Author Topic: My Great Dane accused of being dangerous  (Read 12622 times)

Offline Harley Quinn

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My Great Dane accused of being dangerous
« on: October 29, 2008, 07:45:44 am »
I need to vent.
Out walking my 10 year old Great Dane a few nights ago.
A guy walks towards us with his small (20lb?) dog off leash and about 7 feet ahead of him.
I try to stand to the side with my dog (ON leash) and the guy does nothing to control or contain his dog.  Of course he gets too close to us and my big boy snaps at his dog and grabs on to him.  I get my dog to release the small dog and tell the owner that there is a leash law for a reason and he should keep his dog close to him and not walk right into a large dog owner who is trying to now control two dogs.

This guy then has the nerve to post signs in my neighborhood stating there is a "Dangerous Great Dane around who attacks dogs while the owner stands back and does nothing - watch out everyone and be careful"

In the 10 years I've had my beautiful Dane he has only snapped at dogs like this once before.  Same scenario - when the other dog owner had their dog off leash and let his dog come right up to us without any control.

Why small dog owners refuse to obey leash laws and behave like this is amazing.  Of course this same guy lets his dog poo all over the place and doesn't pick up after himself either. 

Thanks for listening :-)

Offline maxsmom

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Re: My Great Dane accused of being dangerous
« Reply #1 on: October 29, 2008, 08:08:42 am »
We have an owner of a chi in our neighborhood who takes the dog out, off leash.  I was walking down to our neighbors house and suddenly felt something grab the leg of my jeans.  I jerked my leg up and the dog fell off.  Of course it hit the pavement and yelled.  The owner comes running around the corner of a house yelling, don't hurt my dog.  Are you kidding me?  Put your dog on a leash or don't let it out.  If that had been Jake, the dog had bitten, Jake would have hurt it, if not killed it, if I didn't see what was happening in time.  It's a cute little dog, but not friendly at all.  Just another stupid dog owner.  I am so sorry that this has happened to you and your dog.  There is just no excuse for the stupidity of some people.
Kathy
Max  2 Irish Wolfhound
Jake  2 Great Pyrenees
Cody   3 Tibetan Mastiff
ChiChi 1.5 Caucasian Ovcharka
John and Nicki Maine Coon cats

Offline maxsmom

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Re: My Great Dane accused of being dangerous
« Reply #2 on: October 29, 2008, 08:26:18 am »
I'm sorry, I don't agree.  Car accidents happen all the time too, but even if you are in the wrong, if the other driver is not licensed, insured and has a proper tag on their car, they are at fault.  If they had not been there, the accident would not have happened, regardless of what you did or did not do.  Same thing with dogs.  If the smaller dog had been on a leash, which is required, the larger dog would not have had access or been able to bite.  This does not mean that the large dog was right in biting, but the fault lies with the small dog owner, for not obeying the law.
Our neighbor's dog was allowed to run loose. I said WAS.  We were walking out of our garage one night, with 3 of my dogs, when this little ball of fur, met us in the garage door, growling and charging my dogs.  It was all my daughter and I could do to hold my dogs back.  I spoke to my neighbor and when the dog did the same thing to my grandson, I called AC.  The owner was told, I know because they came over and told me, that if their dog was killed or hurt by me or my dogs, it would be their fault.  The dog is not allowed to run around off leash. Period.  That's the law.
Kathy
Max  2 Irish Wolfhound
Jake  2 Great Pyrenees
Cody   3 Tibetan Mastiff
ChiChi 1.5 Caucasian Ovcharka
John and Nicki Maine Coon cats

Offline Harley Quinn

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Re: My Great Dane accused of being dangerous
« Reply #3 on: October 29, 2008, 08:30:26 am »
Thanks for the feedback.

I actually spoke to animal control and they asked me if I'd like to have the small dog owner fined and ticketed.
I declined as I figured he'd had enough of a scare.

His dog had zero injuries as my antique Dane just grabbed him in his mouth.  My dog is NEVER dog aggressive when he meets all kinds of big and small dogs on the street that are leashed.  For some reason when a dog is off leash and runs at him he doesn't like it.  I kinda see his point of view.  I'm a big guy and I can control 150lbs on the end of my leash but when I'm tasked with then fending off a snapping tiny dog it makes life impossible for me.  

I was the one with vet bills as I had to jerk my dog back and he has arthritis, heart disease and bad shoulders and ended up with pain injections and a couple of vet visits.

Bottom line - if the other dog owner had used a leash as common sense AND the law requires this discussion wouldn't be taking place.

jesday

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Re: My Great Dane accused of being dangerous
« Reply #4 on: October 29, 2008, 01:00:30 pm »
I would have allowed AC to ticket the guy. That will probably be the only thing to get his attention to keep his dog on lead. Other than it being hit by a car or another, less than controlled dog chomps the little critter a little too hard.

I'd carry my cell phone with camera and try to take a pic of the tike off lead in case this comes up again. As Mastiff Overload states, try defending giant Goliath against Tiny Tim.
 
« Last Edit: October 29, 2008, 01:03:31 pm by El'skids »

Offline Harley Quinn

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Re: My Great Dane accused of being dangerous
« Reply #5 on: October 30, 2008, 04:12:02 am »
Sad update to this story.

Last night the neighbor with his small dog off leash was again strutting through the neighborhood with the dog running ahead of him.  As we approach Halloween there are occasional fire crackers and fireworks going off.  One went off a few streets away and scared the dog who ran out into the street and was hit and killed by a driver who had zero time to react.

I didn't witness this myself but thankfully for the driver there was a motorcycle cop coming the other direction who saw what happened.  A neighbor who came out to see what all the fuss was told me this morning that the guy was screaming at the driver "This is all your fault - you killed my dog"

Sad end to the story - lets hope this guy never gets another dog.

Offline vmimom2006

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Re: My Great Dane accused of being dangerous
« Reply #6 on: October 31, 2008, 07:57:16 am »
Isn't it sad how some poor animals have to pay the price for their owner's stupidity?
Mom to:
Athena 20 month Blue Great Dane
Aurora 5 yr Blue Merle Great Dane
Baby Tux cat-RIP 6/9/09
Mandy & Millie 10 yr sisters tabbys
Wheet 9 yr black shorthair devil cat
Lucy Lu & Buckley 8 month kitties

Offline 2GR8DANES

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Re: My Great Dane accused of being dangerous
« Reply #7 on: February 05, 2009, 07:53:57 am »
Hi everyone.  New here...Staff Member at AAGD, but wanted to check out some other boards.

Bottom line here is that Great Danes are listed on the list of "Most Dangerous Breeds".  Anybody who owns one will scoff, but anyone who has ever been bit by one will not.  A Dane can inflict a huge amount of damage in the blink of an eye.  What would we expect from a breed that was designed to kill wild boar and bears?

We do have to be ultra alert owners and nip any potential aggression, even if the Dane is responding to another dogs aggression.  The Dane has no concept of size of the other dog, the Dane just knows another dog showing aggression.

What small dog owners don't realize is their breeds are some of the most dog aggressive, but it's cute because their small.  Here is a perfect example of why that is bad math.  There is no winner in this debate as the little dog owner has a dog aggressive dog and the Dane owner is a victim of circumstances and public perceptions that are not going to change. 

In this litigious society that we live in, where people look for every reason to sue somebody, Dane owners have to be hyper-sensitive to that and act/respond accordingly.

Personally, when my two cross paths with a smaller dog aggressive dog, I am all over their body language and redirecting at the first sign of fixation...and then under my breath I'm telling myself what an idiot the other dog owner is, and chuckling at what a cute squeak toy their dog would make...  ;)