Skitch

... Would you not scream if your dog had just been ripped from your arms and was being savaged by a pair of larger dogs? I've certainly screamed my lungs out to attract attention/help when approached by an aggressive dog trying to get at mine!

Don't assume that. All they will investigate is the actual incident, and assess what harm (if any) was done. It would be quite normal for DA dog to act just like a bouncy happy tail wagging bundle of fluff when the rangers do get to see the dog, and the behaviour should have no bearing on the investigation at all. Yes, but.. surely they cant decide a dog is dog aggressive based just on heresay? Technically what happened cant even be proved, no one else saw it! That doesn't mean I'm going to deny it did happen though. I assume there's some testing involved before they just declare a dog as dog aggressive because someone accused it of attacking their dogs..?

Ahh thankyou! I was trying to find the legislation about this type of scenario but couldn't seem to access it from the council website. Very useful and reassuring - thankyou! True.. but what if their dogs weren't friendly? People have a right to walk even the most aggressive dogs on the street as long as they are restrained. It's not fair that our naughty little mutt darted out of the door and potentially upset their dogs . And yes I'm just so glad that I actually saw her go out the door! She doesn't really have much road sense I dont think.. could have easily been hit by a car . As mentioned previously, I agree that they had a right to be upset.. my own dog is on lead aggressive so I do understand their frustrations! I wouldn't have reacted in quite the way that they did given that nothing really happened.. but the issue is that something COULD HAVE happened. They didn't know our dog, didn't know she was friendly.. and for all I know their dogs could have been very aggressive! They have a right to walk their dogs restrained on the street, ours should not have been able to get out and hassle them. I think I'll wait and see if the ranger even does contact us.. I'm kind of hoping that the people were just threatening me to give me a fright and wont actually bother with the council but we shall see. Grr yes! She had actually gone across the road to her friends place and my Mum marched accross their and dragged her home. She was hardly even apologetic about it! Typical teenager :/. It probably never occurred to you to be annoyed because your dogs are okay with other dogs. My own dog (not the dog in this post) is onlead aggressive and I always panic and freak out whenever dogs rush us regardless of whether they're friendly or not and I've certainly gently kicked/pushed dogs away with my foot to distance them from my onlead dog for their own good! Luckily my girl is quite well trained and her onlead aggression has got much better with training but she still wont tolerate dogs getting up in her face when she's onlead and we've had some really scary experiences while out walking. I dont think these people reacted unreasonably really.. I feel they did kick her a bit hard and the amount of yelling and accusing our dog of 'attacking' theirs when all she did was run up with her tail wagging and not make any contact was a bit excessive.. but I do understand why they were annoyed! It just shouldn't have happened . Your training sounds excellent! I dont actually spend enough time with my parents dog to train her (I dont live here usually!). I doubt my parents would be willing to dedicate the time and effort to teach her such things either.. . She's generally a good dog who comes when she's called, knows simple commands (sit, drop, etc), is well socialized and friendly and that's good enough for them I guess . It's a bit unfortunate really.. my own dogs are trained to have a bit of roadsense (not enough that I wouldn't be panicking like mad if they got out, though!) and neither of them would walk out the front door even if there were other dogs out the front (as it happened last night my italian greyhound was standing by the door when my parents dog got out and didn't even follow her! Good boy ). Oh I know they wont put her to sleep.. that would just be ridiculous! I assume they'd have to come out and asses the dog.. and as soon as they met my parents bouncy happy tail wagging bundle of fluff I think they'd put two and two together and realize she's not out to hurt anyone and this was just an accident. And yep.. my sister deserves many slaps! Yep, I agree fully as do my parents. It could have been so much worse than what happened.. I've almost made myself sick thinking about what could have happened if my big ACD X bully breed dog got out because she was here last night too! She's friendly to other dogs offlead but I think she would have given these people a heart attack if she had of rushed up the driveway towards them. She generally wont walk out of the front door if it's accidentally left open.. but I'd never rely 100% on that training and I'm so glad she was outside eating her dinner when the door was left open! My sister is 18 and has a job.. any resulting fines will definitely be paid by her. It was an accident but I think what's infuriated my parents the most is that she hardly even apologized for what happened and didn't seem to grasp that it could have been much worse! That's awful that you've had so many bad experiences! Have you rang the council about repeat offending dogs? I would have! We've only had it happen a handful of times in my parents neighbourhood.. a few of those times the dog was obviously quite aggressive and wanting to 'go' our dogs but usually they were friendly just wanting to play! Either situation is no good for us as my dog (who used to live at my parents place until I moved out) is onlead aggressive . I really dont think we'd have any luck teaching my parents dog not to cross a road. She might grasp the concept kind of.. until there was another dog on the other side of the road :/!

