I don't know why I'm going to bitch about how people control their pets, but I guess I'm going to.  I just heard that a friend's dog got hit by a car.  You might think I'd be sympathetic, and I am, but only to a point.  Why is it that so many people just let their dogs run wherever they want, no leash, no fenced-in areas, no nothing?  This is the second time my friend has had a dog get hit and killed by a car.  As a former dog owner myself, I never allowed my dog to just run free.  He was either at the house within his nice, big fenced-in yard, or at the end of my leash.  Over the years, I've spent hours helping people chase down their dogs because they let them out of the house and they just took off.  I've seen dogs running loose get a little too playful and start jumping on people who didn't really want to have a wet and dirty dog jumping up to lick their faces.  Am I the only person that feels a dog owner has a responsibiliity to control his or her pet?!?

Every day my neighbor lets his dog loose and it just runs around wherever it wants.  I'm willing to grant a little latitude because we live out in the country surrounded by the forest.  But someday soon he and I are going to have a conversation about his dog running through the woods and over to my yard and crapping under the apple trees.  I am a patient man, but I do have my limits.  He has one of those big "Don't Tread On Me" flags flying in his front yard, and before too long I'm going to make the point that he doesn't get to tread on other people, either.

Okay, rant over - now back to your regular programming...

Dude I don't know, as a vet tech the first warm days brings the abandoned puppies and kittens and HBC's. Both are easily avoided, however when I hand ya the bill and ya start to scream about much it it remember Yes, there is pet insurance and two if you spayed or neutered there's a good chance both could have been avoided. NO money oh my gosh we have a group here that will pick your pet up, that it to the office, OVH/Cast and give a rabes vaccine and DHLPP or FVRCP, for 10 freaking dollars just 10 dollars.
It is frustrating regardless of where you live for no one wants to hit and kill an animal! have agreat one "T"

TOO.  Not only is it terrible to loose your pet in a car accident... think about the the driver that hit the dog and how terrible they now feel for something they probably couldn't avoid. 

There are plenty of places you can take your dog and let him/her run free... the beach, the woods, dog parks, etc.  But not anywhere there are cars.  Our new puppy is coming along really well in her training and I can take her to any of those places and she behaves and comes back when I call her.   But I still would never expect her to look both ways before going into a street!  So when in the neighborhood she is on the leash.  And let me tell you that wasn't easy... she HATED her leash at first.  The first time we put it on she would not budge!  After a few times of carrying her down the block and letting her walk home on the leash, she now realizes the leash means she gets to go explore new areas and she loves it.  Now if she could just figure out she needs to go on the same side of the street signs as me, she'll have it down pat.

I ran a team of dogs on and off leash...mine were trained ...they did not walk in front of me and they sure didn't walk by my side...they followed - I lead.....I will try and find pictures of my dogs working...

Some were used in film work, others were show dogs...ALL were used to catch and carry rabbits and game birds...2 were trained to go on Hare and small deer...

I always spoke in a calm quiet voice, never had need to shout at them, I had a way of whistling them to STOP when at distance... I used it to make them break off an attack on a rabbit or game bird...

The dogs I had at at that time? 
2 Jack Russels (short leg), 4 Whippets, 3 Lurchers, a German Sheppard and a Chinese Crested...Apart from one terrier and the Whippets all the rest were rescues.....most were badly treated and/or half starved...


ALL were trained by me to work for me, I DO NOT agree with letting dogs roam around loose, I DO agree with leash laws, and I advocate good quality training of the OWNERS of dogs...(The dogs are easy to train-its the owners that are impossible to train!!!)