Pet Etiquette

[Lynnv]

Of course, I will also admit to (despite the above about horses going through fences) laughing like a complete loon when my little Peke mix scared my mom's horse.  I thought my mom was going to fall over laughing.  The dog was leashed, didn't bark and, based on him having bad eyesight out of the one eye that he did have, probably didn't even really see the horse.  But she took off to the other side of the corral and would not come back over until I took Sidd out of her sight.  It would not have been funny if Sparks got hurt-but she didn't.  She just took off as if Sidd was a 200-pound wolf with horse eating history instead of a 15 pound dust-mop with delusions of Emperor-hood.  And she was, literally, around dogs her entire life-we always had dogs, including little and big ones.  In fact, when she was born (the first horse I ever watched born), there was a little poodle (and a big old barn-cat) in the barn watching with us.

This is, of course, the same horse who was convinced for all of her 30+ years on this planet) that sheep eat big red horses, so we were used to laughing at her fear of non-predatory animals.  Yes-dogs are technically predatory-but Sidd was little, leashed, at least 3/4 blind and dumb-about as predatory as the average couch cushion.  And he was at least 6 meters from the fence, as I didn't trust him not to get underfoot since he knew nothing about horses and probably couldn't really see them anyway.

Well, there's your problem. She knew what to expect from dogs, but how could she know what an animate dustmop might do, if she's never met one before? Once cleaning supplies start moving around on their own, it could be like the Sorcerer's Apprentice all over again!

 

It wasn't her first dust-mop though.  And Honey (my mom's Peke mix for nearly 10 years after we inherited her) was liable to get right in the stall with Sparks.  That mare was very sweet-but her danger perception filter was seriously off kilter.  :>

[Garden Goblin]

Ok, then as this is supposed to be an etiquette 'guide' isn't it better to say

"Do not let your dogs loose around livestock unless they are exceptionally well trained and you are 100% sure they won't chase or distress them."

not

"If you do this, I'll laugh at you"

 

The first should go without saying, though I would correct it to - "Do not let your dogs loose around livestock unless they are exceptionally well trained and you are 100% sure they won't chase or distress them AND you have the livestock/property owner's permission."

You seem particularly defensive on this issue. 

For the record, I will also laugh at you if you deliberately jump in the pool with all your clothes on. ignore the warnings about standing underneath the chicken roost, or roll a natural one six times in a row.

And as I pointed out, the laughter is the nice response.  There is a second warning up, one I have unfortunately had to enforce, that states if your dog/cat/aardvark is terrorizing my livestock, I will shoot it.  That sign isn't rude either, even if it isn't particularly nice.

[Larrabee]

Ok, then as this is supposed to be an etiquette 'guide' isn't it better to say

"Do not let your dogs loose around livestock unless they are exceptionally well trained and you are 100% sure they won't chase or distress them."

not

"If you do this, I'll laugh at you"

 

The first should go without saying, though I would correct it to - "Do not let your dogs loose around livestock unless they are exceptionally well trained and you are 100% sure they won't chase or distress them AND you have the livestock/property owner's permission."

You seem particularly defensive on this issue. 

For the record, I will also laugh at you if you deliberately jump in the pool with all your clothes on. ignore the warnings about standing underneath the chicken roost, or roll a natural one six times in a row.

And as I pointed out, the laughter is the nice response.  There is a second warning up, one I have unfortunately had to enforce, that states if your dog/cat/aardvark is terrorizing my livestock, I will shoot it.  That sign isn't rude either, even if it isn't particularly nice.

I'm not defensive, not sure what you're implying there, I just feel the tone of your posts isn't in keeping with the aim of this folder at all.

[Garden Goblin]

I'm not defensive, not sure what you're implying there, I just feel the tone of your posts isn't in keeping with the aim of this folder at all.

I'm not implying anything.

I've done nothing wrong, and done nothing rude, and if we wish to go with 'nice' phrasing, saying 'I reserve the right to laugh' is considerably nicer than the full on truth of, 'I reserve the right to shoot the dog and charge you for any damage done if he starts chasing my birds'.  I am informing someone of the consequences of their actions in the hopes that they will rethink their actions because obviously, common sense and basic polite decency are already beyond their grasp for them to be considering engaging in this action in the first place.  Also recall the safety trumps etiquette clause and remember that the safety, and indeed, LIVES, of my animals are at stake here.

