at the dog park last night, this guy comes in with an is-it-a-sort-of-terrier-? type of dog, releases him into the midst of other dogs and proceeds to explain to me the meaning of everything that his dog is doing. and that the dog eats spagetti because he hates dog food. Now, I have been losing faith in the dog park scene as of late. I'm trying not to make any 'friends' at the dog park because they are all freakin weird and the last 'friend' I made created some serious drama with my behaviorist. but why do I go back? Because I was a part of the leadership initiative to open sed dog park and I want to enjoy it for the work that I know went into it. So I'm just nodding my head, walking away from him here and there, but he is persistant and spreading his 'knowledge' about his dog and how the dog is trying to speak english because of the different sounds it makes, and he's pretty close to saying "jelly". )) As amusing as it was, he then asks about Kitsune, who gets a lot of attention for looking like a beautiful fox, we tell him he's people shy but loves to play with other dogs, and he's comfortable at the dog park so long as children aren't pursuing him for a petting. Then he lunges at Kitsune - hands in front of him - saying - no yelling - "HERE BOY" - of course Kitsune jumps 10 feet back and darts off. So I'm like "well that's just lovely" and the man said "you don't understand their nature, I was letting him know that I came in peace".
gr. So we left, there were gnats everywhere anyway and Lakota the wolfdog had left so Kitsune wasn't really running with any other dogs..
=== but in better news, after the icky dog park trip sans Hachi, we took her out to the farmers market and she did AWESOME! after like 5pm the crowd isn't as large and she was sweet as pie, with kids, men, women, some lady even gave her a strawberry from her stand and Hach took it! Right from her hand! And someone else had their over zealous springer spaniel, and Hachi was totally cool meeting it and going along her merry way, trotting through the outdoor market. At least one of our dogs made some progress last night.
"Trying to speak English..." is... how should I put it? Ah! Priceless. And if the dog east spaghetti should he/she be trying to speak Italian? Somehow it makes more sense :-P
Wasn't the alien who said I come in peace totally lying??
Also, who wants their dog to say Jelly? I would like Jazz to say "I need to go out", "I am hungry", "Would you please add more ice to my water bowl" and "Pardon me, would you happen to have any Grey Poupon?". Not in English, but in Japanese. *grins*
First one I am the idiot. Jay had to have a little operation (everything is fine minor thing) but he isn't walking for a couple days so I have enlisted some friends to take the pups on their scheduled walks with me. I am paying so much attention to how well Miko is walking with my friend Patrick (who looks a lot like Jason actually) that I almost create a head on between Piglet and a Pyrenees mix. I jump (startling myself) which puts Piglet on guard and she goes ballistic. The other dog was a saint (as was the owner who actually commented on how cute it was that Piggy was protecting the smaller dogs, God bless nice dog owners). Yup I'm embarrassed.
Story two... We turn the corner and head a few blocks down when I see a HUGE boxer heading straight for us, no collar, no leash, no owner. I know the dog from the neighborhood. I have not interacted with him but I know where he lives. I hand Piglet to Patrick and tell him and my other friend to take all three dogs around the corner and out of sight. If this dog bites me and Piglet or Moto see it they will lose it. I then walk over to the dog (diagonally of course) and try to get him to chase me (away from my dogs) I then gently grab him by the scruff and say "LETS GO HOME!!! LETS GO!!!" as excited as I can. I get to the house and ring the doorbell over and over. One of my other neighbors shows up and say "yeah Rocky gets out all the time. look out her bull terrier is vicious. I see the side screen door is open but locked so I start to scream because I hear the shower running. She finally comes out. I tell her that her dog crossed 2 streets and charged my 3 dogs, and she asks if HER dog is okay. I tell her he is overheating and neglected.
If I see the dog again, I am calling animal control.
I think we have all had moments where we are so involved in something that we become the idiot for a moment. It's nice when the other people are so understanding.
