[NAGDU] Loose Dog

[Rachel Grider]

Hi, Guys:

I hope you and your dogs are doing well.

Demi and I had a somewhat scary and annoying experience 
yesterday.  As we were walking only about a block away from my 
house, a loose pit bull came charging up to us.  Luckily, he 
wasn't aggressive, but he literally would not leave Demi alone; 
he kept trying to mount her, and, though I did everything to try 
and get him to leave us alone, he kept following us.  I would 
shoo him away, and he would back off for a second, allowing Demi 
and I to resume our progress, but then Demi would literally stop 
and turn around while in harness because her little buddy would 
be trying to mount her again.  No amount of correcting Demi or 
shooing him would get him to leave.  Demi actually gave him a 
couple unfriendly barks, which is something I have never heard 
her do, but it didn't phase him.

We continued like this for another block before I decided that it 
was just too unsafe to do it anymore, so I called animal control.  
To make a long story short, a couple ladies saw me having trouble 
with the dog, got a leash, and put him in their yard to wait for 
animal control to pick him up.  Apparently, it took three hours 
for someone to come, and if it hadn't been for these ladies, I 
don't know what I would have done, as the whole episode almost 
made me late for work as it was, and I would not have been able 
to wait that long.

So my question to you guys is: What have you done in a situation 
where a dog with no owner around continually interferes with your 
dog's work no matter what you do? I will also mention that I even 
tried giving him commands like "sit" and "down," but he didn't 
seem to understand; after I had determined that he really was 
friendly, I found that I could get him to chill by petting his 
head, but as soon as I would stop, he would go right back to 
messing with Demi.  I suppose I should have had my cane with me, 
which is something I try to do anyway, but I will make a point to 
have one in my backpack all the time from now on.  Even if I had 
been able to get away from him, I would not have wanted to just 
leave him to possibly get hit by a car or to bother other people.

Anyway, I appreciate any thoughts you may have.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Rachel