Baxter Bites the Hand the Feeds Him

I had been preparing a post about how great Baxter has been doing with our new training techniques. Now, he's still doing very well, but we've had a bit of a setback.

This morning's "incident" is also a handy way to bring up some drama that's been brewing here in the neighborhood. In short, our next door neighbors got a new dog, and they've been very committed to providing Leyla with excellent training.

What they've found is that other dog-owners have a big effect on your training success. More specifically, if someone else's dog is off-leash, it can make training much more difficult. If your dog isn't ready for an unrestricted meet-and-greet, you are in a tough spot when Sparky from next door bounds over off-leash.

Along with Philip the dog trainer, they've approached some other dog owners in the neighborhood asking for their help. By help I mean putting a leash on their dog. These requests have been met with, shall I say, lukewarm responses.

There's a Lab down the street whose owners walk him off-leash. In fact, they walk up and down the sidewalk throwing him a tennis ball with one of those special long-throwing stick things. This means he's often 50 to 100 yards ahead of them running full speed on a fetching mission.

Jenny was taking Bax down the street for this morning's walk when the Lab came bounding towards them. I doubt he meant any harm. In my experience, he's a very sweet and friendly dog. But he's pretty big and he came right up to Jenny and Baxter.

Bax-Man flipped his lid. Jenny said she's never seen him so upset, growling and barking ferociously. Jenny tried to calm him, and got down on the ground, holding him tight. The Lab darted in and out, basically ignoring the clear signs that he was not welcome.

The owner finally caught up and asked Jenny, obliviously, "When are you due?"

Jenny ignored her, trying in vain to calm Baxter's fury. Completely unhinged, he turned frantically to Jenny's hand on his back and bit her.

Jenny burst into tears, stood up, pulled the leash tight and headed for home. The Lab's owner apologized weakly as she left.

So, this brings up a larger issue of responsibility. Is our dog perfect? Hell no, but we're working on it. Is your dog perfect? I don't know, but very few are, so the answer is probably no.

Is it OK that dogs aren't perfect. Absolutely. It would be hard to hold dogs to a standard of behavior that humans do not achieve.

So, maybe Baxter was the one who made a scene this morning. That much I will grant you. But, we were doing everything in OUR power to keep things copacetic. If your dog is off-leash, it leaves us powerless.

That's one reason why there is a leash law. L.A. has county and municipal codes that require dogs to be on a leash at all times in public areas.

Sorry, them's the rules. There's a lady across from us who let's her two dogs run free. (Remember this incident?) They consistently poop in various yards, and she makes no effort to pick it up. She's breaking two laws at once!

And it becomes a matter of respect. Not everyone likes your dog as much as you do. I have my dog on leash so he doesn't bother you, or bite you, or poop in your yard. Please return the favor.