Negligent Dog Owners

It is a given that I love dogs. I adore my Wee Little Doggie. I am very fond of Sam. I know more dog names in the complex where I live than I do humans. We know Pocket, Bella, Buster, Bonnie, Lulu, Garfield the cat, Winston, Louie, Sassy, Sierra, Bailey, and many more. These are doggie friends. I avoid the dogs likely to be a problem, such as one of the Schnauzers who also has a negligent dog mom.

I do not not not NOT like negligent owners of dogs who allow their dogs to attack other dogs or people. Period. End of story. I attempt (first) to educate them (if the situation is not too bad) and then warn them I will involve animal control. At times I end up doing battle with out of control dogs. As in physical intervention since my little girl is a very small dog.

Today was such a day. My wee little service dog was bitten – thankfully not a skin penetrating bite. But she got jumped and mauled and I heard her scream in pain and that was the end for me. I didn’t have my kubaton and keys in hand since I was standing there talking to a dog mommy friend when this all went down.

I don’t care if someone’s dog is a double-sided dust mop on legs. Keep your dog under control. Learn how to put a collar on. If a collar doesn’t work get a harness. If you lose control of your dog because you cannot put a collar on and the dog walks right out of it to  attack another dog then do not be surprised if the other dog owner (that would be me) nails your dog. In this case, one dog got picked up by the scruff of the neck and thrown about five feet. Unfortunately, there were two dogs of hers that were there and I had to drop the leash on my dogs to deal with her miserable beasts.

I call them miserable beasts because they act like beasts and are miserable because they have no direction. She is a negligent dog owner. Her dogs have gotten in fights here with at least five dogs. In one case there was blood on both sides. I cannot blame the schnauzer that got attacked for fighting back.

This is not my first rodeo with these dogs. This is the second time I’ve had to physically intervene. The last time some neighbors stepped in because the owner stood there pathetically and kept saying, “Fifi. Fifi. Fifi,” and doing a total of nothing to come get the dog that got off the split leash. Meanwhile I was fending off one of her dogs while dealing with my new foster, Sam, and McKinley.

Today, I was – to put it mildly – pissed off. I said (loudly) that I was all done with this shit (yes, that’s a direct quote), I was calling animal control, that I was going to tell the HOA, that my dog had been bitten and if there were vet bills she was going to pay for them. Hot under the collar describes it pretty well.

On my list of things to do today was not calling Animal Control. I did. I made a formal complaint. I gave them the name of a witness. I gave them a history of the dogs and the names of witnesses. I asked them if someone would please teach this woman how to take care of her dogs so that they are not loose and attacking other dogs. She must now provide proof of rabies vaccination.

I contacted the man who owns the apartment she lives in (I know him) and informed him. He may need to insist she get a liability rider so he does not get sued because he is renting to someone with dogs that attack and bite. I contacted my landlord to cover my bases. I’m going to contact the president of the HOA. Because enough is enough – not to mention the fact the President’s little dog weighs less than five pounds and would be at extreme risk.

A negligent dog parent needs to be held to account and forced to provide adequate supervision for her dogs. Because the dogs deserve better. Dogs deserve to have involved, competent owners.

Meanwhile, my little girl is shaking an hour and a half later. She is sore, but not bleeding. Her dog mom (that would be me) is still unhappy. Very unhappy.

I had to tell my best friend here that I can no longer visit her due to the risk of attack. She has a little dog who has been attacked as well and she’s had to kick the other dogs. Now I’m saying, “If you need me to walk your dog, text me. I’ll leave my dogs at home and come over to walk yours.” We can no longer spend hours together on her porch area because it is wide open to the toothy barking double-sided dust mops with no sense of control. She is sad because her little dog is just learning how to play with other dogs and McKinley and Sam are her dog friends. I suggested they come to my place.

I’m unhappy. Because the dogs who are biting and attacking could end up being forced to wear muzzles in order to go outside. Because they are not getting what they need. Because the owner is this negligent.

For God’s sake, there is training at PetCo and PetSmart and many other places. Get some!

This is not a kind and uplifting dog mommy post. This is a grrr, growly, snappy post. Those little dogs could be decent dogs if they had a competent dog parent.