[Artemisia] pets at events

[Richard Samul]

One must also remember that even if *you* know your dog is friendly  
and more likely to lick someone to death than bite them, the *other*  
person doesn't know that.

It reminds me of a situation I encountered earlier this summer while  
geocaching with my wife - we were walking through the woods, hunting a  
cache, and were suddenly confronted by two labrador retrievers, both  
barking furiously, baring teeth, and making small aggressive charges  
towards us. With my wife behind me, and with knife in hand, I called  
out to see if the owner of the dogs was nearby. They were, and upon  
seeing the knife in my hand, stated that the dogs were "harmless" and  
wouldn't hurt us. This was born out as the dogs and their owner  
happily accompanied us to the cache; however, I related the above to  
the owner of the dogs. When she asked if I would have killed her dogs,  
my reply was, "Not knowing their temperament, and had they charged us,  
yes - I would have killed your dogs."  She seemed taken aback by that,  
stating again that the dogs were harmless. I looked her in the eye,  
and said, "Ma'am, every dog who is barking, baring their teeth, and  
otherwise acting aggressively is to be treated as a threat, and dealt  
with accordingly should it escalate. I'd rather have two dead  
'harmless' dogs on my hands than to let myself or my wife be savaged  
by two vicious animals that are then free to go on to attack someone  
else. There's a reason that leash laws are on the books. It's to  
protect not only a person from being attacked by the dog, but also the  
dog from being perceived as attacking a person."

Bottom line - even the "friendliest" dog in the world can be perceived  
an attacking monster, ready to rip your face off. Consider this, and  
control your animal appropriately. I'm all for having dogs at our  
events, as I believe they enrich the experience. But they must be  
maintained and controlled.

-- 
Earc

On Jul 30, 2009, at 11:04 AM, Sondra Gibson wrote:

> Yep - I have to agree, 100%.  I love dogs.  But it seems like there  
> are an
> awfully lot of dog owners out there who are not what I would consider
> responsible pet owners.  I don't like stepping in dog poo, or having  
> my
> belongings 'marked' by a dog.  I don't like having my pets assaulted  
> by
> someone else's pets. I think there are probably a lot of events  
> where pet
> owners who didn't take care of their animals have spoiled it for  
> those who
> do.  Being a sheep raiser, I deal with dog problems very frequently  
> at home.
> It's amazing how many people seem to have the attitude 'I live in the
> country so I can let my dog run free'.  Bad for neighbors, bad for  
> the dog.
> I thought I was going to have to adopt a very friendly pit bull  
> puppy last
> summer.  It's owner never seemed to realize it was hanging out at my  
> place
> most of the time.  Fortunately now that he's grown, he's staying  
> home most
> of the time!  But that's how bored dogs get into trouble, and/or start
> running in packs. If people have this kind of attitude in mundane  
> life, it's
> not surprising that we get some with that same attitude at SCA  
> events.  I
> don't think it's unreasonable for the event steward to ask someone  
> who is
> intentionally letting their dog run, to remove it from the event.
>
> Gefjon