Thanks to my labs . . . I'm regaining my balance

So the cobwebs were getting thick and I had no more excuses so I figured that this blog was due for some spring updates as well. I got two bad colds, my niece came out for spring break, I was involved in helping out with a church event, and of course these are all excuses.

Back in March Pappy's Dog Blog shared a post titled, "Rough day at the dog park", in which he shares the following:

That takes me back to the time that Pappy was injured in the dog park. I still tell myself that it was a play accident rather than an act of aggression. But the truth is I really don't know what happened. Even with my dog being the victim, I was pretty desperate to rationalize the whole situation as something that wasn't going to implicate the safety of the dog park. Because if the dog park isn't safe, what am I doing taking my dog there?

Of course this rationalization is less dangerous than the one that an erratically aggressive dog can be trusted at a dog park, no matter how much someone loves him. [...] When you think about it, it's a pretty thin fabric of faith and good sense that holds the dog park situation together.

Well, he was braver and more optimistic than I have been. It wasn't more than a few days after reading this post that a female pit bull that we had spent the last 8 months interacting with at our local park went after Nutmeg. The growling and snarling freaked me out. One minute Nutmeg was panting at my side after retrieving a ball and the next she was snarling back at this dog to protect her own face and neck.

I can make all kinds of excuses for this pit bull; she was: - a rescue that for whatever reason was sound sensitive, - a dog generally more on the nervous side; she was a dog: in the hands of an owner that was not at all capable of understanding her needs, - an owner who used more negative reinforcement than was ideal, - a man who had come to the park drunk with his dog and to say the least just didn't quite get it. Than come to find out this was not her first incident, it was her forth. For me, I realized after that day that is was the last time I'd trust that dog with my dogs.

I realized that because I had begun to trust my dogs more I had eased up my vigilance in watching them as closely. This incident made it very clear to me was that even if I could trust my dogs I could not always trust the dogs around me, not mention the care or carelessness of their owners.

Yes, I love Labradors, but I also have been honest that they are not the perfect dog for everyone. I never wanted to fall back on stereo types when it came to dogs, but this incident has taught me something. There's a reason the school yard mean kid is called a "bully". It's the same reason why a whole category of dogs are called "bully" breed dogs. Does that mean that I think all these dogs a "bad", absolutely not. But these breeds of dogs in the wrong hands are a very dangerous combination. That being said any and all dogs in the wrong hands can be an accident waiting to happen.

Being a responsible dog owner is a challenge when you live in a suburban community. I can appreciate why Suzanne Clothier lives in upstate New York where she can happily say, "I own everything I can see from my house." There are days I'd love to be able to say the same. I'm afraid that here in California it will not likely ever happen for us. I suppose one can always dream though.

More to come soon, I promise . . .