My Friends Don’t Tell me They Have Nasty Pets
October 6th 2008 21:00
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
This is another one of those things I don’t get: people who don’t warn visitors they have nasty pets – especially dogs. This happened to me three times. Both were friends who invited me over to their houses. On both occasions I turned up, only to be chased by nasty, snarly dogs. Luckily for me, one of the friends got to the dog in time to shut it up, else I would have fled. On the other occasion, the dog was so vicious I had no choice but to leave.
I’m sure the friends in question knew in advance their dogs were not tolerant of strangers and could have warned me beforehand but no…Do these people lack common sense or what? I found it really off putting. When I mentioned my concerns to both friends, one laughed and the other thought it was no big deal. Really? How would she like it if the shoe had been on the other foot? It certainly put me off ever going to their respective places again.
The third time this happened, my eyes almost got scratched out by an aggressive cat. When I mentioned how anti-social the cat was to her owner, she seemed oblivious to the fact her cat could injure people. Ditto my friend Brett. He doesn’t seem to understand or realise that Butterscotch is getting aggressive. He seems to think it’s normal for a cat to bite and scratch people while playing. Lately Brett has had his hands covered in scratches courtesy of Butterscotch. The difference between the two cats, though, is that Butterscotch thinks humans like being bitten and scratched (due to Brett encouraging him by using his hand as a toy) while the previous cat did intend to hurt me.
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Butterscotch knows it hurts for instance. But pain in the cat world is part of living and loving (you should see them mate!) and Brett, his 'Daddy' has told him its ok to hurt. So when he does it to you he knows your not comfortable - not like his Daddy is - but he will push to see what he can get away with. Agressive cats that literally try to hurt you are best left alone as they have a reason for being that way. I dont consider cats a problem because they cant seriously hurt you - I get worse cuts fencing.
Dogs however ARE a problem and dog owners seem the most oblivious. I was not happy to call the council for the pitbull breeding den next door - I didnt want him to lose his animals as I knew he loved them in his own silly way. But he had blooded hunting animals roving on my land menacing my stock and refused to adress the problem. He ended up locking them in a pen, and never exercising them. They eventually escaped and went on a killing spree. If he had only taken them for a walk everyday it wouldnt have had to come to the worst - the animals were confiscated - but it was a severe lack of responsability.
I do my best to protect my visitors, but they have to understand when they have overstepped and are now in the animals territory. I will put my mynah bird away when friends come over as she IS vicious and will bite anyone for anything, if they arent comfortable around cats I will keep the cats away - more for the cats sake - and if a dog is there to gaurd I will introduce a visitor carefully so the dog knows its accepted. Out in the paddocks with the horses? Stick with me or you get creamed.
Comment by Deanna B
We have a big old cat who we love dearly,but in his old age Babe takes great exception to all human visitors who approach him.Ignore him and you're fine.
I warn everyone that you do NOT go near kitty or he will definitely scratch you. It never ceases to amaze me how many people still try to make friends with him...and ofcourse get scratched. We put him in the bedroom when children are around...because if the adults we know don't have the sense to listen to us...what are their offspring likely to do?
Now Dogs...are more of a force to be reckoned with. I was attacked twice,as a teenage babysitter, by German Shepherds. One time I was cuddling a brother and sister after they hurt themselves...their dog thought I was the one hurting them. The second time I was walking down the driveway of the house where I was to babysit,and the guard dog was not penned and lunged for my face. I survived both attacks but came away with a firm belief that if you own a dangerous animal...you are responsible for it's behavior,and for warning visitors not to enter the property until the animal is contained.
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I've got a buddy who is big into animal shelters and has seen pretty bad, but when he came over any my American Pit Bull Terrier started barking at him, he was like 'uhhh do i need to step further in the house or what?' it was funny, expecially since the dog was barking and running away. But yea... I've got those nasty sounding dogs that you speak of.
The difference , I guess is that people know how are dogs work and know that they're all bark and no bite. If they don't we make sure to warn them when they tell us they're coming over. To beware of the dogs, they're loud but they won't hurt ya.. .Well, the yorkie may, so don't pet him, but the bigs ones are cool just loud and obnoxious.
Oh, and I'm not being naive, I know that they have the potential to hurt, as in all retrospec they are dogs, but they're trained enough to know better. Sometimes though, we well shut the collie mix up in the back bc she can stir up trouble with the APBT, but for the most part the dogs are people friendly, except the yorkie, which is aging nicely into people friendliness but still iffy.