Unleashed dogs in campgrounds: A solution
When the rules are very clearly stated, there remain many campers whose dogs remain the exception. These dogs are special and don't need to abide by the rules. Recently, at a NFS park, the host told...
Forum Discussion
A topic near and dear to my heart....
We paid thousands of $$ for a membership in a private RV resort CG in Wa. State (Birch Bay, approx. 250 sites, no names mentioned...). It turns out they do a p*ss poor job of enforcing any of their rules, including a requirement for dogs to be on a leash. The majority of RV-ers know that their dogs should be on a leash, but our CG has a large tent-only area and a dozen or so cabins. We find that it is mostly the cabin people and tenters that don't leash their dogs.
Last year, a bulldog came out of nowhere and attacked our leashed springer spaniel. Our dog does not know how to fight back and the other dog was chomping away at ours. Fortunately the owner was nearby and came and grabbed his pretty quick. We reported the incident to the CG office but nothing changed. Our dog is now quite skittish when he hears another dog barking and can see it at the CG. It shouldn't have to be like that.
A co-worker of DW has camped at the same CG for years. Last year, he got attacked by a bulldog and got his family jewels badly bitten and had to go the hospital for stitches. Makes me cringe whenever I think about it. The cops were called but the owners high-tailed it back to Canada right away and just managed to elude the cops who went after them. We think it was the same bulldog but have no way of confirming that.
After hearing about DW's co-worker, we went to the administration and gave them our piece of mind. NOTHING has changed. We were there this past weekend and there were two large dogs owned by tenters that were freely roaming around, which we reported.
Why is it that you can spend a lot of money to get membership in a private CG only to find out that nothing is done about un-leashed dogs? There's no signs anywhere and they don't tell you when you check in. Unless there is a report, they do nothing. DW is quite afraid to take our dog for a walk now and she is always on a constant lookout for un-leashed dogs.
It's our understanding that if there is an unleashed vicious dog, you can call the police. We could have done that when our dog got attacked. We now carry bear spray attached to the leash. After reading what one poster said above, maybe it won't do much when a dog is in a rage though. Maybe we need to carry a baseball bat around?? Sad to say, but now, I'd have no qualms about injuring an attacking dog to prevent injury to ours. Maybe we should spray the owner(s) too....
We have now decided to report any unleashed dog in our CG. Maybe it will send a message, but we kinda doubt it. Maybe they need a really big incident and a law suit to smarten up. Kids area also at risk and it should be taken more seriously.
Maybe they should legislate a big fine for owners of un-leashed dogs. What else can be done that will work?
Sorry for getting verbose, but this reminds me of when I was a teenager (decades ago) and used to bike race. An un-leashed dog ran right in front of me on a training ride. I was going about 30 mph and I ended up going over my handlebars and getting a serious concussion and was out for about 24 hours. (No helmet requirement in those days) There was a leash law at the time. Nothing happened to the owners and I have always wondered if my parents should have sued them and what might have happened.
People - keep your dog on a leash. :M
Putting out poison or needlessly killing another dog is ignorant.
We paid thousands of $$ for a membership in a private RV resort CG in Wa. State (Birch Bay, approx. 250 sites, no names mentioned...). It turns out they do a p*ss poor job of enforcing any of their rules, including a requirement for dogs to be on a leash. The majority of RV-ers know that their dogs should be on a leash, but our CG has a large tent-only area and a dozen or so cabins. We find that it is mostly the cabin people and tenters that don't leash their dogs.
Last year, a bulldog came out of nowhere and attacked our leashed springer spaniel. Our dog does not know how to fight back and the other dog was chomping away at ours. Fortunately the owner was nearby and came and grabbed his pretty quick. We reported the incident to the CG office but nothing changed. Our dog is now quite skittish when he hears another dog barking and can see it at the CG. It shouldn't have to be like that.
A co-worker of DW has camped at the same CG for years. Last year, he got attacked by a bulldog and got his family jewels badly bitten and had to go the hospital for stitches. Makes me cringe whenever I think about it. The cops were called but the owners high-tailed it back to Canada right away and just managed to elude the cops who went after them. We think it was the same bulldog but have no way of confirming that.
After hearing about DW's co-worker, we went to the administration and gave them our piece of mind. NOTHING has changed. We were there this past weekend and there were two large dogs owned by tenters that were freely roaming around, which we reported.
Why is it that you can spend a lot of money to get membership in a private CG only to find out that nothing is done about un-leashed dogs? There's no signs anywhere and they don't tell you when you check in. Unless there is a report, they do nothing. DW is quite afraid to take our dog for a walk now and she is always on a constant lookout for un-leashed dogs.
It's our understanding that if there is an unleashed vicious dog, you can call the police. We could have done that when our dog got attacked. We now carry bear spray attached to the leash. After reading what one poster said above, maybe it won't do much when a dog is in a rage though. Maybe we need to carry a baseball bat around?? Sad to say, but now, I'd have no qualms about injuring an attacking dog to prevent injury to ours. Maybe we should spray the owner(s) too....
We have now decided to report any unleashed dog in our CG. Maybe it will send a message, but we kinda doubt it. Maybe they need a really big incident and a law suit to smarten up. Kids area also at risk and it should be taken more seriously.
Maybe they should legislate a big fine for owners of un-leashed dogs. What else can be done that will work?
Sorry for getting verbose, but this reminds me of when I was a teenager (decades ago) and used to bike race. An un-leashed dog ran right in front of me on a training ride. I was going about 30 mph and I ended up going over my handlebars and getting a serious concussion and was out for about 24 hours. (No helmet requirement in those days) There was a leash law at the time. Nothing happened to the owners and I have always wondered if my parents should have sued them and what might have happened.
People - keep your dog on a leash. :M
Putting out poison or needlessly killing another dog is ignorant.
