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Health & Fitness

Dog Attack, Again in Gulfport

Dog Attack in Gulfport, Again.

Many of you may have read my post a couple of months back about being attacked and bitten by the standard poodle while walking home one evening. While the poodle had been on what some call a leash, it was one of those that you can let out lots and lots of line to insure absolutely no control over any dog. It might as well have been off leash for all it mattered. I bring this blog posting up because it looks as though there are still dog owners that think they live on the planet alone or that others don't really matter or concern them. There are those, too, that live in fantasyland because they believe, however falsely, that their dog would never act like dogs act, instinctively. And then there are those that are just plain lazy.

Dogs run amuck when they lack a loving but dominant pack leader who sets bounderies for their dog's safety and so, insures safety for ALL others, dog and human alike. People, if your dog bites someone, they could be put to death. Where's the love in that? Though I dare say, a person who walks their dog off-leash probably doesn't care about the dog or anyone else for that matter. I could see it on a farm or on some land in the middle of nowhere but this isn't an appropriate setting. This is a village with people, kids for crying out loud, and other dogs and animals. Allowing your dogs to frighten or attack people isn't cute or funny.

To feel teeth sinking into my flesh or worse see them sink into my beloved dog or cat and not be able to stop it. To hear my beloved dog or cat scream in pain and for dear life as your unleashed dog's teeth pierce her neck and close like a vice. To try and wrench her free but be unable to stop her being lifted off the ground and shaken. What's funny here because I'm not seeing it. PUT LEASHES ON YOUR DOGS. Get off your backsides and behave like grown ups who love their dogs. I loved my little dog that got attacked by an unleashed Pit bull.

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My friend and her leashed, small dog were attacked a couple of nights ago by two big lab type dogs running loose because the owner did not want to have to walk the dogs. It's easier to open the door and let them be responsible for themselves, regardless of the fact that they have not been properly socialized or that they terrorize and maul anyone and anything that unluckily comes across their path. What it is, stupidity, ego, arrogance and laziness? It is most certainly a lack of regard for life and the suffering of others. My friend was terrified. Her dog was terrified. The owner laughed it off and said, "They're good dogs. They didn't mean any harm." Puncture wounds in my friend's dog's neck say otherwise.

My friend is afraid to walk her dog in that area now and I don't blame her. When I see a dog unleashed or on one of those lazy walk leashes, I back track and take another street. I do not trust that the situation is safe because over the last six months in Gulfport, my experience has shown me that it may very well not be. I've heard several Gulfport tales of terror involving unleashed 'fun-loving' dogs. Walking your dog without a leash imposes a threat against your dog and all the other people and dogs in Gulfport, a threat that you will be held responsible for both legally and financially, so PUT YOUR DOGS ON A LEASH!

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Don't we have an ordinance about dogs being on leashes? If so, I'm going to start reporting all encounters with unleashed dogs and their owners.

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