Epidemic! MORE negligent dog owners!

[antiqueshell]

I recently posted a thread concerning my issue with the owners of a large threatening (english bull dog) and how these idiots insisted on allowing the the pet to run loose around the neighborhood and the street which I live near and walk on daily....I was able to set those dipshot owners straight when I firmly and tersely mentioned that I would be calling the state troopers on them for allowing a vicious dog loose to bite me or others.

Now we have yet again ANOTHER idiot dog owner with TWO large and oddly vicious golden retrievers which are located in my elderly parents small neighborhood. Firstly the HOA covenant clearly states that home owners CANNOT maintain dangerous dogs on the property. Secondly, while they are kept in a fenced in backyard they have repeatedly gotten lose and threatened other neighbors on numerous occasions actually nipping one elderly man, who was too nice to persue the issue legally.

My sister was visiting from Philly this past week and my mother was walking her small Maltese down the street in their neighborhood. It turns out there the father of the home owner was out walking these two big mean dogs on the same street...well as soon as those big dogs saw my sister's maltese they ripped the leases out of the man's hands and proceeded to pounce on and attack the maltese, my mother over 70, and a small woman, desperately attempted to grab the maltese and protect it whereby the two big retrievers lept up and nearly pushed my mom down to get at my sisters dog.....amazingly my mom was able to prevent the two vicious dogs from killing the maltese and she managed to only pull her back out in the process, it was lucky that they didn't bite her! The maltese while amazingly having no broken skin from bite marks now has paralyzed hind legs!

The retrievers do not even belong to the elderly lady that owns the home, they are her son's pets that lives with her (he is around 50 something and she is 82) he moved in after he lost his home a couple of years ago with his two kids and wife. The guy is a belligerent idiot as is his wife. Just completely obnoxious creatures.

The lady that owns the home is being contacted by the HOA lawyer and being informed that she has 60 days to remove the dogs from the home and the neighborhood or face a lawsuit.

When are people going to learn that you CANNOT allow dangerous pets to be out of control at ANY time, ever?

I'm looking forward to the day when this kind of action on the part of pet owners can lead to felony prosecution. It will probably be the only thing that will stop the madness of these negligent, irresponsible people.

 

[Blueskies123]

Huh? "oddly vicious golden retrievers" Huh?

You lost me on oddly vicious golden retrievers

 

[Rand]

golden retrievers have a more gentle stereotype vs
pitbulls, rottweilers etc.

 

[antiqueshell]

Originally Posted By: Rand
golden retrievers have a more gentle stereotype vs
pitbulls, rottweilers etc.


I'm nearly 50 years old and seen a lot of Golden Retrievers and never have I seen anything like the behavior from these two before. It's as if they were trained to be guard dogs, not pets.

 

[dishdude]

A large threatening English Bulldog? I thought they were the laziest dog breed around...to the point where it is tough to get them to mate.

 

[renegade_987]

Never seen a mean Golden Retriever. Around here we would just assume it was mixed with pit, everything else is!

 

[Eddie]

One day as I was working in my yard, I saw two rottwielers staring at me from about 80 feet away. I was scaried as heck but, went into my house and put a clip into my 380 Bersa. I went back out and kept an eye one the dogs but, they left. If they came after me, I would have done my best to kill them but, probably would end up in jail. I never found out who the owner was and never saw those dogs again. Ed

 

[SatinSilver]

Goldens are full of energy so they can be mistaken for vicious at first I suppose. All they want is to lick you, get petted and receive a belly rub. I had a large male one fly up on me while I was trapsing through the neighborhood. When I saw him flying towards me I thought, OH shyte but he was cool. Just like I described above. I saw a chart recently that ranked them one of the top ten family dogs, fyi.

 

[ram_man]

In the country it normal I guess its different for you.

 

[doitmyself]

Your parents must be very tolerant and forgiving people to not have brought in the county animal control agency/sheriffs dept. on this very vicious attack.

Paralyzed legs, HOA lawyer,60 days to remove the dogs?? Something doesn't add up here.

 

[JHZR2]

Its not normal anywhere for a dog to charge you. Yeah sure in places where the homes are much more spread out, people become more careless with how they control their dogs and other things. That doesnt make it any less of a menace. And dogs ARE dangerous and menacing, regardless of how nice their owners think they are.

 

[SatinSilver]

Just because a dog is running at you doesn't mean it's going to bite. I had a rotweiler pitt mix running at me from behind. I figured I can't out run him so just act normal and keep walking. I could hear him from behind sounding like a galloping horse. He went full speed right by me then stopped about 10 feet past me to sniff something. So now I'm walking towards him but as I get closer he takes off again then stops to sniff something again. This routine went on for a little bit to the point where it looked like I was his owner walking him off leash. Then sure enough this old lady with a little toy poodle comes around the corner and gives me a death stare. But the big dog just ignored the little dog and kept going.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: satinsilver
Just because a dog is running at you doesn't mean it's going to bite.


