Incident With Loose Dog Last Night

[fuzzy82]

Every night between 9:30 and 10:30 hubby and I take the dogs out and just do a quick loop around the neighbourhood. On Friday night there was a house up ahead where a woman was standing outside her house on the phone (I think) and her little fluffy off leash wandering around the front yard. When it saw us it started barking and growling, the woman called it, and she then had to chase it around the yard because it thought it was a fun game to run away from her. We had stopped to wait for her to get her dog under control, as I didn't want it running up to my dogs. When she finally managed to grab it we kept walking, and hubby called out to her that her dog should be on leash.

Last night we went for a walk again, as usual, and once again the woman is out the front with the dog loose. Once again it starts barking at us and then runs away from the woman trying to catch it. I hung back with the dog while hubby went up to her and suggested that she gets the dog to follow her inside rather than chasing it around the yard. So she finally got it under control, and hubby once again suggested she keeps the dog on leash. As I caught up with hubby I commented to him how stupid it was for her to have her dog off leash out the front two days in a row. I didn't intend for her to hear this, but she did. She called out that it was her property and she's allowed to have her dog loose. I responded with "no you're not" and she told me to "f*** off" and disappeared inside.

If she'd apologised for making us wait and her dog winding my dogs up to the point of being ridiculous (the loose dog doing zoomies around the yard made my dogs bark and lunge), it wouldn't have been so bad. It happens. But seeing as she was so unpleasant and with such an entitled-to-have-my-untrained-dog-off-leash attitude, we have decided to report it.

But technically her and her dog remained on their property the whole time, the dog didn't go after my dogs. So just wondering if leash laws apply? We did have to stop and wait for her to get her dog, because she had no control, no recall, the dog didn't listen at all.

If it happens again tonight I'm thinking I won't hang back, I'll just keep walking. Why should I be nice and wait for her to get her dog?

[Guest lavendergirl]

I must be missing something Isn't the dog in her front yard? Why should it be on leash if it is in her yard? I am guessing that the yard is unfenced and you are worried about it rushing on to the footpath?

Sorry it sounds if your approach was confrontational and she has responded in kind. I don't think you have anything to report really.

[fuzzy82]

No, there was no fence, the dog was loose out the front of her house, but technically on her property. We didn't intend to confront her, we hung back waiting for her to get her dog under control, then suggested she keeps it on leash.

I don't have an issue with off leash dogs, as long as they're trained and under control. We see a guy walking his ACD off leash at night quite a lot, which has never been an issue. But when people let their completely untrained dogs out and the dog seems semi-aggressive towards me and my dogs, I have an issue with it. If the dog had been barking and growling at us, but was on leash and under control, I wouldn't have an issue either.

But we had to wait for her to get her dog, because it was aggressive, untrained and off leash. You'd think she would be a little bit apologetic about it.

Edited July 2, 2012 by fuzzy82

[tlc]

If it was me I would have just kept walking, it's up to her to control her dog if it's off leash, your were on so you were doing the right thing. Are your dogs DA is that why you waited for her to get her dog? Don't think the council or whoever would take the report seriously if the dog was on its own property.

[RubyBlue]

But technically her and her dog remained on their property the whole time, the dog didn't go after my dogs. So just wondering if leash laws apply? We did have to stop and wait for her to get her dog, because she had no control, no recall, the dog didn't listen at all.

I'd be very upset if I was required to have my dogs leashed whilst on my property - particularly if they were under my supervision.

From your story it sounds like she tried to control her dog out of courtesy whilst you were passing and you were a bit abrupt and impatient with her causing her to retaliate.

Perhaps you should reconsider the way you approach her tonight. Or walk a different route.

[tlc]

You edited your post while I was writing mine.

[Dxenion]

Did the dog leave it's property? Am I understanding you correctly that you expect her dog to be on a leash even while on it's own property?

I guess it does raise a couple of points. I think you are supposed to have unrestricted access to the front door. The behaviour of the dog as you described could be restrictive to most people however as you were only going past, not to the house I don't think this applies here.

The other point is that in many states a dog rushing at you can be classed as a dog attack. Whether that could be applied in this situation is a matter for your ranger.

