Vent about dog owners: 9 year old killed.

I saw this article in the local newspaper this morning and it explained why I heard all the sirens last evening.  I don't know any details other than what is in the article but it appears that a dog ran into the road causing an accident the seriously injured 2 people and killed a 9 year old boy.  As a cyclist (and yes I know we are often scorned in this forum) I have to deal with unrestrained dogs almost every day and it could easily be me dead in the ditch along side a rural stretch of roadway. 

People even if you live in some out-of-the-way backwoods area (like the one where this boy was killed) don't let your dogs run loose, someone could get hurt or even killed.  Not to mention what could happen to your dog.  I've mention in other posts that over the years 4 dogs have been struck by cars while running after me on my bike.

My daughter will be 9 on Sunday and it is hard to think about that empty desk in her classroom this morning.  And hard to think about the grandfather lying in a hospital bed this morning with a broken pelvis and the fact that will have to come to terms with his granddaughter's injuries and his grandson's funeral.

Sorry for the vent but this really hit home.

Ugh, this is terrible!

I live in a neighborhood where two people on my street let their dogs run loose in their non-fenced yards. One is some sort of lab mix and the other is a St. Bernard (think: Cujo. Mangy, not well-kept).

On two separate occasions, I was walking around the block with my two kids (almost 5 and 1) and was charged by the lab. I had to put myself between the dog and my kids and it did the whole chest-bump on my leg. I have grown up with large dogs and it still worries me.

These two dogs have fought in the street in front of my house.

I've called Animal Control three times on the St. Bernard because it has been out and stood in my garage, barking at the door to the house and I couldn't leave.

I, like you, imagine my child in situations when I read the news. I can't even read the story you posted for fear of becoming emotional at work.

It's not the dog's fault but the owner's. I wish people would be more responsible with their pets. Mine are always part of the family and I couldn't imagine something happening to my four-legged "kid" because I let it run around unattended.

My heart goes out to this family in the face of such a tragedy.  That being said, I have to mention that there were three people on the ATV, which is never a good idea.  My sons had an ATV accident last fall that resulted in my older son's left ear being almost entirely severed (it had to be surgically reattached), and a severe concussion.  He passed out and fell off the back of the ATV.  He could have been killed.  Needless to say, they don't ride double any more!

I agree with the notion of not letting dogs run loose.  In an automobile it is generally your best bet just to hit the animal, rather than risk injuring yourself or someone else by trying to dodge it. We live in a rural area so we deal with deer, as well as dogs.

We also experience a great number of cyclists who do not recognize or acknowledge that they are supposed to obey the same traffic laws as other vehicles.  I will be respectful of their space on the road if they will be respectful of mine.

My own daughter is 10, and I cannot begin to imagine the pain this family is feeling. 

as a dog owner I 100% agree.

I get very angry when I see people with their dog off the leash.  My DH does it sometimes and I get REALLY angry... even though I believe our dog is the sweetest, friendliest thing ever, you cannot convince me that that covers all the possibilities. 

Sure he's fine with people who are fine with dogs, but what about people afraid of dogs? Like when a passer-by was carrying a stick and was afraid of him, our dog started barking at him when he raised the stick at him because he was running up to say hi. Had DH not been there, the dog would have bit and the man woul dhave hurt the dog. This is a constant battle with DH (luckily, the dog has been too old to take to the park and public places, so we haven't had to deal with it in years)

Or the lady who's dog was off the leash at the mountain on the back trails. Sure, he wouldn't hurt me - but she couldn't keep him away from the rattlesnake and he got bit.

THINK people.  Sure the dog is YOUR best friend, but you can't predict how it will react in every scenario.

Plus I'm just embarrassed when he runs up to people and startles them.

Some of our neighbors are having trouble keeping their dogs in the fence.  This is why I don't walk in the neighborhood!!! I do not trust them, I don't know them, How do I even know if its a stray or they have a home? I can't walk up to them but DH has a knack for them so he will check their tags and call. I'm not a dog person really, I'm just used to our 2.

None of that compares to the wreck tragedy.

THINK, PEOPLE!

Unfortunately the people who need to read this won't. 

I have a terrible dog on our street that the (terrible) owners often let get out...the first time being when they left it alone with maybe a 12 year old daughter to watch?  The dog got away from her, and I saw this and went out to help her.  Big mistake.  The dog was extremely distrusting and growled at me in a "standoff" then went after a fellow that was walking across the street and the fellow ran instead of facing it and he was bitten on the leg.  Then it came after me again and I was faced with either kicking it in the head or perhaps being bitten.  Luckily her older sister showed up at that point and salvaged the situation.  No idea if they were sued, but the police did spend a few hours at their house later that day.