Remember, in this situation, someone has DELIBERATELY loosed their dog and encouraged it to do actual harm to my animals.  That isn't misfortune, that is deliberate action in which karma becomes involved.  We have threads here full of people being amused at similar, such as the Special Snowflakes (in which I included a strong example of why letting your dog loose on other people's livestock ends in tragedy), Professional Darwinism, etc... threads, but you aren't in those threads demanding people correct their 'tone', so I'm curious as to why you have chosen to target my remarks in this thread? 

[Larrabee]

I think the right of a livestock owner to shoot dogs that are worrying their animals is a legal issue rather than an etiquette one.

[Daffodil]

How about "Please obey leash laws at - especially if your dog has a habit of running *at*(not after - at) cars" Yes, I get that in our neighbourhood the culture is that it's okay to let your dog run wild (we don't allow ours to for the reasons that he isn't street smart, neighbours see him and become scared because of his size, and it's just not worth the risk as we had a dog poisoned many years ago)

Just last summer, my neighbour's golden lab ran into the side of my vehicle as I was driving. The dog wasn't hurt, but he got quite a scare. There's a German shepherd on the other side of the road who does the *exact* same thing. 

And if your dog's running in to the side of my vehicle causes damage to it, I *will* expect you to pay for repairs. Rude ? Not at all - but it is rude of a dog owner to let their pet roam free, knowing he's a hazard to drivers.

[Garden Goblin]

And if your dog's running in to the side of my vehicle causes damage to it, I *will* expect you to pay for repairs. Rude ? Not at all - but it is rude of a dog owner to let their pet roam free, knowing he's a hazard to drivers.

There are always those folks who think their pwecious little poopsie's 'happiness' trumps everything, regardless of what common sense, neighborhood culture, and the law have to say on the issue.  It's basic special snowflake-ism combined with a hefty dose of old fashioned stupidity.  You can scream all you want that cars should watch out for dogs, but the simple truth of the matter is dog meets car = dog loses, whether the dog had a 'right' to be there or not, so keep the dog under control.

My old mutt sleeps in the sun in the driveway most of the time.  It's my private property, but if I know the neighbors are having their biannually family gathering, I put the dog up because there is always that one idiot cousin (you'd think after ending up in the ditch the year I only plowed half my drive would have taught him something) who misses the neighbor's drive and turns around in mine without paying a dang bit of attention. 

A friend of mine's 'neighbors' are opposing his chicken ownership because a Grade AAA Special Snowflake was letting his dogs run loose all over the place.  After the third time they came in to my friend's yard growling and attacking the chickens, my friend shot the dogs.  And of course, how DARE he shoot the dogs because, 'it's just a couple chickens, I can't believe he killed my pets over a couple chickens'.  Mix this outrage with the group of folks who simply can't conceive of why someone would want to raise chickens and the folks who think anyone raising livestock is some sort of monster, and my friend is probably going to end up losing his beloved birds all because of some entitled jerk who lets his dogs run loose.  Apparently, yard = off-leash dog park no matter who the yard belongs too.
 
I ran into the same issue once with a dog that was regularly going into people's yards to kill cats.  One day the dog just vanished (probably in the same way Hoffa did) and the owner was throwing a fit because he couldn't believe someone would hurt his 'purebred' dog over a bunch of 'mangy cats'.  Because his 'loved pet' was obviously more important than the loved pets of everyone else in the world.

Keep your pets up, and nobody will have a problem.  And yet, that simple concept eludes so many.  I swear, people should have to pass a basic sense test to own a pet.  And when their stupidity gets their pet hurt, injured, or mocked, it's never the fault of the irresponsible owner, no sirree, it's the everyone else's fault for being mean or rude or just hating Fluffykins and Lil' Snookums.

[nrb80]

I would hate to lock this thread, but the argumentative livestock and pets tangent needs to end now.

[gen xer]

Please don't comment on the amount of money one spends or doesn't spend on their pets.  It is their business and nobody else's.

If person X wants to spend thousands of dollars on surgery for their cat it is their prerogative and should elicit no comments on how they "must have more money than brains".

Similarly if person Y cannot afford to spend a fortune on their pets then there should be no commenting on "how cruel and heartless they must be not to bankrupt themselves to save Fido".

I personally have a limited amount of money I am able / willing to spend on my cats.  I am not a bad pet owner because of this.

And while I hate it when people get pets on a whim and discard them like yesterday's trash...please respect that the decision to get rid of a pet is not always one of callous disregard.  Maybe someone has developed an allergy, lost their job, maybe the pet has acquired an intolerable habit ( peeing on furniture is one I have personally encountered ) or become aggressive.