[Tara8430]

^{Our council had article in the news paper the other week about dog attacks cause there have been a rise in attacks, they state that if a dog runs at you barking like that it can be classified as an attack.}

^{Maybe you need to report this neighbour?}

[Winterpaws]

I think you are being petty

[mixeduppup]

Dogs are allowed to be offleash in their own property. the dog didn't leave the yard and could have but instead barked (normal) and then turned it into a chasing game (also normal). The dog didn't seem to eb aggressive, just territorial (normal). So what's your complaint going to be about exactly? Seriously asking? Basically it seems you're offended by how she treated you, but really your husband approached a lady who had a dog loose in her property and told her it should be on a leash...that could also be thought of as confrontational.

[merijigs]

In an unfenced front yard I would expect the dog to be on leash because there is nothing to prevent it running uncontrolled into public space. If an unleashed dog rushed out of its front yard, away from its owner and up to my dogs , their would be Trouble Bigtime. The first thing you need to have a dog is a securely fenced yard, Surely?

[Guest lavendergirl]

The dog didn't do anything besides bark and run around "doing zoomies". Heck I would have to report most of the dogs in this street then - including mine :)

I would be interested in the council's response when you do report "the incident" - whatever that was.

[persephone]

the loose dog doing zoomies around the yard made my dogs bark and lunge

Dog was on its own property - you had the option to remove yourself ....... end of story .

Edited July 2, 2012 by persephone

[mixeduppup]

There was nothing to prevent the dog from rushing out but it didn't, perhaps there was an invisible fence or it was trained not to.

[Inevitablue]

Your dogs were barking and lunging, at what point do you consider a dog trained?

[Sheridan]

In an unfenced front yard I would expect the dog to be on leash because there is nothing to prevent it running uncontrolled into public space. If an unleashed dog rushed out of its front yard, away from its owner and up to my dogs , their would be Trouble Bigtime. The first thing you need to have a dog is a securely fenced yard, Surely?

I would love a front fence!

[fuzzy82]

Did the dog leave it's property? Am I understanding you correctly that you expect her dog to be on a leash even while on it's own property?

I guess it does raise a couple of points. I think you are supposed to have unrestricted access to the front door. The behaviour of the dog as you described could be restrictive to most people however as you were only going past, not to the house I don't think this applies here.

The other point is that in many states a dog rushing at you can be classed as a dog attack. Whether that could be applied in this situation is a matter for your ranger.

Generally, no, I wouldn't expect a dog to be on leash on its own property. But if the dog is untrained and likely to run up to people and dogs, then yes, I expect it to be on leash wherever there is likely to be other people and dogs, including out the front of its own house. I would never have my dogs off leash if I didn't think I could control them.

My dogs aren't DA, but one of them is quite reactive, and he tends to wind the other one up when he's having a moment, which is why we hung back and didn't just keep walking.

[fuzzy82]

Your dogs were barking and lunging, at what point do you consider a dog trained?

My dogs were on leash, and thus under control. They don't normally bark and lunge at other dogs, but it was dark and the situation was out of the ordinary, first they are barked and growled at, then there is a dog running around at full speed, and they were on leash so they couldn't run up to investigate, causing frustration.

In any case, I'm not complaining that the dog wasn't trained, and I'm not saying my dogs are so much better trained than hers (even though they are). I don't care if people train their dogs or not, but if they're not trained I expect them to still be under control. For an untrained dog that means keeping it on leash.

[Dame Aussie]

We walk past a house with two dogs behind a fence that is about 4 foot, if that. Both the dogs go NUTS as we walk past and we just ignore them.

One night however, the gate was open and the dog was going nuts at the fence so OH called out to them because we didn't want to walk past in case they ran out, the guy came out and said the dog was fine, just all bark etc.

That's all fine and well, but for someone walking past, they don;t know that, and I don;t trust a dog not to run out if I don't know it Luckily in our case they seem to be locking them up at night now so we haven't had the issue in ages.

So I can totally see where you're coming from. It isn't really fair to have to chance your luck walking past not knowing whether or not the dog going crazy will bolt out at you and your dogs, but I don't think you can really report it as nothing actually happened.

Edited July 2, 2012 by Aussie3

[mushka]

Could you see another possible perspective on this: a woman was outside with her little dog and a couple walking their reactive dogs approached the house, the little dog displayed a typical territorial response and the reactive dogs started growling and lunging, little dog's owner chased her dog and restrained it whilst the reactive dogs were not removed but instead held on-leash continuing to lunge and growl. The reactive dog's owner then had the audacity to complain that the little dog was not on leash on its own property.

I'm not faulting you and I understand it is difficult to walk reactive dogs but I just wanted to provide another viewpoint that might help you understand the other dog owner's response.