"Let's Be Friends!!!"
(Note: This story is not about the dog that is in this picture.)
In the spirit of Monday Mischief, I want to try and keep this light even though the situation could of been extremely serious. No dogs were harmed in the making of this post! I would also like to say that I'm trying so hard not to stereotype, though, we have had WAY more bad incidents with small dogs than good. I truly believe there are good and bad owners of all types of dogs and I never blame the dog. I also applaud all of you who are actually training your dogs who are struggling with issues! I know how tough it can be!
Never Trust Other Dog Owners!! Unless you know them and their dogs and even then keep in mind that dogs are dogs and sometimes they will surprise you! I've spent two years studying Phoenix's behavior and some of her shenanigans have totally blown me away. Take the picture above, she generally doesn't like black dogs. She got along with that one just fine and even attempted to make friends and play with him! Although, we have been spending a ton of time on CC/DS with black dogs, so maybe the training is finally starting to work!! Who knows!?!
Anyways....
The other day I was out walking my dogs. I usually take them for their longer walk around 4pm (unless we've been to Thousand Acres), that way I can grab the mail on the way back because our mail always arrives super late. On our way back there was an elderly lady kind of hanging out with her maltese, who was on the end of a flexi lead (SIGH), by the mail boxes. The maltese was a little barky and that can get Phoenix kind of excited and worked up so I decided to walk around the block hoping that by the time I got back the lady would be gone.
"More walks!?! Let's do this!!"
I ended up walking them around the block twice! Thirty minutes later, the lady and her dog were still there. I knew the mail had already come because the mail boxes are directly in front of my apartment and our windows face them. It's starting to get late and I had been waiting for a package. Our packages go directly to the manager's office, they leave a note in your box if you have one and the office closes at 6!
My first mistake was that I was distracted and thinking about mail and my second happens to be that I generally feel sorry for people who seem lonely and I figured that lady must be lonely. She's hanging out around the mail boxes talking to people as they get their mail and I felt sorry for her. My third mistake was trusting her and my fourth was not taking my dogs back inside and just going to get the mail by myself. Even if I had taken them back inside, we still would of had to pass her somehow, so the situation may still have happened.
I approached very slowly, holding Phoenix's collar and talking her into being polite and trying to get her to calm down. Which actually works with her. She's generally not leash reactive (she's more excited and hyper than anything) unless another dog starts something with her first, which is a plus. She is also really good about calming down when I hold her close and pet her.
The lady told me that her dog was friendly and just "talkative". I've been around a ton of maltese and they are generally nice, happy go-lucky dogs, so I trusted her. My fifth and final mistake was not paying close enough attention to the dog's body language, although in my defense, the dog's coat was very over grown and sort of matted so it was hard to tell. I could not see her eyes, either.
Zoe went to approach the dog to say hi and the dog flew at her face in an aggressive rage. Zoe was so startled by this that she jumped back and landed on my legs, which was super painful for both of us. The next thing that happened shocked the hell out of me. The lady started laughing. She thought it was funny that her dog had just attacked mine.
"I'M GOING TO RIP YOUR FACE OFF WHILE MY OWNER LAUGHS!!!"
"MUAHAHAHA"
(Not the actual dog, photo was borrowed from google)
Big Sigh. Zoe is already pretty wary of smaller dogs because this is not the first time this has happened. We had several incidents at our last apartment complex with three different dogs belonging to different people. Two were chihuahuas and one was a chihuahua/pomeranian mix. These owners would let their dogs run around off leash in an unfenced complex. They would just leave their back patio doors cracked and let their dogs out unattended. It was a very frustrating situation. The last time Zoe was attacked at that complex she did not react well but I was able to grab her and pick her up and the dog was still biting at her feet as she was in my arms!! It was so bad.
Which brings me to my next point. Dogs are dogs and no matter what size they are, they should be trained and socialized properly. I have spent the last two years with Phoenix working on her socially awkward issues! As much as possible, I was out training her. There's just really no excuses for not training your dog. If you don't want to train keep them home and if you can't keep them home at least be honest with other owners! If your dog is going to eat mine, please let me know! I always tell everyone that Phoenix is socially awkward and give them the full disclosure that she's a work in progress.
Even though I don't want to stereotype I will say this: I've met so many small dog owners who don't train their dogs. Or they blame others for their dog's bad behavior and it's somehow okay because their dog is little. The behavior is not cute or funny, no matter what size the dog is! If your dog is aggressive or has other issues (ie: rude, pushy, etc), just because he is small doesn't make it okay. That's how some of the little guys get killed. They run into a dog that is just not going to put up with them. Every dog, no matter what size they are, should get training. Saying "Oh, sorry!! She's got little dog syndrome" doesn't make it okay. I'm really passionate about this and I could go on for days about it but I will stop here. It just frustrates me a lot and it's a situation I see over and over again.
We did end up getting our package and right before the office closed! I also managed to not freak out at the little old lady for her dog being naughty but I will be avoiding her next time, for sure!!
"I almost got eaten by a tiny white she-devil!! Oh well, at least I got mail!!"
The girls got some toys from Kygen, we'll be reviewing them next week!
Did you know that January is
National Train Your Dog Month? In our house we train every day but it's nice to have a website like that for some extra motivation. As always, if anyone has any training questions, please feel free to comment below or email me! :)
