Dealing with Off Leash Dogs

[Cass C]

I want to start this by saying there is a leash law in my city, so in a perfect world this shouldn't be an issue.

 

I usually walk my dogs at odd hours so either as soon as I got home from work before most kids are home from school or an hour before it gets dark. I guess with the weather warming up kids are wanting to be outside more, which usually wouldn't be a problem. My big issue started Monday and continued Tuesday. While on my usual walk before it gets dark I ran into not one but three off leash dogs in different locations two being walked by kids under 7 and one being 'watched' by a woman talking to her neighbor. This is not in the woods or in a super rural area, this is in a big standard subdivision in city limits.

 

My issue is these off leash dogs seem to have little to no recall and all three charged me and my dogs trying to have a nice on leash walk. My dogs are not aggressive, but when being charged by a strange dog while on leash the owners never even tried to grab their dogs until my dogs started snarling, barking, and snapping and possibly worst of all pulling my arm off. Each time I yelled at whoever was walking the dog to get their dog away from me. They always insisted 'the dog's friendly' ect. The third time this happened Monday I was completely fed up, so I turned around and went home without finishing the walk. The only adult who was with their dog even had the audacity to tell me that I shouldn't walk my dogs in a neighborhood if they weren't friendly around other dogs. They then proceeded to list off some quiet places I could take my dogs to walk. I thought maybe that was a fluke, but I went out the next day and the same thing happened. I haven't been out for a walk since...

 

I guess my question is what is the proper response to off leash dogs in a subdivision? I want to be safe and I want walks to not be a stressful experience for my dogs. Is the solution just to stop walking my dogs in my neighborhood? Sorry for the long post, but I'm very frustrated. Any and all advice is welcome.

[GentleLake]

If there are leash laws and they're being ignored, call animal control and report them. If you have a cell phone enter the number in your contact list and call them on the spot.

 

You can also remind the people (especially the adults) that there are leash laws they're violating and that their dogs are the ones causing the problem by approaching your lawfully leashed dogs.

 

ETA: If the kids are under 7 they probably have no idea they're doing anything wrong (and also probably don't have a whole lot of control of their dogs). I'd be inclined to politely explain to them that there are leash laws and what this means and that they can get in trouble for having the dogs out without their leashes. Then I'd still call then ACO.

 

Be sure to give your location and a description of the dog(s), perhaps a description of the human as well.

[waffles]

If you encounter an adult who tries to give you grief about your on-leash dogs, I would just politely inform them that there is a leash law for a reason. I keep my town's dog control number in my phone after having repeated issues with a 100lb blood hound. It took me about 8 times of having to kick the dog off of mine, being followed by her growling, and almost being hit by a car myself before I called, but I finally did. The big problem was that the dog was just left outside on an electric fence with no one home so there was not chance to even talk to anyone.

 

It may be hard to keep your cool but with little kids it may help to explain that their dog could be hit by a car or go missing if they can't hold on tight enough to the leash. I would be afraid of saying too much and having their parents come looking for you.

 

For the most part, owners are apologetic about their dogs rushing us and not listening to their recall. I have a few times had people give me grief or look at me weird for not wanting their dogs near me. The best thing to try to remember in the moment is that you can get farther by being nice or keeping quiet, even if you really really don't want to.

[Blackdawgs]

There is a problem in my area as well. I've already made complaints to animal services regarding issues in the city parks. In reality, nothing will be done. However, there are now 2 recent emails on a government server that will be found during legal discovery when the inevitable incident leading to injury occurs.

 

Yesterday, my leashed dog was charged by an unleashed dog while its college age owners were sunbathing. I wacked the dog with a stick and when the dog came back for more, I threw the stick at the dog. The owners saw me take stick to dog twice and didn't say a word. I told them to leash their angel and walked away.

 

I will probably invest in a heavy riding crop.

[GentleLake]

Actually, I'm going to modify my opinion. If you or your dog are being harassed or attacked as some people have mentioned, I'd call the police (at least for the adults), not Animal Control. They'd get there faster and probably be a lot more influential.

 

There's absolutely no reason why you shouldn't be able to walk your leashed dogs in your own neighborhood without being molested by others' out-of-control dogs.

[Blackdawgs]

Good luck getting police to respond in a timely manner to a loose dog call unless there is a significant amount of blood.

 

In my experience, adult humans can become quite belligerent when they are reminded of leash laws and told to leash their dogs. I've come close to calling the cops on aggressive humans.

 

And, yes, I have been told that I should not bring my leashed dogs to public parks because they don't like strange dogs getting on their faces and have been told to train and socialize my dogs better. Ironic as all 3 have successfully competed in agility without leashes and collars.

