/Pets/Biscuit3-1.jpg

[OSUMom]

Hey that's my birthday!!! Cute pup and looks smart too!!! :D

[mischloss]

Yeah, Laurie, too smart for his own good! :rolleyes:

That was the second day we had him. He ran after my car, and jumped in from the street. We tried to give him back to the owners but they told us to keep him, if we liked him. Hmmmm...makes you wonder doesn't it? But he is my baby, and he is 3 years old now, but people keep thinking he is a puppy. He has that shepard type snout.

[Kirsten]

I should probably stay out of this...

The guy's comment was definitely uncalled for, BUT I firmly believe that you need to be fully in control of your dog when you're out in public. If you say shush, the dog should stop barking. If your dog has issues around strangers you need to either work on them or avoid taking your dog out in public. A stranger walking down the street doesn't know your dog's history and even though I have years of experience with dogs, I wouldn't be happy to come across a strange dog barking and lunging out of control. I might turn to you and ask you to please control your dog.

Everyone always comments on how well-behaved my dogs (past and present) are in public and tell me that they must be special. Truly, with a little work and consistency there are very few dogs that cannot learn to behave politely in public. You and your dog will be much less stressed if you take some time to work on this issue.

My 2 cents,

Kirsten

[mischloss]

Thanks Kirsten. I actually had him in "one on one" training for a whole week about a year ago and he responded very well. I try to correct him if he acts up immediately, whether in public or private. I praise him and give treats if he behaves around others also. But sometimes, he just gets into a mood for whatever reason and begins to bark and pull. I really have been very pro-active about not taking him into situations that would stress him out. What was so strange is that he was at the end of a long nice walk, which usually makes him happy and tired and up until that point he was just walking along quietly and happily with us. Go figure.

[Tigerlilly's mom]

Maybe we're overanalyzing a simple vent.:D[/QUOTE]



You think?:D - LOL

[Kirsten]

Thanks Kirsten. I actually had him in "one on one" training for a whole week about a year ago and he responded very well. I try to correct him if he acts up immediately, whether in public or private. I praise him and give treats if he behaves around others also. But sometimes, he just gets into a mood for whatever reason and begins to bark and pull. I really have been very pro-active about not taking him into situations that would stress him out. What was so strange is that he was at the end of a long nice walk, which usually makes him happy and tired and up until that point he was just walking along quietly and happily with us. Go figure.

I'm glad to hear that you're working on it.:) It might help to get him more focused on you, so that he can more easily ignore "triggers." If I were closer, I'd offer to help you out with him. I'm sorry your nice walk was spoiled.

Kirsten

[twodoor2]

Not to change the subject or hijack the thread, but what about people being mean to your kids!! We were at a huge grocery store a few weeks ago, and there were some fish aquariums there. My children were squealing and yelling with delight as they looked at the fish, and some woman walks by with her elderly mother, and yells at my kids to "Shut the F**k up!!" - yes, she used the "F" word,:eek:and her old mother said, "These idiot kids these days, what is the matter with them?!!"

My husband and I just stood aghast. We just chalked it up to some sort of mental derrangement. I have friends that don't like kids, many people don't care for kids, but to say something like that??!! :eek: My girlfriend just rolls her eyes, but she wouldn't have the audacity to make horrible comments to a child.

I agree that some people just do not have the social skills or graces to get along with each other, and when we're all driving, forget about it!! I think we all become different people when we're behind the wheel.

[StillMamamia]

1. I still think the guy's comment was mean, but I do agree he might've felt very afraid
2. dog-owners and lovers that we are sometimes can't see the 'other side'...been there, done that
3. not everybody likes dogs, and many are afraid of them, so when out in public, I always have them on the leash
4. dogs bark sometimes...even with appropriate training

Slight highjack:
A couple of years ago, during a walking in the woods session with a friend of mine (we were trying to power-walk:rolleyes:), we approached a bend on the the way. We were chatting some, and she kept mentioning about how there are wild-hogs at night in this particular area. So, we near closer to the bend, and I see far away a big animal looking in out direction. I turn to my friend, and say 'Aaahhh, what's thaaaat???'...she answered 'Oh Sh*t! It's a wild-hog! Run!'.
So we turn back and ran for our lives, and sometimes we looked back, and the darn wild-hog was getting closer and closer, and it was huge. We finally made it to the 'exit' of the woods, and ran to our car. Mind you, we were trying to power walk....and we had never even made it so far as the 'power' part, let alone attempt running...we sat unable to breathe in the car, and hoping the wild-hog would not 'smell' us.
A few mins later, the wild-hog appeared....with his owner :confused: IT WAS A DOG!!!! A big, furry DOG!!! The owner had also come running, because (we later found out) his dog saw us running and ran too!!!
So moral of the story....
- keep your dog on the leash if you can
- respect that some people are afraid of dogs (or wild-hogs ;))
- don't run when your fitness level 0 (I swear my legs hurt for a month after that

[mischloss]

OMG, I am just laughing so hard right now at that Hog story! I can just see it happening in front of my eyes!

As far as the rude lady saying the F word to your kids. That is inexcusable!!! I would have totally unleashed on her and my words would have totally surpassed the F word sorry to say. As sponge bob once said to Patrick... "I use a lot of Sentence Enhancers!" :D

We had 4 boys around the age of 6, behind our table at the Pollo Loco restaurant yesterday. The two Moms both went to order the food. No adult with the kids for about 5 minutes. Needless to say the boys started to get on top of the table and parachute off of it one by one. But I have a son....have a memory of that age group...and can remember how rambuncous they can be, especially before any food shows up on the table. Of course we were trying to have our dinner etc. And yes, it was mildly annoying, but heck they are kids. I was more afraid of them injuring themselves while propelling off the table top all the while enduring the squeals of laughter. :rolleyes:

[twodoor2]

As far as the rude lady saying the F word to your kids. That is inexcusable!!! I would have totally unleashed on her and my words would have totally surpassed the F word sorry to say. As sponge bob once said to Patrick... "I use a lot of Sentence Enhancers!"

I saw that episode of Spongebob by the way!!:p When people act like that or show a huge amount of road rage, it's just best to ignore it in my opinion. Unless you're under the potential for physical harm, I just turn the other cheek. For someone to talk that way, you know they have to have some sort of mental issues. It does no one any good to act out, and can even make things worse. That's just my opinion. I just shook my head, rolled my eyes, and walked away. That's just me though, I'm sure a lot of other people would have really let her have it, and I wouldn't have blamed them one bit.:)

[frizzyrazzy]

OMG Paula!! ROFL that's the best story ever!

[Tori's Mom]

ROFL!! Paula, you have made me laugh out loud at my desk twice today. The "wild hogs" and the CWD addict post!!! Too funny!