LOVERS or HATERS

I might or might not have gotten in a dog fight. Well I didn't get in a fight with a dog, but Augusta did. Harley started it. 

We take our dogs to the open space behind some houses in our neighborhood. Augusta and Harley love it out there. They can roam, sniff and run free. Augusta particularly likes to flush out and chase rabbits. She is actually pretty good at it. Luckily she has never tried to gobble one up. I really think she just likes the chase. You should see her, she pounces and jumps and runs as fast as she can looking for rabbits. It might be her life calling. Harley spends his time sniffing with his pig nose, marking his territory and trying to keep up with Augusta.

Today it was just me on the walk. I was running along the path while the dogs did their thing. We came upon off leash dog #1 and his owner with no problem. Then came dog #2. The two owners immediately put their dog on a leash and the wife stood in front of it. I should have taken this as HEY STUPID gather your dogs, they are afraid their dog might attack yours. But I didn't. Augusta approached first and she immediately knew to keep going. But Harley... Poor Harley... He didn't know to keep going. He walked right up to the dog and of course the dog on the leash with the scared owners tried to pounce on him. Augusta being the protective female jumped in and they started to brawl. 

Basically a lot of teeth and noise. The owners were freaked out and cussing at me. They wanted me to stick my hand in there and grab Augusta. No way! Plus they were all moving around and I didn't have a clear shot at Augusta. 

To make matters worse their dog's collar came off. The owners freaked out even more. The fight broke up, but the owners still had some choice words for me. They thought my f'in dogs should be on f'in leashes. Sorry but no thanks. 

I understand that the owners can't control what my dogs do so that in turn makes them scared. Preston says I should have noticed that the owners were uneasy and I therefor should have crossed the ravine. I know he's right.  But the words that the guy called me infuriates me and makes me a little bull headed. 

I'll continue to take them to the open space and allow them to run off leash (there aren't rules that you must have your dogs on leash). But next time I will pay more attention to the other dogs and owners out there. Lesson learned. 

Oh the dogs are fine. There was no blood or bite marks. Just a lot of noise and teeth.

Lovers or Haters?