It's a few years later now and that dog has gotten immensely overweight (nice owners...) so at least most can outrun it now.  :P

Agree. Always keep my dog on a leash. But I also hate those ATVs. They are not safe.

I agree 100% as a dog owner as well. Not only to prevent horrible tragidies such as this, but for multiple reasons. One of my two dogs is a recent rescue and has some behavioural issues that we are working on with her in relation to other dogs. It is so maddening when we are trying desperatly to train our dog to get use to other dogs and all of our work is ruined (or put back drastically) when others have their 'friendly' dogs off leash and they run over and charge ours. Our dog then starts barking and trying to attack and we look like the horrible people!

I always keep Lu on a leash, too.  I'd never forgive myself if I allowed her to cause an accident, or her to get hurt, because of my negligence.

Original Post by trhawley:

I saw this article in the local newspaper this morning and it explained why I heard all the sirens last evening.  I don't know any details other than what is in the article but it appears that a dog ran into the road causing an accident the seriously injured 2 people and killed a 9 year old boy.  As a cyclist (and yes I know we are often scorned in this forum) I have to deal with unrestrained dogs almost every day and it could easily be me dead in the ditch along side a rural stretch of roadway. 

People even if you live in some out-of-the-way backwoods area (like the one where this boy was killed) don't let your dogs run loose, someone could get hurt or even killed.  Not to mention what could happen to your dog.  I've mention in other posts that over the years 4 dogs have been struck by cars while running after me on my bike.

My daughter will be 9 on Sunday and it is hard to think about that empty desk in her classroom this morning.  And hard to think about the grandfather lying in a hospital bed this morning with a broken pelvis and the fact that will have to come to terms with his granddaughter's injuries and his grandson's funeral.

Sorry for the vent but this really hit home.

 just wanted to say thank you Tom, for being educated and realizing it's the problems with the dog owners, not the dogs. I volunteer with Pomeranian rescue, and you'd be surprised the people we have to deal with who think everything is the "dogs" problem, but lack knowledge to actually look at the irresponsible owners.

I am sorry this happened to these people, and irresponsible dog owners should be punished, not the dogs themselves.

Thanks again.

i would never, ever, allow Murphy to run loose anywhere other than an enclosed area for his safety and for the safety of others.

i also would never allow my two children to ride on the back of an ATV at the same time. it must have been going awfully fast to be unable to avoid hitting a dog.

what a tragic accident, poor little boy, and his poor family :(

I like how you all blame the dog owner (the article doesnt even mention if the dog had an owner, there are such things as wild dogs).  The blame in my book rests squarely with the adult driving two children in an ATV at unsafe speeds.

Original Post by vermicious:

I like how you all blame the dog owner (the article doesnt even mention if the dog had an owner, there are such things as wild dogs).  The blame in my book rests squarely with the adult driving two children in an ATV at unsafe speeds.

I guess we are both making assumptions then because the article doesn't mention the speed of the ATV or imply that it was being operated in an unsafe manner.  I will concede that caring two passengers is not wise in my opinion and could have been a contributing factor but the cause is clearly stated as the dog having run into the roadway causing the operator to lose control and flip. 

There is the possibility that it was a wild dog but I think the chances are slim.

this whole situation is tragic.  that poor family.  i assume it wasn't a wild dog.  but yes, either the grandfather was driving relatively quick, or wasn't paying much attention.  ATVs are scary - my brother's best friend died in an ATV accident a few years ago.

sister broke her back in an ATV accident when she was about 19.

I live in a rural area and the dogs we see running loose are usually drop offs.  Some people think that their dogs would be better off running loose in the country than in a dog shelter, so instead of rehoming the dog themselves or taking to a shelter or rescue, they drop them off at the first country looking setting. 

I watched a white boxer get hit one morning.  It wasn't the driver's fault at all.  The dog came out of a corn field that is about 6" off the road on a one lane county road.  There was nowhere else for the car to go and I doubt they even saw the dog coming.  I was out that morning walking my boxer on a lead.  The lady got out of her car and started screaming at me about leash laws.  The dog wasn't mine.  She left the dog in the ditch barely alive.  I put him in the back of my car, rushed him to the vet and paid $800 for his legs to be set in a cast and IV's started.  He died two days later of a blood clot.

