Was walking home from lunch today. Passed a man sitting and talking to a

[applegrove]

friend of his on the friend's front porch. His big black dog started at me a little aggressively. "Stay boy" he said. I looked down and walked past. The dog started to follow me because I heard the man say "get back here". "Get back here now". Who who has an aggressive dog has him off leash when the porch he is facing is 5 feet from the sidewalk? Was he trying to show off his mastery of his dog to himself? Or show off to his friend? I don't understand. That sidewalk is a thoroughfare for pedestrians. School buses drive by and pick up or drop off kids nearby.

[LeftInTX]

1. Drives me crazy

They are the first to say, "My dog would never harm anyone".

My next door neighbor let her big dog run the neighborhood under the guise that he can't be penned in a yard because he won't behave and if he doesn't behave they have to put him to sleep.

[WinkyDink]

6. I was walking in my 'hood one a.m., and a dog ran barking to me in the street. Owner said,

"He won't bite you." I loudly replied (guy was still in his yard), "I know, because I'll kick him in the head first!" He called the cur back.

[TuxedoKat]

2. Maybe

you could discreetly report this to your town's Animal Control Officer. In our town they instituted a law that all dogs must be on a leash.

[applegrove]

5. My brother ended up in a fight with two pit Bulls attacking his housemate's

dog a few years ago. He broke his finger punching one of those pitts again and again. Animal control were very cagey. Not much help. And the guy's pit Bulls were known to the authorities.

[Orrex]

3. When someone says "I don't like dogs..."

What they usually mean is "too many dog owners are irresponsible assholes" like the guy in your encounter. I sympathize because I've run into that many times, especially a few years back while taking my young children for walks. An 80 pound barking dog comes thundering across the lawn at us, but we're assured "oh, he won't bother you."

Fuck you, anonymous dog owner. Fuck you.

[hamsterjill]

4. They envision themselves as "dog whisperers" or something.

Any dog out and about should be a on a leash. It's just good sense. It is a safety issue for humans, other animals, and the dog himself.

Yes, it's always that "my dog won't..." [Fill in the blank]. But a squirrel runs by, and the dog runs after the squirrel and into traffic and tragedy strikes.

If you love your dog, you keep him safe. End of story.

[hunter]

7. When I was young and an obsessive runner I'd get challenged by dogs day and night.

I think up until maybe the early 'eighties people pretty much let their dogs run loose in suburban and rural areas.

People still let their cats run loose, and around here the coyotes eat them, mostly at night.

I never got bit by a larger dog, only the smaller ones who couldn't do much damage.

[applegrove]

8. Dogs used to run free in my neighbourhood. I was greeted every day by a charging Saint Bernard named

Heidi and a tiny little black dog called Teddy. It was all show. Heidi just wanted to sniff my hand. Every day. I went jogging once with a friend once. As we went past another friend's house the second friend's Saint Bernard came charging out. I held my friend back from running away lest she get bit. All he wanted was a sniff. It was a good thing I stopped her because I later saw that very same Saint Bernard run after a Mercedes Benz and not stop till he ran right into that moving car's side door and get thrown 7 feet (the dog got thrown, not the car). That's the thing with Saint Bernards...even when they want to stop it takes a bit for 260 pounds accelerating to slow down. Best to not excite them and let them smell your hand. They did not breed big dogs to be biters back in the day. Except for German Shepherds. Now there are all sorts of aggressive biting dogs that are purebred and even mixed a bit.

[hunter]

9. There are too many idiots breeding dogs for "protection," to prove they're tough guys, etc..

Our next door neighbor has a pit bull but she's a sweet dog and hasn't been raised to be aggressive.

[applegrove]

10. Yes. Terrible what it means to be a dog these days. There was

a German Shepherd next door to me as I grew up. They lived there for about a year. His name was Sandy. Rumour had it he failed police school. He was chained up most of the time thank God. But spent his days barking at the boys who walked by all day (boys private school across the street). And pulling at the chain.That can't be a fun life for a dog.

[Generic Brad]

11. If you weren't so darn tasty to begin with....

...wasn't it Norm from Cheers who said "It's a dog eat dog world and I'm wearing Milkbone underwear"?

Sorry to make light of your experience. I do agree with you. That dog owner is clearly irresponsible and you did not deserve to be subjected to that.

[applegrove]

12. Then you worry about other people more vulnerable than yourself

once you are safe.