posted on May 11, 2001 09:49:25 PM new
I couldn't find any pictures of my dog, but did find this one, in an 'almost poodle cut' which I never liked, she's tiny
and this is the one that is restrained all the time
posted on May 11, 2001 10:00:29 PM new
Beautiful pups Nearthesea I'm very sorry for your loss... All of us who have ever lost a beloved pet know how painful that can be. hugs & best to you.
posted on May 11, 2001 10:14:37 PM new
reamond - you "seem" to think that no one posting here believes in fences, leashes, etc. I'm pretty sure the last thing a dog/pet owner would like to see is their pet loose, but it does happen.
posted on May 12, 2001 06:47:26 AM new
I'm sorry about your dog, NearTheSea. Once, I lost mine while I was on vacation. He jumped the fence and the people who were feeding him while I was gone left his dead body where it was struck by a car. I guess the city picked him up.
It was years before I would even consider allowing another dog into the house.
Eveytime I saw a black Lab type dog, I would think it was him, even though I knew he was dead. I would stop my car and cry. I missed him so much, he was just too damn smart. We were turning our yard into a fortress to try and keep him in. All the gates and to be locked because he could open a latch. We had burried landscpe timbers to keep him from tunneling out, and had planned on putting barbed wire across the top, because we knew eventually he would learn to jump it, he was so big and strong.
But he learned while I was gone.
posted on May 12, 2001 06:48:45 AM new
kraft- of course there are dogs that somehow get loose despite their owners best efforts to keep them chained or otherwise locked up. but the statement you question refers to the extremely large number of dog owners who routinely keep them unchained and somehow think that they will never run into the street or attack/get attacked. it is sickening!
someone made a comment about how expecting one's dog to exercise judgment in dealing with traffic is similar to expecting a young child to do the same. this is of course correct. but as is too often the case here, some immediately twisted the statement to mean that dogs were "equal" to children. i do not believe that poster had that in mind.
posted on May 12, 2001 09:39:33 AM new
stusi - I sure understand what you're saying, but IMO these are two separate topics.
People that are not in the habit of fencing/leashing their dog(s), are not responsible pet owners. I don't think anyone here would disagree. But to bring up all these things in a thread where someone has just lost their beloved pet is pretty cheesy.
What if someone started a thread telling eveyone that they just lost their husband. He went out to get the mail and was struck by a car. Would you/anyone bring up the fact that if the person didn't let their husband go out to get the mail at that time, he'd still be alive? Absolutely not.
If I was NearTheSea, that's how I would feel. Her dog died and she just wished someone had called the police or told her instead of the usual hit&run because it was only an amimal.
If you'd like to start a thread about unleashed dogs, then do it. But this is not the place IMO.
posted on May 12, 2001 10:46:50 AM new
kraft- i think you are missing the point. if an adult goes out to the mailbox and is run over it is a sad, horrible thing that is due to a reckless or intoxicated or speeding driver. if a dog runs out into the street and gets killed(or attacked), and the owner is one who routinely lets the dog loose then the owner is much more to blame than the driver(assuming no intention on the driver's part). i am not totally insensitive to this poster's pain, but it makes me angry to hear about these too numerous incidents. dogs should be on leashes or chains at all times unless you have a secure, fenced property. how much sympathy would you have for someone whose dog attacked a person and was killed by the person being attacked? personally, as an animal lover i would be angry at the owner and have much more sympathy for the person attacked and the dog. there are many dogs which are vicious due not to their training but to the tremendous amount of inbreeding to create meaner dogs or just due to the genetic defects that inbreeding causes. i do not wish all these dogs to be dead, but rather their owners to keep them chained. IMHO this is the perfect thread to discuss this as it may alert one dog owner to this problem.
posted on May 12, 2001 11:07:22 AM new
ok I did not want to reply to this stuff, but ok.... I am responsible, believe me, I feel awful, and it could have been avoided. ok. She is dead, I take full responsibility.
stusi-Its awful if a person gets hit by a car, terrible.
