Originally Posted by
Zephyr11
I know you're joking, but when people actually do that, that's a ****ty thing to do. When someone's coming the other way, pull in the leash and grab the dog close to its collar.
Tim's post actually did bring some interesting points to the table. I don't agree with everything he said because he generalizes a lot. What I do agree with is many people think their dogs are perfect angels. It's kind of like parents with their kids. The majority of kids, while they have their moments, aren't complete troublemakers, just like the majority of trail dogs are well-trained. However, every so often you get a badly behaved kid or dog. When the teacher calls home and says the kid is behaving badly, some parents will discipline their kid, while others while others refuse to believe that their little darling is capable of such a thing and gets mad at the teacher for accusing their baby. Same with dog owners. Dog owners like this are in the MINORITY, but they DO EXIST. The issue is what do you do about those few dog owners, because all it takes is one to ruin someone's day (or possibly life, if it's a big and angry enough dog). I'm going to go out on a limb here, and say that leash laws won't help. The dogs and dog owners who get punished are the good, well-trained dogs and the owners who took the time to train them. The self-absorbed dog owners will be the ones to ignore the laws and bring their little angel along anyway.
I always hated kids in restaurants or shops or whatever spinning around and acting like fools and getting in the way and running into you and you can't get past them, etc., etc., and always wondered "wtf is wrong with those parents?"
Then one day I found myself in a restaurant with a grin on my face watching my niece spin around, acting like a fool, while some people tried to get past her. I realized what was happening and thought "oh damn, I'm one of them." Of course since then I try to be aware of how she's affecting other people when I'm hanging out with her and if she's doing something that would bug me if I was that person and didn't know this kid, I'll get her to step aside or not yell so loud or whatever.
And it's not like she can't be a ****zy kid when she's around me (or her mother), there's simply a trade off that needs to be made in order to not be a self-absorbed, selfish ******* who's making someone else's day more difficult because they care more about their kids ability to ****z wherever and whenever they want to than someone else's personal space.
I encounter dogs on the trail constantly and 80% of the time they're off leash which means 100% of the time I have to slow way down until I'm past them, because that's the safe thing to do. Even if they're on a leash and heeled I'll still slow down but that's completely different: In the former scenario I'm the only party being considerate and responsible. In the latter we're both being considerate and responsible. And simply it's an ******* move to have your dog off leash or on a long leash that amounts to worse than being off-leash because you're not being considerate or responsible,
you're fobbing that off on everyone else that encounters you.
And then probably coming here and turning your self-absorption into some kind of self-righteous victimhood.