Friday, March 25, 2011
Some People Know Nothing About Dogs
So, I was taking the dogs out tonight for their final business transactions and took them on a short walk after. One of my neighbors had a bonfire going across the street from his place and there were a couple of guys hanging out there.
Shasta, my boy hoodlum, doesn’t like a lot of guys. Again, his history is that he and his sister, (girl hoodlum), were found in traffic, tossed like garbage, at three months old. There’s no telling what happened to them before they were found but something did because Shasta has a problem with most guys.
So I’ve been trying to get him used to guys, to learn that guys don’t have to be bad and that he won’t be harmed by them in the future. And most of the guys have been co-operating with this. Shasta will bark at them if they are walking down the street in my direction, even if they are just going to their own home, Shasta barks and growls at them. I will bring Shasta over to meet the person, or re-meet the person and I tell them to just let Shasta come to them. If they want to put their hand out, that’s fine but let Shasta come to them, don’t tower over him and try to approach him. Because when they do that, Shasta backs up, growls and gets his hackles up so I’m trying to do this the slow, patient way. Just let him start being around guys, eventually, he’ll realize, no harm is coming and he’ll start to trust a bit more.
I have one guy that I can give the leash to Shasta to him and he will take Shasta on short walks. Very short walks but it’s a way to get Shasta to get over this fear of males.
Now, I must say, he is not this way with all males. There’s a few males that he has no problem with at all. These are typically younger males, males who also have dogs or males who he feels pose no threat.
So, tonight, I walk by this bonfire and one neighbor, who is respecting my requests that the hoodlums sit before they get petted, is trying to pet them. Sakari of course loves the world so it’s not a problem with her friendly nature. Getting her to sit takes a few tries but she does and gets rewarded by these neighbors.
And Shasta usually does well with this one neighbor but I guess maybe it had something to do with alcohol consumption because Shasta was not in to this neighbor tonight. He woofed at him slightly, very slightly growled, and backed away. And that was the end of it. Shasta left the guy alone, did not even attempt to go near him. Fine. He’s still here, around guys, he’s still getting used to it all.
So we talked a little bit, these four guys at the bonfire and the one neighbor who Shasta doesn’t normally have a problem with kept trying to get Shasta to come over to him. I told him that maybe Shasta doesn’t like the alcohol, I’m sure he can smell it, it’s something foreign to him, (I rarely drink), and he doesn’t like it so he doesn’t want to come over and say, ‘hi’.
So this neighbor decides to get all offended. For real? You’re offended because a dog doesn’t like the fact that you’re drunk right now? Really?! Moron. He proceeded to state that the dog needed to sit and stop acting all “cocky” in front of his place that he “runs this place” and the dog is going to listen to him.
Ok, now you’re gonna tick me off. Don’t you dare threaten my dog.
I said, “You run this place? You RUN this place? Really?” He said, “Well, ok, I mean, this is in front of my house, I mean this area is mine.” (No, actually, it isn’t. It’s public property but whatever.) I told him to settle down, that the alcohol smell is probably bothering him and frankly, don’t worry about it, Shasta isn’t doing anything but sniffing around on the ground. If he doesn’t want to come sit and be petted, who cares.
This idiot proceeds that if Shasta doesn’t want to mind him in front of his place, that he would let Shasta know who was boss.
Oh really? You think so asshole!! Try it.
He said if Shasta didn’t mind him he was going to snatch my dog by the neck and pin him down until Shasta knew who was boss around here.
That’s when my blood started to boil. I could feel the rage boiling.
I told him that he would not be touching my dog, he would not be treating my dog like this, we would have serious and I mean serious issues if he thought he could treat my dog like that and he interrupted me saying, “Then don’t bring him around here.”
First of all, prick, where you are is public. Second, prick, we were on a walk and stopped to say hi. Third, PRICK, you are not the only person here and FOURTH, PRICK!!!!, you do not run this place. Touch my dog like that and it will be the sorriest you have ever been in your life.
He said that he knows how to handle dogs, he’s had dogs and he knows how to train them. You have to show them who is the boss and if he has to beat the dog, then that’s what it takes.
Now I’m ready to explode. And frankly, get violent. I’m not a violent person but when you talk about touching my dog like that? I’m gonna get violent.
I told him that if a dog is afraid of something, you have to work on that, the last thing you do is bring him more fear. He told me I was wrong, you have to “physically” let them know who is in charge and here, at this place, HE was in charge, not my dog.
I told him that maybe it isn’t that Shasta is afraid of guys after all. Maybe it’s that he knows a POS when he sees one. I said, “Maybe the reason that Shasta is growling and barking at you is because your attitude sucks and he can sense that. Maybe he just happens to be a good judge of character and it has nothing to do with gender.”
With that I turned and walked away.
But I am livid. Don’t you DARE threaten my dog just because my dog didn’t cow tow to you the second you wanted him to. This is MY dog, NOT YOURS! You will NOT harm him in any way. If he ever touches my dog like that or looks like he’s about to do that, I’m going to beat his sorry fucking ass. I don’t care if he’s a guy, you piss me off enough, and that will piss me off enough, I will beat your fucking ass until you are crumpled pile of bones and teeth on the ground.
I hate these fucking people. I cannot WAIT to reach my goal.