But I have been out on the road where there are people that just walk right out onto a busy street. Or they will run to the middle turn lane and stand there waiting to cross. There are people all over downtown that just walk right out into the road. I
know pedestrians have the right a way, but I've seen some very stupid people walk right out in traffic, expecting drivers to stop, and this isn't in a crosswalk.
I've seen this happen in our local store here, the parking lot is set up with crosswalks, and stop signs. People coming out of the store, have a crosswalk. They don't use it, they walk out of this store, and expect every car to stop for them where there is no stop sign for the driver.
Who is being irresponsible here?
I know you've seen people like this too, and its not rare.
AND I did not want to get into the discussion of 'which life is more important' or whatever it is.
OF course human life is, my children, my family. But some humans are stupid too.
posted on May 12, 2001 11:26:32 AM new
I don't think that this is a court of inquiry, looking for an irresponsible
dog owner. This is about the death of a loved pet that NearTheSea had owned for over 15 years. It's rude and inappropriate
to suggest here, in this thread, that it was her fault that the animal was killed.
posted on May 12, 2001 11:38:44 AM newNearTheSea, I am terribly sorry for your loss. My thoughts are with you.
I must say I'm a bit flabbergasted at what has happened in this thread, but I do understand all sides.
The last dog we had when I was a kid, moved with us into our first apartment. We were used to having a doggie door and the dogs went in & out as they pleased. Mom had a habit of just letting him go out on his own after we moved into that apartment. After all, it wasn't a particularly busy street.
One night when we got home, we were exhausted and had been out all day. So Mom just let him out. Not 5 minutes went by and I heard a screech and a thud. Mind you, I was 11 at the time. I knew it was Spooky, just knew it. So I ran outside and sure enough, there he was in the road. He was still alive, but barking his head off. Mom told me not to get too close, "you never know what they'll do when hurt" she said.
About then a neighbor kid ran up and said he'd seen the whole thing. The guy never even stopped. I was furious about it at the time. We rushed him off to the emergency vet, but he died in my arms as Mom went in to get a gurney. Mom said that was it, no more dogs as long as we were in an apartment. I agreed.
I didn't live in a house again until I was 27 years old. And yes, the first thing I did was start looking for a dog. Now I'm an adult, I know better and I learned from my Mom's mistakes. I never let my dog out to run around unleashed. He is like my child and I'm responsible for him.
So I guess what I'm trying to say is I do feel for NearTheSea and her loss. But I also am in the camp who says you should not let your dog run loose. (Oh, and all of my cats are indoor only too.) I've almost hit my neighbor's dog because he lets him run loose and it just makes me sad for the dog.
~^~ Hippy wannabe ~^~
[ edited by MouseSlayer on May 12, 2001 11:40 AM ]
posted on May 12, 2001 11:39:49 AM new
stusi - I couldn't agree with you more. I wish owners would fence their dogs too, along with a list of other things, but I could say that about anything....the way people raise their kids, how they live, etc. In a perfect world, EVERYONE would be responsible for themselves and their property, but that's not the way it is. We have to at least respect an animal's incapability to understand traffic and try to avoid hitting it (just as we would if it were a person). If we do hit an animal, at least report it, like you would any accident.
And stusi, my comments were directed at the other posters as well.....not you personally .
posted on May 12, 2001 12:35:39 PM new
NearTheSea,
Why bother responding to these ignorant, self-righteous posts? These petty little diatribes, crafted to make their authors feel better about themselves at the expense of your feelings?
posted on May 12, 2001 12:59:34 PM new
Spazmodeus-your right. I reacted to those too quick, and emotionally. This went way off curve than what I thought (don't they all?)
posted on May 12, 2001 01:02:57 PM new
The other side of the coin...
When I was a kid, we had a springer spaniel named "Inky." Well, Inky got loose one day on a walk and never came home. Later that night, a neighbor came over to report that she'd been hit by a car, taken to the vet, died, and was in the process of being cremated...
Some neighbor, eh?
edited for clarification
[ edited by julesy on May 12, 2001 01:03 PM ]
Now I'm an adult, I know better and I learned from my Mom's mistakes. I never let my dog out to run around unleashed. He is like my child and I'm responsible for him.
Hippy wannabe 
~^~
.