The sun feels good on an old body
Yep; if you are a member of my Just dogs with Sherri FB or my The Standard Poodle FB then you already know that yesterday I was fuming. As usual it took but a quick trip to the park to inspire a blog. Although yesterdays trip inspiration was not from simply watching others; we were involved. It was a typical Saturday morning; I dropped Luke and my hubby off on the street near the park where they start their trek back to us. I drive Tilley and Jessie to the parking lot of the park and we meandered at an old snail pace until we meet up with the others.
I had just got the girls out of the car and we headed on our way when I noticed a woman getting her dog out of her car. The dog saw us an immediately charged; hair up and menacing growling assault. I immediately yelled at the dog loud enough to stop it. It signaled to me by dropping it's ears and body. I yelled to the woman that my dogs were old and didn't need this in an angry voice. She then proceeded to reassure me that her dog was indeed fine; "no worries" she said. As I looked back the dog made a huge growling, toothy lunge at Tilley knocking her to the ground.
Enjoying the peace of her own backyard
In an instant I jumped to stop any further assault while yelling at the woman. She said she was shocked; I think not. Once I got home I had time to reflect and realized we'd had a run in with this dog before. She asked her dog over and over again "why did you do that?" Hmmmmmmm; yes I'm a fan of talking to your dog but really? This woman let her dog out of her car and remained fishing around in her car while this all happened. She was not paying the smallest amount of attention.
I was fuming; of course I was, here my old 14 year old girl who wouldn't hurt a flea was knocked onto the sidewalk and having a hard time getting herself up. Tilley is a neutral dog; a dog who gives off no threat, just neutral behavior. It is this reason that I have used her over the years to help aggressive and fearful dogs. No dog has ever attacked or gone after her.
The woman who owned this dog immediately jumped to save her hide. She kept saying how beautiful Tilley was; I mean a ridiculous amount of times. I then realized that it was her way of hoping I wasn't going to report her. I checked Tilley over and we went on our way in hopes of erasing this mad situation. I wanted Tilley to forget this; so we moved onto a fun walk.
I'm sure Tilley was hurt; like elderly people, falling down is much more serious when you are old. If this sceanario would have played out with Luke instead of Tilley the end would have been far different. This woman is clearly in denial about her dog and she has no control nor does she desire control obviously. People like this should not have dogs. If you cannot control your dog; never take off the leash. The owner of the dog is solely to blame in this situation which is generally the rule, not always but usually.
Tilley is fine now; no doubt she is sore but she seems okay. I on the other hand am still fuming.