To the woman whose dogs came bounding out of the woods snarling, barking, and growling menacingly around my legs at York Redoubt while I was enjoying a walk on the first warm friggin’ Sunday this year. When you finally sauntered along and I asked you to call them off, you replied, “They’re just responding to your fear!” My Fear?..MY Goddamned fear? Well yes, that would be the very fear that was born of being bitten repeatedly by dogs whose asshole owners let them run free in public places. Here’s a thought: If you must send them ahead to greet walkers who have NO interest in fawning over them (and my God, the city is FULL of people like you), put goddamned muzzles on them…..Oh and while you’re at it, get one for yourself!
—Scarred and Scared
This article appears in Mar 26 – Apr 1, 2009.
I was attacked by a St. Bernard when I was 20 – he ripped my winter coat to shreds before the owner came stumbling out of the house – man, let me tell you, I have NO trust of strange dogs.
I have owned and adored many dogs since then but that fear of strange dogs remains. They should be muzzled and controlled – and the dogs as well.
That’s hilarious. ”HE SMELLED YOUR FEAR?!”
I think she’s the one that’s going to be smelling fear after a lawsuit is filed against her for her precious puppies ripping someone to shreds. Good grief.
My condolences TTFN, btw. The opposite happened to me a few years ago with some psycho rabid kitty.
The bylaw is there for a reason, but unfortunately, it’s virtually impossible to enforce. This shit is rampant in my neighborhood. All you can do is give the owner’s shit and hope they get the point.
I am convinced dog owners can’t read. There are signs all around York ReDoubt that say dogs should be on leashes. I was there with my daughter, who was two at the time, and a huge dog came over and pounced on her with its muddy paws and just about knocked her over. She is still afraid of dogs. What did the owners say? “Oh he’s just being friendly.” Fuck you.
It’s almost like parent with misbehaving kids “oh, he’s just expressing himself”
The attitude is so unapologetic even though the owners know they are doing wrong.
Man, I would have flipped out … why are people so fucking stupid? The same thing happened to me when I was out running – I had my ipod on and the dogs came bounding out of the woods and startled me – I threw my hands up and yelled “fuck, you might want to control your dogs!” (a natural reaction to being startled and scared). When we confronted the owner about it she blamed me because I had “put my hands up” … not her out of control dogs who weren’t on leashes.
Bear spray those fucks and walk away.
Another shitty irresponsible pet owner. Read the rules of the place you take your pet. No one wants to be confronted by a wound up unleashed dog. That retarded quote of ” they are just responding to your fear “. What a dink. Maybe the pet owner needs to be spayed and or neutered to help control the pet owner population.
First, let me say, I love animals. I’ve had cats and dogs pretty much my whole life. I have a cat now, who is probably the most well treated and spoiled (yet well behaved) cat there is. I love dogs and had many growing up. However, I am extremely wary of strange dogs, like TTFN. I worked as an organic lawn care technician for a few years, so I spent a lot of time on people’s lawns/property. I’ve been exposed to good and bad dogs and had good and bad experiences. As I said before, I love dogs, but if I were in the OPs position, I would have booted one of those dogs square in the jaw and then done the same to the owner. Anyone who lets their dogs off the leash in a public park like that (esp ones where the signage specifically tells you not to) deserves whatever happens to their animals when someone reacts badly to them.
I’m nervous of kitties ever since my old roomate’s psycho tabbi suddenly went bezerk on my bare legs as I brought a basket of laundry in the house one night. I had to go to the emergency for a tetanus shot, and when I came home 3 or 4 hours later, the damn thing went for me again and my roomate had to intervene with a broom! He wasn’t the first totally unpredictable cat I’ve met either. One minute they’re purring on your chest as you stroke them, the next second they’re attacking your nose! Cats are wild…if they were the size of dogs- we’d fatalities every day! I’ll stick to dogs.