What is it with a-hole owners and aggressive dogs?
My 12yo daughter was chased by a 150lb dog tonight at church. Our neighbors 250' away across the yard have two dogs. They are not on any type of restraint, but they'll do one of two things: Sit in their yard and bark at us, or wander onto our property to harmlessly explore, and when they see an adult, will skulk away from us and act sheepish. So I never gave it a second thought because until tonight they did no harm and seemed to have a grasp of what was theirs and what was ours and where they belonged. Until tonight.
Im in the office with the rest of my family, and my daughter comes in totally out of breath. So much she cant talk. But we didn’t notice at first because we were all in conversations. Then we noticed her body language as she sat on the floor, head down. We asked her if she was OK, then she breaks down crying and trys to tell us what happened.
I hugged her and calmed her down, and then got the story. And my blood began to boil. She said she walked across the front of the church just chilling. She was walking toward the dog’s house, but still 250' from the property line. She got to the corner of the sanctuary and as she rounded the corner she saw one of the dogs WELL into our yard. It was closer to the church, than home, and about 200’ away from the property line, WAY away from his house. And he started barking at her. She turned and ran back the way she came, away from the dog and its house. It proceeded to chase her, literally nipping at her heels and barking as she ran. He finally broke it off after about 100’ of chase when the owner started yelling for it. (I didnt realize that last bit until later)
So I took her outside to get her story, and she showed me where she was. I was concerned she wandered too far, or too close and it chased her away from its territory. Nope. When I found out where the chase started, I immediately went in and reviewed the security footage without putting on the headphones. I was ticked. Oh, and I noticed that the two dogs were unusually absent when I took her outside. So obviously the owners had intervened.
I walked over to the neighbor and knocked on the door. Of course the dogs are inside barking up a storm. A nice 20 something lady answered the door and I explained what happened. She was kind and very apologetic. Said it would never happen again. I told her she needed them on a leash or behind a fence ALWAYS, because although they frequently wander onto our property harmlessly, this CANNOT happen again. I had “counted to 10” repeatedly across the yard to try to chill, and started out calm, but about lost my cool the more I talked about it. I never yelled but it was obvious I was VERY upset as my voice cracked repeatedly.
I walked back and went to save the video clip as “evidence” so it didn’t get deleted in the rollover. This time I put on the headphones and listened to it. It wasn’t just a chase like you would expect a playful dog, It was barking the whole way. Now I’m furious, and Papa Bear was in full swing. I realized this couldn’t wait until next time. We’ve got multiple youth groups and scouts all over the property every week. Next time the kid might not be so fast. (This girl needs to be in track. She runs like I used to when I was her age)
So I opened a RequestIndy ticket about it to be referred to animal control. So we’ll see what happens.
(edit: I'm on staff as the Trustee Chair, so this property is my responsibility. And it is also my duty to protect anyone here. Which is why I decided after talking to the neighbor I didnt have the option I first chose as "dad" to not do anything this time. )
My 12yo daughter was chased by a 150lb dog tonight at church. Our neighbors 250' away across the yard have two dogs. They are not on any type of restraint, but they'll do one of two things: Sit in their yard and bark at us, or wander onto our property to harmlessly explore, and when they see an adult, will skulk away from us and act sheepish. So I never gave it a second thought because until tonight they did no harm and seemed to have a grasp of what was theirs and what was ours and where they belonged. Until tonight.
Im in the office with the rest of my family, and my daughter comes in totally out of breath. So much she cant talk. But we didn’t notice at first because we were all in conversations. Then we noticed her body language as she sat on the floor, head down. We asked her if she was OK, then she breaks down crying and trys to tell us what happened.
I hugged her and calmed her down, and then got the story. And my blood began to boil. She said she walked across the front of the church just chilling. She was walking toward the dog’s house, but still 250' from the property line. She got to the corner of the sanctuary and as she rounded the corner she saw one of the dogs WELL into our yard. It was closer to the church, than home, and about 200’ away from the property line, WAY away from his house. And he started barking at her. She turned and ran back the way she came, away from the dog and its house. It proceeded to chase her, literally nipping at her heels and barking as she ran. He finally broke it off after about 100’ of chase when the owner started yelling for it. (I didnt realize that last bit until later)
So I took her outside to get her story, and she showed me where she was. I was concerned she wandered too far, or too close and it chased her away from its territory. Nope. When I found out where the chase started, I immediately went in and reviewed the security footage without putting on the headphones. I was ticked. Oh, and I noticed that the two dogs were unusually absent when I took her outside. So obviously the owners had intervened.
I walked over to the neighbor and knocked on the door. Of course the dogs are inside barking up a storm. A nice 20 something lady answered the door and I explained what happened. She was kind and very apologetic. Said it would never happen again. I told her she needed them on a leash or behind a fence ALWAYS, because although they frequently wander onto our property harmlessly, this CANNOT happen again. I had “counted to 10” repeatedly across the yard to try to chill, and started out calm, but about lost my cool the more I talked about it. I never yelled but it was obvious I was VERY upset as my voice cracked repeatedly.
I walked back and went to save the video clip as “evidence” so it didn’t get deleted in the rollover. This time I put on the headphones and listened to it. It wasn’t just a chase like you would expect a playful dog, It was barking the whole way. Now I’m furious, and Papa Bear was in full swing. I realized this couldn’t wait until next time. We’ve got multiple youth groups and scouts all over the property every week. Next time the kid might not be so fast. (This girl needs to be in track. She runs like I used to when I was her age)
So I opened a RequestIndy ticket about it to be referred to animal control. So we’ll see what happens.
(edit: I'm on staff as the Trustee Chair, so this property is my responsibility. And it is also my duty to protect anyone here. Which is why I decided after talking to the neighbor I didnt have the option I first chose as "dad" to not do anything this time. )
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