Are ya kidding me?

What's with dogs in this neck-of-the-woods? Seriously! Tonight we had another dog incident while on a walk.

Our first dog incident happened when Tralee was three months old and three pit bulls surrounded us while on a walk.

The next one happened a few months ago when a black dog attacked Corky. It was a territorial thing. We walked by its house.

A few weeks later this same dog ran up to us (we were nowhere near its house) and attacked Corky again. I could hear its owners yelling, "here puppy!" Puppy? Are ya kidding me? It might have been a bit of an over reaction but I yelled at the owners, "Keep your dog away from my dog! Your dog attacks mine!" No more incidents happened since then . . . .until tonight.

I was on our usual walking route when I passed a property that has been vacant all summer. A family just moved in, and with them came a large brown dog. As we walked by their dog ran right up to their fence and started barking. "Well, at least there's a fence" I thought. On our way back the dog ran up to the fence again, only this time it managed to squeeze its way between the fence's door. Then it barred its teeth while growling menacingly, and went in to bite Corky. My instincts took over, and I yelled at the dog. "HEY!! GO HOME!!" I made myself as big as possible, and the dog retreated -- tail between legs. I can be tough when it comes to my family -- dog included!

Anyways, back to my question: What's with the dogs around here? I never came across menacing dogs where I grew up. Maybe that's because I grew up with a German Shepard, and no other dogs wanted to take their chance attacking her. But Shasta NEVER attacked anyone or their dogs -- she was VERY well trained! Corky, our pug, probably looks like a yummy meal to all these big dogs around here. But still, shouldn't dog owners take a little more time teaching their dogs manners i.e. don't attack other dogs. Shouldn't owners take pride in their additional family member and get them tagged, trained, vaccinated, and spayed and neutered? It seems like a lot of people around here don't care about these things. Maybe I'm weird, but I just believe when you take on the responsibly of a family pet you should do just that: Be Responsible.