Last week there was a loose dog that came near Nemo and I. We walk the same almost every morning, I'd say that 80% of the time we walk the same route. For the first time ever last Friday there is a Mastiff/mix sitting on the steps of this house. The same people have rented it forever, but I'm out early, so I don't see most people's dogs. I'm still not even sure if it was theirs. I switched sides of the street just incase it had a long tie-out on. He's watching us, really watching us, as we are the only thing out there. Everything is fine until the van parked in the driveway blocks his view of us. All of the sudden he barks really loud and comes running across the street. He wasn't charging as much as really keeping an eye on. However he was still moving closer. I'm a little unsure what to do, as I'm by myself, I have no idea if he is friendly or not. Nemo is behaving pretty well, but he wants to go meet this dog. Nemo doesn't really have on leash aggression, so he is acting excited. I told the big dog "NO" and "Stay" a few times, trying to sound stern and serious as we kept slowly walking way, with my head turned to keep an eye on him. He followed a little bit more and eventually stopped to pee on some bushes. The last I saw of him, he was running in between some other houses, still on the wrong side of the road.
If I had been by myself, I would have tried to see if he was friendly and returned him to his home, but I couldn't risk trying to put a slip leash on him (I carry a spare leash) and try to control him and Nemo. If he had wanted too, he could of tore Nemo apart in no time, probably me too. He was a big boy.
I was at the dog park, and there was a beagle that was mounting all the other dogs. His owner kept on dragging him off of them, but then he gets annoyed. The next time the beagle mounts another dog, the owner threw him off and swung the leash high, WHACK, hitting the beagle across the back. Poor dog was yelping, and everyone in the dog park was giving the owner nasty looks, including myself. The owner says, "well he's not fixed, sorry....and by the way it's my friend's dog anyways." He hit a dog! I just wanted to yell at him. that was just stupid and cruel. and bringing an unfixed dog to the dog park, then hitting it! it's not the dog's fault. grr. I wish he had gotten arrested for that.
Unbelievable! Yea, I think he needs that leash slashed across his back to see if he likes it. Wonder if the friend has any idea how his dog is treated by the dog sitter?
At the last Shiba meetup, there was an over-sized 3 year old white Shiba there, not neutered "I want to breed him" I hear the owner say. Boggles my mind.
I think the more you go into the general public with your dogs, the more the idiots come out of the woodwork...
this morning we are walking our dogs on one of our morning routes, and we pass this house that has a stir-crazy samoyed in it - she barks at us like crazy when we walk past her house [on the sidewalk] and I'm always thinking 'geez, they have this enormous fenced in yard and I never ever see this dog running in it..' SO - we pass it this morning, barking samoyed, then we're almost passed the house when its owner comes out and asks us not to walk past her house on her side of the sidewalk in the morning (we walk at 6am) because it makes her dog go crazy. ??????? My husband, who is a very calm mannered peace loving hippie, says "i haven't had my morning coffee yet, so i'm having a hard time finding a colorful way to say 'tough, and train your dog'." I immediately start laughing - out loud - and say "that wasn't half bad, honey!" and we keep on walking. She's saying "oh [insert explative] no you didn't..." blah blah blah
seriously, we usually see her, without her dog, walking in the morning a 1/2 hour later than us with ipod in hand around a football field. Just bring your dog!! I'm sure in like a day it will much, much calmer on the barking. Idiot.
Hahaha. That one is actually pretty funny. If I were you, I would intentionally take that same route very day from now on just to spite that woman. Some people have such a distorted view of the world.
I have a neighbor that has two hound dogs that bay when Jazz & I go by - of course, we walk by early (6am) in the morning. Every morning the owner comes out and apologizes -we're working on 9 months - I'm curious to see how long they'll keep coming out.
we were taking our morning walk with all the pups today and we pass a woman (that we usually see jogging w/out a dog) with the fattest jack russell ever. As she passes us, her dog starts whining to meet us but she pulls him along and says "don't get THOSE dogs riled up"... ok, cool, thanks, my dogs couldn't care less.
