[NAGDU] Off leash dogs! What can I do?

[Sandra Johnson]

Tara:

First, congratulations on your new dog.  She sounds like a great match for 
you and your family.

Loose dogs are definitely a problem.  I face it every day too.  I live in a 
senior housing development made up of 74 duplex houses with front and back 
yards.  Even though the property management constantly sends out reminders 
that all dogs must be kept on leash a lot of residents ignore the rules. 
When I have discussed this problem with management explaining how the loose 
dogs can distract my guide from doing her work the manager says there isn't 
anything she can do other than not to renew their lease when it runs out. 
Her only other suggestion is for me to report it to the police.  The problem 
with that is that the police want to know what house it is and what the dog 
looks like.  I tell them I cannot know that because I am blind so they say 
there is nothing they can do.  It is very frustrating.  I get mad when I 
come across the loose dog and all their owners do is call to their dog from 
their patio without getting up and actually coming out to the sidewalk to 
get their dog.  Some tenants do have their dogs on a leash but it is so long 
that the dog can still reach the sidewalks.  The sighted people can see 
their dogs interfering with my guide dog and they still sit on their lazy 
behinds doing nothing to control their dogs.  I have also encountered other 
residents walking their dogs on a leash.  Their dog will bark and growl at 
my dog and the people do not do anything to correct and control their dog. 
Some people say their dog just wants to say hi and play with my dog.  I 
explain to the dumb person that it is obvious by Eva's harness that she is a 
guide dog so is not out to play and make friends with their dogs.  It is 
amazing how stupid some sighted people are.  I recently encountered a couple 
of fake service dogs in a store that also attempted to distract Eva from her 
work.  When I pointed it out to the store manager he said he had to let them 
in because the dogs were service dogs.  I gave him a copy of the DOJ 
definition of a service dog and emphasized the point that if the dogs are 
creating a disturbance he had the right to ask that they be removed from the 
property.  He told me he is afraid to say anything because he has been 
threatened with law suits if he does not let them in.  It is very 
frustrating that we have to deal with out of control dogs everywhere we go. 
I wish I had some answers for you but from my experience there is not much 
we can do.

Tara, good luck with your new dog and I hope the loose dog problem gets 
better in your neighborhood.

Sandra and Eva
-----Original Message----- 
From: Tara Briggs via NAGDU
Sent: Friday, October 19, 2018 6:40 PM
To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
Cc: Tara Briggs
Subject: [NAGDU] Off leash dogs! What can I do?

Hey all! Do any of you have advice about off leash dogs and what to do about 
it? In the past two days I have encountered three off leash dogs. I live in 
a condo complex and there are people around here that aren’t very 
responsible.   I have sent an email

To the property managers of my condo complex asking them to remind tenants 
that it is by regulation of the  complex and by law they have to keep the 
dogs on leash. Today my mom and I went over to a local farmers market. This 
farmers market is it a playground and we decided we would take my girls over 
to the playground to play. Somebody thought it would be cute to let their 
family dog just run around off leash with the kids. Fortunately this dog was 
friendly and like the two off leash dogs at my complex. Still it was 
distracting to my seeing-eye dog.  I have to confess I don’t envy the owner 
of the dog because my mom is able to see and went over to the owner and gave 
her hell. The owner immediately put her dog unleash. Is there anything that 
any of you have found it is effective? My current guide and I have been home 
from the Seeing AI for two weeks on Monday. She’s a black lab named 
prudence. She is two years old. She’s very sweet and very smart. The thing 
that is the most hopeful about her is she is able to guide me while I am 
pulling a wagon with my kids in it behind us. My previous guide was older 
when I had my kids and she was never able to figure how to do that. This 
certainly has opened up a lot of  Independence for me! But I have to say it’s 
pretty scary when I’m walking down the sidewalk and all the sudden we are 
being growled at. I can hear the owner calling their dog but the dog is not 
paying any attention to the owner and is far more interested in  growling at 
us. Fortunately, I have not experienced a dog attacked. But the thought of 
that happening is pretty darn terrifying!
Tara
Sent from my iPhone
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