Stupid dog-owners make me go "Mrrrrrr."

[wordinista]

Had a slightly weird thing happen tonight, and I'm finding myself kind of... still vaguely annoyed over it.

In the middle of watching the 'Bama-Gator game, Darwin ran over to the front door, barking. He shoved his muzzle through the mail slot and started sniffing, and then paced the foyer, really agitated. I peeked through the window and saw two dogs standing in our driveway. Since I'd seen a flyer around regarding two lost dogs in the area, George and I went outside armed with a flashlight, leashes, and liver treats. They weren't the right dogs, but had collars and tags, so they were obviously someone's pet, and we brought them over to Mom's house, since she's got the fenced-in yard. (I'll just skip over the part where I tried to call her over and over again and she did not pick up her phone which seems to be par for the course when there's actually something wrong.) We got her two little dogs inside, and herded the two strays into the yard, at which point we got the collars off the doggies to look for owner information.

Now, one of the pups was a fairly young-looking Golden Retriever. I'd guestimate him to have been about a year old, maybe a year and a half. He was pretty small, and his coat hadn't come in completely yet. The other dog was a Leonberger, and ... y'know, "huge" really does not cut it. A giant, bear-like dog, who had absolutely no manners whatsoever, and seemed obsessed with humping the Golden, and then tried to hump ME, and he and I had a talk and I expressed to him quite clearly that that was not on. Neither seemed to know the "sit" command, and neither had been fixed (made evident by the Leon humping everything and also marking various points around Mom's yard -- Gizmo will be very busy tomorrow...).

Now, the Goldie was ... he was actually in pretty good shape. But the Leonberger looked like he'd been roaming for a while. He stunk to high heaven, and his coat had just... godawful mats, especially around the collar. According to their collars, the Goldie was named "Sparky," and the Leo was named "Mattei."

But anyway! Called the phone number on the tags! Like you do!

...The phone number was out of service. Insert WTF here.

The address, however, was less than a mile down our street, and I volunteered to drive down to the house. George wanted Mom to go with me, which subjected me to a round of "Mom Standard Time" -- when she says she'll be out in X minutes, but the reality is anywhere from two to four times the initial estimate. SO! We finally got to the house, and there were cars in the driveway and the lights were on (cue sigh of relief here). I knocked on the door and apparently the owner did not realize his dogs had Houdini'd out of his yard, and was like, "ZOMG ON MY WAY," so we went back to the house, he collected his dogs, and all was well.

Except.

Um. What the hell, man. Who in their right mind has a dog like a Leonberger and not only doesn't teach it basic manners, but doesn't bother to make the effort to train it to a point where the dog is remotely controllable on-leash. Because, uh. This guy? Had NO control over his ENORMOUS, GIGANTIC, BEAR-LIKE DOG. None. Seriously, NONE. The dog all but dragged the owner to his truck, and he needed me to help the Golden get to the truck, because he was so overwhelmed by the Leo. (Also, the Goldie seemed kind of hand-shy, which broke my heart and pissed me off in turns.)

And also. ALSO. The condition of the Leo's coat was DEPLORABLE. There were mats ALL up in his fur, some of them roughly the diameter of a dime. How -- HOW do you let your dog's coat get to be in that kind of condition? And if you ARE a lazy sumbitch, then why have a dog with a high-maintenance coat in the first place? According to the breed-club's website, the Leonberger requires daily brushing. Now, maybe you can push that to a couple of times a week, or maybe even a weekly brushing, but if that dog's been brushed within the past month, I'd eat my hat.

I just... don't understand people. I'm trying not to think too hard about this, because both dogs tails started wagging like crazy when the owner came to pick them up (even if they were utterly out of control). But I'm still feeling... vaguely annoyed.

AND WHO THE HELL KEEPS A DISCONNECTED NUMBER ON THEIR DOGS' IDENTIFICATION TAGS?

Argh. People.

