Off leash dog rant!! (Now with mountain lion photos!) General Chat

i am so fed up with off leash dogs and dog owners who think it’s ok for their dogs to approach and say hi to any dog. Also the little dogs that often tend to bark at my dogs, maybe out of fear.. I have the belief that one should always ask before allowing their dog to approach another dog, it’s good manners and common sense. Not every dog wants to interact with other dogs.

I walk my two Akitas together.
Yesterday my 9 month old female, Katie Mae jumped on an off leash dog that “invaded” her personal space.. it came within about a foot of her. Now I’ll be first to admit I should have been paying better attention. Nothing really happened, IMO. I pulled her back immediately, the other dog wasn’t hurt. Once I pulled her back my dogs jumped on each other. The other dog was a 12 year old Labour Doodle. I was told maybe I shouldn’t be walking my dogs there, as they were aggressive and I didn’t have control of them.. I was told this by someone who’s dog was OFF LEASH... Come on, what kind of idiot let’s their dog approach two leashed Akitas.

Right before this happened my dogs were getting fussed over by a French family on vacation.

My dogs are fine if given a little space. I walk as far as possible from small dogs I see in the distance to avoid them and to keep my dogs in situations were they will succeed. Sometimes I will see a dog or dogs walking towards (or from behind) us that I perceive could be a problem so I take my dogs over to the railing and distract them until the other dogs have passed. I do the same thing when I see a dog running next to a bicycle or a skateboard, as my dogs don’t like that. They do however like to interact with people and get attention from them and it’s good for their continued socialization. They are also very good with small children, especially my 23 month old male. I’m always trying to look behind us as well. I like to walk my dogs on the sidewalk above the beach. There are way too many off leash dogs on the beach for me to take them down there on my own. We have leash laws were I live. ALL dogs are supposed to be leashed. My dogs and I have just as much right to walk there as anyone else and their dogs.

After the incident I put my dogs in my truck and found the dog and it’s owner. The dog was now on its leash. I told him some dogs, just like people like a certain amount of personal space. He said maybe my dogs need more training. Well they are Akitas, and you can train them but they still are what they are, and not all dogs want to interact with other dogs.

The funny thing is I’ve recently been getting almost daily compliments about how well behaved my two dogs are and how it’s obvious I work with them on it.

As my dogs were amped up at this point I drove elsewhere (not by the ocean unfortunately) to walk them where there was less activity. I also saw off leash dogs here but when owners saw us at a distance they leashed the dogs. I thanked them as we passed and my dogs were well behaved.

It’s apmost 6am where I live and I woke up at 4am thinking about this.. I need to get up at 6:30, or 7 at the latest to go to work. Today will feel like a long day.

I strongly feel I did nothing wrong in this situation but please feel free to tell me if you think otherwise. I probably won’t like that but but I’m curious what others think.

You do sound as if you are a competent, caring, attentive Akita owner.
Your stories mirror our dog walks, I sometimes see dog owners walking their dogs whilst texting on their phones, I can only imagine
Akitas are hard hard work and people that don’t know about the complexity of the breed will never understand so don’t beat yourself up
We seem to have days on the trot that are good and them “ bam “ a bad day, often with multiple instances on one walk, I sometimes come home feeling emotionally drained
The other morning we could see a lady with her dog on a lead. We made Yoji sit and I gave him treats to try to distract, when he saw the dog he stood up and barked, on our scale it was absolutely nothing, she prompted to tell us about a local training group and that it would help to socialise our dog
It spoilt my walk & my mood lingered all day, I was furious with myself that I couldn’t think of anything to say to her
I think we may buy an island ! !

