Dog Attacks on the Walking Trail

I just love the walking trail...in my opinion; one of the finest features a New England town has to offer especially this time of year. If you love being outside like my husband and I, it's the perfect location for safe, peaceful, 'after dinner' or 'on the weekends', get some fresh air and exercise, catch up with each other activities. And a great place to walk the dogs.  We have two; a small snoodle and a medium sized terrier mix; both docile, friendly dogs.  They love kids and other animals and would love to stop to kiss everyone we meet, however that would pretty much defeat the purpose of the walk so we occasionally oblige the adorable children begging to pet them and leave it at that.

However, much to our shock and dismay, last week both dogs were attacked on the trail on separate occasions.  The smaller dog was attacked by a bull mastiff who was supposedly under control by a muzzle.  Definately, not a fair fight.  This 150 lb dog was out on a stroll with his loving family; his leash being controlled by his mom, a slight woman whom he probably outweighed.  If I did not yank my 14 lb dog completely away from this dog's mouth she would have been lunch for him.  Needless to say, my husband and I were pretty shook up, not to mention the dog.  The other family scrambled away chastising their dog, never apologizing or asking if our dog was okay...just leaving the scene exasperated that their dog had reacted that way again...

A day or two later...we were once again on the trail when we were confronted by a run away German Shephard who had broken away from his leash with his owners hot on his heal yelling for someone to 'grab his collar' exclaiming that 'he wouldn't bite'. No sooner did they make that declaration was the dog viciously going after our larger dog.  My husband managed, as I did with the smaller dog in the previous incident, to yank our dog away while kicking the shephard in defense.  That action managed to get the dog to run.  Those owners continued to run and scream after their dog before he did any more damage.  Again, no apology, no check to see if any damage had been done.  Luckily, we escaped again without injury. 

Both incidents disturbed the serenity of our walks and have forced us to walk the trail now with a stick for protection.  We both tense up when passing other dogs on the trail as both attacks were unprovoked.  We no longer trust other dog owners to use common sense on the trail. 

We've both been dog lovers all our lives and have owned a dog we would never have taken on the trail.  Dogs like children, mean responsibility. The dog I refer to was a dog we had to give away when our oldest child was just a toddler. We loved that dog but when she started barring her teeth to our child there was no decision to be made. 

No matter how much we love our dogs we must be realistic about their behaviors.  It was the most difficult thing to hand that dog over to someone else.  She'd been my companion before I had my child and many people asked me how I could do it.  To me, there is no choice between children's safety and animal safety.  I wanted my dog to have a long and happy life too, so I found an alternative for her; an owner with a lifestyle that suited her disposition. And my child was safer for it.

The bottom line is: the walking trail is a busy place; children, pets, seniors, bikers, etc.  It is absolutely no place to test a vioatile dog.  We may think he is adorable, or hope he is the dog we wish him to be, we may think we can keep him under control but the trail is not the place to test our theories. 

One: people walking the trail have the right to assume they are safe on the trail... and are allowed a reasonable expectation that dog owners will only bring safe dogs to the trail.

Two: Dog owners are setting themselves up for a nasty liability situation.

Three: The offending dog is probably stressed out on the busy trail which is why he is acting out in the first place; we have to think of our pet! 

We don't go around biting each other, neither should our dogs; if our dog has this penchant he shouldn't be on the trail. Enough said.