She may have gone about level with it.. but I dont think she went past it. The people were walking quite 'high up' on our driveway I guess you could say and their dogs had pulled their leashes to go to my parents dog and then the lady stepped forward and kicked my parents dog away from hers which definitely sent her back about a foot.. so I dont think she ever really left our property.. but Im not sure that it makes any difference considering she was unrestrained

Hmmm.. well my parents house doesn't have a front fence so I cant judge from that.. but the she didn't go past our letterbox if that's the same thing! Either way we are in the wrong because she was in our front yard unrestrained.. if there's going to be consequences I guess we'll just have to face them Sucks that she picked these two people to run up too.. I dont think most other people would have reacted quite so strongly, it really wasn't a big deal and only lasted a few seconds! Just our luck.. Thanks, I've got it all written down.. just in case ,

Lol, I agree! I've been rushed at by smaller dogs wanting to play MANY times while walking both of our dogs.. I'd never react in the way that these people did. But we are 'dog' people I guess you could say.. I think you can be a non dog person even when you do own a dog if that makes sense haha! I still think these people were within their 'rights' to react the way that they did.. even if it was a bit dramatic Cool, well that doesn't sound so terrible.. hopefully if anything comes of this it's something similar to that! Thanks for sharing Excellent advice, thankyou for sharing. I hadn't considered it properly but when I think about it.. she technically never left our property, she was on our driveway the entire time.. I dont think that makes it okay but if we do get the phonecall I'll be sure to mention that! I hope they decide not to call.. hopefully they had a long walk home and had time to calm down I feel bad that our dumb little dog upset them so badly though! Naughty dog.. and my naughty sister! I want to wring her neck lol.

In the couples defense re; kicking our dog.. I can understand why they did that. They do not know our dog, even though she was displaying typically friendly behavior, they didn't know her well enough to know she wouldn't hurt a fly.. they could have also been kicking her away to protect her from their own dogs who may have been aggressive So I dont blame them at all for kicking her! It did seem to be quite a hard kick and she did yelp but I dont think any permanent damage will come from it and it was probably best that she was kicked away rather than a dog fight starting Lol they probably didn't realize I was pregnant It was quite dark haha! Yes I think I will just tell the council exactly what happened should they call.. I think if they were to come round and asses Bindi they'd realize she's not at all aggressive and very, very friendly!

Thanks Emery, me too!

Oh, and I should mention that my parents live in Campbelltown in Adelaide..

Yes I agree.. it could have been worse lol! But I do understand the couples frustrations and think that I deserved the yelling at (even though it wasn't my bloody dog, how were they to know!? LOL). I wonder if it even makes a difference to the council what her intentions were.. if I understand correctly her just being out the front of the house unrestrained is a huge deal and my parents could be in big trouble for that alone . We've never had any other reports against us concerning either of the dogs that live here so I think we'll be okay.. but it is worrying me a bit considering how much these people yelled about it! :/

So my parents naughty little maltese terrier X was just involved with an altercation out the front of our house with two other dogs and the couple walking them. Here's what happened.. She (the dog) was out in the backyard and I opened the backdoor to let her into the house. I didn't realize my STUPID younger sister had left the house and left the front door wide open. Needless to say, the dog darted up the hallway and straight out the door . I saw it all happen but couldn't get to her fast enough.. I reached the door just in time to see her racing up the driveway towards this couple and their onlead dogs! Their dogs were only small also (one looked like a chi X and the other a foxy X) of course I raced out after her (in my all too revealing nightie at 40 weeks pregnant.. how bloody embarrassing!) and called her back but by this stage she had already reached the dogs and one of them growled at her but she didn't growl back.. her tail was wagging and she looked like she wanted to play with these dogs. Either way, no contact was really made between our dog and theirs as the woman actually kicked our dog away (fair enough! I would have done the same) and she didn't try to come back at the couples dogs.. she just sort of stood there looking at them wagging her tail like the dumb dog she is all the while I'm waddling up the driveway yelling her name *sigh*. Anyway.. the couple were understandably not happy and commenced yelling at me that our dog had attacked theirs and they would report us to the council. I completely understand that in this situation we are entirely at fault.. our dog was unrestrained and did what could be described as 'rushing' the couple and their onlead dogs even if she did only want to play it's still completely wrong. I apologized profusely and acknowledged that we were in the wrong.. but I'm still expecting a phonecall from the council sometime in the next couple of days. We've never dealt with anything like this before with any of our dogs.. I'm just wondering if anyone could fill me on where it could go from here? My parents dog is in no way dangerous so I'm not worried about her being put to sleep over something like this.. but will we get a fine? How do they asses the situation and prove what happened? I'm a bit worried the couple might try to embellish their story after they got so upset and screamed at me about it for 10 minutes straight :/.

