Do you think this is fair?

Question

Today I walked my cat on a leash along the pathway at the local creek.  A dog owner walked towards me with his large black Doberman Pincher unrestrained.  I saw them from a distance, picked up the cat in my arms and stepped away from the path 5 meters over towards the fence on the other side of the pathway, and the dog owner clearly saw me pick up the cat and walk aways from the path.  The unrestrained dog kept running over towards me and the cat on my arms. The cat got very scared because the dog was so close, and in its fear of the dog the cat scratched me.  I yelled over to the dog owner to call his dog back and put it on the leash. He didn't, and so I told him politely that it is law that all dogs must be restrained on a leash when walking in public.  My cat was frantic and out of his wits because the dog was so big and so close. The dog owner was rude and said I should not walk my cat there in the first place.  When he walked away his dog was still not restrained.  I calmed down my cat, but I was so upset because the dog owner refused to call back his dog.  Under normal circumstances my cat is fine with dogs when they are on a leash.  He will just sit down low and wait for them to pass.  But this dog was unrestrained.   How can dog owners be so ignorant?   He could see I was struggling to hold my cat.   What would you have done?   The dog owner refused to give me his name, so I am unable to report him.  But I wrote a letter of complaint to the local City Council asking them to run a campaign for dog owners to keep their dogs on leash whenever they are out in public area.  Cat owners should have the same right to walk their cat in peace  as dog owners walk their dog.
What do you think?  It could have ended far worse than it did.

Star_of_Darkness · Accepted Answer

Check your local laws to see if you can carry mace and if the dog owner has his dog lose and is coming at you, spray it and report him for having a lose dog. You are going to want the mace that is a foam, not a spray. 

Foam is far less likely to blow back on you or your cat and the stuff sticks to its target. 

I don''t agree with any one who allows their cat to roam then justifies it with lame excuses. Cat's can be walked on leashes just fine. In this case it was the dog owner who was at fault, his dog was unleashed and he didn't do anything to call the dog back. 

I do walk my cats on a leash as well and carry foam mace with me just in case of some idiot with a dog who doenst have their pet on a leash.

Quagmire Jones · Answer

The dog owner was  breaking the law, being rude, and was in danger of loosing his dog. I live in a national park and I must have met that dog owner half a dozen times. The dog was not breaking the law, the dog owner was.  Here in the park, the dog would be impounded by the rangers and the owner would be asked to leave the park. The rangers don't give warning to dog owners who break the law, they just take the dogs away.
I would never have tried to walk a cat, or tried to keep a cat on a leash. 
You can't make apple pies out of oranges. But you are an unusual find a cat trainer to be able to walk your cat on a leach.

Ocimom · Answer

Personally I don't want to have any of my cats walking outside on a leash.  You are lucky you could hold your cat.  If he had gotten loose, the dog would have chased and hurt or killed him. 

In some ways the dog owner was right - you should not have had the cat walking in the area normally where dogs are.  But you are right that the dog should have been leashed; and the dog owner should have gotten his dog and taken it away quickly instead of arguing with you about whether or not the cat should have been there in the first place.

I suggest when you walk your cats, do so in YOUR yard and not take the cat to the park any more.  Next time may not be so lucky for either of you.

Anonymous · Answer

It's a sad reality that very little in this life is fair unless you are born rich and beautiful like yours truly.

 BTW - instead of whining about this you could have had the dog owner charged for refusing to call his dog off; WHY DIDN'T YOU ? Virtually every other cat owner would have.

pretto · Answer

now not certain what you imply "reasonable". Fair is dependent upon what her husband's sales was once, I imply he is a rich man, more often than not would not omit $50M however normally in a divorce the money is going for the little one. A lady will get alimony provided that she had no sales or activity of her possess and Heather does have a profession of her possess. But more often than not their tax approach might take part of that, and I have no idea if $25M might preserve that little one within the variety she is familiar with (more often than not had a big condo, nanny, garments, toys, schooling, transportation) and I'm certain McCartney might want his little one to preserve dwelling in luxurious. I'm now not certain if the courts might enable Heather to revisit the courtroom if her little one wanted extra or now not. I might consider sure. I understand Heather requested for extra money, and bought much less. She desired extra protection for her and her daughter.

myfavouritelucy · Answer

Why are you walking your cat on a lead? Cats are totally different creatures from dogs, and want to work out their own territory and although i agree that this idiot shouldn;t have had their dog off the lead, YOU shouldn;t be taking your cat to places like this. I suspect half your question is based on your need to tell everyone you walk your cat, but a cat, left to it;s own devices, will know how to cope with a situation like this...i.e. get up a high wall and look down on the stupid dog.

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Do you think this is fair?

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