Monday, March 24, 2008

New development

There is a house on the corner of Washington Street (main road in Canton) and High Street (the street my street is off) that has an electric fence and a Wheaten Terrier. The dog is now about two and has gone from totally freaked out to aggressively running her boundary. It is SO, SO sad. Note that the owners are NEVER out in the yard with her and she is out for hours upon hours. I know there is 15 % of the population that uses electric fences intelligently, but then there are people like this that ruin (traumatize, whatever you would like to call it) their dog.

I didn't bring electric fences up to go on-and-on - I brought it up because Ike now will not go past the house if the WT Lily is out. Can't say I blame him. Apparently John was walking him this weekend and Lily came tearing out from a hidden spot and rushed the boundary. Ike was pretty freaked out. This afternoon I tried to walk Ike down that way and he spotted Lily and wouldn't budge.

6 comments:

Katrin said...

I swear she 'lies in wait' too. I was driving past one time after being at your house and she was there, in the bushes, eyeing the road, she saw J in the car and then raced out and exploded at the car (he didn't even bat an eye, good boy). I said- That must be the wheaten Julie always refers too.

Now you'll have to find a 'nice' wheaten to desinstitize Ike with. *sigh* good luck on that one, all the wheatens I know around here are nasty, espeically to other dogs.

Cat, Tessie, & Strata said...

Make a check-in with the town offices. Most towns around here have a very tight leash law, even if the dog is own the owner's property.

It is not legal in Randolph to have a dog on a leash longer than 8', or off-leash, period, unless the dog is in a fenced in enclosure.

I would take the information you get and go for a visit, and explain that the dog is horrifying people who are trying to go for a walk and that s/he is also breaking leash law.

OH WAIT, Google for the win, here we go:

http://www.town.canton.ma.us/PDF_files/GENERAL_BY-LAWS.pdf

Section 39. Regulation of Dogs

Section 3: Complaint of Nuisance
If any person shall make a complaint first in writing to the Animal Control Officer
that any dog owned or harbored within his jurisdiction is a nuisance by reason of
vicious disposition or excessive barking or of other disturbance,
the Animal
Control Officer shall investigate such complaint which may include an
examination under oath of the complainant, submit a written report to the
Selectman of his findings and recommendations, together with the written
complaint. Upon receipt of such report and examination of the complainant and
the owner of the dog, under oath, the Selectmen after hearing, of which time the
owner of the dog will be given due notice to appear, may make such order
concerning the restraint, muzzling, disposal of such dog, dismissal of the
complaint or such other action as may be deemed necessary. The Animal
Control Officer, after investigation, may issue an interim order that such dog be
restrained or muzzled for a period not to exceed fourteen days to enable the
Selectmen to issue their order following the receipt of the report of the Animal
Control Officer. If the Selectmen fail to act during the period of interim order,
upon examination of the period the interim order is automatically vacated.


Section 4: Restraint or Muzzling
The Animal Control Officer may restrain or muzzle, or issue an interim order to
restrain or muzzle, for a period not to exceed fourteen days, any dog for any of
the following reasons:
a. for having bitten or threatened (worried) any person
b. it found at large or unmuzzled, as the case may be, while an order for the
restraint of such dog is in effect
c. if found in a school, school yard or other recreational area
d. for having killed or maimed or otherwise damaged any domestic animal
e. for chasing any vehicle (including bicycles) upon any public way or way
open to public travel in the town
f. for any violation of Section II.


---

Good luck!

Blue said...

Poor Ike! Electric fences... Now there's a rant I won't go into.

That's too bad that you and Katrin have had bad experiences with Wheatens. Before Iris, I had a Wheatie, and he had by far the most solid temperament of any dog I've lived with. He was really smart and knew all sorts of tricks. Excellent with other dogs, people, kids. Nothing phased him. I brought him everywhere with me because he was so well behaved, which was probably partly why he took everything in stride.

Wheatens were getting popular before the poodle-mixed-with-anythings became the dog to have. I don't know why people are so hung up on "low shedding." It's a lot of work!

Jules said...

Katrin and Blue: Lily used to be a sweet. :( And she is still sweet if you don't have a dog, but she has become incredibly reactive to dogs. And again, I don't blame her. I can't imagine the stress she is under. So scary that she reacted to J in the car!

Cat: Thanks. I didn't realize the leash law was in effect even with an electric fence ect. I will have to call our friendly ACO.

Katrin said...

Oh yeah Blue, now, if I get a call about a Wheaten it is 99.9% of the time for an agression problem everything from dog on dog agression, to dog on people agression to dog on other animal agression (cats, rabbits, etc) to resource guarding and many times all 4. It's really very sad.

People go for 'low shedding' and 'cute' but forget about the TERRIER part of the name and its a problem. *sigh*

Glad to hear yours was so nice! That gives me some hope that I may oneday meet a non agressive one!

Blue said...

It's too bad, Wheatens are supposed to be less "scrappy" than most of the other terrier breeds. The small animal aggression doesn't surprise me. The couple of Wheatens I've known would bring in squirrels, rabbits, birds, etc. When you take a smart, stubborn, independent dog, throw in some terrier tenacity and then don't bother to do much training or socialization and that's where people have problems. My Wheaten would do anything for me, as long as I could explain "why." He was fun dog to work with.

There are good ones out there! I hope... It's been years now since I had much to do with the breed. They can be great dogs.