Philippa I thought you’d probably be able to relate with my frustration, if not the actual incident. I wish I could buy an island... actually would probably be lonely. My dogs thrive on meeting people on our walks, they love the attention. I have not been back to my favorite walking spot since.. Im pretty sure I’m going to call my local elected official (board of supervisors) and complain to them about the off leash dogs as I don’t think animal control will go there to see if dogs are leashed and police have more important stuff to do but it’s become enough of an issue I think I’m going to see what they have to say. It’s basically a very very wide sidewalk above the ocean where tons of people walk, tons of people walk their dogs there and lots of surfers too. I don’t care if dogs are off leash on the beach but would like it if the dogs were leashed on walkway. It’s also directly next to a road so the dogs really should be leashed for their own safety.

I think I’m going to drive down there soon and walk them, but with some trepidation from the other day. But we have as much right to walk there as anyone else

Marc why don’t you take a walk down there on your own and see how it is or maybe take one dog and see how you get on !
Even some owners with retractable leads can be annoying, they are “ let out “ to the maximum and the dogs is wandering about whilst the owner is oblivious to what the dog is doing.
We who have reactive dogs are certainly more attentive and considerate dog owners....I think anyway !
Are you a fan of Facebook, if so, I’m a member of a group for “ reactive “ dogs, I find it interesting & helpful, you don’t realise how many they are and what grief some owners are going through. It’s called Support Group for Reactive Dog Owners
P

You didn't do anything wrong. People have preconceived notions and opinions of their dogs (much like they do of their children) that they're perfect and would never do anything wrong.

I have the benefit of living within 2 miles of a large forest and My Kuma (9 1/2 month old male) gets a lot of time (2-3 times a week) off leash running and swimming in the river and doing a little bit of squirrel/rabbit hunting as he comes when called/loses sight of me. However, anytime were in the vicinity of other people/dogs i keep him leashed. Not because i fear he'll be aggressive or even approach them but becase IT'S GOOD MANNERS TO KEEP YOUR ANIMAL LEASHED BECAUSE YOU NEVER KNOW HOW OTHER PEOPLE/DOGS FEEL ABOUT YOU OR YOUR ANIMAL.

I’ve taken my dogs for walks there the past 3 days after staying away for 2 days. I still feel a little dread as I pull into the parking lot, but the dogs are always very excited to go there and they know when we are getting close. I should walk the dogs separately more often but it’s time consuming and I have a new job that exhausts me so time wise I like to just walk them together. The little one, Katie Mae is the trouble maker, probably because she has had less time with just me to learn what I want from her. I was hoping she’d absorb some from bandit by osmosis. She is the more reactive of the two.

I am absolutely not a fan of Facebook, despite the fact that I live probably 30ish miles from their headquarters. I dislike the facebookifacation (made that up..) of the world. Lots of places you can only comment if you’re on Facebook. They don’t exist to benefit us, the exist to make money and mine people for data they can sell... but maybe I’ll try and get s friend to let me look at that group from their FB account. Sounds like you find it helpful and I do know it can be reassuring to find others with similar experiences, so thanks for sharing that with me, and everyone else who reads this!!

Thank you!!! My dogs have a plenty big yard to run around in, chase each other, chase the rabbits that are either brave or stupid.. enough to be in their yard. I wish more dog owners thought about more than just themselves and their dog/s

There will always be people who have no consideration for others.
I always like to walk my dogs off the beaten track, saves a lot of hassle.

I sometimes walk the dogs at the Xmas tree farm that’s only a 4 mile drive. Some days I won’t see anyone there, sometimes a few other dog walkers but as often as not they are off lead even though there is a sign saying leash your dogs as well as it’s private property but the owners are nice enough to allow us to walk dogs, jog, ride bikes on the dirt roads and paths. This is a very peaceful walk usually but I enjoy waking by the beach, listening to and smelling it!! My dogs tend to get to say hello to people there which they enjoy. It’s also a longer drive which they like and close to where I do errands. I also walk them up my gravel road if I’m feeling lazy but I find this a boring walk and it’s slow as they are sniffing everywhere. We have chipmunks, rabbits, squirrels, skunks, bobcats, deer and the occasional mountain lion too, so lots to sniff. My previous Akita almost never got walked in public, he pretty much hated other dogs and could care less about people.
I don’t want to let others annoying attitudes and behaviors deter me from waking my dogs where I want to!!!

