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well, not everybody who owns an aggressive dog is an idiot or an incompetent pet owner. My step-sister adopted an australian shepherd puppy (mix, he's a small dog) and the dog has huge amounts of fear based aggression. Over his short life (he's about 2 years old) she's taken him to trainer after trainer, and while he is still a wonderful dog around family, he still will not hesitate to attack strangers, trainers, even her friends who previously he did ok with. And since it's just her and the dog she pretty much has no choice but to take him everywhere with her. She's pretty much on her last ditch attempt and if her latest attempt doesn't work (that monastery program here in NY that will train your dog and tech you how to follow through at home) then she has said that she'll have to find a farm he can live on for the rest of his life since it's not fair to either of them. I'm sure if it were any other dog her dog would be the perfect little dog, watching how much time, energy, and effort she has put into trying to stop his aggression issues over the past 2 years. Her dog actually has made a lot of progress- when he was a puppy the vet told her she would have to put him down because he was so aggressive. But it's just not enough to keep it at a minimum, if she wants to keep him his attacks need to be eliminated.
Now it's pretty clear to me based on these stories these owners mentioned aren't like her (and I like to give people the benefit of the doubt!) and she is most likely the exception to the rule... but I thought I'd mention her story in any case.
I've seen a few dogs off leash around here, most of the time in their (unfenced!) yard. I try to avoid them because usually when I notice them unless they are just chilling out in their yard or in the middle of some play time with their owners, they seem awfully tense. So I generally take that as their body language telling me that they aren't in the mood to make any friends, and will not tolerate you getting any closer then you already are. Granted, I could be wrong, but that's what my instinct tells me and I'm sure my instinct knows way more about body language then I do.
Sometimes I wonder if there are any responsible dog owners out where we live. I've never seen another person pick up after their dog like I do. If it were out in the country it would be fine to just let nature take care of it, but this is a city we are talking about and it would be awfully nice to walk down a trail around here without smelling dog poop. Other public places you are allowed to take our dogs like by schools it can be just plain unsanitary to leave it there... have some consideration for other people. (this is on top of the whole "dogs in an unfenced yard off leash" thing)
Really, I would never allow my dog off leash, even if she was well trained. I have seen people walk with their well trained dogs off leash and it's a wonderful thing... but not something I'm interested in doing. Even though she walks great on a leash being a terrier mix it's in her blood to hunt small animals like the little birds and squirrels, also she likes to greet pretty much every dog and person she meets (with the exception of children which scare her) so I think she would have the potential to be way too easily distracted. There is nothing wrong with a leash.
Thankfully my pup is dominating instead of aggressive. I say "thankfully" because even if it is really frustrating and embarrassing at times, it's not an immediate danger and probably not nearly as stressful going through the process of correcting.
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