Originally Posted by
mprelaw
There's a simpler explanation---the reporter might be one of those people who are afraid of dogs. There's a nut in my neighborhood who walks around with a stick and brandishes it at any dog he sees, even one walking on a leash with its owner. He shook it at my dog one day when the pooch was sitting quietly on his hindquarters, in the yard (which he was trained to not leave), with me standing right next to him, screaming "keep that mutt in the house when I'm walking". I told him that if he ever threatened my dog again, that stick would serve as a suppository. He decided that the next block was a better route for his daily walks from then on.
I don't blame you in that situation but OTOH so many unbalanced dogs in the US it's no wonder some folks get paranoid. I see that 98% of local dog walkers let the dog walk ahead, not realizing that this (under most circumstances) makes the dog think he's the pack leader. Thus half of other dogs lunge aggressively at my dog while their owner utters weak ineffective commands. Of course your neighborhood nut was ignorant also, waving a stick would invite aggressiveness in many dogs.
Anyway it's clear LeMond is pretty clueless about dogs. Germany has some top-notch dog trainers & in general it seems that Euros have better-behaved dogs. But I guess $20K worth of training can be negated by untrained owners. Whether the reporter liked dogs or not is not the issue. LeMond's dog was clearly inappropriately aggressive. Pack leader dogs are often aggressive to folks who like dogs but are unaware of correct dog protocol. Many humans attempt friendly actions such as bending down to pet, sweet-talking etc but a pack leader dog will see them weak or unbalanced pack followers deserving of punishment.