So then we round the block and she's coming towards us the opposite way again (our path rounds a football field somedays) and exclaims "I used to have one of those" I look at my dogs, "one of these?" "Yeah, it ate the neighbor's dog for lunch" "it ATE the neighbor's dog? for lunch?" i said in that 'can you expand on this a tad' tone.. "yeah, i had to put it down, it died" and she pulls her fatty and jogs away
???????? what????? half of me wants to pin her down and make her tell the entire story but the other half has severe psycho radar warnings and wants to avoid her at all costs in the future. Who says that to complete strangers?!
We were walking our pups, Moto pops a squat and as we are picking up his poop this guys leans out his window and says "get your dogs off my lawn" to which I reply "we're leaving we just need to clean up after our dog" he replies "get your fucking dogs off my lawn" "we are, but I assume you DON"T want us to leave his shit on your yard" he then says "my kids play in my yard, get your dogs off it" (mind you unfenced in, really tall lawn, tall enough I was concerned about ticks). I still pick up the poop (damn integrity), and as nasty as I could close with "please sir, have a lovely sunday morning"
Most people are afraid you are leaving poop in their yard. As I have always understood it, if you want no one touching your yard, fence it. I never complain if I see a dog walking across my lawn as long as the owner cleans up.
No one needs to be so mean. JERK
Oh and all of this was after I had to catch and return another neighbors unleashed cocker spaniel. UGH
Ok. My story. I was walkig with JaJa and Kiba (both on short leash), then I saw big black dog (some lab mix I suppose) running toward us. After him is running his "mistress" yealling at me "Are this males or females?". After this question I know what will start. This dog is trampling three of us, Kiba is going berserk, JaJa start to bark and tries to run around. I hold Kiba in the air to prevent fight. Black dog is jumping at me and Kiba. And... what do you think what this woman have told me...
Jess, people are nuts, just plain nuts, and I too would have flung the poo at him! LOL! no, I wouldn't have. But I would have considered it. Being responsible for your dog doesn't always pay off, huh..
ktrebor, Brutus needs to be taken away from that woman and into capable hands!
Jess - That guy is a total jerk! If I were you - I would have just left the poop, got off his precious lawn, and walked away.
Robert - UGH, That lady needs help! Im glad you were able to prevent a fight from breaking out - especially since Kiba has just recovered/is recovering.
My neighbor (who rents) just got a puppy chihuahua - I believe one of her roommates also has a lhasa apso. Ever since they moved in - the Lhasa Apso would bark and bark at night time when the owner was out. Even when she would let him in the front yard at night while she was smoking a cigarette the dog cries and whine constantly. I never said anything becuase who knows - maybe the dog has issues - and it wasn't too loud where I couldn't close my window and fall back asleep.
Anyway - the other roommate just got a puppy chihuahua. she leaves her bedroom window open and when shes gone the chihuahua is screeching at the top of her lungs and it really sounds like she's dying or something. The owner knows how loud she is because when she gets home - She starts talking to the dog while she's walking up to her front door saying "I know baby, Im home, im home, don't worry...blah blah blah". Im wondering if i should say something. Like close your windows or something. Its REALLY loud. I mean - on medium hot days - I like to leave my windows open because we get a nice breeze and so I don't need to put the A/C on. But ever since she got that puppy - my windows have been closed and my A/C is on all the time. I mean - I can understand puppies - I've been through the whole process of crating and leaving the puppy alone. Of course they're going to whine. But I dont' think I should have to close my windows and pay for a/c when its really not needed just so I don't have to hear her dogs bitching 8 hours a day.
This lady btw has NO CLUE about dogs. I see her once in a while open the front door and put the dog outside and say "NO PRINCESS, NO, NO, NO!!! DON'T GO POTTY INSIDE!!!" She is yeling at her dog OUTSIDE where she is supposed to go potty. She also was talking outside on her cell phone about how she met this guy who will potty train her dog in 5 days for 500.00 or something. WTF?
