mr. furley
Footballguy
ran in to a new one on Saturdayowners of small or toy dogs that pick them up
STOP IT
the reason they snarl, bark and shiver is that they aren't socialized because you're picking them up. let the ####ing dog socialize with other dogs and it will be fine. dogs figure it out on their own.
my medium sized terrier with a ball in its mouth, shaking her tail so hard that her entire back half is wiggling is not a threat to your 2 lb toy pomeranian. your dog was wagging its tail, bouncing around and looking excited until you scooped it up in a panic, started backing up and whining about the dog needing to calm down.
it wasn't until the dog was clutched to your chest, with your voice cracking in fear that your dog started snarling, barking and flipping out. YOU MADE THE DOG THIS WAY.
there's a park across the street from my house that's essentially the local dog park, sans fences. everyone runs their dogs there. lots of people out for walks, pass through and let theirs off leash to roam & sniff the other dogs, etc.
out Saturday for our daily walk.. mine has a ball she will not drop unless i show her that i'm throwing another ball or handing her a treat. if she has a ball gripped in her mouth, forget it. she's not giving it up. she sniffs other dogs with the ball in her mouth and if they try grabbing at it she just trots off.
never had a single problem with her.
lady across the way is walking a beautiful spaniel. bigger than my dog. hers is on a leash. mine is not. my dog trots off to go greet her dog. both dogs butts are wagging so hard that they could tip over. all signs say this meet & greet won't be a problem at all.
mine gets within... 30 feet give or take and the lady stops, immediately pulls hard on her dog's leash, orders it to sit and steps in front of her dog. as i'm trailing to catch up to mine and say hello she yells "my dog is a great dog off leash! but she gets scared when she's on her leash!"
uhhh... huh?
my dog keeps trotting on anyways and starts to sniff her dog.. her dog looks totally happy and playful but this lady is jerking at the leash and shouting that it's not safe, that her dog is aggressive when on leash and she thinks i should run over and grab my dog asap. so i hasten the pace to make her feel better. meanwhile the dogs are flopping around like two idiots, sniffing each other and wagging their tails while this lady continues trying to wrangle her very happy, friendly dog.
i clicked my dog's leash which to her means, turn and come to me. she turned and came right to me. the lady stormed off in a huff, trying to drag her 80+lb dog with her.
lady.. it's you who is the problem. stop being the problem.
But, now that I think about it, the fact I think about it everyday on my ride to work must show that it's been bothering me enough to be a pet peeve. Or at least a feral peeve.