Are we all just 'irresponsible owners'?

[straw]

A thread on another forum just got me thinking really seriously about myself as an owner and the choices I make for my dog. This person lives in a country with BSL and has a dog that resembles a banned breed. She wasn't asking for advice, she just wanted to vent her stress and share what she was going through trying to keep her dog safe and under the radar.

And most replies suggested that she was irresponsible and should never have got the dog in the first place. And I was just... wow. Because that's me.

So, in the title of this post 'we' isn't pit bull/[insert legislated breed here] owners, but dog owners in general. There seems to be so much pressure in the online community to be a responsible owner, and I know we've had threads where we brainstorm what that perfect image of the responsible owner really is. And it's so easy to think wow, s/he's an awful owner, s/he should be doing xyz, why is s/he even showing her face? But we are human. None of us will be able to be a perfect example all the time.

So does anyone feel comfortable sharing their humanity and what we do that is 'irresponsible'? Because I know I'm not the only one who thinks good ownership is a big ol' grey continuum, not a black and white "you are or you aren't".

I'll start:
-I have a dog that could be considered substantially similar to a "pit bull" and live in Ontario.
-I do not muzzle her in public. And I let her play offleash in appropriate places.

BUT
(this is the part where I try to feel better about myself)

-I cuddle her every day.
-I helped her overcome some fear issues so that she would feel safer and be the most comfortable, most personable 'her' she can be.
-and I am fully aware that she will never truly be 'safe', I just have made decisions based on the city I live in and my living situation. I honestly believe I am doing better by my dog right now than if I were to rehome her out of province. But I also accept that if it turns out I was wrong and she pays for my decisions, that I will carry that for the rest of my life.

So I don't know. Maybe I'm an irresponsible owner. But maybe it's not that simple. I think we're a community that can accept that none of us are perfect owners and embrace that we are all living with our dogs the best way we think we can.

What about you guys?

 

[Red.Apricot]

Our dogs are loose together when we're not home, and I know a lot of people think that's too dangerous.

Zobby wears a collar 24/7; Elsie only wears one when she goes out. Both of those upset people.

 

[k9krazee]

I have a dog door.

 

[katielou]

Zoey and Abe are out together when we leave!

I walk my dogs without a leash occasionally

Zoey is poorly behaved and it makes me laugh

Don't even care because we all lived happily ever after.

 

[sassafras]

I sometimes leave my dogs unsupervised in the backyard while I putter around the house.
I take my "hairy pit bull" to the dog park.
I occasionally walk up to the coffee shop and leave a dog tied outside while I pop in to get a drink.

 

[ThoseWordsAtBest]

I have an intact male.
I live in a rotation system with two dogs that would probably kill each other if opportunity arose.
I have a dog that is aggressive towards children.

Those are the only ones I can think of that people get openly pissy about.

 

[Beanie]

Payton is gonna make babies.

Yep.

 

[*blackrose]

I think being 100% responsible for 100% of your dog's actions is...impossible. You can't make the right decision at the right moment in the right circumstance all of the time. You just can't. I consider myself a responsible driver, but there are times I drive over the speed limit (knowingly) and may forget to check my blind spot. I've also backed into quite a few things that shouldn't be backed in to (like, a brick wall ROFL). But, you can certainly do things to set yourself up for success.

I do quite a few things that some would probably deem irresponsible.
1.) I own an intact animal.
2.) I don't care about grain free vs. grain inclusive
3.) I don't vaccinate for all vaccines.
4.) I don't always pick up the dogs' poo if it is off the beaten path o)
5.) I don't walk my dogs daily. Or very often. At all.
6.) I let my big brute of a retriever act like an idiot with no manners in my own home because I really just don't give a crap. (In public, he better behave himself, and he typically does. But at home/in the yard/on our property? Meh.)
7.) Before I had a fence, the dogs were out on chains. Unsupervised. THE HORROR.
8.) They only wear collars/tags when they go out in public (although they are both chipped).
9.) I walk Abrams with a prong collar because if he chose to pull, he would overpower me. And next on the list is an e-collar for long distance work.
10.) I leave the dogs loose together unsupervised. IN THE CAR (in appropriate weather).

In short, I am a horrible dog owner.

I do, however, keep them physically and mentally healthy and well groomed. I also don't let them act out in public, because that really irritates me. (Abrams barking at people while he's in the car aside - we're working on it.) That is something, at least?

 

[Linds]

~My dogs are loose together unsupervised
~I have a male and female together intact (this can go either direction with the dog community)
~I let my dogs off leash in places they are not legally allowed off leash
~I have no issue with prongs and ecollars and use a prong occasionally.
~I let my dogs nails get too long too often. It's not on purpose but I hate dealing with them and it seems like they grow way too fast.
~I do biking and jumping activities before 2 years old.
~I don't do yearly vet visits
~I'm prone to fits of lazy where my dogs get no exercise.
~I don't pick up dog poop if it's off in greenery.
~My dogs jump on ALL the people because I have no issue with it with me and warn people about it before I let them touch them.
~My dogs have no concept of a loose leash walk. At all.
~I have a zipline/tether outside for them and they are left on it unsupervised.