That whole house of people are not very friendly - i used to always say hi with no response back. After a while I just stopped. Do I have a right to say something? I mean - I know the owner of their house too and im pretty sure that she doesn't allow pets. So im thinking they are doing it behind their landlords back.
ok Im stealing this story but i thought it funny enough to share.
Story as told by a friend:
So, a man drop off his shelty for a grooming. He brought the dog into the shop and told me what he wanted done and pointed out a place there was a hot spot. He seemed normal enough. He liked the dog and said that he had some med. for the hot spot.
When I got her up on the table and took off her collar I noticed she had a name tag. I normally don't look at them, but I glanced at it and about spit my gum out. The tag said, "Your dogs name engraved here. Plus your address and phone number."
When he (and his 3 kids) came back this was our conversation:
Me: Why is Gracie wearing this name tag? Him: (Looking at me oddly) So, if she gets lost people will be able to call me. Me: It doesn't have her name and info on it. It's just a display tag. Him: Oh....I didn't notice that when I got it at the store. Me: Oh, you mean you ordered one and they gave you that one by mistake? Him: (Getting testy now) No, I saw them on a rack and just picked one out. Me: Ya know, those are just display tags. You have to order them. Him: Howmuch do I owe you? (and he left with his 3 kids and poor Gracie)
Comments
Now, I have been losing faith in the dog park scene as of late. I'm trying not to make any 'friends' at the dog park because they are all freakin weird and the last 'friend' I made created some serious drama with my behaviorist. but why do I go back? Because I was a part of the leadership initiative to open sed dog park and I want to enjoy it for the work that I know went into it.
So I'm just nodding my head, walking away from him here and there, but he is persistant and spreading his 'knowledge' about his dog and how the dog is trying to speak english because of the different sounds it makes, and he's pretty close to saying "jelly".
As amusing as it was, he then asks about Kitsune, who gets a lot of attention for looking like a beautiful fox, we tell him he's people shy but loves to play with other dogs, and he's comfortable at the dog park so long as children aren't pursuing him for a petting.
Then he lunges at Kitsune - hands in front of him - saying - no yelling - "HERE BOY" - of course Kitsune jumps 10 feet back and darts off.
So I'm like "well that's just lovely" and the man said "you don't understand their nature, I was letting him know that I came in peace".
gr.
So we left, there were gnats everywhere anyway and Lakota the wolfdog had left so Kitsune wasn't really running with any other dogs..
===
but in better news, after the icky dog park trip sans Hachi, we took her out to the farmers market and she did AWESOME! after like 5pm the crowd isn't as large and she was sweet as pie, with kids, men, women, some lady even gave her a strawberry from her stand and Hach took it! Right from her hand! And someone else had their over zealous springer spaniel, and Hachi was totally cool meeting it and going along her merry way, trotting through the outdoor market.
At least one of our dogs made some progress last night.
*shakes head*
Also, who wants their dog to say Jelly? I would like Jazz to say "I need to go out", "I am hungry", "Would you please add more ice to my water bowl" and "Pardon me, would you happen to have any Grey Poupon?". Not in English, but in Japanese.
*grins*
Glad Hachi is doing well.
First one I am the idiot. Jay had to have a little operation (everything is fine minor thing) but he isn't walking for a couple days so I have enlisted some friends to take the pups on their scheduled walks with me. I am paying so much attention to how well Miko is walking with my friend Patrick (who looks a lot like Jason actually) that I almost create a head on between Piglet and a Pyrenees mix. I jump (startling myself) which puts Piglet on guard and she goes ballistic. The other dog was a saint (as was the owner who actually commented on how cute it was that Piggy was protecting the smaller dogs, God bless nice dog owners). Yup I'm embarrassed.
Story two...
