Aggressive dogs and irresponsible owners

[neilends]

I'm a new dog-owner who hikes with an 18-pound cutie pie named Trixie. In the two months since I adopted her, I've had two near-miss encounters:

* A female hiker was walking her large dog, on leash. Her dog saw my dog and lunged aggressively toward us while barking, and she got very close to losing control of him and fell to the ground while tackling him. She did not have the ability to control her large dog.

* Last weekend while helping with a wilderness search for a lost dog, Trixie and I hopped out of a car, on-leash, only to be greeted by two off-leash, large dogs that included a pit bull. A fellow volunteer with me saw the way they were approaching and snapped at me, "Get her back in the car!" At the exact moment I turned to handle Trixie, the pit bull lunged while snarling. I instinctively yanked Trix up in the air (she was on a harness), and moved us back into the car, while the pit bull kept lunging. At one point I grabbed the pit's collar to keep her away. I managed to get us back inside and closed the door, without a mark on either her or myself, but my dog was shaken up enough that she'd urinated on the ground during the incident. I'm surprised I didn't.

There was no acknowledgement or apology for this incident by the owners, who were some campers who seemed to have looks on their faces like this was all pretty funny.

Apparently, this new world of dog-owners I've waded into is lawless, and governed by chaos and anarchy. The first time this happened, I commented here on HAZ that I'm going to start packing heat. Now I'm really thinking about it, except I think a Taser might be both more effective and less likely to result in my getting shot or arrested.

Any thoughts on all this?

[RowdyandMe]

Well Rowdy was a abused dog and those days are over. He is a awesome dog and it took alot of work and money. And it was all worth it to me.
I have no desire on own a Persian or a Navajo rug. I would think that waste money on those more than likely don't even walk on them.
To its like buying a Range Rover and never taking it off the pavement.

[azbackpackr]

Good gawd man you know me better than that by now! I've never bought a new car, couch, TV, washer, dryer, house, etc. in my whole life and probably never will in the future.

But I inherited stuff, including the fancy rugs, China, silver, antique furniture, paintings, kachinas, Hummels, knickknacks, etc. It took me a year and a half to move out of that house in Eagar. Getting rid of possessions I never really wanted. Worst year of this decade.

Besides, the comments about some people and their irresponsibility regarding canines were not directed at you. Just a general observation.

[Alston_Neal]

I have no desire own a Navajo rug. I would think that waste money on those more than likely don't even walk on them.

Holy snickers there goes my retirement plan.