The comment was phrased without reference to the breed or type of dog, just to the owner's habit of letting it run loose.
mrose_s said:
soemone told her that "if you let your dog out of the yard, you know it will kill someone" WHATS WITH THAT? they have a big brown fence that they leave open a when they are home because he just hangs around in the yard. He is the least vicous dog I have ever met. Just another person discriminating agaisnt him due to his breed.
Letting any dog roam is bad, but letting a dog the size and personality (and by that I mean not that the Rhodesian Ridgeback is vicious, but that they're usually fairly self-confident, assertive dogs) of this breed loose in his yard is asking for trouble. The dog may be loveable and kind, but:
A) passersby don't know that, and the dog's owner doesn't have the right to essentially turn his street/road into a no-go zone for anyone phobic about dogs or cautious about taking their smaller pet or children near a loose large dog.
B) even the most affable family pet can and will guard its property from others, and a loose dog always has a larger sense of ownership than it's human, and will consider people on sidewalks, curbs, and across the street from it's human owner's legal property to be trespassers. A big dog can kill a smaller or gentler dog in moments, a child as quickly. Serious attacks are not too common, but even a half-hearted rush by a genial dog making a show of defending its turf is enough to make walking past the house a misery, especially for childre, the elderly, or anyone walking their own pet on a leash.
C) the loose dog, of course, runs the constant risk of running away, being hit by a car, and being attacked by other animals or humans.
The dog in this case may be lovable and kind, but his owner leaves a lot to be desired.
