While I realize that you find your eighty-pound Labrador Retriever utterly charming, there are, in fact, other people and dogs who are not enthusiastic about having him galumphing over to try to jump on us. Hard to believe, I know, but it's true.
For this reason, you should have your dog on a leash when you go outside. Or, if that basic bit of courtesy is too much, you should at least put a collar on the dog, so you have something to grab onto when you make a belated attempt to control him.
Yes, this is true even if you're only going outside long enough to get into the car and run an errand. It doesn't take long for a dog--especially a Lab-- to spot something interesting and go bounding after it.
- Log in to post comments
More like this
It should have been a concern the day after Sochi won its bid for the Winter Olympic Games several years ago.
It is reported that authorities or private contractors are taking the street dogs off the streets in Sochi, in preparation for the Olympics, which start tonight. A friend of mine was…
So, a funny story about this. I posted a snippet of a fantasy story back in August, and enough people said nice things about it that I actually got off my ass and did some playing around to format the full story as an epub. This was, of course, complicated by the fact that computers are awful, but…
(Athena takes her ease)
A couple of readers have asked me to describe all the people and critters on our farm - they are newer readers or old ones who know things have changed a bit but not how, so I thought I'd do a series of short posts introducing you the residents. For some reason, I…
A Colbert Report re-run about the financial crisis has just ended, so I turn the tv off, grab my jacket and the leash, and head out for a walk with the dog. She's oddly pensive as we head up the street. After a little while, she stops and asks, "What was that all about?"
"All what?"
"All that '…
Mothers with strollers in particular don't usually welcome a strange dog bounding towards them.
Just the collar seems pretty useless unless you can react and run faster than your dog (not likely).
I personally love those extending leashes -- you have to pay attention (don't get a super-long one, and know when to reel them in!) but they're great to let your dog feel unattached (I'm gradually training mine to walk beside me instead of out in front, and usually the leash is totally slack) but you can still stop them short if they lunge after a startled cat, a cowering child, a grandmother teetering by with a cane, etc..
And for fuck's sake, just because you love your dog and think it is teh cutest thing in the entire fucking universe, does not mean that I want your motherfucking dog touching me! And when I shout "down" at your motherfucking dog as he jumps on me on a public sidewalk, don't look at *me* like I'm the asshole, you fucking arrogant self-absorbed delusional asshole!