Mace Him!

A note on carrying mace. 
Citronella Dog Mace to be specific. 

I am a Dog person.  I have dogs.  I love dogs.  I do my level best to understand dogs, and I get that you too, are a dog aficionado and cannot imagine hurting a dog on purpose. 
But what about those "other" dog lovers who think the city park is an off-lead zone? 
Or the guy who lives on the corner who thinks his little dog bolting off his driveway to rush into your dogs, is just a dog being friendly?

Those are the Humans that scare me.  I work with Humans who are doing everything in their power to rehabilitate their canines, and almost lose all the ground we've made because some Idiot thinks their dog is "friendly," and doesn't need to be on a leash.

Well, it isn't about your dog being friendly.  It's about MY dog having a problem I'm trying to help.
 

Leash laws exist to keep all dogs safe and controlled.  I just watched a short video of a girl (whom I don't know) trying to walk her dog down her own driveway (this dog could use some Hey Don't Pull Me lessons, but still; he's leashed to her) and as she hits the last 10 or 15 feet of it, her neighbors small dogs come blasting across the street.  Barking and rushing and threatening her and her dog because they believe that is their space!  Now, they are just doing what they see as natural, after all, their owner has allowed them to set up that kind of boundary for themselves.  This girl says she's already spoken to the neighbor politely, and still, no control on her dogs.  What happens if the drive is icy (it's quite a hill) and the responsible owner slips?  Her larger dog is now free to defend what he sees as his, and these small dogs may be seriously injured.  If this were to occur, and the police were called, guess who'd probably be in trouble.....The responsible girl.  Her dog is a pitbull.

I have another family I am working with, who have taken all the necessary steps to ensure the safety of their dog when they take him for walks.  He suffers from leash aggression (getting better all the time) and has been known to displace that frustration on his Humans; he wears a basket muzzle when he is out.  They go out of their way to step waaaay to the side and work him as other Humans pass on the trails.  This dog is progressing wonderfully. 
Last visit, they asked for help with "off lead dogs" being allowed to approach him.  They aren't walking him in a zone where being off lead is permitted, and yet, neighbors and other Humans who use that park area seem to think it's perfectly ok to allow their dog to rush up to an animal clearly wearing a muzzle and being controlled off the path.
They had even called out to the owners of the dogs who were being allowed to approach.
"Excuse me, our dog is not good with other dogs.  Can you get your dog please?"

"That's ok, Mine's friendly."

..........................what?!...........................

Citronella Dog Mace.
As much as I would hate to have to use it, I would.  In a heartbeat. 
I call out to you that my dog is aggressive, or can't handle your dogs' approach, and you tell me he's friendly.  I'm going to then call out "I'm going to mace him!"  At which point you, the irresponsible Human who aren't following the rules and are putting my dog in jeopardy, can either get your dog away from mine, or I will spray your dog with a concentrated blast of citronella and send him packing.  At which point, you may have to go searching for him wherever he ran away to.  Which will most likely make you want to blame me for making your dog run away, but hey, if he'd have been on a leash, you wouldn't be in that mess, now would you?

My neighbor has a small dog that rushes out to any dog passing "his" street.  The last time, I actually saw the guy standing in his drive.  As an experiment, I called out to him "My black dog will bite him," (not true, but sick of seeing this dog off lead in the street) to the response of "That's alright.  They're just dogs bein' dogs." 

It is my job to keep my dogs safe.  It is your job to keep your dogs safe.  Allowing them to run around running up to dogs you don't know is not safe.  Stop it.  You never know who may be packing Citro.