Comments

[emrlddragon.livejournal.com]

http://community.livejournal.com/stupidpetowners/

I find this place is great for this kind of venting.

[w0rdinista.livejournal.com]

[clicks comm and browses]

...

...

Someone left an elderly Border Collie overnight in freezing temperatures?

adsjkfl;

I have no words. NO. WORDS. Except that I really hope there's some poetic Karmic retribution in that woman's future.

[emrlddragon.livejournal.com]

Me too.

[aoi-tsuki1.livejournal.com]

I cannot read that comm. My blood boils so hard that my eyes keep threatening to erupt backwards through my skull. Somehow. Argh. >:O

If you see them again - quite likely - it's time to call the SPCA, as suggested down below; they won't ZOMG TAKE THE DOGS AWAY, necessarily, so much as assess the dogs objectively and give the owner a wake-up call about the safety and non-legality of having huge dogs wandering outside. One episode of Animal Cops had a dog I was sure would be taken away because his coat was overgrown into a mat literally covering the dog From The Other Side, like, I thought it had a massive tumor, but instead they groomed it for free and brought it back.

[w0rdinista.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I did a little surfing around the local SPCA website to see if I could find any info about what to do in a situation like this one. There didn't seem to be anything, but I might give them a call tomorrow just to speak to someone -- not necessarily to lodge a complaint or a report. It's just... good god, why have a giant dog if you aren't going to take the effort to control it?

[darkfrog24.livejournal.com]

I do not at presence have the expertise, time, money or patience for a high-maintenance dog. So you know what I did? I didn't get one.

[w0rdinista.livejournal.com]

WHAT? CLEARLY YOU'RE MATURE INSANE FOR MAKING SUCH A WELL-INFORMED DECISION.

Sigh.

[darkfrog24.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I did the crazy and raised two cats. Stupidly, I selected a low-maintenance animal.

[soc_puppet]

I suppose calling the SPCA might be slightly overkill here, but I'm still tempted to vote you do that.

[w0rdinista.livejournal.com]

Oh, believe me. The urge is there. I just... don't know what I'd say, you know? I... want to say that I don't think he was... malicious? But rather just completely clueless. It was obvious to me that Mattei was just way more dog than this guy knew how to handle.

Speaking for myself, if I had a 140 lb. bear dog in my home, I would most certainly be living in a ONE-dog home.

[soc_puppet]

While the officers on Animal Planet's various "animal cops" shows do a pretty good job of enforcing the idea that one of their main goals is to educate, I can see how you'd be reluctant. Try talking to him yourself first maybe, and then if you still notice problems down the road, maybe put in a very carefully worded call to your local animal control about how he may just need someone with a bit more... authority to better encourage/educate him on caring for his dogs.

Alternately, It's Me or the Dog is doing its current season in the US, which you could perhaps sell to the owner with the idea that he'd be a celebrity and get his dogs to behave better in one fell swoop.

[w0rdinista.livejournal.com]

The thing is, he seemed utterly oblivious to the fact that his dogs were walking all over him. So I'm kind of hesitant to say, "Dude, seriously. Say it with me: TRAY-NING."

I also had a bit of an open mouth, insert foot moment when I mentioned the number of mats in Mattei's fur:

Me: "Yeah, he seems to have been out wandering for a while. He's got some really awful mats in his fur, especially up by the collar."

Him: "No, they just got out tonight -- I checked on them a few hours ago. He gets the mats from jumping in the pool and then rolling around in the dirt."

Me: "...Oh. WELL THEN."

But there's just... so much wrong with that statement ANYWAY, starting with checking on your dogs a couple of hours ago. Dogs get bored! AND THEN TRY TO ALLEVIATE THEIR BOREDOM. I'm hesitant to leave mine alone in Mom's yard for more than ten or fifteen minutes at a time.

And if the dog is jumping into the pool whenever it damned well pleases, then it quite clearly does not have any boundaries.

