[Dailydrool] Dangerous Dogs

[Dale Rutz]

Ok, so I wasn't going to cry about this to the drool but after Bev's post about 
baby Doc being "potentially dangerous" I have to, I'd still sick about it.

My LuLu was just SO scared of people .... for months.  She'd cringe and hide 
behind me and would let nobody pet her unless I literally picked her up and 
brought her to them.  There are a couple of neighborhood kids who are always 
outside playing and they made friends with her.  The mom of one is NOT a dog 
person.  But she had seen LuLu with the others a number of times and was 
relaxing around her.  LuLu was starting to come out of her shell and was letting 
neighbors whom she knew approach and pet her on walks.  And then, about 2 months 
ago, we had a MAJOR setback.  I could have screamed bloody murder at this woman 
but I knew it would do more harm then good ..... some people are just so .... 
here's what happened.

I was coming up the street with LuLu and Snoopy.  It was twighlight.  Two moms 
were coming toward me down the sidewalk.  LuLu got excited when she realized 
that she knew and liked the people.  The people continued down the sidewalk and 
as they reached us LuLu barked once and jumped up and put a foot on one of the 
ladies knee.  The lady screamed and jerked back ..... I don't know what LuLu was 
thinking .... it could have been fear or it could have been play but she mouthed 
the ladies knee and the lady screamed "SHE BIT ME, SHE BIT ME."  So of course I 
pulled LuLu and Snoopy away and put them both in sits and asked "are you hurt."  
She said, "yes, yes, I am injured your dog bit me."  I asked if I could see the 
injury.  She pulled up her pants leg and there was nothing, not even a scratch, 
nothing.  There was some drool on her pants but they were not torn nor marked in 
any other way.  I asked again "are you hurt" and she said "yes, yes I am 
injured, I've been bitten."  I told her I couldn't see where the dog had bitten 
her and asked if she could show me and she told me she could see a white mark on 
her skin and had felt the dogs teeth.  Well, there was no mark, no indentation, 
no discoloration, nothing.  And I told her so.  She proceeded to tell me that 
LuLu was dangerous and to keep her away from the children.  All the while LuLu 
sat very nicely in a sit and the other mom actually walked over and started 
petting both her and Snoopy.

Well, honestly, I don't let kids pet my dogs without their parents permission.  
I shared this story with half a dozen neighbors who all blew it off.  One told 
me his son had 100 stitches after a dog bit him and this was ridiculous.  Still 
though, I know better than to ignore it and now anytime I see anyone coming down 
the sidewalk I put LuLu in a sit until they pass.  I did this last night only to 
look up and realize it was the same woman coming down the sidewalk.  She 
actually walked out into the street to avoid LuLu even though she was sitting 
sweetly and thanked me for having her sit.

People who are afraid of dogs aren't rational.  I don't think she can begin to 
understand how much ground I lost with LuLu trusting strangers that night, nor 
how dangerous it is for someone to (falsely) insist that a dog has bitten them.

We have to be so careful to protect our babies from idiots.

--Dale
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