Its nice that you take into consideration the needs of your relatives. Again; that is responsible pet ownership. My friends will do that for me too when I am at their home. I was at a guy's house where he had a party and in consideration of his guests, he also removed the dog to another room. The dog had a comfy bed, food, water, and he even put on music for the dog. It was his choice as the dog gets excited when people are over so it jumps on people and tended to nip at people.

Navygirl, I admire the way you think and write -- and would have sent a PM to that effect if not precluded by age restriction filter.

I changed the filter so if you want to message me; go ahead.

Oh, I don't make excuses for my dog. I'm only telling you that she is just friendly and that's what I say to people that come into my house or that we come into contact with when I'm out in public with her. I'm not worrying about her biting paramedics or anyone else because she doesn't bite but they might not know that. I'm not worried about the police coming to my door saying that they had complaints about my dog being friendly. I'm not the one with a bee in his bonnet about other people's animals. It's really not my problem if you or anyone else here has some sort of grudge against pet owners. I wouldn't want to date someone that didn't like my dog or that tried to tell me that I don't control her enough. I actually had a girlfriend that thought that I was too controlling with my old dog and she said that I should have let him have more freedom. Her own dog was hit by a car recently acttually. I am rather protective with my dogs but I see no need to protect other people from them because both of my dogs have been friendly and if someone doesn't want my dog being friendly to them they can tell me so and I think that's reasonable. I don't have people in the real world shouting and screaming at me about how I need to have more control over my dog and I'm only getting that on this forum from a few Americans.

Navygirl, Still blocked because I smoke a pipe -- but at least I am not married and not seeking an intimate encounter.

I think (not sure) that if you drop a note I can reply.

So; you are saying it was the fault of the Paramedic that got bitten that was trying to help a family member when 911 was called? That is not how the law sees it here as the onus is on the pet owner. The paramedic was let in by the owner of the house to help a family member and the owner let his dog bite the paramedic. That owner is lucky he wasn't sued. Emergency services here are put in harm's way when attending someone's home with a pet as animals are unpredictable, so the pet owner must be accountable for their behaviour.

Of course it is a "grudge against pet owners" to expect that owners be responsible enough to avoid inflicting their pets on ANYONE who does not welcome animal contact (for whatever reason).



Of course not, "she's just friendly"

I was just using that as an example of an owner not keeping a pet under control. I think if a person is teasing a pet or hurting it; then yes it onus at that point is no longer on the owner. My point is an animal can attack if it is not provoked and the owner must be prepared for this.

Here we have had a rising number of dog attacks. This quote was taken by one of our animal bylaw managers. "“Of the trends we’ve seen, 85 per cent of the bites that occur are in the presence of the owner or the person who’s supposed to be in care and control of the dog,” said Andrew Bissett, manager. I think that says a lot about the lack of responsibility of pet owners here. Me; I am terrified of dogs so yes; I tend to stay away from people's homes that have mid size to large dogs; however dogs get loose and it makes it terrifying if you are cycling or walking down the street. One owner here is looking at fines up to $10,000.00 for his dog biting a police officer so you see we take this very serious here.

No, I'm not saying that. I wasn't there when the dog bit that paramedic and all that I can say about that is that I would assume that the dog saw the paramedic as a threat and that's why dogs bite. You say that you are afraid of certain types of dogs because one once bit you and it's possible that the paramedic was bitten because the dog had some sort of experience with someone that was wearing a uniform that made it dislike people in uniforms. Dogs are notorious for not liking postmen. My own dog growls when I put her harness on her. I don't know why but it could be because of something that somebody did to her before I got her. I suspect that that dog bit the paramedic because people would have been panicking in that situation and the paramedic would not have wanted to waste time asking if the dog was alright.