People just get so weird about being called on the fact that their dogs behave horribly. I suppose, if I see him again (I forgot even to ask his name), I might ask how old the dogs are, and inquire politely as to whether he has any trouble managing such a large dog, and if Mattei is full-grown yet, etc.

Because holy crap, I got mounted by a BEAR-DOG tonight. And I am not a small person -- 5'10" and more than able to take care of myself, and this beast nearly overpowered ME.

[sarolynne.livejournal.com]

....*facepalm*

Okay.

I.

Whut?

I'm sure I'll have comments on that at some point, but dude. I mean. Duuuude. That's sad, too, because Leonbergers can be some of the sweetest, most beautiful dogs. (Not that there's a problem with Goldens, or any other breed in particular, I've just never met one that wasn't mellow and well mannered.) And having had big dogs like that before, I just do not get how you have one and don't socialize it well enough that it knows better than mounting people. I mean, seriously, every thing else aside, someone could get hurt when you get a 140lb dog that things it's going to assert himself like that.

[w0rdinista.livejournal.com]

You know those episodes of The Dog Whisperer where the owners seem to be perfectly nice enough people, but are just so goddamn clueless it's painful to watch?

Yeah. It was kind of like that.

The Leonberger was really sweet, and so friendly (not using his mounting habit as an indicator of friendliness, obviously), and it was kind of heartbreaking that he was just so... completely not trained. Or brushed.

But, dude. A big-ass bear of a dog tried to mount me I feel so used. You can be damned sure we had a chat about that. And I will say this: he only tried once.

[sarolynne.livejournal.com]

I love me some big bear dogs, but there's very little that bothers me more than when someone doesn't even attempt to instill manners in them. I mean, I get that sometimes it takes a while. You have to work on it. My puppy is quite a ways yet from having perfect habits and manners (Malamutes are a pain to teach not to pull on the leash--we really ought to get her a head collar), but we're working on it. But. But. But. You just seriously have to wonder about those people.

I watch The Dog Whisperer and It's Me or the Dog sometimes, and I know that feeling entirely. Like when someone has a boxer that never, ever gets walked, and then the owner wonders why he's so destructive, why doesn't he listen?

[w0rdinista.livejournal.com]

Oh, I totally hear you about trying to train not to pull. One of the things you do with Aussies to ramp them up and increase their drive for agility is to pull back on their collar. An Aussie that pulls is an Aussie that has drive, which you TOTALLY want if you're going to do agility. It's a hard balance to strike, and sometimes Darwin gets a little more leeway when it comes to pulling -- but he generally only needs the occasional reminder. It's like he just... forgets sometimes.

And I also acknowledge that sometimes even well-trained dogs forget themselves. Darwin's manners are GOOD, but far from perfect (he still barks like Cujo when someone's at the door, and has definite issues with people coming into HIS house -- but we're working on those issues).

But that level of utter cluelessness just... makes my soul weep sometimes, because it's not THAT hard to teach a dog to understand the ... I hate this term, but I'm using it anyway: the pack order. They obviously knew who they could push around, and who they couldn't push around.

I really don't get those people. Is it really that hard to do a gnat's ass worth of research on a breed? If you're a lazy bastard, then get a lazy dog. There is a dog breed for everyone, I'm sure of it! People just have to engage their brains a little and not get a dog because it's pretty.

[sarolynne.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Malamutes are sort of the same way--I mean. Sled dog. They were bred specifically to pull heavy things. So if you pull back against them, they immediately go into "pull!" mode. So there's this period of teaching them to remember, hey! Person back here!

I guess it's just, I get that no one's perfect. But there's not being perfect, and working with your dog, and then there's just... not bothering to even try. Like getting a dog with a lovely long coat that any idiot ought to realize would need to be brushed and washed regularly, and letting it mat up. If you can't be bothered to do that, you don't get a Leonberger. You get, oh, I don't know. Say a mastiff, if you're looking for a dog the size of a pony.