None of our dogs seemed to care. The older two just slept through it and didn't even flinch haha. I was a bit worried that Boomer might be frightened because last new years he was only 14 weeks old but I popped him in his crate with a bone and he didn't even hear the fireworks I dont think lol!

Our now elderly cattle dog X bully breed has protected our family from break ins/vandalism attempts on several occasions throughout her life! The most memorable instance that comes to mind is the time I thought we'd never see her again because she chased the person back up the side of the house (we heard her snarling and barking and the man screaming!) and out the gate that they'd left open when sneaking down and attempting to crawl in through my sisters window. Luckily she came back but she was gone for nearly an hour! Hopefully she taught that guy a lesson.. it was so scary

I surely hope not..! The poster says they didn't realize the dog was deaf when they adopted her.. :p. Best of luck with her ! I've met a few deaf dogs in my time and it's amazing how well behaved and trained they can be despite their disability.

Whatever she is, she's beautiful! I definitely see greyhound.. such a lovely long nose

Lol, I dont think my dogs were any different! However.. we did get a phonecall from my superstitious boyfriends grandmother warning me to stay inside because apparently the fullmoon causes birth defects (I'm 38 weeks pregnant)! LOL

This in itself can be considered an offence. If any dog runs up fast to me or my dogs it gets my boot in it's face. Even in an offlead dog park..?

Maybe she has mistaken your dog for another dog that frequents the park...? Labs aren't exactly an uncommon breed!

I dont think the dog in the photo is THE dog.. probably just a very poor stock photo of a 'maremma'.

Ahaha I love the photos in this thread.. nearly ever dog has the over dramatic 'why do you do this to me? ' expression on! Havent got around to buying dog sized christmas hats/antlers to torture ours with this year.. cant wait though LOL! But here is a cruddy pic of my dogs and my parents maltese X with our christmas tree

It's only illegal if they are unrestrained in the back of a ute. Even if you don't have the windows down you run the risk of your dog breaking something or dying through the force of being thrown around the car. It was a very minor incident that initially prompted me to get a harness for Justice. I was driving down a 60km/hr road doing around 40km/hr (as I was approaching a set of lights that were red) when the car in front of me hit their brakes too hard (they weren't at risk of hitting another car so I think maybe their foot just slipped or something). I had to brake a bit harder than I already was but it wasn't even remotely like I slammed the brakes on or anything, as I was a fair distance from the car. Anyway, that little bit of extra force was enough to throw Justice forward from the back seat and wedge his head between the driver's seat and the front door. I drove straight to a pet store and bought a harness as I could only imagine what would have happened if I'd had to come to a complete stop. It was only a few months later that I was driving along the same road (not a main road by the way but it still gets a bit of traffic) doing just under 60km/h in the middle of the day when a Learner driver pulled out of a side street on my right and made a right hand turn in front of me, just as I got to the street. I slammed my brakes on and swerved to the curb and she slammed her brakes on and we avoided a collision with me at full speed by a few centimetres. I don't get rattled easily and I was shaking like a leaf and felt sick. I pulled over as soon as I safely could so that I could check on Justice and calm down. He was a bit rattled (although that might have been because I was so rattled) but other than that was perfectly fine - no bruising or strains and he didn't hit his head on anything, solely because he was strapped in with his harness. The force that I stopped with would have been more than enough to throw him in to the front of the car or even the windscreen, unless he was stopped by the back of the front seats in which case he no doubt would have broken something. It would have been even worse if the two cars hadn't managed to avoid a collision. It's only of late that I had gotten very slack with the harness and I think it was probably just me becoming complacent as there hadn't been any incidents since the one described above. But as this thread shows, it only takes one mistake or moment of distraction for everything to go wrong. I've been lucky in that Justice is really easy going and never gave me any grief over the harness but it really is worth training your dog to accept the harness in the car. What scary stories.. I can definitely see the advantages of restraining your dogs while driving. I'm actually a bit embarrassed to say it's not something I've considered properly.. makes me feel silly and irresponsible when hearing stories like the original post and yours! It only has to happen once doesn't it.. Don't feel silly. I drove Justice around for about a year before the first incident happened and scared the hell out of me. I'd even read stuff about restraining dogs but somehow didn't really think it through. Even with my experiences I still got to a point where I stopped strapping him in regularly and made all sorts of justifications in my head about "just popping to the shop", "I'm in a hurry and don't have time" and many others like it. As I said earlier in this thread, I'm thankful someone posted this as it gave me a kick up the butt and got me back on track with using the harness each and every time I take him out, even if it's just to the local shop. I would never transport a baby without properly securing it in its capsule regardless of whether it's the law or not and Justice deserves the same dedication and protection. If sharing some of my experiences helps convince someone else to do the same then I'm a very happy person. ;) ((Nice to meet you today . Justice is sooooo cute!)) I had a quick squiz at the harnesses at Fidos today.. will have to bring my two into be fitted for one! I have a feeling that a good quality one would make it harder for Boomer to twist around in .

