The fact that more and more people are adopting more and more dogs is a very good thing. The fact that some of those people think their dogs need to run free and un-tethered, even in public parks, can be a very bad thing. Because when dogs collide—especially when one is on a leash and the other is not—bad things can happen.
I know, because it recently happened to me and one of my dogs.
That's Part 1 of the story. As you will see in Part II, this is not an isolated incident and is noted by the insurance industry. It's more of a troubling national trend, with dog attacks on other dogs—and people—happening more and more often. As you'll see in Part III it can take a lot of effort to resolve events like these, involving not only dogs and their owners, but often the police as well.
What does all this have to do with risk management? For one thing, it shows how simple precautions can save everyone a lot of time and pain. And what happens when some people think those precautions aren't necessary for them—in other words, rules and regulations don't apply in their case.
Part I is an op-ed column I wrote for our regional newspaper earlier this month detailing our unfortunate encounter with a thoughtless dog owner:
Here's a scenario of what happened on a recent Saturday, while my husband and I walked our two dogs on a trail in a public park in our area. We spotted a dog coming toward us, realized it was off-leash and called to the owner to leash it—quickly! The owner had no leash and no control over the dog, which made an immediate beeline for our dogs.
Before we could stop it, the stranger's dog had sunk its teeth into the face of our 8-year-old German shepherd-chow mix—a dog lover's worst nightmare. The dog was good sized and muscular and was not letting go, but finally broke away when its owner came up and grabbed its collar. Meanwhile our dog's face and mouth were bleeding.
The woman was full of excuses why her dog was off-leash—she lived nearby and none of the local residents bother with a leash, she said. In other words, this was her extended backyard. We reminded her that leashing her dog is the law, nevertheless, and had she followed it, our dog would not be bleeding. We tried to exchange phone numbers, but nobody had a pen or paper. Because of the situation with the two dogs, we could not walk back to our car with her. She agreed to go to her house nearby, write down her information and leave it on our windshield. She did not.
When we returned home I called the New York state park police and reported the incident, only to learn that there's been a big problem with dogs off-leash in public parks this season. The park police strongly suggested we take our dog to an emergency vet, even though the wounds by this time had stopped bleeding and appeared to be minor.
The vet shaved our dog's face to get a good look and ended up having to staple two puncture wounds-one of which went all the way through the dog's cheek. We're very lucky the damage wasn't worse.
I've had dogs for years and I've learned the hard way to always keep my dogs leashed outside a fenced yard. A few times when hiking in the mountains outside of Los Angeles several years back, I let my shepherd-mix run off-leash. During one walk she heard something in the bushes, of course, ran over and stuck her head in—because that's what dogs do—and was promptly sprayed square in the face by a skunk. This was a tough lesson, but learning it probably saved my dogs' lives just a few weeks later. That time the rustling sound beside the trail turned out to be a rattlesnake! But my dogs were at a safe distance on their leashes.
As an editor at a trade magazine covering the risk management beat, I've learned the value of applying risk management to everyday life. In other words, thinking about the consequences of an act beforehand to avoid heartache. Before going out to the park or the trail and letting the dog run loose, think about what could happen to your dog or other dogs—or to bicyclists or even children who might be playing nearby.
Think about how you would feel if it was your dog being attacked. And, if this fails to concern you, think about your wallet and how you might feel having to fork over money for a fine to the state park police. Or worse yet, paying hundreds—minimum—for an injured dog's vet bill (and that injured dog could be your own). These are all things that have a good likelihood of happening from this seemingly innocuous act.
What will happen in our case? We will find the woman with the dog—we already have a good idea where she lives and so do the police. And she will be paying our dog's veterinary bill. Had she been more cooperative our attitude might be different – because, as others have found out through experience, the best way to avoid legal problems is to admit wrongdoing and apologize—two things that did not happen in our case.
And one more thing: If we should run into an unleashed dog in a public park, we'll be on the cell phone immediately—and the park police are on speed-dial.
(To be continued)
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