While I was walking Nola this morning as we crossed a nearby street we encountered a woman jogging. I shortened the lead to within a foot or so of me (this means taking up the slack in the lead) as I believe you should do when you encounter a stranger and said “She’s fine; I’ve got her under control”. The woman responded with a look of fear and anger and retorted “Dogs are not fine. I’ve been bitten by dogs.”. I responded “Not this dog” and hurried away. I think this encounter is instructive for a number of reasons.
As I see it these are the operative facts:
- The woman had every right to jog along the street.
- I have every right to walk my dog.
- The woman was jogging on the wrong side of the street.
- Had she been on the right side of the street she’d have been twenty feet away from us.
- I’ve been bitten by babies (not to mention dogs). I’ve also been hit by cars. I don’t respond with fear and anger when I simply encounter one.
- The woman came to a dead stop and threw up her hands.
Nola is a four year old Samoyed bitch, possibly the most pleasant, friendly dog that you might care to meet, and she wouldn’t bite anyone unless severely provoked but I recognize that some people are afraid of dogs and I always take steps to assuage their fears and keep my dog under control and well away from them. However, your alternatives are somewhat limited particularly when you’re standing in the middle of the street.
I also note that the woman’s reaction was almost perfectly wrong. Dogs have a natural instinct to chase anything that’s running so you can expect dogs to be interested in you if you’re running. Nola was interested in her but not excessively so. Dogs also have a natural instinct to jump when you raise your hands. If you don’t want dogs go jump up on you, don’t raise your hands when you encounter them. (Nola did not even attempt to jump up on the woman.) Also, speaking in a fearful or angry voice probably won’t encourage a positive response either from a human or from a dog. Go figure.
My conclusion from all of this is that the woman’s reaction was not a normal adult one but an immature neurotic one and she should be seeking professional help rather than wandering around the streets.
I’d match her up against my American Pit Bull Terrier, Petunia, no obviously not a fight, but in terms of friendliness towards people. She simply must be near people and she soaks up affection like a sponge. But because of her breed and the fact that she is so muscular (and being mostly black probably doesn’t help either). Around kids she is simply amazing, she’ll just lay down and let them pet her, poke her, pull on her….anything. Yet, she’ll get the dirtiest looks.
Once we were at UCLA in the sculpture garden and I had her on leash. As we walked along this woman gave Petunia the most unpleasant look. I was so tempted to walk over and say, “Madam, your baby is likely in far greater danger around you than my dog. Statistically speaking more mothers kill their children than dogs do.” Instead I shook my head, sighed at this woman’s ignorance and moved on.
I’m assuming the woman was running towards you, if so then no not quite perfectly wrong, but damn close. To be perfectly wrong she’d have to stop, maybe let our a shriek and then run away from you and Nola, but yeah she really made the situation worse.
No kidding. Once we took both our dogs to the park along with my son. I was walking Gia our rottweiler and we were going to have to pass through a family with kids on bikes on the sidewalk. We couldn’t move around them due to parked cars and traffic on one side and a low wall topped with a fence on the other side. I thought nothing of it as both of my dogs like people and I’ve taught them to be well mannered in public (at home the rott can be a bit of butt unless she meets you outside). One of the little girls pressed up against the wall and started this high pitched whine as we got within a few feet of and passed her. The look on her face was of terror, and yet my dogs did nothing…literally no response at all other than to keep walking beside me and my wife. The parents said nothing. I was so tempted to hand Gia to my wife and go tell the parents, “You really need to do something about your daughters reaction. It is so bad, that if she ever encounters a dog off leash and less socialized she will almost surely get bitten.” I didn’t because I figured the parents would react badly and just didn’t want to deal with it.
“Dogs have a natural instinct to chase anything that’s running so you can expect dogs to be interested in you if you’re running. ”
I was out for a 7-mile run (when I could still run), and was chuggin’ up the street when this giant (yeah, pretty big) German Shepard ran up to me. Now, I do a have lingering fear of strange dogs: I was attacked by one when I was 4 or 5. The fear has greatly attenuated over the years, but it’s still there a bit. Anyway, I was momentarily startled when he ran up to me, but I kept going. I guess he just wanted to run with somebody, because he stayed by my side for about a mile, loping along with me, then pealed off, back to home, I guess. Can honestly say, never had a nicer running partner.