Whoops.. we've certainly broken the law more than once then.

It's only illegal if they are unrestrained in the back of a ute. Even if you don't have the windows down you run the risk of your dog breaking something or dying through the force of being thrown around the car. It was a very minor incident that initially prompted me to get a harness for Justice. I was driving down a 60km/hr road doing around 40km/hr (as I was approaching a set of lights that were red) when the car in front of me hit their brakes too hard (they weren't at risk of hitting another car so I think maybe their foot just slipped or something). I had to brake a bit harder than I already was but it wasn't even remotely like I slammed the brakes on or anything, as I was a fair distance from the car. Anyway, that little bit of extra force was enough to throw Justice forward from the back seat and wedge his head between the driver's seat and the front door. I drove straight to a pet store and bought a harness as I could only imagine what would have happened if I'd had to come to a complete stop. It was only a few months later that I was driving along the same road (not a main road by the way but it still gets a bit of traffic) doing just under 60km/h in the middle of the day when a Learner driver pulled out of a side street on my right and made a right hand turn in front of me, just as I got to the street. I slammed my brakes on and swerved to the curb and she slammed her brakes on and we avoided a collision with me at full speed by a few centimetres. I don't get rattled easily and I was shaking like a leaf and felt sick. I pulled over as soon as I safely could so that I could check on Justice and calm down. He was a bit rattled (although that might have been because I was so rattled) but other than that was perfectly fine - no bruising or strains and he didn't hit his head on anything, solely because he was strapped in with his harness. The force that I stopped with would have been more than enough to throw him in to the front of the car or even the windscreen, unless he was stopped by the back of the front seats in which case he no doubt would have broken something. It would have been even worse if the two cars hadn't managed to avoid a collision. It's only of late that I had gotten very slack with the harness and I think it was probably just me becoming complacent as there hadn't been any incidents since the one described above. But as this thread shows, it only takes one mistake or moment of distraction for everything to go wrong. I've been lucky in that Justice is really easy going and never gave me any grief over the harness but it really is worth training your dog to accept the harness in the car. What scary stories.. I can definitely see the advantages of restraining your dogs while driving. I'm actually a bit embarrassed to say it's not something I've considered properly.. makes me feel silly and irresponsible when hearing stories like the original post and yours! It only has to happen once doesn't it..

Such a horrible thing to happen.. poor little dog . Does anyone know if it's illegal to travel with unrestrained dogs in SA..? We never restrain either of ours but never have the windows down either. We did try our italian greyhound in one of those car harness thingies because he tends to bounce around and give the other dog the sh*ts.. but he damn near broke his leg by wriggling and twisting around so much so we gave up on that idea LOL.

Was the beach where you met the 'nasty jogger' even allowed to have dogs offlead? Just be thankful he didn't kick your dog or worse.. And your third scenario is precisely why I stay away from dog parks! We've had bad experiences like that too.. it's just too unpredictable and dog parks seem to be frequented by people who have little/no control over their dogs