Twice in a row now I’ve had to pull my dog in another direction due to people walking their dogs without a leash. Why tf do you feel so confident in your damn dog to not react? In fact I don’t fucking care. It’s a fucking law and it’s inconsiderate of other individuals and their pets. Seriously fuck you. Nobody cares how well trained your dog is or whatever the fuck you’re doing to stroke your damn ego.
My dog is scared of all dogs. She jumped into my arms like friggin scooby doo the other day when a poodle ran up to us. The lady kept saying "shes friendly! shes friendly!" over and over. Madam I am holding a 60 pound animal like a frightened child, we don't want to meet you. I had to walk away carrying my dog because she wouldn't get her dog away from me.
Took my dog for a walk once to the local field and this teen with a puppy off leash just allowed her dog to come right up to mine. My dog flipped out. The teen said, “It’s okay, my dog is friendly!” I spat back, “My dog isn’t!” while she flipped out at the end of her leash. Thankfully she has never graduated out of her gentle leader so I always have control, but seriously. My (rescue) dog has leash aggression and anxiety but she still deserves to go on walks in peace.
We had a dog like that. He had plenty of socialization, but he just hated other dogs that weren't our second dog. But he was cute so people always crossed the street to come say hi, even though I crossed the street to get away from them. I finally started yelling out "HE BITES!" and that solved the problem. He didn't really bite, but he would growl and nip at other dogs, and I hated putting him through that.
We have a retired working shepherd mix who has extreme leash aggression. We can’t even go for walks alone because in this area it takes two people constantly looking in every direction to spot and call incoming dogs and we still have an incident about once a week of some total dumbass actively telling us their dog is friendly as we are telling them to stay away and our dog freaking the fuck out. (Tourist neighborhood so it’s always someone new) So going for walks is a whole family activity.
As is common with leash aggression, he’s also totally fine with other dogs at dog parks or hiking in off leash areas. And thankfully there we can use his signals to tell him not to herd, after all he’s an incredibly well trained dog in the context of taking directional commands from across giant spaces.
Where we used to live we had neighbors who knew about him and would respect his needs for distance on walks but still let him play at the park with their dogs. Unfortunately that only came to be because of bad interactions and lots of explanation and apologies.
People just don’t understand dog anxiety and ptsd at all. He needs 5-10 miles of daily activity and we can’t always get him out to a huge open area and have to walk him on leash
Working dogs are no joke. We have a Doberman puppy, and I have to take him for hikes every day, plus he needs lots of self-directed playtime, training, some sort of job like nose work, interactive toys and games, and a bunch of time to chew. He's an amazing dog when he gets all of those things, but if life gets in the way and we miss something on a given day, he's like "I'ma fuck something up real good!", and we can see the boredom kick into destructive searching.
I hike with my dog off-leash every day, but I do it in a remote area. I've run into other people only twice, and both times they had off-leash dogs too. We saw each other from a quarter mile away, recalled our dogs, and leashed them. I think I'm behaving in an appropriate manner.
Are you saying that you see people walking their dogs without leashes in the city? Because that's just crazy!
You can read about my dog up above. I imagine that’s what this person is talking about as well. We have the same issues in a dense suburb/ city area. People get those wireless collars (or have nothing at all) and barely pay attention to their dogs and we’re stuck playing defense because we’re actually following the leash laws with a leash aggressive dog.
Meanwhile hiking is no issue because for the most part people hiking out in the middle of nowhere are way more attentive or just both dogs are off leash to begin with.
I can't imagine having a dog off-leash in an unfenced urban area. That's just crazy! Even the best trained dog in the world can have a spaz out moment which ends in tragedy.
I'm partially disabled with chronic spinal issues, but I can still do a physical therapy routine on a bike. Any behavior that asks me to "trust you" is no different to me than pointing a loaded gun at my head. Walking on the left side, keeping a leashed dog on the left side, walking a dog without a leash, doing anything inconsistent or unpredictable on any bike path (right of way laws exist and apply to everyone all the time without exception), or some stupid child acting irresponsibly on a bike; all are threatening my life with eminent danger. You can't see how much I'm hurting just to be on a bike or what I'm going through each and every day. On a bike I look reasonably normal.
Every time you see someone doing something stupid that puts other people at risk in public, that person is telling themselves "trust me, this is fine"; all those terrible drivers and close calls you've had, they are all this same paradigm. Every time you say out loud, or to yourself, trust me you are everyone else's dimwitted imbecile. No excuses.
On a bike trail in the USA, right of way is to maintain 'as far to the right as practicable'. In practice, a dog on the left side while walking in a right of way is an irresponsible hazard where the passing lane is endangered by the random behavior of a domestic animal. In my 170k miles on a bike, I've encountered countless times when a dog crosses the line when passing, even in instances when multiple traffic is passing in both directions and full attention is required. Your first responsibility on a bike path is always the right of way. Nearly all injuries on a bike path are due to right of way failures. I have had crashes, I have seen many crashes, and I watched a 36 year old mother die in front of her two kids from such a crash. Right of way is absolutely essential on every roadway and bike path.
It is hard to see the scale of the issue if you do not ride a road bike. Even with disability, I'm riding a 26 mile route. When walking, your scale of time and traffic are very different. What seems like the few people you encounter and the seriousness of the issue are different. You may see a dozen people in an hour. On a bike, the person may be riding 100 miles and encountering several hundred people just like you. People on the wrong side or creating hazards are somewhere around 1 in 20 to 1 in 100. Many such hazards act entitled or oblivious. On a bike, at speed, it is nearly impossible to predict them all. Healthy riders generally just ignore or become totally indifferent and just buzz you for it.
The thing is, from a distance and at speed, it is impossible to gauge how long a leash is, dog temperaments, training, size, or the cognitive state of the person on foot. None of that is the problem or responsibility of the passing rider. The only responsibility is to pass safely when it is clear in the designated passing lane. No one has a right to endanger or potentially endanger anyone that may use that designated passing lane. Lines are not lanes, and you do not have a right to occupy a lane width either. The obligation is to be as far to the right as practicable. Even multiple people occupying a lane is not legal and is subject to legal recourse. A bike path with a designated right of way is not a sidewalk. That right of way can mean life or death and the laws in California back that up well. Elsewhere your results may vary.