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Stupid woman. She's doing her dog no favours.
It's hearbreaking to have a dog that can't be trusted with other dogs and/or people. Took me a while to admit to myself that Pilau wasn't getting better about it and actually was posing a risk to himself and others. Pilau scared a few younger dogs before I got the message and stopped letting run free when others were about. I got an extender lead. Eventually, in order to let him run free without causing trouble I took to muzzling him whenever he was off the lead. Unless we were in a place where I could see very clearly that nobody was around.
Pilau wasn't a vicious dog. He was a frightened dog. He got the message early on (from a variety of causes) that outdoors was a dangerous place. And nothing I did changed that. I'm quietly confident that he would never have done any serious damage. But if he'd nipped a child, what then? And however confident I am that he would never have savaged a human I could never have said the same about other dogs. I doubt he'd have ever done more than minor damage with a dog, but I couldn't be sure about that. He had the potential to do more and his unpredictable nature outdoors meant it was a possibility I had to take seriously.
Setting aside the impact on other dogs and dogwalkers, the impact of an incident on Pilau himself could have been catastrophic. He once tried to pick a fight with a Japanese Akita. And what if he had actually bitten someone? A child? Even a little herding nip is a major matter for a child. Or seriously lost it with a smaller dog? What about when the police turn up to see if your dog is dangerous and he tries to bite the policeman because he's scared?
That dog's owner is allowing her dog to endanger itself. She is putting her at risk of starting a fight she can't finish or euthanasia atthe hands of the authorities.
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