To fellow pet owners in my town: Stop letting your pets run loose around the streets!

[Estil]

If you guys have seen me at other forums I frequent, then you may know that I'm a "crazy cat lady" (I'm actually a guy but crazy cat guy or crazy cat gent doesn't flow off the tongue as good). This here is my best friend Jamiee as well as my dearly departed Tweetie:

http://s650.photobucket.com/user/Est...?sort=3&page=1
(be sure to click the folders on the left)

Now, for various reasons (don't ask me to explain, it's quite complicated on many fronts) me and my wife are just not destined to have (human) children. So that's all the more reason why Jamiee is my best friend, my bestest pal, my bestest little buddy in the whole world! My wife even says that he is obsessed with me And as per the ASPCA's recommendation, my kitty is strictly indoors only.

All that being said, I cannot for the life of me understand why, why,, WHY, way too many people where I live let their dogs and other pets run around loose without a leash (if the owner is even with them at all!). A few times I've seen people leave their dog near a store's door with no lease or anything to secure them. Don't they know their best friend (most pet owners do see their pet(s) as such right?) could get lost, run over, cat/dog/etcnapped (like if someone rescues them thinking they're a stray), or who knows what else? And I don't know about the rest of you but if anything bad happened to my kitty I would be really, really sad.

[AmbrosiaWriter]

I know that we let my two dogs out in the yard off leash but we have them pretty strictly trained to stay in the yard (they don't even really want to leave, and the girl will sometimes wander into the woods behind us but we can always tell where she is.) Like, even if something gets them barking they'll go to the edge of our property but stop.

When we still weren't 100% confident we could not trust our dogs to stay in our territory we kept them on leash whenever outside, and I'm pretty sure they know if they run off it means three days of only being outside on leash if not in the fenced in area.

We recently put up an even bigger (as in area wise) fence around our backyard so this has become an entire non-issue anyway for us.

A lot of people think their pets are smarter than they actually are though :/ We'd never let them off leash if we were in the city, or not walking in a way out of the way wooded area. But we have really good recall with them, one whistle and BAM they are in front of us with with ears up wondering what we needed and where the hell is their treat.

I don't have a cat but if (...when) I get one it is also going to be strictly indoors. Not only for kitty protection, but cats have a really nasty habit of doing a lot of damage to the area (killing birds, bunnies, etc. so forth.) Can't tell you the number of times I've seen chipmunk, squirrel, and/or bunny babies who got dragged out of their nests from pet cats.

[Estil]

Not the little bunnies! Not only are they (and the kitties) quite cute in the Tales of Phantasia game (SNES repo) I just finished but my wife's pet name (pardon for me) for me is that I'm her little bunny or her little Estil Only trouble is though, bunnies can't sleep/snuggle up with you in your bed (I think that is by far the most beautiful expression of love/trust a kitty can give) and they won't let you hold them. My kitty (born 7/14/12) lets me hold/cradle him like a baby, but he is not a baby, he is a man. He is 32 in cat years after all and the way he likes to be held does not make him any less of a man

You do have a completely enclosed fence around your yard right? Better safe than sorry when it comes to your four legged best pals.

And cats ARE smart. For example, I've seen videos on YouTube where someone pretends to hit/hurt the cat's favorite human to see if the cat will defend that favorite human. Now whether or not this is at all a smart idea is another discussion for another time but the cats always respond half halfheartedly...as if the cat knows it's just a drill/practice. Because when it's the real deal, they WILL defend their owner with everything they got (as you can see by the famous video where the cat saves a little boy from a dog trying to drag the boy's leg off).

[jackfaire]

We don't have a back gate (Landlord hasn't replaced it) but we let our dogs run around in the front yard that's fenced in where they stay. But there is a male dog that runs around the neighborhood because the owner lets him run wild and he's snuck into yards and knocked up a few dogs while their owners were at work luckily my folks are retired and the dog has a bell so they make their dogs come inside when they hear it.

[Estil]

But there is a male dog that runs around the neighborhood because the owner lets him run wild and he's snuck into yards and knocked up a few dogs while their owners were at work luckily my folks are retired and the dog has a bell so they make their dogs come inside when they hear it.

And what would Bob Barker have to say about all this? You bet my kitty is neutered and his dearly departed predecessor was spayed. Just for you Bob.

[AmbrosiaWriter]

Some pets CAN be very smart in certain ways, but not others. I have seen some cats who are let out stop and look both ways on the street before they cross it.

But the pets can also be quite "dumb" because they don't know better. I've had pet owners bring their pets in who are really sick and we have to try to figure out what's going on. Most of the time it turns out they ate something they shouldn't have when the owner wasn't around (mushrooms in the woods, trash people left around... one chihuahua managed to scarf some pot brownies oh my god the owner was ripshit at her kids. "If you're going to make THOSE at LEAST make 100% SURE Gus can't get them!")

Our fence is completely enclosed, but we still let them out of it to go the bathroom in the woods. Again, we spent a long time training them in what the edges of our territory are as well as recall. They are both basically working dog level of training when it comes to recall

And there are bunnies that will let you cuddle and snuggle them. You just have to gentle them (AKA handle them) when they are still itty bitty. Most people don't do that with bunnies.