[GentleLake]

Bet they'd show up if you said you or your dog(s) were being threatened by the loose dog(s).

[Blackdawgs]

Yes, if your life is in danger, call the cops. Otherwise, the dog will be long gone before the cops arrive. Short of shooting a dog, I'm not sure that the cops would do much of anything until an Animal Control truck arrived. Cops aren't trained to handle dogs.

 

In my part of the world, it has been very difficult to get the cops to enforce the animal control laws. I've witnessed loose dogs frolicking in parks with cop cars idling in parking lots or at red lights. I once walked up to an idling cop car in a park parking lot and complained about a loose dog. The cop called animal services...didn't even leave his car. I left before (if) Animal Services arrived.

[GentleLake]

Guess it depends on where you live then.

 

In my town the cops are pretty good about helping with dogs if they don't have something more pressing to do. One stopped on a routine patrol to help me find one of my dogs once who'd gotten loose and was roaming the neighborhood. (Brat!)

[Blackdawgs]

It may be location dependent. In some places, animal services are performed by the police. Here, Animal Services and the police are separate entities. I've gone round and round with Parks, Animal Services, and the police for a long time. It will probably take a big law suit involving the city/parks before some sort of definitive action is taken.

 

A few years ago I ran into a man at a local park whose kid had been bitten by a loose dog. The owner and dog left before they could be identified....and the kid was going to need rabies shots if the dog wasn't found.

 

Parks has created several fenced off-leash areas in the city parks, but people still let their dogs run at large in the parks. Ironically, the creation of these designated areas has made the situation worse outside of the designated dog areas.

[TxMom]

You'd think the police would help.... but when I called to report my young kids were being chased on their bikes by loose, large dogs no one ever did show up. Granted we're outside the city, so we just get county law enforcement and they're stretched thin sometimes.

 

When I was a kid we lived in a rural neighborhood. Between my house and my friend's house there was a family with two dogs, a heeler type and maybe a kelpie type. They had a four-rail board fence the dogs could duck right under. And every time anyone rode past on a bike, duck under they did, and chase, and nip at heels. We never rode past wearing sandals, because they got the heels of our tennis shoes plenty of times. We complained to our parents and showed them the bite marks on our shoes. I don't know if our parents didn't pass it on or the owners didn't care. I suspect the latter, because those dogs chased plenty of adults too and I can't imagine complaints weren't made. Eventually our solution was to make a pile of sticks on either side of their house. We'd pick up a stick before we passed, build up as much speed as we could on the bike, lift our feet up as high as we could, and swing the stick to keep the dogs back. Then we'd drop the stick in the pile on the other side so we could pick one up for the return trip. As an adult, I'm wondering how those folks managed to get away with letting that go on all those years.

[Cass C]

I'm glad I'm not alone in my struggle to deal with this. Unfortunately my animal control is very slow to respond and the cops don't seem to care and tell me to call animal control, but they have to catch the dog out otherwise there isn't anything they can do. At least that's what I was told when I called is once the dog is back in its own yard, even if I have proof it was out they can't do anything.

[TxMom]

Yeah, here they need to see the dog, and they want you to provide a location, then they'll show up in an hour or two. Because loose dogs just hang around like that. It was even that way once when I lived in a large city and there was a stray dog at my front door barking and acting aggressive if I tried to go outside. They told me they'd be there within the next few hours. Thanks?

 

Do you have a homeowners' association? If so, maybe check the regulations for anything you can use. HOAs sometimes care more, and they can issue fines.

[gcv-border]

I have think that the above suggestions are good:

 

Document: Call law enforcement (police/Animal Control/Sheriff or all of the above) to at least have a complaint registered. If you repeatedly call and describe your location and the dog, there will be a record (hopefully - but you should check how the reports are handled)

 

Document: Get a video on your phone. This may be difficult since you will probably need exquisite timing and 4 extra hands to control your dogs AND take a video, but it is a suggestion to think about. Make sure to capture the dog and the owner(s) in the video. Just pretending to take a video may scare the bejeesus out of the owners enough to make them take you seriously.

 

Educate: Talking to the kids kindly may educate them about the laws that their parents have not told them about. (But seriously, allowing a 7 year old to walk a dog without adult supervision??) Talking to adults - as you have discovered, many will just push back and not admit that they are in the wrong.

 

Check Patricia McConnell's blog about deflecting approaching dogs: As long as it is not a vicious dog intent on harming your dog, she suggests arming yourself with a large handful of smelly, tasty treats and then throwing them at the dog - dog stops to smell the ground and pick up the treats - you beat a retreat. The one problem I see with this, for dogs that vacuum up treats, this technique would only deflect them for a very short time, then they may come looking for you for more treats. LOL!