I said that it isn't one hundred percent the owner's responsibility but I didn't say that they have no responsibility at all. You can't really train a cat but you can train most dogs out of bad habits. You can take sensible precautions to stop them from biting people. You can obviously also train them to attack people. I know a guy that works with dogs and he told me a story about an alsatian that was quite vicious. He shut himself in a room with that dog and just sat down on the floor and after a while the dog just came over and put its head in his lap. They do sense fear and they are teritorial. I remember being left in a room one time on my own with two Staffies and it made me uncomfortable. The dogs picked up on that a bit but I didn't make any sudden movements and I didn't panick and they didn't bite me. I've never been bitten by a dog when I've gone into someone's house. I'm used to dogs and I know how to behave around them. If I meet someone that is afraid of dogs I keep my dog away from them if they ask me to but I don't restrain her otherwise because she doesn't bite. My old dog did nip a couple of people because they acted in ways that he found threatening. I learned to take more precautions when I took him into situations where he might feel threatened. Dogs need to be socialised and that's as important as toilet training. My dog is highly social and I live in a city near a busy road. Traffic noise doesn't frighten her and she isn't afraid of people or other dogs. Being a responsible dog owner is about getting to know your dog and knowing how it will behave in situations. I know that I can open my door to anyone and that she won't bite them. Another dog might see it's owner opening the door as a command to attack an intruder.

I knew a gal who had a friend, who had a cousin who was known so well throughout the county for being such a dog, breeders tried hiring him to service theirs.

Again; you are a responsible owner but the person that let the dog bite the paramedic wasn't. When the paramedic arrived the owner should have kept the dog away from the scene and the paramedic. The paramedic had a job to do which was helping the patient. It is not his responsibility to assess the dog and how it was to react regardless of the dog's history as the onus has to be on the owner. As I stated animals are unpredictable. So often you hear; my dog has never bitten anyone before. I assume that all animals are unsafe unless proven otherwise. Its like pointing a gun and assuming there isn't a bullet in there. I would never assume any animal to be safe just on someone's say so.

exactly. Consideration does go both ways. If someone chooses to visit you or not because of your pets that is between you and that person...none of my concern. We were mostly talking about dogs, and someone who objected to your pets would probably not be a good match if you feel that strongly about it, I agree. I have not made a judgement about pet ownership. It's really none of my business. I simply do not want pet dander in my home, nor pet hair/saliva on my clothing/person, nor bites from unleashed dogs. Otherwise, I really have no particular concerns about the matter. I had 2 cats and a dog for most of my adult life.

exactly. it is the owner's responsibility...some may not like that idea, but in the eyes of the law it's pretty black & white. That is why is it so important to take care of pets properly and train them well.

I would not advocate violence to train or discipline and animal BTW. Believe it or not I used to train dogs for a short while.

Agreed. The cops here have had to shoot dogs that attacked them which I think is very sad. A responsible owner should think of the safety of others and the safety of their pets. I also agree a pet should not be more important than a human being. I have been sick the last few days and my friend who was coming over to work on my new bathroom and asked if I would be home. I told him I needed to step out for a bit to get groceries but when he found out I was sick; he picked up the groceries and wouldn't let me pay him back. I also have had people mow my lawn, shovel my walk, and even do my housework when I have been injured of sick. What pet can do that?

I can only speak for myself and not for dog owners in general. Personally, I feel safe walking about this city without its leash laws but I wouldn't really feel safe in a city where there were guns but I'm not going to rant about that because it's not my problem. Accidents happen though. It's possible that in the paramedic case that they just forgot about the dog because somebody was having a heart attack, or whatever it was. It is likely though that the dog would have barked when the paramedic came to the door and my dog barks when people come to the door, even though she isn't agressive. I have people coming here to fix the plumbing or read the gas and electricity meters and so on and sometimes they are cautious and ask me if the dog is safe and sometimes they just walk in and pay no attention to the dog or pet her because they either aren't afraid of dogs or they can see that she's just a big softie. People that come to my house to do those things go to far worse places where they have to deal with people that are less responsible than I am and who have less friendly dogs. It is an occupational hazard but certainly they can complain to the authorities if a dog bites them and they can refuse to enter someone's house until they feel that it is safe to do so. I tell people that my dog doesn't bite because I know that she doesn't and she isn't actually that unpredictable. I've taken her to all sorts of places where there are adults and children and she's never done so much as to growl at somebody. I tell people that she's just friendly just like I tell people that ask if they can pet her that it's alright because they might want to do that but they might not and if they don't, then they don't have to and I'm not forcing her on anybody.

