Just now I was walking home with Ziggy and we were on the sidewalk. We heard laughter at the next house that we were approaching and Ziggy's ears pricked. Then a chihuahua-dachshund-something stuck its head off the porch.
Before Ziggy could even react, I was doing a very quick pivot turn with her, back around a car and onto the street. Their fucking dog ran off the porch and barking aggressively ran after us. A woman was screaming the dog's name as it completely ignored her, and the only person coming for the dog was moving slowly.
I had Ziggy in good position, across the street and moving away, with me between her and the dog, but the dog would not stop following us and trying to get around me to Ziggy. I cornered Ziggy against a car and shouted, "Get your dog!" and they finally did and we took off.
Good things: this hardly even fazed Ziggy and she was recovered before the end of that block, not even trying to look back after a couple of houses. She felt safe by how I handled it, and I felt in control of the situation to the extent possible - though walking away I had a huge adrenaline surge I can still feel. I do not have enough hands to grab my dog and yours and keep them apart.
Fucking people. Don't have your goddamn dog sitting loose on a porch if it is going to come after my dog. Because my dog cannot tell the difference between a real threat and a perceived one, and your fucking little dog coming at her - if your dog bit her, as stupid little dogs are prone to do because people don't train them right, then Ziggy may mess it up. And you would be completely in the wrong for that, not Ziggy, but she and I would pay consequences. I would of course refuse to pay any vet bills in this situation, but we wouldn't be able to walk down that street anymore, and I may have to answer to SPCA. Again.
I'm trying to do all the right things here, and other people and their dogs are too often our problem. Because Ziggy has actually walked past dogs without reaction when they aren't paying attention to her. We have made huge strides in her reactivity, but that situation may have set us back a lot and that fucking pisses me off. I get to walk my dog on public streets and sidewalks without incident, and I won't stop doing that.
There's also just a block away Rottweiler on a chain in the front yard left there regularly unattended. A thin, tiny chain, and an upset dog with a lot of chomping power. What the fuck, people? Yeah, I let my dog in the front yard ON A TETHER AND SUPERVISED.
The dogs we had growing up never saw a leash - they were all free rein. That's how we do. And usually that was fine, except once when my father and his friends were doing something up the hill from our house (still our land) and the neighbor's aggressive German Shepherd came rushing to kill our cocker spaniel mix and our other neighbor knocked it unconscious with a 2x4. That neighbor never even liked our dog - they were firmly cat people - but he saved its life.
My point is just: I understand leaving dogs loose, but that is NOT acceptable in a dense urban area of New Orleans. If your dog is not under complete control, it needs to be tied up or left inside. We walked past another house in another area and a guy was working in his front yard with his very large dog sitting in the yard watching the world. It watched Ziggy carefully but without any reaction and Ziggy and I were able to continue along our way until the dog got up and started to follow us. The man held his hand up for us to stop and let the dogs meet - and while I'm sure that dog was a very good dog and probably would give all kinds of calming messages to Ziggy, the thing is: Ziggy is reactive and unpredictable and I was not taking her out to meet other dogs. On a leash, Ziggy is much more likely to freak out. And I would love for her to not be reactive, but that's not our reality right now. Other people's attitudes about their dogs shouldn't affect my dog. And in that case, I shouted, "she's reactive!" and I kept us going as she started barking and trying to run toward that dog. He called the dog back and all was fine, but I had a worked up 55# Catahoula at the end of a leash.
And now she's home happily gnawing on a bone, working our her misunderstood aggression. She was good except wanting to chase squirrels, and then when a guy got out of a car and said, "What a pretty dog," she thought for sure he wanted to dance with her and so she started doing a super happy dance toward him. This is hard because the way I act when she goes toward people is to choke up on the leash and hold her under control. Because I dont know what people want. Ziggy will jump and lick and be so very happy to greet people - which is unmannerly and many people do not like. But other people do like - she's a very happy dog who spreads joy, but people think from my behavior that she's aggressive. She's not. So I'm denying Ziggy human interaction by making people think she's scary - but I don't know a way around that. Until she has better manners and can be approached and stay sitting for petting.
