Whatever happened to common sense? I ask myself that more and more. It seems in short supply sometimes, especially when it comes to some dog owners.
Here are a couple examples:
As part of Storm’s Exercise Regime, hubby and I were walking her and Freighter around the neighborhood. On the next block a little dog was tied on a long line to a tree next to the house. There are no fences allowed in our neighborhood unless you apply to build a dog run which are few and far between. I guess it was good that the dog was tied up at least.
We were across the street and as we approached the little dog started to go nuts: barking, growling and lunging toward us. It was making such a commotion that a woman came out of the house. But rather than try to discourage the behavior with some training, or encouraging a different behavior, the woman picked the dog up and started petting it. The dog continued to bark, growl and lunge but this time the dog had a good view being held up by the woman.
I think common sense would suggest a different approach, or at least not rewarding that kind of behavior. Storm and Freighter have practiced walking past distractions so they were fine and did not overreact; however, I can guarantee you that as the weather improves there will be many less well behaved dogs passing by.
Walking is one thing, but I swear when people are at the vet, they lose all of their common sense. While we were there with Thunder last week updating immunizations, there was a woman with a Rottweiler in not one but two cones. No kidding. The dog has a smaller cone inside a larger cone. I figured that must be one talented dog to need two cones, but that is beside the point.
I do not know if it was due to wearing the cones or if the dog was always this way, but the dog barked and lunged at every dog in the place and especially if they came anywhere near it. The owner could barely control the dog.
Now if that were my dog, my common sense would say I better not sit in the area right next to the front desk where the scale is located, or next to the doorway to the exam rooms because they are both high traffic areas. Our vet has a huge waiting area and there is a ton of room so you do not have to be right on top of anyone else and can be far from the high traffic areas.
Storm can tend to get wound up at the vet so when I take her, my common sense leads me to sit on the far side of the waiting area. True Storm has to bark to let me know of any new arrivals, but at least she is not among the other dogs.
When they called Thunder to the exam room, we had to walk past the conehead dog single file since it was in the middle of the walkway.
So much for common sense.
Do you have any examples to add?
This is the Thursday Barks and Bytes Blog Hop hosted by Heart Like A Dog and 2 Brown Dawgs. Grab the badge and the linky code and join us! Its fun!
some people just don’t use their brains when it comes to things like this,xx Rachel
I’m glad there was no fight in the waiting room. Our vet has just a small waiting area and we know that Easy is not really a patient patient (he marks everything he can find) so we always wait in the car and the vet opens the back door that we can enter the treatment room directly.
That is a good option. I have seen people wait in their cars until it is their time to go in.
My mom says common sense is gone in most parts of life these days and it is a sad thing. No one seems to think on their own and they blame everyone else for stuff that happens. Very frustrating.
What drives me nuts with pet owners and pro trainers at hunt tests is when they let their dog off leash to go to the bathroom. They say the dog won’t go if on a leash but have no respect for people who actually have their dog on a leash.
It really bothers me when people tie their dogs out with a pinch collar. Pinch collars are for training, not restraining! Also, morbidly obese animals, people who let their dogs rule the roost, people who let their dogs ride unrestrained in the beds of pick up trucks (even though it is illegal in addition to being unsafe). Don’t get me started…
There’s a general saying, “common sense isn’t a flower that grows in everyone’s garden.” Sadly it often results in innocent dogs getting hurt, or worse…
I call them DADO’s. 🙂 I really do wonder about people at times. Our vet’s office is small, they have two doors and each opens into one side of the same room, which has a small waist high divider right as you walk in. One side/door is for cats while the other side/door is for dogs. Typically I don’t end up waiting when I bring my dogs in, but at the specialty vet (where Sampson does PT) they have one big area and it is filled with people with no common sense. I’ve taken to going in, letting them know we are there and waiting for the therapist in the back, it’s much less stressful on my dog and me.
people never cease to amaze me. Dakota is super good at the Vet, but many dogs aren’t (as you mentioned above). We always take him and sit waaaaaay to the side so that we aren’t 1) in the middle of “traffic” 2) to make the wait for Dakota as calm and peaceful as possible.
We do the same when we bring Cody. People just don’t think.
Oh gosh, both scenarios sound familiar. So many dog owners of small breeds simply pick them up when they misbehave. I’ve given out the advice to a few small dog owners to pretend the dog were a Rottweiler or a Mastiff, or any big/giant breed really. You probably wouldn’t be able to pick those pups up, right? So don’t do it to a small dog either only because you happen to be physically able to do so. Ugh. *Rant Over*
Ugh. It seems like common sense needs to be renamed to “not-in-fact-all-that-common-anymore sense.” We had a similar experience in our ‘hood, with a dog tied up out front that was big and angry and would bark and run to the end of it’s rope every time another dog passed. The REALLY dumb thing about that one, is that everyone here has a fenced backyard, so if the dog want’s to lay in the sun, why not just put it in the backyard??? I’m sure the dummy owner thought the dog enjoyed watching the world go by – but why would you want your dog jumping up and lunging at everyone that goes past??? People… they make me crazy sometimes!
Ah, where do I start, where do I start, haha! Our last issue was one that Jodi from Heart Like a Dog also wrote about, people that don’t leash their dogs at the vet’s office. We had an issue when taking Haley in a few weeks ago right after her CCL knee surgery. Someone came out of the exam room with their large, yellow lab who was off leash and wanted to play with Haley. Haley was running a fever and trying to stand on three legs but the owners couldn’t care less.
I really hate it when I’m left to run interference or try to mange someone else’s dogs or kids.
Hi Y’all!
One of my vets has a sign up and will come out and tell someone with an unruly animal…all animals must be crated or leashed, no flex leads…and if they cannot wait quietly to leave them in the car until their turn. A vet tech will come help you bring them inside when the doctor is ready.
Y’all come on by,
Hawk aka BrownDog
Huh, when our dogs bark at passing people or dogs from their pen, they are told to be quiet. If they aren’t quiet, in the house they go. Sometimes simple concepts are foreign to people, and common sense certainly seems to be a thing of the past with many.
Our vet has a side door which we often use to take the dogs out after their appointment, if the office is busy. They are happier in the car than hanging out in the waiting room anyway!
I think common sense is not so common anymore. It made me think of my hunt test several weeks ago. These people breed big-running, high energy German Shorthairs and Brittany Spaniels, then get upset with the dog when it won’t sit still.