We headed towards a large flight of stairs; with their heads down, both Luke and Elsa ascended them to the top. We were done our walk; had our fun and it was time to head home. Staying close behind Luke just in case, we got almost to the top when we were approached aggressively by two large dogs. We had been about to take our last step as they moved in on the stairs blocking the way. Startled to say the least; we all fell back needing to take a step or two back down. This was easy for Elsa and I, but not Luke; his legs buckled with the dogs in his face and he collapsed on the side of the stairs. I quickly moved up ahead and yelled at the dogs. Their hair was up and they were growling; my hair was up as well.
"NO," I yelled, "get out of here," to no avail. I may as well have been talking to a brick wall as they say. The owner was some distance away and I yelled at her too. "Put your dogs on leashes," to which she replied "I just live across the street." Not knowing what that had to do with anything I told her again "leash your dogs." She had no leashes and she had no control over her dogs. Luke tried his best to keep the dogs away with a big gruff lunge which made his poor old legs buckle even more. I was fuming.
The girl grabbed her dogs by the collars are tried to drag them away. At that moment I thought to myself "I might be on these stairs for a while." I looked around to check on Luke for a split second when a third dog came to check out what was going on, really? A large English Bulldog who also had to be dragged away. Not a great ending to our lovely walk. But then came the kicker; the girls boyfriend (I'm assuming) walked up and past me. He was shaking his head and laughing as we managed to finally get off the stairs. I knew the type of person he was immediately; he'd done nothing while this was all going on and now moved by like he owned the place. Laughing, the laughing at what happened got me. So I yelled out "don't shake your head, your dogs knocked my old dog down." Which he so politely yelled back "eat s*&t." Nice. We shared some heated words before I turned and head for the car. I loaded Luke and Elsa up; check on Luke with some kisses and huge and headed home.
The whole way home I went over what had happened. What kind of person does this? Their dogs assault another and they yell at the person who's dog got hurt? Well, I had to find out; if I was going to blog about this I needed more information. I wasn't done yet, I turned the car around and head back to the field. I stopped before getting to the field when I saw them. Their Bulldog was out in the middle of the road as I pulled over. Obviously the no leash thing was working well for them, not.
So I asked "why?" Having no idea what I was in for but assumed it would be more of the same. It was, very much "don't tell me what to do," attitude. I tried my best to remain calm so that I could get the information I was looking for, not an easy task when I was fired up to the level that I was. The only answer I got on that Saturday morning was attitude and that was in fact the answer. I told them if it was turned around and my dogs had done this that I would have apologized, not attacked as they did. I asked what adult man yells at a woman like he did? Thinking that my son would never be such an idiot. The guy somehow took my question wrong; thinking I was calling him not an adult and said "I'm 25 years old and I can do whatever I want." Well, there you have it.
"I'm sick of all the a&;%ho*es in this neighborhood" he said looking down at the dogs. Ahhhh, others had complained about them and the dogs; I was in no way the first. The guy said that nothing had happened and that we in fact had come after them. Hmmmmm. He left muttering under his breath; leaving the girl there to explain. I asked her and although she wasn't yelling or swearing at me she most definitely had a chip on her shoulder and didn't care at all what her dogs were doing. She asked me what I wanted her to say. I didn't want her to say anything. She also thought that she had some right to let her dogs do whatever; by stating "I've lived here 24 years." She kept going back to the fact that her dogs were off leash and that was not my biggest issue. My issue was in how it was all handled. She then said in a very non apologetic tone "I will try to be a more responsible dog owner." Which I took as my cue and turned the car around and head for home.
I realized after talking to these people that the guy was one of those angry people who have a sense of entitlement. There is no reasoning or even discussing with them; he knows everything and everyone else is wrong, pretty much. I ran into the same type a few weeks ago in my car. Having the right of way I pulled out in front of him; but he must have owned the road that I was driving on. He flipped me off, screamed and yelled; tailed me and basically tried to intimidate me. But that was not enough for this guy, he must have stewed all day because that evening I got an email about what I'd done; he'd created a new email address just to send me an email. (A little scary) Again, what sort of man does that to a woman and then thinks that he is in the right? No man with any sense of being a real man would.
Luke was fine, Elsa was fine and that was what was important. I will always step up to intervene when needed to protect my dogs. As far as what came after? Stupidity, it was as simple as that. When dealing with people like this; the best thing to do is to walk away. Make sure that your dogs are okay and report the incident. I have no doubt that these dogs have already been reported. It always amazes me when people don't learn from life experiences. They continue to plod away doing the same thing and expecting different results somehow.
The worst thing about the whole incident is the lack of compassion. Knocking down an old dog, or any dog for that matter should bring with it a sense of apology. Shouldn't there be something inside you that feels bad? Sadly I think there is a great deal of compassion missing in many people these days and the sense of what is right and wrong. So yes, humans gone wrong.