You have become responsible forever for whom you have trained.
Unknown

The Responsibility of Dog Ownership

Awe!!! Dog ownership requires a great deal of responsibility. 

The owners and the owners alone are responsible for the behaviour of a dog.  I know that. 

Dogs do dog things like chase and bark and protect.  Unfortunately they cannot make the distinction between a dangerous intruder and a child walking to the bus stop or the next door neighbor running past their yard.   They will puff up their gruff and bark menacingly...and if that intruder runs...they will chase their prey.  That is natural and instinctive behaviour  for most dogs.  If there is more than one dog present...pack behavior develops and dogs will follow the dominant dog. 

It creates an awful scary and threatening situation for the child or the runner to see dogs, whether they be one or more, chasing after them.  The "prey" is not going to realize that their running is leading to the chase. Who is responsible for preventing and correcting this...the owner!  Awe!!!!. 

The Neighborhood Society

And there is a certain social behaviour that develops in most neighborhoods.  People tend to unknowingly look for scapegoats and black sheep...people who go against the social order and do things that give the neighbours something to point a finger at or complain about. The more "awful" the thing...the more they too will pack together like dogs with the intent of chasing the offender away.  This, I suppose, is an instinctive social pattern of group behaviour...

"Gatekeeping"  I believe it is called. It is meant to protect the social group.  I have never been a "great" neighbour.  I have let my lawn grow heavy with dandelions. I do not socialize much and prefer to keep to myself.   Throw on top of that...a crazy woman with a bunch of dogs who chase after neighbours...and someone who speaks up, loudly in defense of such gatekeeping, and boom I am a target for ostracization. Which I understand and accept.

 It is legally and socially my responsibility to ensure that my dogs are not demonstrating "threatening" behaviour. They were and they are.

Breaking the Social Rules

Well, in the last two days the same young neighborhood girl was threatened "twice" by three of the dogs. She was barked at and chased by one dog yesterday making her run into her yard.   And the two other dogs went after her this morning while she was heading to the bus stop making her scream and turn around to run towards home.   A host of neighbours at the bus stop were there to witness the event. The poor thing was scared and I feel terrible for her! I, being the owner of this house and therefore the co-owner of these dogs am completely responsible.

Bound to Happen

 I knew it was bound to happen with our dogs.    I was a nervous wreck since the incident with the neighbour in July. They are beautiful, friendly and loving dogs around us but I do understand dog behaviour. 

For the most part, we are very good dog owners.   I was, however, never sure if I could  handle the dogs physically the way I wanted to out there or around others.  I was hypervigalent and on guard whenever the dogs were out or I knew someone was coming to the house.  I was "stressed". (That of course would have been picked up by the dogs) I tried training.  We kept them tied  or on leash whenever they went outside even to pee. We exercised them twice a day off leash in the woods to keep energy and natural aggression down.  We were so cautious...that is....until it got cold. 

Then things changed. The tie- outs got frozen and buried and my inability to face the cold without chest pain to take them out led to a letting them out at certain times of the day to pee etc while I watched from the window.  I insisted they be out only at certain times when there were be no neighbours or children around and that they be let out  one at a time so there was no packing but we gradually slacked off with that.  (As people tend to do...we gravitate towards what is easier and as long as the status quo remains...deny the potential hazards our slacking off can cause.  Do we not?)

 Well what I feared, has happened once again.

The Bad Guy

I am okay with being the "bad guy" in the neighborhood and the target of gossip and contempt for I deserve a lot of it  but this leaves me so unsettled.   As far as I know, the dog did nothing more than bark but the risk is always there for more, isn't there, when dogs are in packs?   I could not live with the idea of  my dogs biting someone...scaring them is bad enough.

 Anyway, I  will be expecting a phone call, a visit from animal control or something today as I understand fully and accept.  I just do not know where we are to go from here with the dogs.  If I get a visit from animal control, I am afraid that decision may be made for us.  The dogs will then suffer for something we had the power to prevent. I don't know if I could live with that either.

Here I am jumping the gun...creating scenarios in my head that might not even transpire.  I must simply wait until I know more.  And I must apologize to the little girl and her family somehow. 

All is well.