Friday, May 21, 2010

This morning as I do often I took our two small house dogs for a walk on their leashes.
Today we were at Island Park and enjoying the early morning. I observed a couple who were walking/jogging with their large golden retriever on its leash enjoying the exercise with its family.
Suddenly, from out of nowhere, a large pit bull came running towards the retriever and tried to attack it, but the male kept it pretty much at bay from their pet. The pit bull's owner came running after it, hollering its name and giving it commands that were not obeyed by the pit bull, who continued to try and bite the retriever.
Suddenly one of my small dogs barked at all the commotion, and that got the attention of the pit bull, who came running after my dogs. I pulled our dogs very close to me to protect them, and made up my mind: this pit bull would kill my dogs and I would not allow that to happen.
Its owner was still trying to get ahold of this aggressive animal and continued to give it verbal commands and tried to make physical contact with it. Finally the owner grabbed its collar and took change of the pit bull.
This was a very close call for two different family pets and their owners. I do not understand why people continue to have these large, aggressive animals, and then attempt to socialize them them with the general public, unleashed.
But it doesn't matter what breed you have. Common sense tells you to leash your dog when in public. If you really want that kind of attack animal, you need to walk it or run it on your property.
Just remember it's the law, and you can be sued for damages. By leashing your dog in public, you reduce that chance by 90 percent.