This pic is from a friends game camera they got so they could see the baby bob cats with their mom but saw these two one night.. that’s probably less than 5 miles from me as the crow flies or the mt lion roams. My neighbor whose less than 1/4 mile away saw one in a tree just off his roof. My previous Akita tree’d either a very large bob cat or a small mt lion many years ago at night. Thing climbed way up a redwood tree wrapped around the trunk until it got up to a branch

Wow! The real Wild West. Thanks for posting those. Are there ever serious attacks, or are they safe enough if left to their own devices?

Wow that’s amazing !
Thanks for the photos

Eeek - that would terrify me.

I have had snakes [nasty ones] come into my previous bungalow, some coypu [that is what I told they were] come into the next place because it had a back door entrance [until I got one fitted on], and one or two Egyptian mongooses here, although what they are doing here when there is no free/running water about

The rats were more than enough for me [little mice did not bother me] but rats?

I can not imagine how it would be to live where you Marc @who owns who lives. Just the thought of those things in the night...

Nightmare experience!

Great pics glad we don’t have to worry about meeting them on a dark night.

Very very rarely are there attacks on humans. They will take out peoples small livestock like goats etc. Small dogs, cats etc are fair game to them as well.

Many of our local mt lions have tracking collars that provide data on their location, heart rate etc. Have a look at Santa Cruz puma project @
santacruzpumas.org

I saw one late one evening driving home, about 1am. It ran off the hillside to my left, ran in front of my truck, jumped on a guardrail and took a few steps on the guardrail (to show off how agile and graceful it was) before disappearing into the woods. It was awesome to see so close, I was glad I was in my truck. My dog, Hoshi was probably only 10ish feet from it as we drove by, with his head out the window. It happened so fast, I wished I could have slowed it down. I’d lived in these mountains (coastal mountain range) for over 20 years without ever seeing a mountain lion. I’ve seen 2 more since, both while driving at night, but at a much further distance as they ran into the forest. I think they want to be near people about as much as we want to be near them.

I live in a rural area on 5 steep wooded acres as do many people around here. My property has no power or phone lines as this was what I could afford over 25 years ago. I couldn’t afford property around here if I was trying to purchase now...

If you google ‘mt lion catches raccoon in boulder creek California’ there is a short video of this and other local videos of mt lions. Fascinating and scary at the same time...

I’m glad I remembered I had those photos and that you all enjoyed seeing them!!

It’s not “the real Wild West” as we don’t have bear or wolves... lol. I lived in southern Oregon in the early 90’s for a bit and one day on my way home from a friends I got to watch two wolves chasing a deer on a steep hillside. My watching ruined their hunt and they glowered down at me from up the hill for spoiling their fun. I lived in another part of Oregon about 14 years ago and we had lots of bears and the little cubs looked very much like Akita puppies.. after seeing a HUGE pile of bear poop very near my cabin I always talked to myself if I was outside at night..

We have wood rats here. My previous Akita would proudly bring me my rat traps with a dead rat in it.. as if he’d caught it, hahahaa. This was before I had fencing up, now I trap the rats were my dogs can’t get to the traps.

I once had a close call with a rattlesnake by a river. I was napping in the sun when someone said “don’t move, there’s a rattlesnake”! Well I turned my head and saw it and instinctively rolled away from it. It was within about 3 feet if my memory serves me well (it was almost 30 years ago so I could be embellishing). Living in rural places is beautiful and peaceful but when we do we encroach upon other animals habitats

Honestly I don’t really think about it on my own property but I wouldn’t walk my dogs after dark up at the Xmas tree farm (even with a strobe light for a headlamp) as it’s a lot of open space and I’m sure good hunting grounds for the mt lions.

Bobcats on my neighbors driveway about 1/4 mile away

Same spot but looks like a mt lion