 

Bear spray???

 

Good Luck.

[GentleLake]

You guys have made me appreciate our local village/town(ship) police dep't. Who knows, maybe it was just the one officer, but he was more than willing to help.

 

And we have a separate Dog Control Officer for the village and town(ship) who's more or less independent of the police, and is on call "at all times" to pick up found dogs. Dunno how that'd work for problems with loose dogs, but I've found them to be very helpful any time I've had to deal with them.

 

I hope you're able to figure something out that works for you. I think Jovi's idea of trying to get a picture or video of the dog (and the owner?) if you can is a good one.

 

Re: Patricia McConnell's throwing treats, I think the idea is to throw them away from you and the direction you want to go to try to increase the distance between you and your dog(s) and the ones bothering you as much as possible. It could be helpful if the dogs are food motivated, not over threshold and not truly aggressive.

[Blackdawgs]

Here, we have city and county parks, city and county cops, but animal control is administered by the county. It creates situation where agencies can pass the buck regarding loose dogs. The county land area is vast and is largely rural except for a few pockets of civilization and there are too few officers to efficiently patrol the whole county. If there is a loose dog out of the normal business hours of animal control, tough luck. After hours, animal control has to be contacted via a police dispatcher and the recording makes it very clear, emergency only.

[Donald McCaig]

Dear Doggers,

 

If you see a loose dog call a cop???? Sheesh. As a dog walker I have two obligations: 1, My dogs - whether on or off leash must not invade other humans' and/or their dogs' space - whether the dogs are leashed or unleashed, the humans invite them or don't. However, I have no obligation to those who become distressed merely because my dogs are off leash where they didn't expect off lead dogs. 2. I have an obligation to protect my dogs on or off leash. The boot works pretty good, the stick works better.

 

Donald McCaig

[Blackdawgs]

In regard to the cops, I think that one needs to differentiate between pain in the ass and dangerous dogs, but, yes, if there is a loose dog, dangerous or not, in sight of a cop, I do expect the cop to deal with it.

 

For PITA dogs, the boot or stick works just fine keeping in mind that this could led to an altercation between owners necessitating involvement of the cops.

 

I've had 2 encounters with male humans in which I was concerned enough about my safety that I would have dialed 911 if said angry male took one more step towards me and I did not make physical contract with their dogs in either instance. A few weeks ago, I watched 2 males almost come to blows over an incident in a fenced dog park.

[GentleLake]

For the record, I never suggested calling police just because someone sees an off lead dog.

 

But the OP said her dogs were "charged" by the loose dog(s) to the point that her normally non-aggressive dogs reacted negatively to the harassment. She wasn't merely "distressed" by random off leash dogs, but by dogs who acted aggressively towards hers.

 

Are you really saying that she shouldn't take advantage of her tax supported law enforcement to report leash laws that are being violated to the point that she's not able to walk her leashed dogs in her own neighborhood? If her neighbors were as responsible dog owners as you are, Donald, it wouldn't be an issue, but apparently they're not.

 

Sheesh indeed.

[Blackdawgs]

There is aggressive "charging" and "charging" due to lack of social skills. Both can cause a dog fight. We have been "charged" a lot by the lack of social skills type--- aggressively stepping towards the incoming dog and yelling/growling frequently takes care of the problem. This does require making a snap judgment as to the intent of the incoming dog. The boot or stick also works well in these situations. If the incoming dog is a pit bull, I'll stand still, hold my breath [and pray]. A few weeks ago, I had to kick a neighbor's pit bull, who came silently and from nowhere, off of my elderly dog and was very lucky that the dog not redirect onto me.

 

I actually live in a very dog friendly town, where unfortunately owners and their dogs feel entitled to meet every dog that should be in the area. I also think that the popularity of dog parks has created dogs that lack social skills and feel entitled to rudely approach every dog that that they see.

[Islanddog]

Ugh, been in this situation many times.

Just deleted the rant portion...

moving on to say, in my neighbourhood, a few folks carry sticks/canes on their walks and probably have reason to do so. Some dogs get picked on by loose dogs more than others, so I never carried a stick to walk Dynamo, but I did use one for a previous dog, and yes, they work.

1. With the stick, you may confident enough to step forward pre-emptively and say, No, Stop, Go Home, or whatever, and nothing more occurs.

2. Slamming the stick into the ground in front of a dog is off-putting enough (most of these dogs are opportunists, and want some easy 'fun' or they think they own the street).

