jicksies
Boxer Booster
Hi Jim!
Thank you for your honest reply, Jim. I truly empathize with you and as I said in several of my posts I do understand people's fear of dogs and I am very aware of the traumas people have experienced with dogs. I do need to say that Bumper was not out of my "control" at this time or ever while we were in this park. The park is one of the largest in the state and although there is a leash law in here many people choose this park to let their dogs run free because of the size of this place. This man who attacked Bumper was not handicapped and he was probably in his 40's. He didn't swing at Bumper, he struck him with his walking stick.
I do know that people who are not familiar with Bumper's personality would have no idea whether he was a "good dog" and they can sometimes assume the worst when they see a big dog running loose. As far as Bumps being out of my sight, realistically there are only split seconds where he is not within my vision but I am always in tune with him and he NEVER strays too far from me. I guess I need to stop assuming that people will be rational when they see a dog loose; I know though for me when I see a dog off-lead I don't over-react; I am cautious and I pay close attention to the dog's body language and energy.
I still feel the man was wrong and for anyone else out there who sees a loose dog frolicking (operative word-frolicking) along, don't automatically take a swing at them-that may be the biggest mistake a person can make. Provocation is not going to help the situation. Fortunately Bumper did not strike back although I wouldn't really fault him if he had in self-defense. By the way,I have had more incidences with aggressive dogs while they are ON A LEASH than when off leash.
I have owned dogs for the past 27 years (all Boxers) and have noticed a serious and somewhat drastic change in people's attitudes about Man's Best Friend. It makes me sad and I don't quite understand it.Growing up, dogs ran free. When the leash law was put into place, my understanding for it was to protect the animal from harm (ie:hit by a car), not to protect people from dogs. Seems all this publicity and media craze about dog attacks has put everyone in a tizzy about all dogs. Bad Owners=Bad dogs in my book. I'm a good dog owner-responsible and also very respectful of other's feelings. The day this happened with Bumps I initially apologized to the man about Bumper frightening him but he ignored me and continued to swing. The man refused to listen to me and I know it is because he let his fear take over.
I am also responsible enough to know that if I ever owned a dog that I did not completely trust I would not let him off-leash. As it was, my two 9 mos old pups were on leashes the entire time because I have not had them long enough to know how they will react to situations. Maybe this is a stupid assumption but for the most part when I am at a park and see a dog off-leash I feel the dog must be "safe" otherwise the owner would not let him run free. I would hope this is the case and maybe my mistake here is that I assume all people believe this as well. Times have changed. People have changed. That's all I'm really saying, Jim. Used to be I could go to the park with my pups and give them some free time and no one would bat an eye. Now, an altercation or "scene" ensues.
The irony of this situation is if Bumper was on leash and was aggressive in nature there is no way I could have hung on to him anyway! I weigh 90 pounds and I had two other pups on leashes as well! A leash can be very deceiving in that it offers a somewhat false sense of safety- one can't assume that because he/she is leashed the owner has TOTAL CONTROL. Not the case. It all depends on the dog and the owner's relationship to each other.
Jim, I truly love my dogs as I know you love Caesar, and I also love to see them run free once in awhile rather than tethered to me. Fortunately I have a large field behind my home that I let all three run through without fear of people freaking out. If I have learned anything here from this awful encounter it's the times have changed for good between the relationship of man and dog, it's been tainted somehow and well Jim, it just really sucks! I miss the ole' days "sniff sniff"...and I'm grieving that...
You take care of yourself and of Caesar and I wish you peace as well...Jicksies
Thank you for your honest reply, Jim. I truly empathize with you and as I said in several of my posts I do understand people's fear of dogs and I am very aware of the traumas people have experienced with dogs. I do need to say that Bumper was not out of my "control" at this time or ever while we were in this park. The park is one of the largest in the state and although there is a leash law in here many people choose this park to let their dogs run free because of the size of this place. This man who attacked Bumper was not handicapped and he was probably in his 40's. He didn't swing at Bumper, he struck him with his walking stick.
I do know that people who are not familiar with Bumper's personality would have no idea whether he was a "good dog" and they can sometimes assume the worst when they see a big dog running loose. As far as Bumps being out of my sight, realistically there are only split seconds where he is not within my vision but I am always in tune with him and he NEVER strays too far from me. I guess I need to stop assuming that people will be rational when they see a dog loose; I know though for me when I see a dog off-lead I don't over-react; I am cautious and I pay close attention to the dog's body language and energy.
I still feel the man was wrong and for anyone else out there who sees a loose dog frolicking (operative word-frolicking) along, don't automatically take a swing at them-that may be the biggest mistake a person can make. Provocation is not going to help the situation. Fortunately Bumper did not strike back although I wouldn't really fault him if he had in self-defense. By the way,I have had more incidences with aggressive dogs while they are ON A LEASH than when off leash.
I have owned dogs for the past 27 years (all Boxers) and have noticed a serious and somewhat drastic change in people's attitudes about Man's Best Friend. It makes me sad and I don't quite understand it.Growing up, dogs ran free. When the leash law was put into place, my understanding for it was to protect the animal from harm (ie:hit by a car), not to protect people from dogs. Seems all this publicity and media craze about dog attacks has put everyone in a tizzy about all dogs. Bad Owners=Bad dogs in my book. I'm a good dog owner-responsible and also very respectful of other's feelings. The day this happened with Bumps I initially apologized to the man about Bumper frightening him but he ignored me and continued to swing. The man refused to listen to me and I know it is because he let his fear take over.
I am also responsible enough to know that if I ever owned a dog that I did not completely trust I would not let him off-leash. As it was, my two 9 mos old pups were on leashes the entire time because I have not had them long enough to know how they will react to situations. Maybe this is a stupid assumption but for the most part when I am at a park and see a dog off-leash I feel the dog must be "safe" otherwise the owner would not let him run free. I would hope this is the case and maybe my mistake here is that I assume all people believe this as well. Times have changed. People have changed. That's all I'm really saying, Jim. Used to be I could go to the park with my pups and give them some free time and no one would bat an eye. Now, an altercation or "scene" ensues.
The irony of this situation is if Bumper was on leash and was aggressive in nature there is no way I could have hung on to him anyway! I weigh 90 pounds and I had two other pups on leashes as well! A leash can be very deceiving in that it offers a somewhat false sense of safety- one can't assume that because he/she is leashed the owner has TOTAL CONTROL. Not the case. It all depends on the dog and the owner's relationship to each other.
Jim, I truly love my dogs as I know you love Caesar, and I also love to see them run free once in awhile rather than tethered to me. Fortunately I have a large field behind my home that I let all three run through without fear of people freaking out. If I have learned anything here from this awful encounter it's the times have changed for good between the relationship of man and dog, it's been tainted somehow and well Jim, it just really sucks! I miss the ole' days "sniff sniff"...and I'm grieving that...
You take care of yourself and of Caesar and I wish you peace as well...Jicksies