Dangerous Doggies

Let me start this by saying that I typically try NOT to air my issues here on my blog. 

I'd like this to be a place people can come for fun, giveaways, to look at cute puppy pictures of Sailor. 

But sometimes, I guess I just can't help but from throwing a little rant out there. 

In this case, I don't think you all will blame me. 

I took Hubs to work this morning, first time in over a week because I've been sick, and came home. Every morning when I come home, the first thing I do is take Sailor on a morning walk.

If anything ever happened to Sailor b/c of a dog not being leashed, it would kill me. Ignorance DOES kill, people !

I took him out this morning & he tinkled in our neighbor's yard, no problem. I let him pee and we kept it moving. Just after we left that yard, I heard dogs barking a few houses down, less than a block away. 

Since I'm always super protective of any potential dangerous situation when Sailor is with me, I looked up to see what was going on. What I saw, was an older Hispanic man walking down the street, minding his own business, and suddenly three dogs came running out barking aggressively towards him and jumping up on him. 

This man did not know these dogs at all, he actually came from a house near mine & was just walking up the street, causing no harm, messing with no one. I felt bad for the guy, but to be honest I was not about to approach the situation with Sailor with me. 

So I did probably  the most wrong thing you can DO in that situation, since the dogs didn't see me & Sailor, I turned around and ran him back to my house, which was pretty close. I brought him in, grabbed my cell phone and a pink metal walking cane of my Mom's, and headed back out the door sans Sailor to make sure the poor older Hispanic man was OK. 

When I got close enough to see if he was OK or not, he was no longer there & I did not see the dogs. I ASSUMED he kept on his way & the owner of the dogs got a handle on them. 

Since Sailor had not gotten to go #2 before I brought him home out of fear for his & my safety, and I did NOT see those dogs out any longer, I figured it'd be OK to bring Sailor back out to finish what he'd started. 

Boy was I wrong.

I start walking Sailor again, in the same direction as earlier & notice that a man is standing on the porch to the house where the dogs live. I stood about 1 house down from his, in the street, and asked him if he knew that his dogs had just charged at this older man and that he should be keeping them on leashes. 

He started talking back to me asking what I saw and I told him again that his three dogs were aggressive towards this older man and that that was not cool. Then he says to me that the dogs aren't his, so I told him that they were from his house so they were his effing dogs (yes, I was cursing like you would not believe). You must understand that I have never, would never, hurt any animal by choice. But while I was talking to his man, standing in the street, two of the three dogs, one being a German Shepard the other being a Yorkie, came charging at ME and Sailor !

I told him under no uncertain terms that if his dogs came at ME again, I would bash their effing brains out. He said that sounds like a threat, I told him it's not a threat when his dogs come charging at me aggressively. 

Now would I ever ACTUALLY beat his dogs' brains in ? NO. But HE doesn't know that, right ? 

Anyway, the argument lasted for maybe 5 minutes or less before I realized that this gentleman was a effing moron and as you ALL know, you can't reason with stupid. 

The NEXT time this happens, I'm calling 911. Darren, Sailor and I were just charged at by a Pit Bull on our back street a few weeks ago, same situation. No leash, just hanging out on the front porch & came after us as we were walking Sailor. 

I'm so TIRED of feeling like I can't even walk my dog, on a leash, without being harassed and bullied by neighborhood dogs. It's ridiculous to feel that your and your dog's safety is in jeopardy every time you step foot out of your door & I REFUSE to live in fear. 

My plan is to buy pepper spray and carry something big to protect myself with, as well as my cell phone, if another dog comes at me, I WILL protect myself with whatever measures are available to me at the time AND I'm calling 911. 

I did call our neighborhood office & left a message with the answering service asking if where I live will do anything (I'm sure they don't give a shit.) - or if I should just start calling 911 and reporting that I'm feeling threatened by these dogs and their owners know it's happening and do nothing. This asshole this morning never made ONE move to come collect his effing dogs and bring them inside or leash them. He just stood on his porch as relaxed and not giving an eff as you can imagine - while I stand in the street screaming like a mad woman. I have no shame.

If there's a leash law, your pets need to be leashed. Period. I don't CARE how big or small they are, in this case it was a German Shepard & 2 Yorkies. There are leash laws to not only protect people, but also their own pets. 

What do you do about aggressive, unleashed dogs in your neighborhood ?