People drive lawn mowers, go-karts, ATV's and whatever else on these roads.  I have a neighbor that has a cooler and cup holders on his ATV and he fills it with beer and drives around visiting his other neighbors...with his child on the back.  Could've been him hitting that boxer instead of the car.  My neighbor mows his lawn with at least one of his kids on his lap.

Dogs should be kept on a leash.  People should keep follow basic safety precautions when operating lawn mowers, ATV's or anything with a motor.  People should NEVER drop their animals off thinking they will be better off running loose.  There are many things that people should do but don't.

EVERYONE needs to chill out and stop making assumptions, like trhawley said.  The article provides no details on the circumstances of the accident.

And without such information, yes, it's tragic, but it's an accident.  Particularly egregious is how we're quick to excuse the driver of the ATV despite some caveats that he may have been driving too fast or carelessly.

The article says nothing about how the dog got loose in the first place.  I say from experience that my dog ran past me out the door twice and bolted.  Neither time did I let her run around, like some of you are accusing the dog's owner of doing.

The owner may have, but equally so, may NOT have.

The first time my dog ran out, she ran toward the busy street near which we live.  Luckily, she didn't run into the street, but she was so young then that cars were new things to her.

The second time, a kid came by selling newspaper subscriptions, blatantly ignoring the "no soliciting"sign on the door.  I had the door open a crack and my dog panicked.  She squeezed out before I could grab her and nearly ran into the path of an oncoming minivan.

I ran her down through the entire neighborhood and started to lose hope when she outran me several times.  Finally caught up to her when she got tired.  My wife followed us in her car, and once I caught her, she drove us home so I could thaw my feet out (running in bare feet in the winter on cold, wet cement is not a good time).  Then she drove around the neighborhood to chase that kid down and tear him a new one about the definition of "no soliciting."

Either way, my dog got loose and it wasn't my fault, was it?

So what do you say we all stop jumping to conclusions and casting judgments on people based on a news article that's tugging at your heartstrings because of the death of a child?  Tragic, yes.  But the way some of you are writing, it sounds like the torches are being lit and pitchforks sharpened right now when none of you has all of the information required to make a judgment on right or wrong.

My point was that I ride the roads in the area often and I know that there are dogs that are routinely left outdoors unrestrained.  Some of these dog regularly run into the roadway chasing cars, bicycles, motorcycles, ATVs, etc.  I do blame the owners of these dogs for any accidents and injuries that their dogs cause. 

I do not know who's dog this was if it was anyone's and I do not know whether it was routinely left to run loose but I do want to express to any dog owners out there that think that it is okay to allow your dogs to run free, even though it violates county ordinance, that it is not okay.  This article is merely one example of why.

I received a call from my daughter's school a little while ago so now I know who the boy was.  He was not currently in her school but they were in kindergarten together.

crimson667, your point is well-taken. Accidents happen, responsible dog-owners don't close doors quickly enough, and even the best drivers in the world sometimes look away for just a second too long.

All of that being said, far too many otherwise perfectly nice, responsible people see no harm in letting their dogs run loose on occasion, or allow their children to operate or ride on ATVs that are operated in unsafe, not-recommended fashions. These people do so NOT because they're bad but because they aren't thinking of the possible consequences. It never hurts to remind people of the possible consequences of a usually safe but always bad decision. Even a freak accident that's nobody's fault can serve as that reminder.

Like you say, poutyface, most irresponsible dog owners are not going to read this. However, maybe some who love their dogs to pieces, but think their dog is well enough trained to be allowed off-leash in unfenced environments (people who run with their dogs, I'm looking at YOU) will think twice about it after reading the article or this thread.

Original Post by trhawley:

I received a call from my daughter's school a little while ago so now I know who the boy was.  He was not currently in her school but they were in kindergarten together.

 I'm so sorry to hear that you now have to tell your young daugther that an acquaintance has died.  Not an easy subject at any age.

Many prayers your way.

Janet

Original Post by alaskanmama:

Original Post by trhawley:

I received a call from my daughter's school a little while ago so now I know who the boy was.  He was not currently in her school but they were in kindergarten together.

 I'm so sorry to hear that you now have to tell your young daugther that an acquaintance has died.  Not an easy subject at any age.

Many prayers your way.

Janet

My daughter goes to a small school where there is only one teacher per grade, therefore all of the third graders (except maybe one) had been in kindergarten with the boy.  The call was to inform me that the Principle, school counselor, and third grade teacher had informed the class of the accident and death of their former classmate.  Since it is a parochial school they had prayed for the boy and his family and allowed the class to ask questions and express their grief.  So I don't have to tell her but we will need to talk about it when she gets home.

it just sucks. All the way around. :/