And if you don't want to train them, you get a push stuffed animal.

[w0rdinista.livejournal.com]

Tell me about it. I mentioned the mats to the guy, and he was like, "Yeah, that just sort of happens -- he jumps into the pool and then gets out and rolls around, and it mats up, especially around the collar."

Uh. Then fucking brush your dog more often than, oh, never? I am familiar with mats. Darwin gets them on his ears and his "britches" (the fur on the backs of his legs -- it's very long and coarse). He gets mats because Sydney chews on him. And guess what? The mats are manageable because I brush him about once a week! THEY DO NOT GROW TO BE THE SIZE OF A DIME OR NICKEL OVERNIGHT.

And I am not even going to start on the part where he has two intact male dogs. WTF, spay and neuter, asshole.

[sarolynne.livejournal.com]

When I was in middle school, we had a Newfoundland. And she was the sweetest thing ever. (Unfortunately, due to a health problem that had been missed while it was still treatable, we had to have her put to sleep before she was three.) She would get mats in the feathers on her legs and tail if we didn't brush her more or less every day. So... we brushed her pretty much every day. It wasn't that big of a deal, most of the time. We weren't exactly going all out, just enough to keep her fur maintained--not like show coat or anything. It took... oh... I don't think even ten minutes a day, and it was good bonding time. Not really a HARDSHIP.

Yeah, I was kind of avoiding that. Because it just didn't even seem like it needed to be mentioned.

You know, I think it's a guy thing, because every once in a while I meet men who get squeamish about neutering their freaking dogs. And they'll say the most ridiculous freaking things about it. I remember coming across a guy, and I wish I could remember the exact words, but it basically came down to actually, seriously not thinking that a dog got as much respect if it didn't have balls. Really.

[rya-kelley.livejournal.com]

It will please you to know that I never ever let Koga out of my sight when I let him out. Mostly because I don't want him stolen for dog fights, but also because I don't want the poodles down the street to chase him should Koga ever figure out he's a German Shepard and technically could eat them. He's also very good on the leash. Once an armadillo came out of it's hole right in front of him, an you could tell that Koga wanted to chase it---BECAUSE HE COULD SO OWN IT---but he didn't even jump to the end of the leash. He just sat there then walked when we walked away, looking back at his prey with intense longing.

[w0rdinista.livejournal.com]

(I would love to see more pictures of Koga now that he's a bit older, incidentally.)

Darwin is a very strong 50 lb dog who could easily drag my ass everywhere. And he does have his bad habits -- I won't lie there. He's not perfect on-leash, and he's got his quirks, but I knew from the start that if I was going to have a dog like that, I wanted him to have something resembling manners

[rya-kelley.livejournal.com]

Can't upload since I let my account lapse and refuse to give LJ more money.

[tatertott.livejournal.com]

I really don't understand the mentality of some people that get these pets (whether it be dogs or cats) and then don't put in the time or effort to maintain their health, their obedience or their relationship. I mean, you wouldn't do that to your kids, your own flesh and blood, so why do it to an animal that you bring into your life that literally has the self-sustainability bred out of it over decades/hundreds of years? Domesticated animals NEED people to survive and people really do not seem to understand this.

I'd say the next time you see this fool, inquire how the dogs are doing, and possibly bring up the fact that the phone number on the tags was disconnected the last time you called it. It's at least a good thing to have the address on there, but dogs can roam pretty far and the next time they [the dogs] may not be so lucky to find someone close enough or willing to bring the dogs back to him.

[w0rdinista.livejournal.com]

I'm also thinking about bringing up Mattei's obsessive humping and mentioning that it's really bad for the dogs' hips -- both the humper and the humpee (especially a Golden that had to be about 55 lbs being mounted by a fucking monster like that), and will CASUALLY MENTION the training place I take the dogs to. Or something. I hope he's not quite THAT clueless. :/