I don't force my dog onto anybody, and I'd appreciate if other people would do the same.
Before Ziggy could even react, I was doing a very quick pivot turn with her, back around a car and onto the street. Their fucking dog ran off the porch and barking aggressively ran after us. A woman was screaming the dog's name as it completely ignored her, and the only person coming for the dog was moving slowly.
I had Ziggy in good position, across the street and moving away, with me between her and the dog, but the dog would not stop following us and trying to get around me to Ziggy. I cornered Ziggy against a car and shouted, "Get your dog!" and they finally did and we took off.
Good things: this hardly even fazed Ziggy and she was recovered before the end of that block, not even trying to look back after a couple of houses. She felt safe by how I handled it, and I felt in control of the situation to the extent possible - though walking away I had a huge adrenaline surge I can still feel. I do not have enough hands to grab my dog and yours and keep them apart.
Fucking people. Don't have your goddamn dog sitting loose on a porch if it is going to come after my dog. Because my dog cannot tell the difference between a real threat and a perceived one, and your fucking little dog coming at her - if your dog bit her, as stupid little dogs are prone to do because people don't train them right, then Ziggy may mess it up. And you would be completely in the wrong for that, not Ziggy, but she and I would pay consequences. I would of course refuse to pay any vet bills in this situation, but we wouldn't be able to walk down that street anymore, and I may have to answer to SPCA. Again.
I'm trying to do all the right things here, and other people and their dogs are too often our problem. Because Ziggy has actually walked past dogs without reaction when they aren't paying attention to her. We have made huge strides in her reactivity, but that situation may have set us back a lot and that fucking pisses me off. I get to walk my dog on public streets and sidewalks without incident, and I won't stop doing that.
There's also just a block away Rottweiler on a chain in the front yard left there regularly unattended. A thin, tiny chain, and an upset dog with a lot of chomping power. What the fuck, people? Yeah, I let my dog in the front yard ON A TETHER AND SUPERVISED.
The dogs we had growing up never saw a leash - they were all free rein. That's how we do. And usually that was fine, except once when my father and his friends were doing something up the hill from our house (still our land) and the neighbor's aggressive German Shepherd came rushing to kill our cocker spaniel mix and our other neighbor knocked it unconscious with a 2x4. That neighbor never even liked our dog - they were firmly cat people - but he saved its life.
My point is just: I understand leaving dogs loose, but that is NOT acceptable in a dense urban area of New Orleans. If your dog is not under complete control, it needs to be tied up or left inside. We walked past another house in another area and a guy was working in his front yard with his very large dog sitting in the yard watching the world. It watched Ziggy carefully but without any reaction and Ziggy and I were able to continue along our way until the dog got up and started to follow us. The man held his hand up for us to stop and let the dogs meet - and while I'm sure that dog was a very good dog and probably would give all kinds of calming messages to Ziggy, the thing is: Ziggy is reactive and unpredictable and I was not taking her out to meet other dogs. On a leash, Ziggy is much more likely to freak out. And I would love for her to not be reactive, but that's not our reality right now. Other people's attitudes about their dogs shouldn't affect my dog. And in that case, I shouted, "she's reactive!" and I kept us going as she started barking and trying to run toward that dog. He called the dog back and all was fine, but I had a worked up 55# Catahoula at the end of a leash.
And now she's home happily gnawing on a bone, working our her misunderstood aggression. She was good except wanting to chase squirrels, and then when a guy got out of a car and said, "What a pretty dog," she thought for sure he wanted to dance with her and so she started doing a super happy dance toward him. This is hard because the way I act when she goes toward people is to choke up on the leash and hold her under control. Because I dont know what people want. Ziggy will jump and lick and be so very happy to greet people - which is unmannerly and many people do not like. But other people do like - she's a very happy dog who spreads joy, but people think from my behavior that she's aggressive. She's not. So I'm denying Ziggy human interaction by making people think she's scary - but I don't know a way around that. Until she has better manners and can be approached and stay sitting for petting.
I don't force my dog onto anybody, and I'd appreciate if other people would do the same.
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