[SeoulFire]

Originally Posted by AFireInside

....
Hey you know what helps make aggressive dogs? Abuse, really solving the problem there.

Font size changes do not help make a point. The kick does not need to be hard to sent a message either

If an unleashed dog is scaring your kid thats not cool, I get it. If the dog is being aggressive, I get it.

If the dog is just running around and your kid is scared and you kick it, you're a real p.o.s. That is bad ownership, and I completely agree something should be done, but wow. If you kicked a dog that wasn't being aggressive and then it bit you, I would say you got what you deserved.

I thought it was implied that the dog was in the face so to speak - my mistake for not making that clear. If the dog was simply running around freely in a non-offleash area I would take it up with the owners.

Next, the kick may not be the first course of action but it would be an option. First, I said that is was not an offleash area. Second, the owners laughed it off. I suppose the next course would be physically removing the dog from the area and the last course would be aggression (mine). If I got bit, then I can at least say I accomplished my goal of protecting my daughter. I may also have got what I deserved but the onus will still be on the owner if the dog was not leashed. I don't give a rat's ass if you or anybody else thinks I am a pos for protecting my kid.

Teach your child how to act around dogs they will encounter them in their life, just like you teach them how to act around traffic. Setting an example of kicking a dog that is scaring them is going to get them in trouble at some point.

I will and I will do it on my terms and not a result of irresponsible owners being idiots.

Most dog owners I have been around do have a degree of control over their dogs, guess we have a stalemate on that topic, since it's based purely on our personal experience. I agree there are a lot of bad owners, but that is because there are a lot of awful people out there. I certainly don't think they are the majority, and really that's mostly just subjective anyway.

I thought I was being (extremely) generous in saying 50%. I would hazard a guess that it is well below that. I suppose that by qualifying your statement with "a degree of control", it would increase the percentage significantly.

I do agree with you on untrained dogs though. It drives me crazy when someone has a dog that is completely out of control and clearly has no training at all, gives all dog owners a bad name, and can be dangerous on top of that.

That is basically what I said - just that I would take action in order to protect my kid when she is afraid or in danger. The fact that you don't agree with the course of action is irrelevant to me. I don't know the dog nor its' tendencies and in this situation I would never give the benefit of the doubt to an unknown dog.

Finally, this is pretty much all theoretical for me as I will soon be moving back to a place where dog ownership is extremely uncommon.