And I'm sure there are a million more :rofl1:

I do think a lot of the dog community can get way too self righteous online with the ability to hide online. In person most people don't seem like that but the soap box can get very old very fast.

But yeah, I hate the browbeating. I've gotten to the point where if people love their dog and it's not beaten/neglected them I'm pretty happy

 

[Laurelin]

My dogs stay together while I'm at work.

I work full time and sometimes my dogs are left alone a long time.

Don't always walk them. Especially now that Mia can't exercise in the heat.. . yeah there's going to be months of very few walks.

My dogs are off leash a lot.

I leave them outside sometimes while I'm inside.

I don't feed raw.

 

[Finkie_Mom]

-My dogs are often left out loose together for short periods of time (with the exception now of the boys)
-I feed kibble
-My dogs only wear collars when we go out (all are chipped though)
-I work long days a lot so all but Kimma are in their crates for sometimes a while at a time
-I really don't mind alert barking, which is good because mine do it often
-Kimma sleeps in the bed, all others are in their crates
-Jari still jumps on people when we're out in public
-Kimma is a treat beggar around everyone at every dog event we attend
-Bubby generally walks with tension on leash
-We have no feeding schedule - breakfast is whenever I wake up and dinner can be as late as 10pm if I'm working all day
-Bubby had puppies and is intact
-Pen sired a litter and is intact
-Jari may one day sire a litter or two and is intact

 

[Julee]

Zoey and Abe are out together when we leave!

I walk my dogs without a leash occasionally

Zoey is poorly behaved and it makes me laugh

Don't even care because we all lived happily ever after.

Zoey is the best.

Em, Copper, and Shadow are left together along with the cats if nobody is home. Well. Em's usually with me.

I give the dogs without allergies people food.

Em is on a leash like... never.

 

[Sekah]

Also, I totally play favourites with the pups.

 

[Beanie]

Also, I totally play favourites with the pups.

Oops I forgot about that one.

PS GUYS AUGGIE IS THE FAVOURITE

PPS Payton doesn't know he's not the favourite so it's okay

PPPS oops I forgot about Pepper. I don't think she even knows what "favourite" means.

 

[yv0nne]

I think everything I do with Penny is wrong. I yelled at her at the trial for running away, put her in the crate and gave zero f*cks about those who were judging me.

Ugh.

 

[sassafras]

And oh, I bribe my dogs. Flat-out bribe, mostly when I have to go to work and need them to come in the house NAO because when the weather's even semi-decent Squash (and Maisy, in the summer when she can sunbathe) would happily live outdoors all day and only come inside to sleep.

 

[Laurelin]

There was the whole Summer jumping out of the car thing yesterday. And then me laughing afterwards.

 

[Shakou]

- I let my dog aggressive dogs run loose on public land (it's WAY out in the middle of nowhere and we've yet to run into any people let alone other dogs, but it could still happen)

-In some areas, I chain my dogs up outside, and leave them out there for a few hours on nice days

-I've left Ma'ii tied up outside of stores before while running in real quick

-Somedays I simply take them outside to go to the bathroom, then bring them back in rather than taking them for walks or runs for excercise

-I leave them together unsupervised

-Ma'ii is intact

-We leave both dogs alone in the back of the (enclosed) truck while we go into restaurants and other places that take longer than 5 minutes to be in.

-Ma'ii wears a muzzle in the truck when the vehicle is moving, due to his uncontrollable barking (it comes off once we stop).

-I'm real bad about picking up dog crap

 

[Ozfozz]

1. Only one side of my yard is fenced. And I still let the dogs out unsupervised. (And I lied about it filling out my application for Rigby)

2. I walk my dogs off-leash, every day on property that is not my own (owned by a church group based out of a city hours away).

3. I let my dogs off-leash in areas where dogs are supposed to be on leash (I do however leash them at the first sight of anyone coming near, and they don't bother with other people/dogs....justify justify )

4. I leave my dogs loose together.

5. Definitely bad for playing favourites. But I mean...Cobain IS perfection in my household.

6. I prefer prong collars (when properly used) to "gentle leaders"

7. I only vaccinate rabies and only when the law requires

8. When the dogs are off-leash hiking I only make sure their crap is off the trail, but I don't take it with me most times

9. I only properly restrain my dogs in the car when we drive on the highway

10. They all have the choice to sleep on the bed with me if they want.

11. I leave them in the car, and tied outside of businesses (in appropriate weather)

12. I currently live with more dogs than bylaw allows in a household.

13. 2 of my dogs are licensed at my old address in a different bylaw region, 1 is still licensed with her old owner, and Oz isn't licensed at all


Wooo worst owner of the year award

 

[krissy]

I am a very irresponsible greyhound owner.

I train my dogs and then let them off leash in unfenced areas. THE HORROR! In Summit's case I am actually breaking his adoption agreement. THE HORROR!