Puppy and disc golf

[Lewis]

Originally Posted by Stardoggy

So Smigles, it basically sounds like you're trying to force your European standards to an American conversation. Hello, cultural differences, how do you do?

Since when was this an "American" conversation? I've got to take Smigles's side on this one. To the Americans who are recommending dog parks, I've heard some horror stories about attacks at dog parks. Our next door neighbor's dog at my last house was nearly killed by another dog in the small dogs section of a dog park. His belly was full of stitches and he took months to recover. The rescue organization where my wife and I got our youngest dog made us sign an agreement never to take him to a dog park, for reasons like this. Sure, most of the time your dog can have fun in a dog park, but they're out of control enough that I would NEVER recommend a dog park as the place to go to start socializing your unsocialized dog. It's far better to do it in a regular park, where other people's dogs are also leashed.

[tbird888]

Right there with you, Lewis. I'm done with dog parks too. Smokey spent ten minutes wagging his tail while another dog was growling in his face. I told the owner he needed to get his dog under control, and he told me they'd work it out. Thankfully, when the dog finally acted, Smokey was able to defend himself. The dog's owner got pissed and said we should break it up. I told him that I'm not getting bitten because he won't restrain his dog, and they'll work it out.

A couple weeks after that, I read of someone shooting and killing a pit bull that was coming over to greet his dog. The guy was taken away in cuffs, yes. With me constantly being asked if Smokey is a Pit (he's a Boxer/Bullmastiff mix), I figured it's time to let him enjoy playing with dogs elsewhere.

[ru4por]

Originally Posted by nb2210

I disagree with you a bit here, only because well, everyone breaks the law. especially traffic laws, but laws nonetheless.

I break the law at every course I play that requires leashed dogs. Don't get me wrong, my dog is leashed, I'm just not holding on to it. I do this because I feel the law is there to protect people from irresponsible dog owners. I put in the time with my dog as pup and even still do to this day. She is well behaved, stays within 10-20 feet of me unless i tell her to go lay down in the shade. Not chasing anything (animals, people or anybodys discs) I have zero fear of my dog doing anything out of line to cause harm. If that happens well then I will have to live with those results, but i'm not blindly following the rulles for the sake of rules.

Oh my. Letting a dog run around with a leash on is far more irresponsible than not leashing it altogether. It is a good way to hurt your animal. *shakeshead* When a child sneaks up on your dog, laying down in the shade, startles it and get bitten in the face, it is not just you living with the results. "You have no fear of your dog doing anything out of line"....others likely do. And you lack this fear from the position of ignorance. You have no real idea of what your dog will do in new and unfamiliar situations. This post defines entitlement. I love dogs, irresponsible owners, not so much.

[Lewis]

Originally Posted by ru4por

Oh my. Letting a dog run around with a leash on is far more irresponsible than not leashing it altogether. It is a good way to hurt your animal. *shakeshead* When a child sneaks up on your dog, laying down in the shade, startles it and get bitten in the face, it is not just you living with the results. "You have no fear of your dog doing anything out of line"....others likely do. And you lack this fear from the position of ignorance. You have no real idea of what your dog will do in new and unfamiliar situations. This post defines entitlement. I love dogs, irresponsible owners, not so much.

Something to be aware of is that a dog's natural way of harmlessly correcting a puppy who is being obnoxious is to grab the puppy's face in his mouth. This is physically harmless to a puppy because the skin of a dog's face is tough and designed to take this kind of handling. On the other hand, human skin is more delicate on the face than almost anywhere else on the body, especially on a child, so what the dog intends as a firm but harmless correction to a human "puppy" ends up drawing blood and probably looks malicious to bystanders who don't understand how dogs use that behavior on their own puppies. If the dog's owner doesn't train the dog carefully not to use this instinctive behavior when dealing with annoying children, and then leaves their dog unmonitored around children, they're asking for trouble.