<p>^^^^ well said, my sentiments exactly.</p>
<p>Yes, I love dog owners who feel justified in claiming “oh, don’t worry about him, he’s friendly!” as their excuse to disobey the local leash laws. Happens all the time around here, and it’s probably the rudest behavior I can imagine.</p>
<p>Years ago when my children were very little, we were walking in a public park, we had just walked past the sign that said “All Dogs Must Be On Leash”, and along comes an owner with his HUGE German Shepard off leash. Shepard was <em>not</em> under control. I asked owner nicely if he could please get control of his dog, and he had the nerve to say “you should teach your children not to be afraid of dogs.”</p>
<p>And your mother, sir, should have taught you to obey the law.</p>
<p>OP here. To clarify, we own two dogs and my friend is afraid only of charging dogs. We were in the +50’ public way, not on T-shirt guy’s lawn. He was present when his dog charged off-leash off his property towards us. My friend was cowering within his view; he never apologized, but rather specifically chastised (mocked) us for being afraid of his young lab. Well, a month ago I was nipped in face by another young off-leash lab in same public way.</p>
<p>This episode occurred in a vacation home community with split of year-rounders and weekenders. All parties to this dog fracas are weekenders. T-shirt guy recently bought his house, and yes he did graduate from that LAC.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>And the t-shirt continues to have NOTHING to do with the dog incident. Except you’ve decided to try connecting the two.</p>
<p>I don’t like dogs. Never have. I’ve had to occasionally deal with them when I run outside and I’ve also had to deal with them at work. My boss has Golden Retrievers and they run free around his property. They would drive me nuts because they would follow you anywhere you went trying to work…</p>
<p>Look at the bright side - the kid who had to watch his dad bellowing at white haired ladies on the public side walk may learn from this. He may learn never to tell his volatile dad anything for fear of embarrassment (or worse).</p>
<p>Or he may become just as much of an entitled jerk (with or without self selected logo).</p>
<p>Also agree with eastcoastcrazy’s post. And, like hops_scout, I don’t like dogs, either, and never have. It might have something to do with the fact that I was charged by a dog when a young child and injured on my face.</p>
<p>Despite my earlier post, this thread has me thinking of dogs I have known and loved, and I have to admit that one of my favorite dogs of all time was a Border Collie who could not be contained. Every morning after his family left for work and school he climbed his eight foot fence and spent the day patrolling our street. He stashed tennis balls in the bushes alongside every friendly neighbor’s house. He would sit in his own yard until he spotted a friendly face outside. Then he would trot over, get a tennis ball out of the bushes, drop it in front of you, sit, and wait for you to toss it. If you ignored him he would repeatedly pick up the ball, drop it at your feet, sit and wait. Pick it up, drop, sit, wait… Until you threw it for him, and he’d be off like a shot to retrieve it and put it back down at your feet. He’d keep up the game as long as you’d play. If you ignored him he’d stop dropping the ball at your feet and lay down, either in your yard if something interesting was going on, or back to his own yard to keep watch for more neighbors. It was a street with a lot of young kids who loved to throw the balls. And it didn’t matter if it was a two foot throw from a toddler or a half block pass from a man, he’d always drop it politely at the thrower’s feet. He ignored the neighbors who had no interest in his game. He was always either on his own porch or had gone back over the fence into his own back yard by the time his own family returned home in the afternoons. </p>
<p>He ignored all the rules, made up his own games with rules, was charming and unfailingly polite. But I don’t think he ever approached complete strangers. We didn’t have any foot traffic or car traffic on that street other than those of us who lived there.</p>
<p>OP,
I am on your side completely, I am afraid of ALL dogs, big and small, on a leash also, since leash is too long sometime. However, telling anything to dog owner is absolutely futile. They are much more concern with their dog’s feeling (let alone thier kids’s feeling), then giving heart attack to other walkers. The doggy apparently just wants to say “Hi” (according to all dog owners), they do not care that you might drop dead because of that “Hi”
The dogs and children are the most hazard on our bike trail. I try to avoid them, going on trail on some off hours. Kids are never ever told the rules, dogs are always on a leash that is too long. One time I fall deliberately to avoid crashing little child who was watched by her father who said nothing at all. I said nothing either. The kid was zigzagging between 2 lanes, many do it, the yellow line seems to be the biggest fascination with them.</p>
<p>Having been surrounded, attacked, and injured by dogs in a country where dogs regularly cause human fatalities (and carry rabies), I don’t have much sympathy for the owner or the dog in the OP’s case.</p>
<p>In fact, sounds like an ideal situation for stand-your-ground laws…</p>
<p>This vacation area isn’t Martha’s Vineyard; it’s the Upper Midwest and mostly very civil quiet middle-aged and older folks. And mind you, regarding same dog that nipped me a month ago, his owner also has a 100-lb dog that lifted its leg and peed on me while I was talking to said owner last summer. That year-round owner managed an “oh”, but no apology, much less “sorry!! let me wash your jeans!!”. That big dog roams for miles, is loose at nights, and has been returned by sheriff more than once w/citations. There does seem to be a certain willful blindness by some dog owners.</p>
