So, taking the dogs for a walk. Meet up with a lovely lady with 3 ldogs. One keeps jumping on me. I (not the woman) correct the dog’s behavior (which should have been a huge flashing sign to get my dogs away, but I can miss the most obvious signs sometimes). We chat. Suddenly, growling, her dogs are on Milo.
She’s standing back, yelling for the dogs to stop, leaving me and my husband to yank her dogs off and get our dogs away.
Now, no blame here because as I’ve said, I’m the Dumb Ass who ignored the fact she couldn’t control the dogs AND she admitted she couldn’t control them.
Dogs fighting doesn’t necessarily phase (faze?) me. They have their own language, culture. I often feel like a bilingual student. I get most of what’s going on, but there’s nuances in animal behavior that I’m still learning. I certainly don’t blame the dogs for trying to work out the breach of manners, but what did tweak my brain was her lack of physical involvement–LADY GET IN THERE! Yeesh!!
You’re the one who decided to get a fighting breed. Stubborn. Independent. Can transmute pain into aggression and fight more.
Her dogs are an awesome breed, but they’re not mine. I don’t have the energy to take on dogs like that. So, why in hell’s name am I and my husband the ones having to wade in and rip her dogs off ours? Dude. You want to have dogs off leash, be prepared to get into the fray.
In the end, it was find. Parted on good terms (so to speak). I didn’t lose my temper or yell–what would be the point? She obviously can’t do math to realize that four hands cannot easily separate five dogs.
Good lesson all around, though. Don’t know what she learned, but I learned to pay more attention. As soon as someone does/says anything that remotely, remotely looks like they don’t have their dogs (or their children, or their life) under control, get the hell out of there!