Human beings and dogs are both cursorial hunters that work in packs. IMO that’s the reason that we’ve become such good partners: we occupy very similar ecological niches. It was either team up or exterminate each other. I’m glad we elected the former.
We also have complementary sensory capabilities. Dogs hear higher than we do but we hear lower. Dogs have more capable senses of smell; we have better eyesight. Our vision is best during the day; they’re better at dawn and dusk.
Dogs have better natural equipment for a predator but we have clever hands and brains. A good partnership.
Count me as one of those people who won’t be near a pit bull. I sure as hell won’t let my kids be near one.
It’s not a question of whether a particular dog is well-behaved. No doubt most are well-behaved. The difference is that while a cocker spaniel might bite a child, a spaniel cannot kill a child. A pit bull can. They have.
The question is not the frequency of bites, but the severity. I have dogs. I imagine they might both bite if sufficiently provoked. But neither of them can put you in the hospital or kill you. You might as well equate a house cat and a leopard. One scratches, the other kills.
As for irrational fear, I was once walking my dogs — at the time a Lab and the Pug — and smoking a cigar. A middle-aged couple ran toward me, so I pulled the dogs closer and stepped onto the grass so as not to impede the runners.
The couple stopped dead in their tracks. No, not fear of dogs. Fear of cigar smoke. Less than half a second’s exposure to very attenuated smoke. In southern California, where the air is nine parts car exhaust.
There ought to be a law. Unless you are blind or out hunting with the dog, you are needlessly subjecting your fellow citizens to Diseases Acquired From Dogs, most of which you can’t get from humans:
* Anthrax
* Blastomycosis
* Bergeyella (Weeksella) zoohelcum
* Brucella canis
* Campylobacteriosis
* Capnocytophaga canimorsus
* Capnocytophaga cynodegmi
* CDC groups EF-4a and EF-4b
* CDC group NO-1
* Cheyletiellosis
* Coenurosis
* Cryptosporidiosis
* Cutaneous larva migrans
* Demodex folliculorum
* Dermatophytosis
* Dipylidium caninum
* Echinococcosis
* Francisella tularensis
* Gastrospirillum hominis
* Granulocytic ehrlichiosis
* Leptospirosis
* Lyme disease
* Neisseria canis
* Neisseria weaveri
* Pasteurella multocida
* Plague
* Rabies
* Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever
* Salmonellosis
* Scabies
* Staphylococcus intermedius
* Strongyloides stercoralis
* Trichinosis
* Visceral larva migrans
* Yersinia enterocolitica
Supra, who let the dogs out?
Anyway, re Dave’s observation that dogs and human are cursorial hunters, I was just reminded of something I saw on Natgeo (?) a few years ago. The wild dogs of Africa are the finest, nonhuman, pack hunters you’ll ever see. They make lions look like amateurs. They are absolutely relentless in pursuit. And — they seem to like people. At least in the film I saw. Humans could go right up to a pack, and the dogs would come around, wagging their tails and whatnot. Dunno what the deal would be if they were really hungry, but they can be very friendly to people.
I jog a lot, and I always slow down to a walk as I approach someone walking a dog. If the dog is not on a leash (a common occurrence), I come to a full stop until the owner has positive control over their dog. The owner inevitably assures me that their dog is friendly and harmless, and I believe them, but why take chances? All dogs tend to be protective of their owners, and even friendly ones may jump up on a person (dew claws on bare legs – ouch!). I like dogs, and I am glad that people take them for walks – an activity that dogs enjoy almost as much as eating. I am more than willing to share sidewalks and trails with them.
Micheal…we were doing so well.
The above is just the result of stunning ignorance. All dogs can kill given the right setting and the wrong owner. One story I read the owner’s Pomeranian killed his grandchild while he was off warming up a bottle of milk.
Link
Lab puppy kills 2 month old
Sled dogs kill boy.
Weimaranar kills toddler
American Pit Bull Terriers have one of the highest pass rates on temperament testing.
Any dog can kill a human in the right circumstances. Some dogs will be more dangerous in those situations than others. And it is the owners responsibility to understand their dogs and evaluate them and make sure that other people and animals are safe.
Sure they could…if they really wanted to.
Are you really comparing a wild animal to a domesticated one? Really?