3. It can be useful if one or two don't work. (I have had to protect dogs this way, sad but true).

A better (more peacefull) idea but I haven't tried (as it takes timing, rehearsal, and training of your own dog) is to carry a pop-open umbrella and use it to startle and interrupt the on-coming dogs approach.

I'm not sure of the treat thing, as if the dogs are anything less then friendly they won't be interested' and if they are that friendly, they're not a problem anyway. (friendly dogs will give a reactive dog the space they need).

If you have a jacket, you could try throwing or swinging the jacket as an interrupter.

As for the people, ugh, (nope, won't rant, just won't), I'd avoid engagement, or speaking anything beyond, leash your dog, please , or have a nice day.

A 'go pro' camera might be an investment.

[Donald McCaig]

Dear Doggers,

 

Roxanne chides me: "Are you really saying that she shouldn't take advantage of her tax supported law enforcement to report leash laws that are being violated to the point that she's not able to walk her leashed dogs in her own neighborhood?"

 

She can do whatever she wants: pray, weep, denounce big government, denounce small government, call the cops or form a Facebook discussion group but next time she wants to deter unwelcome dogs I believe that the"boot" and/or"stick" is most likely to do so.

 

Donald McCaig

[teresaserrano]

friendly dogs will give a reactive dog the space they need).

 

Sorry, not always. Not even most of the time.

Tess loves many dogs but she doesn't like friendly boisterous dogs that throw themselves at her. So I step in front of her and tell the dog off, while the owner yells, don't worry, he doesn't bite, he just wants to play. And it's true, this kind of dog just wants very very much to play with Tess. But my answer, as the dog is trying to get past me to play with Tess, is, Well, my dog DOES bite and she doesn't like yours. So you better get him or he will get bitten.

Tess doesn't put on a show or get agitated, but she gives very clear signs (to me) that she doesn't like the aproaching dog. And she will bite him if he invades her space. Otherwise she will ignore him. She's on leash, and has the right to be left in peace.

[simba]

(friendly dogs will give a reactive dog the space they need).

 

 

No, they really, really won't. Especially if you know your dog is going to get reactive when approached too closely (once the other dog is in the personal space), you know this, your dog knows this, the other dog doesn't know this.

 

Plus some dogs, like some humans, are just rude and clueless. I've a small terrier and I've seen her in hysterics literally being knocked over (flattened, bowled over) by a bigger 'friendly' dog. Every time she tried to defend herself (not subtly- snarling, snapping etc) or I gave out to him, he got more and more excited and 'playful'.

 

Many friendly dogs will follow you and your reactive dog. Not good for anyone. Treats will stop that.

 

I have a 'friendly' dog, well used to socializing with other animals, daily off-lead social contact with at least 4 other dogs (not including those in her own house) for years. She had no clue. She would run right up to a reactive dog, invite it to play repeatedly, generally harass it. She's got better but constant contact with other dogs didn't do that- I had to do that. Now she's a champion with reactive dogs.

 

Friendly dogs who are capable of (a) recognizing if another dog doesn't want to play and ( accepting that and moving on without a fuss are not the dogs that are the issue here. Those dogs, they're fine, off lead or on. But they're not the majority.

 

 

Edit: also- re-post the rant portion! New comment with the rant portion!

 

I can really see the temptation to just be like 'oh my dog is friendly it's fine' and blame the other dogs for it. You would get to be so smug and complacent and life would be so much easier. Glad I also have the reactive dog to keep me from being a My Dog Is Friendly!

[Islanddog]

Sorry, not always. Not even most of the time.

Tess loves many dogs but she doesn't like friendly boisterous dogs that throw themselves at her. So I step in front of her and tell the dog off, while the owner yells, don't worry, he doesn't bite, he just wants to play. And it's true, this kind of dog just wants very very much to play with Tess. But my answer, as the dog is trying to get past me to play with Tess, is, Well, my dog DOES bite and she doesn't like yours. So you better get him or he will get bitten.

Tess doesn't put on a show or get agitated, but she gives very clear signs (to me) that she doesn't like the aproaching dog. And she will bite him if he invades her space. Otherwise she will ignore him. She's on leash, and has the right to be left in peace.

Those would be what I'd call rude dogs (and obnoxious) and they probably know Tess doesn't want them there too (it's only the owner who's ignorant), if not, they'll learn, and hopefully not with your dog. Does throwing a treat party work in this case? I'd still think by then the dogs are too focused on interaction to notice, so I haven't tried treats.

As I've said, in the past, I've carried a stick, without a stick, I tried what you do (but it didn't work). A working squirt gun might gain you more space (all the one's I tried leaked or clogged).

And I promised not to rant about the owners, so that's all for now.