#put in an electric fence and assured me this under 1 yo dog will never leave the boundary

[darkwood-sleddog]

more and more i become of the opinion my dogs are not reactive to strange dogs but in fact it is unreasonable to expect them to NOT be reactive when the dogs we pass are unwalked, understimulated rural hellions that thrash at the windows of their houses, bark at us and follow us for entire lengths of properties, snarl at us, run at us with tense body language etc.

is this because a neighbor (who does skijor!) moved in half mile down the road from us a half a year ago with the most polite, unreactive dog that my dogs glance calmly at as they walk by? as it is unrestrained (no underground fence) on the property? absolutely is.

is this because a few years ago a neighbor's very nice pitbull mix got out and when it walked up to us with polite calm body language my dogs reacted just as calm and we were able to walk this dog home? absolutely is.

like i am a human woman and have lived in areas with much larger populations than i do now. i remember being followed by strangers, yelled at by strangers in aggressive ways. it made me tense and yes...reactive in those moments to ensure my own safety and needs were met. but was it my fault for having to react that way? To call friends and family and be on the phone any time that i walked alone? to check in when i got to where i was going? to bring pepper spray and iron knuckles to walk less than 10 minutes away from home? I don't think it is. Rather it's the failure that allows that behavior towards me which is at fault. i should not have had to carry those things with me. or call a single soul.

same with my dogs. my dogs aren't reactive, i'm just the only person who walks my damn dogs in my rural neighborhood. even though we can walk for 4+ miles either way on safe dirt roads out of our driveway before we reach pavement. nobody else. walks. their. fucking. dogs. yes i manage my dogs behaviors, it can be embarrassing when they get riled up, but know what? it is not their fault so many other dogs fucking SUCK. and it is not those dogs' fault that they suck either. i encountered more politely behaved dogs when i lived in the suburbs and city than i do now because those dogs at least had some sort of experience with being around other dogs (passing them on the sidewalk even) out of necessity. Rural people truly just throw their dogs outside and expect that to be enough. if you're lucky they install a little underground fence that will maybe keep fido in the yard (like uwu WE don't want to have a look at a fence and we're going to make all our neighbors GUESS if our dog might run into the road at them uwu).

#dogblr #dog behavior #is it unreasonable to ask completely neutral behaviors from my dogs #when they're being fucking harrassed? when they just want to do their sniffy thing and pee on a bunch of stuff?? #can't even like loiter in some places bc people's dogs loose their fucking shit even if they stay on the property or are inside #like...real containment and stimulation when and now please? #nothing happened but neighbor with a dog that barks and screams at us from inside non stop #put in an electric fence and assured me this under 1 yo dog will never leave the boundary #like...okay... #sure. #let's see how that goes #like my dogs have wonderful temperaments #sorry if they're going to tell your dog off for being a piece of SHIT brenda #my dogs obviously know our yard is their territory #but they don't make a single peep for people walking on the road which is NOT theirs #i can be out of sight of entire dogs with properties out of the sight of the road #and their dogs will still be fucking yelling at mine! like shut the . fuck. up!!