If you follow me on Facebook, you know my missives/rants about our day to day struggles. Not the normal dog struggles. We rescued her from Safe Harbor Humane Society when she was almost a year old. She never went to the bathroom in the house, and save a few issues with my socks and underwear (not Ed's just mine of course) she has not chewed on anything other than her toys and a random Nine West 4" heel bootie that was covered in sausage juice but that's a story for another day. She counter surfs a little (OKAY A LOT!) and knows the location of her doggie or cat friends' food in everyone's house she has ever been to. But, all and all she is and continues to be amazing, except for one thing. I used to think this one thing was her problem, but the older she gets (going on 8) and the more I see her interact with other dogs and people I am convinced she might not be the whole part of the issue. You see, she is a giant bitchy snob and when your dog shoves his/her nose up her ass, she is going to bite the creature and not let go. And no, I do not really disagree with her on that one.
I am not going to sit here an anthropomorphize her, she is a dog and she acts like one. I am also not going to sit here and say she is perfect. No one is. But what I will say is that when she was a puppy she might not have been as socialized as she could have been. So with some steady work, she now is pretty great with a majority of dogs, even little Piper who fits inside my boots. I completely trust her around puppies because despite all of their annoying-ness, she is very patient with them. She still has her issues when a strange dog runs up to her, especially when she is on leash and double especially when her owners are around or another dog friend. Which is why she is on a leash and why I feel the need to write this post. Despite her looking like this most of the time, when she feels threatened it can get serious. And a majority of the time it is because the other owner and their dog is oblivious to true animal nature.
Despite her fantastic behavior, her ability to humor me when I am trying to get her to say, "I love you," she is still a dog. When I think about her behavior it resembles a toddler who can run way faster and bite way harder than any human toddler can. Just like a human toddler, because she cannot reason, or control her instincts sometimes, Ed and I need to guide her. That is the point of being a dog owner and dogs need guidance. We keep her safe and it is your job to keep your dog safe. Allowing your dog to run up to other dogs is not safe. Off-leash dogs (or the retractable leash owners, though I think all of those need to be burned) need to stay close to their humans and disinterested in other animals to a point where their safety is never jeopardized. We seem incapable of that, at least in my neighborhood there is a majority that is incapable of it. I am not sure where people got the idea that dogs are friendly and know dog behavior when they run up to each other like the super happy stoner who thinks everyone is their friend. I grew up on a farm and that is atypical behavior for any animal, wild and domesticated alike.
What bothers me is the oblivious nature so many dog owners have regarding this subject. My dog wears a gentle leader so I can control her, though I can without one as well. We are fit enough to pick her up one handed or two despite her 65 pounds and we will do everything to protect your dog if we can since too many dog owners these days can't be bothered to do that. One of my friends uses a harness on her dog and others use a special collar. There is a lady who lives a few blocks away, last week I thought her two Weimaraners were going to drag her across the street on normal collars and leases as they barked insistently at Laina and I walking past them on the sidewalk across the street. That lady could not control them, could not guide them, yet she had two. My dog was at risk, her dogs were at risk. Or the people who live behind us with a black standard poodle, who runs up to my dog as we are running down the street. Or my idiot neighbor who lets his dogs roam around in my yard and allows his two little ones to attack my 65 pound berserker. I can't let her out to protect them, because once again, their human is not. So my dog has to suffer and wait for them to leave our yard before she can be let out.
My point is, Laina is just a dog. All dogs are just dogs. Left to her own devices, she would survive longer than most of her counterparts no doubt, but not very long. We have bred most of the intelligence and survival instincts out of our dogs. They are not equipped, unless a farm dog left to his own devices most of the time, to deal with situations where their instinct takes over. So please, don't make me over-leash my dog, don't make me have to cross the street, don't make me the one shooing (and by shooing I mean flailing my 34 inch inseams at them) away dog chasing us down the street on our run. Guide your dogs like you would your toddler. They might love the hell out of us, but they just do not know any better. Your dog relies on you for their safety, if you cannot provide that, then do not get a dog. And for God's sake, lets start teaching our dogs some manners because as much as I hate getting groped by a creep on a night out, my dog does as well. There is a whole entire protocol to dogs meeting that does not include storming up to another dog like some fan-girl to Justin Beiber. Don't make me bounce your dog out of there-
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