You might be willing to make that assumption, but Im not willing to take that chance, and neither is the OP it seems. Nobody should have to accept that behavior when out in public (on private property is another story, but charging to the edge of private property when someone passes by is a real grey area), putting themselves in danger because someone else thinks its OK.

 

[fdcg27]

A large and potentially agressive dog should be handled repsonsibly by its owner.
A fenced backyard is no place to leave a dog. A dog is a social creature and will quickly become a part of the family if you let it. The dog should be socialized, so that it learns the difference between a threat to be neutralized and other animals or people that are not a threat.
When we had a large, protective dog, he lived in the house with us and was never a threat to small dogs. He'd hold the neighbor's Jack Russel down with a paw when he got tired of it jumping in his face, but he'd never hurt it. He was also fond of another neighbor's Boarder Collie, although she was a little intimidated by his size. With another large dog, though, he was very protective of his turf. The dog never went after another person, although I'm sure he would have had another person raised a hand to any of our family.
Any dog is a responsibility, and a large and potentially agressive dog is a greater one.
I still can't see a Golden Retriever acting mean, but I suppose it's possible.
People in general should also learn to recognize the difference in facial expression and body language between a dog that is a threat and one that merely wants to play.
A dog smiling, with its tongue lolling out and its eyes shining is probably just wanting attention. A barking or growling dog just wants you to leave its turf. A dog that angles swiftly toward you closed mouthed and quiet is probably attacking.
Our dog would make a great and noisy threat display toward other large dogs he saw as invading his turf. He wanted them gone and wasn't really intersted in a fight if he could avoid it. When he really wanted to get something, like the neighbor's cats or a squirrel, he was fast and quiet.
And no, we didn't let him kill the cats, although the local bird population would have likely been pleased.

 

[SatinSilver]

Originally Posted By: fdcg27
And no, we didn't let him kill the cats, although the local bird population would have likely been pleased.


We had a bearded collie/sheep dog mix along with a cat and the cat ruled the roost. I remember there was a large black lab being walked down the street by a small girl. When the cat saw the dog it started walking right towards the dog and of course the dog was trying with all its might to get to the cat. Luckily, disaster was avoided but that cat would've ripped that dog a new one. Probably right in the throat since that's how it killed other wildlife. But the cat was sweet as pie inside the house. Great hunter though and lived till she was 20 yrs old.

 

[fdcg27]

The dog would have snatched the cat right off its feet and would have crushed whatever part of the cat it got in its mouth, head or torso. The cat wouldn't have stood a chance.
Also, while a Lab is a short haired dog, a Pyrenees is not.
If a Rot couldn't bite our Pyr through his heavy coat, I don't think any cat this side of one found on the African veldt would have been much of a threat to the dog.
The neighbor's cats were dog meat and they knew it.

 

[123Saab]

Originally Posted By: Blueskies123
Huh? "oddly vicious golden retrievers" Huh?

You lost me on oddly vicious golden retrievers


Yep

Im guessing the Goldies were more playful and curious than anything else but to some people that can be scary.

Of course the dogs should not run the streets in the first place.

Lots of strong words in the OP's post tho.

All the dogs were monsters and all the owners should either be in jail or mental institutions....

 

[antiqueshell]

Originally Posted By: doitmyself
Your parents must be very tolerant and forgiving people to not have brought in the county animal control agency/sheriffs dept. on this very vicious attack.

Paralyzed legs, HOA lawyer,60 days to remove the dogs?? Something doesn't add up here.


A very good aspect of the law our county allows a person the use of deadly force, including a gun, if they feel their safety is in danger when a vicious dog attacks. A number of other neighbors will be carrying now while outside.

Oh, no animal control WAS contacted and a police report was filed with the country sheriff's department as well.

It was clear to my mom that these two dogs were NOT looking to play, at all. They were snarling with fangs bared, and growling in a very menacing way. They have shown potential for biting as mentioned in the first post I made in the thread.

Unfortunately the original HOA rules (1993) stated that NO home owner was allowed to have a dog that weighed more than 25 pounds In 2005, a few folks wanted to change it to UNLIMITED weight, and it was passed. BAD IDEA..sure a small dog can do damage but not the kind that a large one can.....

I consider a vicious dog a "DEADLY WEAPON" not much different than a loaded gun.


I generally like dogs..except for ones that are vicious and have the potential to attack innocent victims because the owners are negligent and irresponsible.

I think the focus should be on severe penalties for owners that allow their animals to run at large and are potentially vicious and prone to attack or biting.

 

[andyd]

It all has to do with the dog and how it has been trained. On of my BILs used live in a small apartment house. The manager use to let his Rotty roam the hallways. The short stocky , built like a fire hydrant ones. Very intimidating looking dog. Totally , absolutely harmless. And a buddy of mine had an equally fierce some looking pit bull pup. Meek and mild. But if the dogs aren't trained, then..

 

[antiqueshell]

It's all about the owners.

When they fail to be responsible it is THEY that should suffer the harshest of consequences. Felony convictions of the owners should be the result for vicious dogs that injure or kill other pets or humans.