From: kkv@inel.gov (Jamie J Ferguson)
Subject: Re: Get Your Pet Neutered
Organization: Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, Idaho Falls, Idaho
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 93 15:45:21 GMT

In article <1993Jan26.103642.3268@lth.se> dag@seldon.control.lth.se (Dag Bruck) writes:
>In <rec.pets.dogs> kkv@inel.gov (Jamie J Ferguson) writes:
>>
>>I hate to tell you this, but dogs STILL run loose around communities!
>>My husband and I have to be careful when we walk on our own street
>>with our 3 dogs because there is usually at least one loose dog.
>
>I don't know about your dogs, but our bitch is only willing to mate
>for aproximately 3 weeks per year.  We keep her under special
>supervision (e.g., always on leash) for the entire 2x3 weeks she's on
>heat, but for the rest of the year there is no risk to have her see
>other dogs in the neighbourhood.
>

Our 2 older dogs have been spayed, and the younger one is due in
a month or so.  I'm not worried about accidental mating -- what
I am worried about is that either one of my dogs will get hurt
or that my dogs will hurt another dog.  None of my dogs are
mean, but I do feel that they are very protective of each other.
In the fall we had the 2 older females in the same obedience
class and it was impossible because whenever the younger one
was corrected the older one wanted to defend her.  I do realize
that this is something that we need to be able to do, and we
can at home but being in a strange place made the Lab more
protective.  We hope to eventually get rid of this problem, but
I don't feel that I can guarantee that my dogs will all remain
under total control if they feel that a strange dog is
threatening their pack.  I can pull them back (since I only
walk them on leads), but I can't control a strange loose dog.
It isn't fair for me to have to worry about these things when
I want to take my dogs out for a walk (and I only take all 3
when my husband is with me -- 2 is more than enough for one
person!).  I don't worry if I have only one dog out at a time,
but I don't want to risk my dogs plus a possible lawsuit (even
though my dogs would not be at fault, as we do have an
obviously unenforced leash law -- I'd just rather not take 
a chance).

Chances are that my dogs wouldn't do anything, but I still
feel that people shouldn't allow their dogs to run loose
ESPECIALLY if there isn't anyone around to control them.
It isn't fair for me to have to alter my plans because there
are 3 dogs loose on my street.


Jamie

*********************************************************************
     canines:  Kenzie -- 1 yr old black Lab X
               Meggin -- 8 month old Australian Shepherd X
               Harry  -- 4 month old Border Collie X

     felines:  Kieri  -- 5 1/2 yr old lilac point Siamese
               Zak    -- 5 1/2 yr old blue point Siamese
               Duke   -- 1 yr old seal point Siamese
*********************************************************************
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Newsgroups: rec.pets.dogs