We turn the corner and head a few blocks down when I see a HUGE boxer heading straight for us, no collar, no leash, no owner. I know the dog from the neighborhood. I have not interacted with him but I know where he lives. I hand Piglet to Patrick and tell him and my other friend to take all three dogs around the corner and out of sight. If this dog bites me and Piglet or Moto see it they will lose it. I then walk over to the dog (diagonally of course) and try to get him to chase me (away from my dogs) I then gently grab him by the scruff and say "LETS GO HOME!!! LETS GO!!!" as excited as I can. I get to the house and ring the doorbell over and over. One of my other neighbors shows up and say "yeah Rocky gets out all the time. look out her bull terrier is vicious. I see the side screen door is open but locked so I start to scream because I hear the shower running. She finally comes out. I tell her that her dog crossed 2 streets and charged my 3 dogs, and she asks if HER dog is okay. I tell her he is overheating and neglected.
If I see the dog again, I am calling animal control.
I need a nap.
I'm glad everyone is OK!
Last week there was a loose dog that came near Nemo and I. We walk the same almost every morning, I'd say that 80% of the time we walk the same route. For the first time ever last Friday there is a Mastiff/mix sitting on the steps of this house. The same people have rented it forever, but I'm out early, so I don't see most people's dogs. I'm still not even sure if it was theirs. I switched sides of the street just incase it had a long tie-out on. He's watching us, really watching us, as we are the only thing out there. Everything is fine until the van parked in the driveway blocks his view of us. All of the sudden he barks really loud and comes running across the street. He wasn't charging as much as really keeping an eye on. However he was still moving closer. I'm a little unsure what to do, as I'm by myself, I have no idea if he is friendly or not. Nemo is behaving pretty well, but he wants to go meet this dog. Nemo doesn't really have on leash aggression, so he is acting excited. I told the big dog "NO" and "Stay" a few times, trying to sound stern and serious as we kept slowly walking way, with my head turned to keep an eye on him. He followed a little bit more and eventually stopped to pee on some bushes. The last I saw of him, he was running in between some other houses, still on the wrong side of the road.
If I had been by myself, I would have tried to see if he was friendly and returned him to his home, but I couldn't risk trying to put a slip leash on him (I carry a spare leash) and try to control him and Nemo. If he had wanted too, he could of tore Nemo apart in no time, probably me too. He was a big boy.
At the last Shiba meetup, there was an over-sized 3 year old white Shiba there, not neutered "I want to breed him" I hear the owner say. Boggles my mind.
this morning we are walking our dogs on one of our morning routes, and we pass this house that has a stir-crazy samoyed in it - she barks at us like crazy when we walk past her house [on the sidewalk] and I'm always thinking 'geez, they have this enormous fenced in yard and I never ever see this dog running in it..'
SO - we pass it this morning, barking samoyed, then we're almost passed the house when its owner comes out and asks us not to walk past her house on her side of the sidewalk in the morning (we walk at 6am) because it makes her dog go crazy.
???????
My husband, who is a very calm mannered peace loving hippie, says "i haven't had my morning coffee yet, so i'm having a hard time finding a colorful way to say 'tough, and train your dog'."
I immediately start laughing - out loud - and say "that wasn't half bad, honey!" and we keep on walking. She's saying "oh [insert explative] no you didn't..." blah blah blah
seriously, we usually see her, without her dog, walking in the morning a 1/2 hour later than us with ipod in hand around a football field. Just bring your dog!! I'm sure in like a day it will much, much calmer on the barking. Idiot.
Why doesn't she just close her blinds or something?
----
I keep considering offering to walk him an hour everyday so the dog can have some peace of mind. Screw the family I feel for the boxer.
So then we round the block and she's coming towards us the opposite way again (our path rounds a football field somedays) and exclaims "I used to have one of those"
I look at my dogs, "one of these?"
"Yeah, it ate the neighbor's dog for lunch"
"it ATE the neighbor's dog? for lunch?" i said in that 'can you expand on this a tad' tone..