She will steal a hotdog right out of your hand if you're not careful but I can walk past someone on a narrow pavement that has a child in a pushchair and I can let her say hello to the child. I was walking past the local bus stop a while ago and she wanted to stop and say hello to some young children that were with their mother and the kids were fine about that and they just thought that it was funny when she tried to steal a sandwich that one of them had. I think that when someone says that their dog has never bitten anyone before it's probably because they got into a situation that the dog hadn't been in before. I think that the first time my old dog nipped someone it was this stupid kid that was doing karate kicks in a public place. That dog never bit anyone when it wasn't just someone doing something stupid or careless.

These days they are far more picky about who they give dogs to. When I got my old dog from a shelter they just gave me him with no questions asked but I tried a few shelters before I got this dog that I have now and they refused to let me have various dogs that I was interested in because they said that I wasn't a suitable owner for them. Keira was selected for me by someone that said that she would be perfect for me. They don't want to just give dogs to people that won't be fit owners or who will take the dog back because that's not good for the dogs and they end up being problem animals that are suspicious of people. That's why there are a lot of dogs biting people. If you go into those shelters you walk past rows of cages with angry dogs that haven't had good homes and have been passed from pillar to post. You aren't a dog person and you don't take someone's word for it if they tell you that their dog doesn't bite because you've been bitten and don't trust dogs. I don't really need to ask someone if their dog is friendly. I can just tell and I may never have been in the military but I can assert my authority enough with a dog to let it know that I'm not afraid of it.

Tawt; my brother has been a dog owner for over 25 years and he is very cautious about other people's pets so me not being a dog owner really has little to do with it.

Everybody's different I suppose. I wasn't allowed a dog when I was a child and I didn't get my first one until I was twenty eight but I wasn't really nervous around other people's dogs before that unless they did something to make me nervous. We had cats when I was a kid and I had a friend whose mother took in rescue cats. I used to tease cats that hissed at me and tried to scratch me when I put my hand near them. I live in the city now but I grew up in a little village and most people down there walk their dogs off the leash. The only dog down there that I didn't want to go near was an ex police dog that the gamekeeper had and the cops gave him it because it was too much of a handful for them. The only time that I've really felt uncomfortable in someone's house because of their pet since I've been an adult as far as I can recall was when this guy was letting his pet rat run about the back of the sofa. It didn't frighten me but the guy was saying that the rat would pick your nose for you and I wasn't into that.

Some people are just better with dogs than others. My mother used to stay with me and she walked my old dog for me and when she visits me now she takes Keira out. When we go out to public places with the dog my mother can be a bit too forceful with her when she's trying to get her to do what she wants and that can make Keira play up a bit because it's just giving her too much attention. When my dad comes into my house Keira will jump on him when he's sitting on the couch and it's like a little game that she plays with him where she gets all excited and he begs for mercy while she tries to lick his face and rolls around and kicks him with her back legs. Dogs are excitable but they will generally calm down if you are just firm with them and don't do things that get them more worked up.

I haven't even got my dog trained to respond to commands and I just treat her like any female. She won't do anything that she doesn't want to do but dogs like routines and they are creatures of habit and not that unpredictable really. I've never known this dog to take a dislike to anybody and she even likes this idiot neighbor of mine. She won't fight with other dogs and she would be useless as a guard dog. She just lets me know when there's someone at the door and welcomes them in. She just thinks that that's her job. When I got her she was a bit insecure for the first couple of weeks and she was very quiet. She's a very happy dog now though and she just likes a bit of attention. When I've had women round here she just gets a bit jealous sometimes. She will try to cuddle up to me to show other females that she's my girl and she sulks a bit when my sister's baby is getting all of the attention.

It does seem to be that it's a bit more than you just not being a fan of animals. You do seem to actually have something against pet owners.

Maybe he just doesn't like irresponsible pet owners or doesn't want to be treated second to an animal.