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Allen,

You're being too nice. After one warning, call Animal Control. They will notify the owner and if not corrected, will issue a citation. And they will continue to issue citations as long as the complaints continue. In the meantime, I found that a water pistol filled with diluted ammonia, when sprayed at a dog's nose, will quickly teach him to run away.

It's not just big dogs. Little dogs are a pain, too. In our neighborhood the prevailing feeling is, "I love my dog so you should, too." When one pooped in my yard, with the neighbor STANDING there, she said, "I won't charge you for the fertilizer." Then there are those damn leashes that they can pull in, then run out. You could be walking the trail and get tangled in them. And the little ones, you know, the ones with the inferiority complexes who have to prove they're just like the big dogs so they nip at your ankles..AND THE OWNERS JUST FREAKIN' STAND THERE ANDTHENTHEYSMILELIKE...

Thanks for getting me started, Allen!

Allen,

I don't know if you are aware of this but I've noticed over the years that dogs just go crazy over the sight of a black man--especially the sight of a black man running down the street. I guess they have the same sense of fear that white folks get at that image. (that was meant to be humorous for those not adept to picking up on humor)

I'm not making this up, though. When I was a kid, I had several dogs. Each time a black man walked down the sidewalk in front of our house, each one of those dogs would go crazy growling and barking and carrying on like somebody had put their privates in a blender or something. I've talked to other folks and they've shared similar stories.

I can't explain it but it is uncanny.

Or, in your case, it could just be that the dogs' super sense of hearing is picking up the sound of your walkman playing. They also seem to go crazy over the sound of the swish-swish that comes from many of the newer jogging suits.

Regardless, I'll warn you that Guilford County Animal Control is useless. Unless you're willing to catch the dog and hold them until they get there, you're not likely to get much help.

Jesus - people and their dogs. In my neighborhood, a few blocks from UNCG, people do indeed decide their dogs can be trusted without leashes because, after all, they've never bitten THEIR children. This is almost always a mistake.

But, more importantly, there have to be at least three or four dog owners who are consciously walking their dogs around the neighborhood to crap in other peoples' yards and on the sidewalks. My girlfriend had a pair of shoes essentially ruined recently after encountering this firsthand three days in a row last week.

This is what comes of people forgetting their pets are animals and that not everyone loves them the way they do.

Joe,

You bring up an excellent point. I don't hesitate to roll my eyes when people say that it's okay for their dog to be up in my 2 year old's face because 'my dog doesn't bite'. I would venture a guess that 99% of dog bites to children's faces weren't expected and the owner thought that 'their dog' wouldn't bite.

If you own a dog, be responsible for them. Try for once to think of someone else's needs over yours -- just once. I know I wouldn't want to live knowing that I could have prevented a young child (or Allen) from being scarred for life and did nothing.

Joe, as a dog owner myself, I agree. Dogs by nature are territorial. Their owners should realze that a dog that's loving to owners and family is apt not to be as loving to strangers.
That even happens sometimes with my own personal attack dog, a little 12-pound lhasa apso.

Allen,
I would suggest that you forget about Mad Dog's suggestion with the diluted ammonia and water in a squirt gun. Unless it is a small dog it probably will only make the dog madder or meaner. I know of a rural mail carrier that tried that and dang near lost an arm.
My suggestion is get a good can of Mace and give the big nasty dogs a good blast of it and when the big nasty owner gets in your face give them a blast as well. You need something that will put them both down until you can escape. I found it works well for me.
Other choice, give it jogging, it's bad on the knees anyhow. And that comes from one who did a minimum of 5 miles a morning for many years.

I'm not ready to throw in the towel just yet, mrproduce, but I'm sure I'll retire to swimming laps instead of running them in the not-too-distant future.
As for the Mace, I'll get some. Where should I go?

Use to be able to get a Mace type product at Super K. Also gun stores/pawn shops and other stores selling self-defence items.
Swimming works and it is a heck of a lot better on the knees and the back. Besides, dogs don't chase you in the lap pool at the Y.

For heaven's sake, what kind of neighborhoods do you people live in where that sort of behavior is tolerated? Have any of you tried having a polite conversation with like-minded neighbors, rather than just fighting the offending animals? There's power and strength in numbers, and dialogue is more civil than war. (Hence the irony of the term "civil war.") Apart from that, you might consider moving to a less hostile community. There are neighborhoods where good citizens train their animals to behave appropriately, and where public aggressiveness by a pet (or human) is considered extremely unacceptable behavior.

To be fair, missy, it's not exactly my neighborhood. The folks in my subdivision restrain their pets. It's the neighborhood next to us.

I suspect that in neighborhoods where menacing pets run loose, the animals are just a symptom of greater issues with the humans. Our pets, like our children, live what they learn. Perhaps those neighborhoods could benefit from a little "community outreach" from those of us who live in less threatening places. Love is a an excellent (if patient) teacher. If we pray and ask, God will open doors of opportunity for us to build relationships that can lead to change. I'm very grateful to live in a "polite" neighborhood, but my desire is for everyone to be able to do so. I'm sorry that my earlier post didn't express that.

Missy,
I agree with you that love and prayer will solve a lot of problems. One thing I will tell you though is that you can pray and then the party about who you were praying has to be plugged into the line or else they ain't hearing nuthin, especially when it comes to their dawg.
Sometimes you just gotta Mace em and space em (that's put enough distance tween you an them so you don't get flattened, mauled or bitten).