[tylerzambori]

hi all,

Last night my boyfriend and I were walking our pit bull. We always
always keep her on a leash. She is dog aggressive, especially to small
dogs, so we frequently go through a process of educating neighbors
about keeping their small dogs on a leash.

These particular neighbors have been warned many times, and
they still don't care. I've warned them that I will pepper-spray
their dogs if they don't keep them on a leash, and they still don't care.

Well last night this neighbor ( a spanish-speaking person), came out with
one dog not on a leash, and it immediately made a bee-line for our dog.
I yelled at it, and headed it off from accosting my dog, then headed
towards its human.

The dog bit me. I don't believe there was any blood - it bit me through
heavy denim. I checked the inside of my jeans carefully, and don't see
any blood. This morning the red welt is a lot better.

I don't want to go to the apartment management because we are both
doing things against the apartment rules. She has two dogs, and we have
a dog that is too large. Our dog is actually very sweet to humans, but she
looks like a dangerous dog, so we don't want to make any waves.

Should I just report this neighbor to animal control?

TIA,

Tyler

 

[spotted nikes]

I think you should look for a place to live where you can legally keep your dog. What will you do if the landlord tells you to get rid of the dog or move out? Seems that it would be a far more dangerous situation than just the Chihuauhua.

 

[Canaqua]

I agree with Spotted Nikes...you should look for new housing where your dog is not "illegal". Especially since your dog is dog aggressive, the chances of your having a run in with someone and coming to the attention of apartment management are just too high and you risk losing your dog. If your dog bites one of the little dogs running around, they won't have much mercy on you, since your dog shouldn't even be there. Since the chihuahua didn't break the skin, I'd just blow that off, consider it a heads up that things aren't really under control and concentrate on making your situation more tenable. You can hardly be lodging complaints about off leash dogs (assuming your complex has a leash law) when you aren't following the rules yourself.

 

[ArlosMom]

I agree with the PP's. And why does it matter that the person was Spanish speaking? I fail to see how that's integral to the story.

 

[LilasMom]

I agree with the PP's. And why does it matter that the person was Spanish speaking? I fail to see how that's integral to the story.

As someone who is half mexican and spoke spanish as their first language, I found that comment sort of offensive as well. I am sure he didn't mean it that way, but things can easily be misconstrued over the internet so it is a good idea to think carefully about what one says. Spanish-speakers are no different than english-speakers

Anyways, about the Chihuahua biting you. I would not report it because someone could then report you. While I am not saying it is a good thing, many people give small dogs a break on behavior and being on a leash because they are so small. Small and big dogs should all be trained, but unfortunately this isn't the case. You yourself are breaking the rules, so you have no right to report someone else. Most people are afraid of pitbulls and think they are all aggressive dogs that attack people. Some of the residents could report you for having a "frightening" dog, even if the landlord himself doesn't see you, you could easily get kicked out at any time for someone "telling" on you. So, I agree with the other people here that you should be thinking about a new place to live. If you wait until you are kicked out, you may not be able to rent at another place since you didn't leave on good terms.

 

[Amaryllis]

If your dog is such a risk that you feel a need to pepper spray other dogs, your dog needs to be muzzled on walks. When you have a DA dog, your first priority should be keeping other dogs safe from yours. I had a DA dog for 12 years and he wore a muzzle outside for a year.

 

[Canaqua]

If your dog is such a risk that you feel a need to pepper spray other dogs, your dog needs to be muzzled on walks. When you have a DA dog, your first priority should be keeping other dogs safe from yours. I had a DA dog for 12 years and he wore a muzzle outside for a year.

Agreed. Our. now very elderly, ACD mix used to be dog aggressive, when she was younger. She doesn't have the energy anymore to give anyone a hard time. I used to take her for her "big" exercise walk/run at 5:00am, when no one else would be out and, otherwise, keep her in our yard. If you have an aggressive dog, it's your job to make sure it has no opportunities to hurt anyone else, not their job to avoid you. Many, many, dog owners are not very educated and will let their dog approach another, strange, dog...you have to assume that is the case when your dog is dangerous. If you live in a place without a yard and can't schedule your walks for when no one else is around, a muzzle would help solve the problem.

 

[HollowHeaven]

I wouldn't report it simply for the same reason you said; don't make waves. The landlord is likely to be more lenient with them because they're chihuahuas, than they will with you because your dog is a pit.
Really, you should search for a place to stay where you can keep your dog without the risk of being kicked out simply because it is too heavy.