<p>I will not defend the dog owner. He is a jerk. People on a public sidewalk have the right to walk without interference. However, this thread does make me sad to hear how many people don’t like dogs. Dogs are wonderful, but people need to work with them. So many dogs live with people who don’t give them any time. Dogs are a lot more intelligent than most people think and a bored and lonely dog is a miserable creature.</p>
<p>I’ve taken all my big dogs (lifelong owner) to obedience school upon first adopting them. I was amazed to learn that the way to teach a big dog not to jump upwards (on anyone, including the owner) is to bring up your knee abruptly and turn your dog backwards into the air. Throw him completely off-balance, and after a few repeats, the behavior will stop forever, they say. But how many owners know how to teach their own dogs not to jump upon them == and therefore not jump on others? </p>
<p>To the OP, you see I’ve been on both sides of this issue, which I find interesting…to add yet another dimension, is there a “culture war” going on between the year-round and seasonal residents of this community? I’ve lived year-round in rural communities that attract summertime or second-home owners. (Cape Cod and the Catskills). The year-rounders take an attitude about the influx of seasonal owners who seem to live by a different set of rules, sometimes. That doesn’t change anything about what the dog did, and I’m learning by reading everyone’s post. But I just know this ownership dynamic can cause lots of friction sometimes, in both directions. Just wondering if that added to an already upsetting encounter.</p>
<p>I love dogs (have two of my own), but people need to follow the law with regard to leash laws. Any dog who rushes and circles strangers should be on a leash because they apparently have not been well trained. Most problems caused by dogs are actually the fault of negligent owners, not the dogs themselves.</p>
<p>Our twelve year old lab is showing signs that this may be her last days (perhaps weeks, months or at most a year) with us. I get choked up thinking about it. She’s the best dog ever, but is always on a leash when in the front yard.</p>
<p>From OP:
</p>
<p>Check out this article on arachnophobia:[Spiders</a> Appear Bigger When You Fear Them - ABC News](<a href=“http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2012/02/23/spiders-appear-bigger-when-you-fear-them/]Spiders”>Spiders Appear Bigger When You Fear Them - ABC News)</p>
<p>Which means the dog encounter was more scary than normal for your friend. It wasn’t just a big dog – it was a Big Dog!</p>
<p>Our two dogs are always on 6’ leash anyways when outdoors and not in fenced yard. Local ordinance also requires leash. Saturday’s NYT notes that #1 home insurance claim was dog bite-related, with a payout average of $28,000, and a guaranteed jump in premium cost plus dog-behavior restrictions. Yet some people have this “my dog can be off-leash” attitude while in public way (or on their unfenced property which abuts a busy public way with many strollers, joggers, other dogs, etc.)</p>
<p>Dog ownership is evenly split here between year-rounders and weekenders, with about half not owning a dog. Most dogs here are nonthreatening. It’s the +50-lb dog running towards you, perhaps barking, circling, maybe jumping up, owner far away, maybe calling, maybe blankly watching. Most disconcerting here is encountering the wandering unattended big dog, following you for a long distance, with no owner in sight. An off-leash unescorted dog in public way (or with unimpeded access to public way) is not a “phobia”, it’s a public nuisance.</p>
<p>While I was on the elliptical today, I watched “Turner & Hooch”.</p>
<p>Younghoss I never said stay off public sidewalks…I suggested that if there is dog fear they change their walking path…or the OP should walk it often (without friend who fears) until the dog no longer cares. I wondered if this was a resort area because that is what I eluded to. The dogs go crazy when new people come through when the seasons change…by the end of summer they get used to the seasonal people and only go crazy with the weekend renters 
and no one comes through in the winter. We don’t have sidewalks but people still stroll off the paved walking path through the hood so not sure who has actual rights…don’t want to be a position where I have to figure that out frankly so the dog stays contained when I’m home. Seriously we own a big dog and I obey the rules, I know my h lets him off leash in our yard and most all of our neighbors let their dogs off leash in their yards so we’re not perfect in this hood although we’re all better about containing the dogs in the summer with strangers coming through …and I’ve had bad experiences along the way with ill trained big dogs and ill trained little dogs and ill trained owners. And I agreed that the man should not have come back and yelled at you, but you probably should not have told the kid to keep the dog on the leash…you probably should have told the dog’s owner…Mr. Belligerent.</p>
<p>In all cases, I hold the dog owner, not the dog, responsible.</p>
<p>Bites by breed.</p>
<p>[Pit</a> Bulls Lead ‘Bite’ Counts Across U.S. Cities and Counties - DogsBite.org](<a href=“Pit Bulls Lead Biting Incidents Across U.S. Cities and Counties - DogsBite Blog”>Pit Bulls Lead Biting Incidents Across U.S. Cities and Counties - DogsBite Blog)</p>
<p>Paying3Tuitions: I am shocked to see you advocate cruelty to a dog as a way of teaching the dog not to jump on people (post 32). There are far more humane ways to teach a dog not to jump up on people. The easiest is to teach it to jump only when cued to do so. My dogs jump on me on request: I pat my chest and say “mug me!” I have to do both at the same time before they jump up.</p>
<p>I think anyone who lets his (her) dog run loose in public is guilty of a) being an idiot, and b) cruelty to animals. I know too many dogs who have been hit by cars.</p>