Anxiety When Jogging By Unleashed Dogs

Gamliela wrote: »

gonzanab wrote: »

I'm an avid dog fan I love dogs and I was a dog owner for 17 years. I don't have a phobia of dogs, but I do get anxiety when I jog by unleashed dogs in public parks I go too.

In NJ, it's a law to have a dog leashed in public parks.

I've been attacked by 2 pitbulls while on my jogs. When I confronted the owners, before hand, they assured me that I'd be fine and tell me that their pets are well behaved. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.

I'm not sure how to approach this situation. I don't want to be mean and call the cops. At the same time, I want to be able to enjoy my job without stressing.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Does this happen to anyone else?

You were attacked by a couple of pit bulls? That is very serious, was it an attack? Were you bitten through the skin? This should be reported to the city police.

Yes, they were actual attacks where I received bite marks. I reported it to the authorities and on both occasions the dogs were stripped from their owners by authorities.

Edit:

I'll go in depth and explain what happened the two times that I was attacked. This way people can get an idea of what I went through to determine if I am being unreasonable or not.

I was fifteen when I was attacked the first time by a pitbull. In my teen years, I was a active soccer player where keeping in shape was essential and at the time I had a companion to keep me company on my runs. My beagle, named Paulie RIP, was at my side during the running session.







I had him leashed to my hip. We were running side by side at a park. We were at the two mile mark when I noticed a big dog running right at us. My first impression, being naive at the time, was that the dog would approach mine. I stopped and kept my dog calm, however, the pitbull had no interest in mine whatsoever.

The pitbull didn't even try to do what most dogs tend to do when they meet another dog, but instead went straight for me. I don't think I'd be standing here today if it wasn't for my beagle stepping in. The pitbull had a hold of my arm when my dog stepped in a second later. He fended the pitbull off for about 2 or 3 minutes until the owner showed up. The owner apologized and expressed how his dog never attacked anyone before. Paulie's nose was covered in blood and my arm had some vicious bite marks.

The second time I was attacked I no longer had my companion. I was 25 at the time. Since I learned the first time around to be wary around unleashed dogs, I noticed an unleashed pitbull on my run. I stopped when I spotted the owner nearby. Kindly, I asked the owner to please leash his dog because it barked at me and that it made me feel uncomfortable because it was unleashed. The owner smiled at me and explained that his dog wasn't a harm to anyone. It hadn't attacked anyone before, thus, it wouldn't attack me.

Once again, being the naive person that I am, I trusted his judgement and continued on my run. The second time I ran by the dog, after a full mile, it attacked me. Fortunately, the owner was around to pull his dog away before it did anything severe. I yelled at the owner for not listening to me. He apologized and used a similar excuse that the first owner did.

With that said, I notified the authorities and both pitbulls were stripped from the owners after court hearings. The owners still have issues with me to this day.

Do I want to take pepper spray on my runs? I don't, but I feel that I might and along with that I might have to call the authorities. I don't have an issue with dogs and I do understand the difference between an aggressive one versus a non aggressive one. The problem is the parks I run at have large signs everywhere which clearly state that a dog has to be on a leash. There are dogs that are super friendly and wouldn't harm a fly. This is true. I've ran by some that pay no attention to me, but the anxiety is there.

Having been a dog owner, I do not want to call the authorities simply because of that mutual respect. I know the feeling of trusting in your pet. I don't want to cause problems for the owners in the area. Unfortunately, I feel it's the only way owners will listen.