However, unlike what the others have said about needing to muzzle your dog, I feel like it is EQUALLY important for others to keep their dogs on leashes. On my dogs -a pit mix- is aggressive towards strange dogs, ESPECIALLY when he is on leash. I'm working with him on it, but we had two chihuahuas run us down not too long ago. Diesel's leash broke. So basically, it hit the fan, the dogs' owner was standing right there the whole time, just staring. I caught my dog after the other two managed to get away and gave him what for, as this would not have happened had her no been letting his dogs outside without some sort of containment. I deal with this problem all the time. It's difficult to walk my dogs, because I'm constantly worried about whether or not I'm going to have to break up a dog fight because one party was too indifferent to keep their dogs restrained.
If you can walk your dog around other leashed dogs without trouble being caused, then I honestly don't see why you should have to muzzle your dog. Others should keep their dogs put up. (I don't count ignorance as an excuse for irresponsibility.)

 

[trainingjunkie]

I wouldn't report it simply for the same reason you said; don't make waves. The landlord is likely to be more lenient with them because they're chihuahuas, than they will with you because your dog is a pit.
Really, you should search for a place to stay where you can keep your dog without the risk of being kicked out simply because it is too heavy.

However, unlike what the others have said about needing to muzzle your dog, I feel like it is EQUALLY important for others to keep their dogs on leashes. On my dogs -a pit mix- is aggressive towards strange dogs, ESPECIALLY when he is on leash. I'm working with him on it, but we had two chihuahuas run us down not too long ago. Diesel's leash broke. So basically, it hit the fan, the dogs' owner was standing right there the whole time, just staring. I caught my dog after the other two managed to get away and gave him what for, as this would not have happened had her no been letting his dogs outside without some sort of containment. I deal with this problem all the time. It's difficult to walk my dogs, because I'm constantly worried about whether or not I'm going to have to break up a dog fight because one party was too indifferent to keep their dogs restrained.
If you can walk your dog around other leashed dogs without trouble being caused, then I honestly don't see why you should have to muzzle your dog. Others should keep their dogs put up. (I don't count ignorance as an excuse for irresponsibility.)

I agree with you in principle, but in the real world, I protect ALL unleashed and awful charging dogs from my selective/dog aggressive dog because I LOVE my dog and know that he would be wrongfully seized if he bit a free-roaming ankle-biter. In fact, I charge off leash dogs to scare them off. That almost always works. But the one time it didn't, I held my dog by his face and let the yellow lab have him as I tried to run the lab off. I didn't let my dog defend himself. It SUCKED. But I thought my male was better off bitten than euthanized. Happy ending: the yellow lab just wanted a sniff fest. No fight.

When you own a pit bull type dog, life isn't fair. It's better to accept the double standard than lose your dog standing your ground. At least that's what I decided.

And, I probably could have driven off the yellow lab, but with the owners standing at their tent site watching, I was reluctant to use the force I would have if they hadn't been there.

 

[HollowHeaven]

I agree with you in principle, but in the real world, I protect ALL unleashed and awful charging dogs from my selective/dog aggressive dog because I LOVE my dog and know that he would be wrongfully seized if he bit a free-roaming ankle-biter. In fact, I charge off leash dogs to scare them off. That almost always works. But the one time it didn't, I held my dog by his face and let the yellow lab have him as I tried to run the lab off. I didn't let my dog defend himself. It SUCKED. But I thought my male was better off bitten than euthanized. Happy ending: the yellow lab just wanted a sniff fest. No fight.

When you own a pit bull type dog, life isn't fair. It's better to accept the double standard than lose your dog standing your ground. At least that's what I decided.

And, I probably could have driven off the yellow lab, but with the owners standing at their tent site watching, I was reluctant to use the force I would have if they hadn't been there.

And how about when it doesn't work? Sorry, but I can't let another dog grab mine, especially when the owners are right there. If we're walking past other dogs and he begins to show signs of aggression, I give him a 'leave it' command, and if he ignores it, I stop, secure him, fashion a muzzle, and wait for the other dog to pass. But when a dog is rushing at me, and no amount of yelling or stomping I do can send it back, and the owners are just there watching, as much as I don't want to, I'd rather my dog grab it, then it grab my dog, because MY dog is on a leash, and theirs isn't, and they can't really claim vicious dog when I have a chihuahua in the same hand and a husky in my other, and he isn't even blinking at them.
Honestly, I could care less if an owner is watching or not. If their dog is coming at mine, I'm using whatever I can -force or not- to save it's life, and if they're too sorry to come get their dog and mine grabs it, it's their problem.