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Wednesday, March 10, 2010

I Hate Stupid Jerks

Canada Geese
This will not be the post I wanted to bring to you today. Yesterday's warm day has finally brought out the animals to my favorite nature park. The geese and the ducks have both finally come back to the park. In fact, the whole place was alive with animal activity of every kind. There was one very dark note to my day however, and that's what this post will be about.

Before I begin, I would like to tell you that dogs are my favorite kind of animal; no other animal can come close to my love for dogs. I like other pets such as cats, and I like all of the wildlife I meet along my hikes, but dogs are still, and always will be my favorite animals. Now onto something I'm very very angry about!

I was getting toward the end of a very productive day with my camera. I have more pictures of animals for you from today than I've been able to get for most of the winter combined. I was really happy about it. I decided to go back to the fishing platform because I saw from a distance that there were a couple of geese wandering around out there on the ice. I had to get pictures of that!

This is a video where I attempted to bring to you a couple of geese on a frozen lake, but I was rudely interrupted by two idiots with their vicious dogs.

I started out by taking a few pictures of them walking around out there. Then I remembered to try to bring you a good video of the geese as they walked by. They weren't making much noise, but they were giving me some intermittent honks. The sound is really good here, and not only can you hear the geese, but you can also clearly hear other birds chirping in the background. It was an all around good setting for a video. That's when all hell broke loose!

From behind me I all of a sudden heard very loud barking dogs, and a man yelling at them. The geese flew away as soon as they heard this, and the whole thing interrupted my video! I turned off the video, and turned to see what was going on. There were about four or five good sized dogs running down the hill towards me in a very aggressive manner! Their idiot of an owner stood at the top of the hill yelling at them to come back. You can hear all of this in the video, including the footfalls of the dogs as they ran towards me.

The hill to the left
I was standing on the fishing platform, and the dogs couldn't figure out how to get up there; but they also quickly surrounded me while trying aggressively to get up there to me. I could tell these dogs didn't just want to greet a new friend. There was a very good possibility that I was in a great deal of danger at that moment.

I want to tell you, and I'm not trying to make this sound like bragging, but I know very well how to defend myself against any human or animal. I've done both many times before. I could have hurt those dogs worse than they could hurt me, but I knew I'd suffer a few injuries along the way. I was more angry than I was afraid. But what if I was another person who was not prepared for a situation like this? This was not good at all!

I held my ground, fully expecting to have to do battle with at least a couple of these dogs. I didn't want to do it, but I fully realized that I might have to kill one of them. I'd feel horrible about hurting a dog even a little bit, but I also have to protect myself first. The dogs were gnawing at the metal slats that made up the sides of the railings, in their attempt to get at me. In the end they finally decided it was too much effort, so they finally heeded their master's call and went back up the hill.

It wasn't even worth saying anything to these idiots, so I went back to taking a few last pictures. The two guys with the dogs quickly put them back on their leashes and moved as swiftly as they could away from my location. These jerks should have kept their mean dogs on their leashes in the first place!!! It is clearly written on the sign at the front of the park to do just that.

I completely understand wanting to let your dog run free sometimes, but anyone with any sense should know better than to do this where they know there will be other people, especially if their dog might tend to bite. I cannot count the number of times now when I've had dogs come running up to me barking. I usually just stand still. Most dogs are just curious. The dogs in my story were not! I know dogs very well. I understand them.

On my way out of the park, I met a nice woman who was going in. She had two very nice, polite dogs. One was a very small dog. We talked for a few minutes about the wildlife. Before I let her go, I made sure to warn her about the two morons with their pack of vicious dogs. I couldn't bear to think of her nice dogs or her getting hurt. After we parted ways, I made my way to my truck, and home. I was angry, but still encouraged by the new spring. Next time something like that happens, I'll be sure to keep the video running!

I meant to give you the beginning of some great new photos of the beginnings of the return of the wildlife to this park today. It will have to wait 'til tomorrow. I have some excellent stuff for you then. You really won't want to miss it. Talk to you then!

16 comments:

  1. Your peaceful moment was interrupted, and I could hear it in the video. I would be scare to see dogs running loose like that Ratty..Some idiots will remain idiots!

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  2. Wow, I'd be scared if dogs were running at me like that. Crazy.

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  3. I can fully understand that since I have spent most of my times at the dam so quietly, and alone.

