A Rant About Dogs and their Owners

Walking my dog today and I see a guy with three angry barking little dogs on extendable leashes coming my way. 2 Shih Tzus and a Pekingese it looked like. Being a wary dog walker, I elect to cross over to the other side of the street at the intersection and continue on my merry way. 

Well the Pekingese was having none of it, barking and growling, he darted into the middle of the street coming after me and my dog (who looked but pretty much ignored him), and then the retractable leash broke. The dog comes barreling at us, and his owner and the 2 yapping shihtzus after him. 

At first I just stopped, thinking the dog would just bark and sniff Duke and the guy could catch him and be off. But the dog doesn't do that, instead he growls and darts in and basically attacks my dog, completely unprovoked. My 50# dog yips, jumps aside, and then the hackles went up and he started growling, not his usual play growl, but a "back off or I will be forced to hurt you" growl. The Pekingese is now darting around in circles, growling at Duke, while I'm clutching his collar trying to keep my dog from killing the little **** and also dancing around trying to keep myself between them (and seeing if I can aim a good swift kick at the attacker). Meanwhile the owner is standing off yelling at his dog to come (it doens't) or to sit (my dog does a couple of times, his doesn't). His other two dogs are busy yapping their little heads off but thankfully don't get involved. Finally (read, 30 seconds later, but felt like forever), he manages to grab his dog and I practically bolt down the sidewalk with mine. An apology? A shamed face? Nope, nothing, the guy just walked away. 

Halfway down the block I see a woman with a lab mix wagging its tail at us. She witnessed the altercation, and hurriedly crossed the street as we came down it. I wanted to shout at her, "it wasn't my dog's fault, that little ****forbrains attacked him!" 

We made it home without further incident and as far as I can tell the other dog never drew blood. 

Teach your dogs manners people, or next time the GSD your Pekingese picks on will rip his yappy little head off, or his angry mom will.