where do I stand?

[happy_face]

In the local park where I take my dog for a walk there are houses backed up to the park so their gardens face the park and there is a concrete wall between the gardens and the park. There's this one woman where either her, a dog or a fox has dog a hole under the concrete wall into her garden. And she puts an old biscuit tin out in the hole full of food. Whether it's to feed the foxes or deter them from coming in to her garden I don't know. But the issue is that my dog and lots of other dogs always run over there to eat the food. My dogs have got strict eating as they've got sensitive tummys so I can't have them eating whatever ti is she puts out. I see a lot of dog owners who are annoyed at this too. But I don't know where I stand on this. Yes I know the easiest thing is just to have my dog on the lead when passing the spot but should she really be leaving food out, it encourages rats too?

[clair3934]

Happy face I hope you got some usefull info from all this waffal I can't believe how people can deviate from the orriganal problem and then get there facts wrong no matter how well educated they are.

[horselady]

Oh dear happy_face, you got a bit of a mauling there didn't you?! As clair3934 rightly says, only dogs of specified breeds or any that have a court order against them (or should I say the owner ) need be muzzled in a public place.

Be careful about the food, a beautiful dog near me died horribly last year because a dog hater mixed slug pellets with food and the dog naturally ate it.

[Postdog]

I'm with dropgoal on all this...

No, seriously, are they obnoxious or what?

[happy_face]

Oh my God Horselady, I never even thought about that. I will most definitely be writing to this woman and ensuring my dog does not go anywhere near it.

[jules1968]

sorry for you happy_face that you got attacked by a human who needs a muzzle! different point altogether. had you asked about your dog being aggressive off the lead then yes, that was good advice.

Maybe the lady thinks she is being nice feeding all the dogs who come for a walk in the field, but i think perhaps you should put a polite note through her door on behalf of yourself and other dog lovers! It is encouraging rats and the lke aswell! Like it has been said previously, there aren't many dogs who would ignore food,it's natural. Dogs are always hungry!!! good luck!

[ruthann58]

-what a w!nker glad hes not my solictor i too thought you had to be able to spell

[sixpence]

Sorry, but I'm going to go off the subject here, also. In case anyone hasn't heard of this, go careful when walking dogs by rivers, etc, where fishermen have been. A friends dog picked up a piece of food and it was attached to a hook and line. She managed to grab hold of the line, but the hook had already done a lot of damage and the dog had to have a serious operation.

[WendyS]

Well, it doesn't strike me that this woman is doing any harm, and dogs being dogs, will naturally rush to any free food source that's on offer. She's probably putting it out for foxes. Why not write a polite letter and leave it in a plastic cover in the biscuit tin explaining that you don't want to stop her feeding foxes but that a lot of dogs, including yours which has a sensitive stomach come to feed from it. Perhaps you could suggest that if she intends it for the foxes, she put the food out after dark when they're more likely to appear, and this will stop the well-fed dogs who pass by every day from pinching it.

[WendyS]

Why not leave a polite little note in the biscuit tin saying that your dog has discovered the food, rushes over to eat it but unfortunately suffers from stomach upsets and is usually sick afterwards. Suggest that if she's putting the food out for foxes she does this when it's dark to prevent other dogs eating it (as they're all getting to know now where there's a free food source.)

[Thunderbird+]

I find it unbelievable how this threads got out of hand !! A person put food out for a fox, okay fine but she's also temting other peoples dogs to eat, who knows what surly that cant be right! Dogs are highly motivated by food and most will cop a deaf ear if they smell somethig interesting, no matter how well behaved they usually are. The fact is nothing will change if these people dont talk to each other.

[noxlumos]

Well you could go the asking the lady why she puts food out route but personally if your dog bolts for food then you'd be best off having him on a lead when you pass since you know about the problem. Lots of people feed foxes etc and it's really up to you to make sure your dog doesn't eat the food not the other way round. As for the rat issue, bit of a moot point as if this was in her garden it'd attract as many rats as if it's on the boundary of her garden. Doubtless this will be the wrong thing to say but it does seem as if you have the answer to your problem in your own hands, just keep him on a lead or teach him not to bolt for food despite your command.My dogs wouldn't dream of eating something if I told them no. It's not a hard thing to teach, if you have a good relationship with your dog it shouldn't take very long at all and if you approach the lady concerned she might feel quite threatened and worried too since I can't really see she's doing anything wrong or causing a problem.

[drgnrdr]

Hey Happy, besides a lead, okay and yes teaching the dog to leave it, I have to get my GSD from eating cat food left out by well meaning people at my work and I tell ehr to leave it, she does. But I think you can leave her a note, appeal to her preservation side, like your not sure if she's feeding wild cats or foxes or trying to attract rats but you've seen them and all the dogs that frequent the area you have seen take off after the fox and cats and afew almost got them, for the LIFE of these animals please stop leaving food to attract them to this "trap" which the dogs are wanting to actually thank you for doing so. Something like that, that way you don't accuse or belittle her she may not know she's helping the hounds get the foxes and such? what do ya think?