    The interuption certainly spoiled the day.

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  4. Ratty- Large unfriendly dogs are the pits. When Chips was alive, and he hiked with me, I found that this made us even more vulnerable because dogs always seem to have to decide who is the boss. I was bitten twice (once on a hike so that got into my book). And dogs can behave differently in large groups, too, as I'm sure you know. Even dog lovers, like you and me, know when things are not good. Not every dog is a good doggie! Glad this turned out well. I was afraid you were going to say that they had killed a goose.

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  5. Aaaarghh!!!! I understand how you feel Ratty. I hate that situation too. Not only the dogs but the owner also need to be on leashed. I would rather kill the dogs than let them hurt me. Sorry to say that.

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  6. I sympathize with you Ratty and I share in your anger. I have had similar encounters. It amazes me how some people just don't get it that an animal is an animal and as such we must take responsibility to control them if we decide to keep them as pets. I saw an encounter recently with a woman who had a very large pit bull with her while waiting for her kids to get out of school. It lunged at another dog unprovoked. Fortunately there was no injury. Both dogs were on leashes, but the pit actually dragged this woman anywhere it wanted to go; if it had decided to continue or God forbid go for a child there would be nothing she could do. Sometimes even a leash is just not enough. I think we need to really look at what an animal is capable of and plan based on that. The old me gets riled up at things like this and starts thinking things that are not becoming (or edifying). Now that I think about it, considering the things we know people are capable of; maybe it is the owners that should sometimes be on a leash.

    Praying for your peace Ratty, and thanking God no one was hurt. Who knows, maybe they learned something from it.

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  7. I sympathize with you fully. Dogs should always be leashed, no matter how much the owner might think they trust them. I almost got attacked by a pitbull off the leash last week.

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  8. That is really too bad that those dogs ruined your picture taking. Those guys should have been arrested for having mean dogs in the park and let them off their leashes. You must have been really scared. I would have been. Hope those dogs didn't get any of the wild life or any other person or dogs. Hope the rest of your day was better.

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  9. As much of a dog lover as I am, I know that you should never underestimate a dogs ability to harm anyone at any time. The owners acted very irresponsibly and are lucky that it ended the way it did. Hope the lady you met in the parking lot didn't encounter them on her walk. The one nature trail that I went to last summer doesn't allow dogs at all.

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  10. I remember your boot size, those dogs were in serious danger.

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  11. You're a lot more mellow than I am, Ratty. I would have kept the camera pointed right at the vicious dogs and then would have yelled at and threatened their owners with going to the authorities with proof of their viciousness and danger to the public!! It just makes me so angry when folks don't raise their animals well AND THEN are irresponsible when exposing them to the public...yes, it makes my blood boil!! (I deal with boneheads like this in my campground sometimes...but at least I can kick them out!!) Love the geese, tho!

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  12. That's terrible that you got interrupted like that. The video with the geese was just starting to be really nice too.

    My human's boyfriend has a dog. I don't like her because she weighs ten times as much as me and her size scares me a little, but all the humans who meet her say she is the sweetest dog. She loves to make friends. But even so, it would not be a good idea to take her off her leash in a park and let her run around trying to make friends with people, because some of them are afraid of dogs for whatever reason (just like I am) and it would be impolite to those people who don't know her and don't know how she may behave. So it was downright dangerous for those horrible humans to let their MEAN dogs run around like that! It put you in danger, and put any other innocent creatures nearby in danger, too.

    As I said, I'm not a kitty who is particularly dog-friendly, but in this case, even I put the blame where it belongs: on ignorant, neglectful people who should not be allowed to own dogs.

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  13. Ratty, that was scary just watching the video and hearing the dogs and their owners. I would not know how to defend myself at all against a pack of dogs. I'd probably run and as a result be in danger. We have leash laws here although they very often are not heeded. I know in my botanical gardens that dogs are not allowed and I've never seen any. You are correct, the owners are stupid jerks because if their dogs were to harm anyone they would be liable so they obviously are not thinking.

    On another note seeing the geese in your video was really cool and the photos are wonderful.

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  14. Yes..things are often ruined by folks who don't take responsibility for their pets.
    The geese are great..glad to see they are back.

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  15. I don't blame you for being pissed at those jerks. Those geese were so peaceful and looked so beautiful walking like that. Sorry your video got ruined by those dogs.

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