"yeah, i had to put it down, it died" and she pulls her fatty and jogs away
???????? what?????
half of me wants to pin her down and make her tell the entire story but the other half has severe psycho radar warnings and wants to avoid her at all costs in the future. Who says that to complete strangers?!
Most people are afraid you are leaving poop in their yard. As I have always understood it, if you want no one touching your yard, fence it. I never complain if I see a dog walking across my lawn as long as the owner cleans up.
No one needs to be so mean. JERK
Oh and all of this was after I had to catch and return another neighbors unleashed cocker spaniel. UGH
Please take this dogs from my Brutus!!!
WTF!!!
Jess, people are nuts, just plain nuts, and I too would have flung the poo at him! LOL! no, I wouldn't have. But I would have considered it. Being responsible for your dog doesn't always pay off, huh..
ktrebor, Brutus needs to be taken away from that woman and into capable hands!
Robert - UGH, That lady needs help! Im glad you were able to prevent a fight from breaking out - especially since Kiba has just recovered/is recovering.
My neighbor (who rents) just got a puppy chihuahua - I believe one of her roommates also has a lhasa apso. Ever since they moved in - the Lhasa Apso would bark and bark at night time when the owner was out. Even when she would let him in the front yard at night while she was smoking a cigarette the dog cries and whine constantly. I never said anything becuase who knows - maybe the dog has issues - and it wasn't too loud where I couldn't close my window and fall back asleep.
Anyway - the other roommate just got a puppy chihuahua. she leaves her bedroom window open and when shes gone the chihuahua is screeching at the top of her lungs and it really sounds like she's dying or something. The owner knows how loud she is because when she gets home - She starts talking to the dog while she's walking up to her front door saying "I know baby, Im home, im home, don't worry...blah blah blah". Im wondering if i should say something. Like close your windows or something. Its REALLY loud. I mean - on medium hot days - I like to leave my windows open because we get a nice breeze and so I don't need to put the A/C on. But ever since she got that puppy - my windows have been closed and my A/C is on all the time. I mean - I can understand puppies - I've been through the whole process of crating and leaving the puppy alone. Of course they're going to whine. But I dont' think I should have to close my windows and pay for a/c when its really not needed just so I don't have to hear her dogs bitching 8 hours a day.
This lady btw has NO CLUE about dogs. I see her once in a while open the front door and put the dog outside and say "NO PRINCESS, NO, NO, NO!!! DON'T GO POTTY INSIDE!!!" She is yeling at her dog OUTSIDE where she is supposed to go potty. She also was talking outside on her cell phone about how she met this guy who will potty train her dog in 5 days for 500.00 or something. WTF?
That whole house of people are not very friendly - i used to always say hi with no response back. After a while I just stopped. Do I have a right to say something? I mean - I know the owner of their house too and im pretty sure that she doesn't allow pets. So im thinking they are doing it behind their landlords back.
Story as told by a friend:
So, a man drop off his shelty for a grooming. He brought the dog into the shop and told me what he wanted done and pointed out a place there was a hot spot. He seemed normal enough. He liked the dog and said that he had some med. for the hot spot.
When I got her up on the table and took off her collar I noticed she had a name tag. I normally don't look at them, but I glanced at it and about spit my gum out. The tag said, "Your dogs name engraved here. Plus your address and phone number."
When he (and his 3 kids) came back this was our conversation:
Me: Why is Gracie wearing this name tag?
Him: (Looking at me oddly) So, if she gets lost people will be able to call me.
Me: It doesn't have her name and info on it. It's just a display tag.
Him: Oh....I didn't notice that when I got it at the store.
Me: Oh, you mean you ordered one and they gave you that one by mistake?
Him: (Getting testy now) No, I saw them on a rack and just picked one out.
Me: Ya know, those are just display tags. You have to order them.
Him: Howmuch do I owe you? (and he left with his 3 kids and poor Gracie)