04/30/2025
Bravo 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
I have rewritten my post on off leash dog attacks, now that I have shared what happened to Splenda. I stayed quiet while we sorted it out, and also to make sure she healed properly, but had posted some of this recently when a client's dog was attacked by an off leash dog severely. I wish I could say that Splenda is the only one of my dogs who has been attacked by an off leash dog, but it has happened more times than I can count. This was the first time on my own property though. Paddington was attacked on a trail, Merlin was almost killed on a walk once, Aslan had it happen many times in public, and Andy even on our walks in the neighborhood. While some of them didn't experience physical harm like Splenda, a few of them did. And I am so grateful they had a group of safe, social dogs to come home to so it would balance out the experience. Not all dogs have that.
These kinds of events happen every day, everywhere. We hear about them, we’ve watched them, and some of us have been unfortunately on the receiving end of them. I cannot tell you how many dogs I see that are severely traumatized after events like this, as well as their people. Enough is enough. Something needs to change.
Why has our tolerance increased so much that the kinds of attacks have become normal? Why has it gotten to a point that people are genuinely scared to walk their dogs in public - and rightly so? Why are we so normalized to aggression and reactivity and these kinds of events? This is not about dogs, this is about us.
The amount of products now offered to “contain” dogs in invisible ways are astounding. We value the aesthetic of the look of our homes over the overall safety of the general public and other animals. We have become comfortable and complacent with half measures and feel that we are not responsible for anyone else but ourselves. We’re in an individualistic society versus a collectivist society and have forgotten the implications on trauma inflicted on other people and dogs because we cannot see beyond "what's best for me, and best for my own dog."
We need to do better, because this cannot continue at this pace. And, to be clear, I am not upset with the dogs that do this. It isn’t their fault. I also know that it’s very rare that people who have a dog that has done this are “okay” with it happening. They too suffer trauma and stress and fear after something like this. But then, why does it keep happening? Why do I spend all day on the phone triaging desperate people after events like this? I am a dog trainer, but I cannot perform miracles, undo trauma, or go door to door building fences or teaching leash etiquette. I am exhausted and heartbroken.
Manage your dog. Put up a fence. Keep them on leash in parks or on trails. Muzzle train them. Do not rely on electronics or store bought containment systems that often fail or are easily moved through if the intent is strong enough. Stop making excuses, stop passively supervising, stop thinking that your dog would or could never or just because your dog is friendly the rules don’t apply. Our society and environments have changed so rapidly that our dogs have not had a chance to keep up, and we need to give them security and safety to prevent them from behavior that may end up with them paying the ultimate price, and traumatizing people and other dogs in the process. Yes, training can help, but only if you are there ready to do it and perform it properly. If you aren’t, then the dog needs to be managed and contained properly. “Just for a second” can quickly turn into a nightmare.
Yes, you can carry protection like spray shield, a pop up umbrella, an extra slip leash. The thing that worked to get the dog to drop Splenda was me yelling and clapping. However, that sometimes isn't enough, I'm lucky it was in my case. But, I also beg the question, why are we normalizing having to have protection on us when we want to walk our leashed dog down the street? Or on our own property? Is that the real discussion we should be having? Or should it be to address the real problem.
Please leash your dog. Please contain your dog. Please do not assume this one time will be fine. There are SO MANY cost effective physical fences now, that require no digging AND are installed in half a day. There are PLENTY of options now to take your dog to run off leash safely without putting others at risk. Do better so our dogs can be better.
