Dog Owner Chat v3 ~Open!~

[Day Of Silence]

Well, today has been eventful, frustrating and a challenge.

We're now up to 2lb in Epic's backpack (about 4% of her weight), did a bunch of walking in the morning and practiced recall while out on the 'trail'.
Just as we were about to go back, the neighbor came around with her off leash dog so I ducked out of sight and sent my sister dog to ask if she go a short way back to allow Epic and I to pass. The neighbor's response was just 'oh, my dog's good, beside _______ has to be brave'.
I've talked previously with this neighbor and we differ on opinions considering a lot of things, which isn't the problem, the problem is the lack of respect for our differing opinions. I can respect that she sees dogs in a different light and prefers a different approach, but I'm considered too young to know anything and so am dismissed.
I ended up letting Epic off leash to meet the dog (in the absolute worst area possible), but since the other dog was off leash with zero voice control, it would have been a lot worse to just keep Epic leashed (snapping, lunging and biting, be that at dog or any human in the way).
Then because her dog is not leashed, I can't leash Epic because then Epic would go crazy and the other dog would react. Then Epic darts off after a cat, when I call her back she hesitates then starts returning only to have her backpack snag on a fence and her freak out then go back to find the cat. I finally got her back, leashed her, then had the other dog run in her face so she snaps. Then the lady is like 'wow, she's really snappy'.
Like wth have you not gotten?

And then Epic bit my seven year old brother on the lip. A visiting grandma left a bun on a table where my brother was. He was looking out the window, she went to get it, stepped on his foot, he moved his foot, probably freaked her out and then she got him.
He's okay, but I feel like an idiot. He now hates her, I know at least one other sibling is afraid of her.
I want to move out so badly. My siblings are good about not being stupid around/with her, but accidents happen and I need them to just...not.

I just need to be in the middle of nowhere, just me and Epic where I don't have to worry about stupid people, accidents, dogs, cats or horses.

[angel3302]

I have an Australian Cattle Dog named Phoenix. Shes so cute, but strangers beware, she bites!

[HooksandBones]

*I own a cat and dog and I'm concerning both so I did a post in both. Ill be happy to remove them if they seem spammy *

Just a quick thank you to the community for helping with my pet problems and coping with my 'ranting problems XD'
We rarely have any issues now after I tried most of the things you guys suggested ty

This issue is not a direct problem about my cat or dog, its about my sister.
Everytime my dog and cat are sleeping, she always comes and disturbs them when they clearly want to rest and are tired.
She picks them up while they are sleeping peacefully and don't want to move (aka, the worst times possible)
I don't like it when she does that, because I know that no one likes to be disturbed when they are sleeping.
She also picks them both up in inappropriate ways. When she picks my dog up, he doesn't like being carried under his 'armpits' and have his hind legs dangling because he finds it very scary. When she picks up my cat, she SQUEEZES her. SQUEEZES. I can see the cat doesn't like it because she tenses up and her claws come out.
I tell her every time to LEAVE THEM ALONE and LET THEM SLEEP but she never listens to me and proceeds to make unsettle them.
What can I do about this? Suggestions?
She also disturbs my cat and dog while they are eating/ the dog is chewing a chew toy/bone/treat thing

ty

[mr.robot]

i have younger siblings who thought that sticking their hands in a young pitbulls mouth was a fantastic idea. they'd do the same as your sister does, and would never listen to me, so i started scaring them every time they so much as made a move too far to do something negative to him i'd stamp my foot on the floor / spray them with water / throw something soft their way to stop them. it was more of a shock tactic and the only thing i could think of doing besides getting my parents involved. i dont really bare any 'child loving' instincts toward children (mine is centered on my dogs.) so this might not be super child-friendly but... i don't really know any different haha.

[HooksandBones]

i have younger siblings who thought that sticking their hands in a young pitbulls mouth was a fantastic idea. they'd do the same as your sister does, and would never listen to me, so i started scaring them every time they so much as made a move too far to do something negative to him i'd stamp my foot on the floor / spray them with water / throw something soft their way to stop them. it was more of a shock tactic and the only thing i could think of doing besides getting my parents involved. i dont really bare any 'child loving' instincts toward children (mine is centered on my dogs.) so this might not be super child-friendly but... i don't really know any different haha.

