A Lack of Responsibility Has Severe Consequences

In the past two days I’ve heard two awful stories about dogs not being controlled on a leash or really controlled at all. Both stories have resulted in two dogs dying, actually, most likely three….but we’ll get to that in a minute.

I love my dog, he’s not just a dog to me, he’s my baby,  but I know his limits and I know his temperament. I know what he’s capable of even if I think he won’t act on what he’s capable of. That being said, I always have Duke on a leash (a short leash) when there are small children, small animals, or anything that would be left vulnerable to him if something went array. That’s what a responsible owner does. Owners, you need to be responsible for your pet. You need to be aware of your surroundings and be cautious, don’t think “my Frou Frou wouldn’t do that” because your Frou Frou just might.

The first story has to do with my friend Chloe and her baby boy. Basically, her and her son went over to her parent’s house and she told her parents to keep them outside because she didn’t trust them around her son. Her parents didn’t listen. Her phone rang and in the 10 seconds she had turned her back, the dog had bit her son in the face. Yes, he bit a one year old  in the face. That is not okay. And could have been easily avoided, but because it wasn’t the dog was put down.  Landry (the baby) wasn’t seriously hurt, but in my opinion that was a lose-lose for everyone. And all because her parents wouldn’t keep the dogs outside during their visit.
Although that story is sad and scary, this second one has been haunting me since I heard about it this morning. John’s best friend Zac was house/pet sitting for his parents while they were out of town. His mom has this adorable little Yorkie named Zoey. I’ve known Zoey since they brought her home, she’s the cutest little dog and she’s Zac’s mom’s baby.  Zac was out walking Zoey last night around their house (they live in Morgan, Utah. For those of you who don’t  know about Morgan, there isn’t much up there but there’s a lot of land). Zac’s aunt and uncle live next door to his parent’s and have a German Shepherd. Their aunt didn’t realize Zac was out walking Zoey and let her dog off his leash. Within seconds the German Shepherd had little Zoey in his mouth. Zac tried everything to get Zo out, and to make the other dog let go, he even shot at the German Shepherd, but it was too late. Zoey was dead. All because the owner wasn’t aware of it’s surroundings. I don’t know for certain if the German Shepherd was put down after what happened, but I think it’s pretty safe to assume that it was.

You might say that it’s harsh for me to blame the aunt in the last situation, because she couldn’t have known they were outside, but you know what- when you have a pet, especially a big dog, you need to be extra aware of what’s going on around you. And if your going to take your dog off his leash, you’d better be 110% certain about your surroundings. You might also think that it’s not fair to blame the parent’s of my friend, but if you’re asked specifically to put your dogs outside because a vulnerable baby is around, do it. What will it hurt if you put your dogs outside for an hour? And what will it hurt if you don’t?  Weigh the consequences because too many things can go wrong, guys. I don’t want to believe that Duke would ever attack a child or anyone for that matter, but I know that it’s a possibility because as much as I consider him to be a family member he’s still an animal and they still have moments when they act like animals and not necessarily pets.