Joggers and dogs

[vtk1952]

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[DP]

Hi, vtk. Good karma to you for trying to be sympathetic to the girl. She was probably just bluffing about the lawyer, unless she was seriously injured.

Her rebuff to your offer to help may have been influenced by when you told her what you told her about the dog. Are the first that came out of your mouth: “You shouldn’t have run up behind my dog?” If so, she might have thought you were blaming the bite on her, but it’s actually not her fault. Unless the jogger was teasing your dog, then legally, the bite would be considered your fault (for not having the dog under control.)

You are absolutely right that people should not run up behind dogs. Just common sense, right? But, hey, people do jog in parks, and your dog has no more right to bite someone running up behind it on a path than you would have a right to bite someone who ran up behind you.

Yesterday I was walking at Riverview, on the path, with my wife. A woman approached with her Pomerian. The dog lunged and yapped at my wife, who then ran, “provoking” the dog to chase her. The owner shouted, “Don’t run! Don’t run! That makes her chase you. She just wants to say ‘Hello.'”

The woman was absolutely right, of course. The Pom’s response was triggered by my wife running away. In court, however, that would make exactly zero difference. This dog wasn’t on its leash, but I’m not sure that would have made any difference. With or without a leash, the owner didn’t have her dog under control, and people cannot be expected to master their “run away” instinct just because someone else’s snappy dog might be provoked by it.

Nice (apologetic) lady, nice doggy. But if there’d been a bite, it would’ve been on her, and rightly so.

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