That wouldn't work because I tried xd But the thing is Shes holding the pet and If I scare her /spray her/etc she would 1. Drop the pet and injure it or 2. Hold the pet TIGHTER ;-; So I really cant do anything about it except for doing the 'emergency procedure' (closing the door and telling her to let them go) which takes really long.

[mr.robot]

have you tried getting parents involved?

[Blu Malinois]

Just wanted to let everyone know I have opened a Novice trick dog Spark team, but it won't actually begin until June 1, as I am currently away from my dog due to school. Let me know if you want to join!

[FlynnEugene]

@DOS I am sorry that neighbor you ran into was being difficult. I know tons of people like that... I have a friend with an aggressive dog and she will have him leashed. She sees someone else and tries to leash him and they say, " Oh, it's okay my dog is friendly!" and then she is like, " Lol.... well mine isn't." Yet they continue to let their dog intrude in it's face. It really bothers me but sometimes you can't get to people. As for your little brother... accidents happen and hopefully your family understands that. My mom's Shih-Tzu snapped at my niece, his tooth scrapped up against her arm. She was like 1, and he was 8 I believe. He had already started developing arthritis and we told my sister to keep my niece away from him because he was starting to get grumpy. Well my niece slapped him in the face by accident and he snapped at her. Now that she is a lot older ( 6 ) She is no longer scared of him. But my older sister hates him and is awful to him. Sometimes we can't prevent things like that, but moving out will probably help you a lot. Are you able to do that?

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Well, I am meeting up with my moms groomer today. She is going to be cleaning Izzy's glands and then also showing me how to groom Addy properly. It is so nice of her to do this. I can't wait for the summer when I actually get to work with her

[Keriae]

^ On the subject of off leash dogs....
I took Mary for a nice, long walk today. Most of the dogs we came across were off leash and were called away or put on leash when we came closer, as I made sure to say that Mary isn't fond of other dogs and as we've only had her a week and a half we're not sure what her threshold is. One woman had a dalmatian and as soon as she saw us, he came bounding over and she was like "he's friendly!" and I was like "well mine isn't."

Her reply was "It'll be okay, because he's a boy and your's is a bitch."

Like, really? Dog aggression is dog aggression and I'd rather not test Mary's boundaries while it's just me with her. Thankfully, nothing happened, but he was definitely in her face and she was growling so much that it was vibrating up through the leash. She was clearly uncomfortable and I got out of there as soon as I could, but it really annoyed me

[Alizei]

^ On the subject of off leash dogs....
I took Mary for a nice, long walk today. Most of the dogs we came across were off leash and were called away or put on leash when we came closer, as I made sure to say that Mary isn't fond of other dogs and as we've only had her a week and a half we're not sure what her threshold is. One woman had a dalmatian and as soon as she saw us, he came bounding over and she was like "he's friendly!" and I was like "well mine isn't."

Her reply was "It'll be okay, because he's a boy and your's is a bitch."

Like, really? Dog aggression is dog aggression and I'd rather not test Mary's boundaries while it's just me with her. Thankfully, nothing happened, but he was definitely in her face and she was growling so much that it was vibrating up through the leash. She was clearly uncomfortable and I got out of there as soon as I could, but it really annoyed me

Yeah, I know this feeling. My Lara is afraid of other dogs, so when I see other dogs, I simply keep her on the leash. It's really annoying when somebody comes with their dog and it's off the leash and they say "don't worry, he's friendly and won't bite. Let them play together, take off the leash". Yeah, great. I keep my dog on a leash because of something. I told this person that my dog is aggressive, but they just didn't listen. Everything changed when Lara snarled at the dog and tried to bite it. I told them she's aggressive! It's really annoying when other people act as if they know your dog better than you do. And it makes my training with her a lot more difficult, because after something like that she's really nervous.