Cats can be the same way. I have seen cats that were not gentled when they are kittens and come hell or high water they may let you pet them but don't ever think of trying to pick them up.

[jackfaire]

And what would Bob Barker have to say about all this? You bet my kitty is neutered and his dearly departed predecessor was spayed. Just for you Bob.

In my area they do cats for free Dogs you have to pay out the wazoo (even the humane society in the area does it when they get the dogs and then makes you pay for it) So my folks can't really afford to get it done and they just avoid male dogs.

[s_stabeler]

to be fair, there's a limit on how much control you can have over- for example- a cat. My parents have two cats- they're allowed outdoors in the yard, and earlier today we got a nasty surprise when she- it seems- managed to create a hole in the fence to slip into our neighbour's garden, and from there to get into the next garden. ( mum went over to fetch her, then we shut the back door so both cats had to stay inside- I get the feeling they'll be kept inside until we can get the fence fixed/replaced.)

cats can be gentled as adults, incidentally, but it's far trickier than as kittens. I know my aunt has done it many times before- her farm cats always adopt her, not the other way around.

[AmbrosiaWriter]

Oh they can be gentled as adults, but it takes time, patience, and being somewhat willing to accept a scratch or possibly a bite. Most pet owners don't want to take that time or effort (or pain). They want a perfect pet right out of the box and don't realize it takes work.

To those pet owners, a rage filled big middle finger. Pets are not toys.

[Estil]

Yeah, with cats you do have to earn their love/trust over time. We got Jamiee right after he was weaned and for the first few days he was afraid of me But my wife noticed before even I did that he was coming around to me, I guess cats generally imprint the human who is most responsible for their food/kitty litter and such...generally.

As for my dearly departed Tweetie, we got her when she was very much a grown woman, a lady if you will Which probably explains why she was indeed very much a daddy's girl, but unlike Jamiee, Tweetie did not like being held. Whether they like being held and whether they like being rubbed on their belly when they show it those are very very much up to the individual cat's personality.

And yes sometimes my cat does mistake my feet for cat food! >_<

[Greenday]

A lot of it comes down to training. We've taken our dog to the local pet store and so far my puppy has passed the beginners class and the intermediate class. Advanced is next then I will go for the K9 Good Citizen certification. It's tough as beagles are more stubborn than other dogs but we've had her for less than a year (rescued her at 2 years old) and she does sit, lay down, both paws, stay, come, go to your spot (spot on floor near bathrooms away from front door), go to your bed, leave it, let's go (training a beagle to stop sniffing something on command is tough), stopping at curbs and waiting for a let's go command, heel. Also broke her of severe separation anxiety.

With strict training, there's a lot you can do with your pet. I hope to eventually qualify my dog as a service animal. Just needs more socialization.

[Estil]

Actually we weren't even allowed to have any pets in our apartments at all until my wife (who has been severely disabled for the past few decades, both physically/emotionally; I have been legally disabled since 2011 (I'm totally able bodied, but able minded, eh not so much) was able to qualify by having the kitty as a "support animal/pet therapy" sort of deal. I guess you could say my kitty is kinda sorta the junior varsity version of a service animal. While it might be cute and fun to be able to take kitty around like a service animal dog and have everyone saying how off the charts adorable he is and such, I can't. I'm much too scarred that he might get lost or run over or something Maybe it's a good thing I'm not a human child sort of parent as I'd probably be too over protective and spoiling (well as as much as you could be on only disability). Sure kitties that are spoiled are off the charts adorable, spoiled human kids, eh not so much:

https://youtu.be/72w-W6t-MYo

PS: That is also another pet peeve, people who ride their bikes on the sidewalk :P

[protege]

Some pets CAN be very smart in certain ways, but not others. I have seen some cats who are let out stop and look both ways on the street before they cross it.

I had a cat (Kitty) who would do that. At the time, he was my grandmother's cat. She got him, to help deal with the moles that were tearing up the yard. Other than coming in at night to watch TV for a bit, he spent his days outside. Why? Grandma had just come home after a near-fatal auto accident, and didn't get around very well. She was afraid she'd trip over him if he was an inside cat. Kitty usually didn't go very far, even though we had an 80-acre farm. Most of the time, he'd head into the fields to hunt. Otherwise, he could be found curled up on a porch chair or under the shrubbery.

But, when the farm was sold, I brought him home...and he became an inside cat. Too many dogs, strange people, and stupid drivers on my street.

[Estil]

Interesting, isn't that what the cat does in the GBC version of Harvest Moon? I wish the SNES and N64 versions let you have a kitty

And I don't have "stupid" drivers in front of our house so much as a lot of HUGE semi-trucks and such go by. If I didn't keep Jamiee indoors only (as ASPCA would ideally like all cats to be) he'd be squished like a pancake!

[Kheldarson]

or who knows what else?

Or shot by a fed-up runner who has had it with your dog chasing them down a private road.


Sorry. Had a frustrating run again because folks on my road think their dogs don't bite.