Ask Dog Lady
BOTHERED AND BEWILDERED? CRAZED AND CONFUSED? IF YOUR DOGGIE DILEMMA HAS YOU DOWN IN THE DUMPS…
Bothered and bewildered? Crazed and confused? Dog Lady delves into your most dogged dilemmas.
Dear Dog Lady,
Q My Yorkshire Terrier Riblet is a dog of open adoption. This means my neighbour across the street who gave us Riblet a year ago when she couldn’t handle him believes it’s perfectly acceptable to come over and collect him for overnight stays. I really don’t mind all that much but she’s starting to come later and later in the evenings. This does bother me. Riblet always comes back to us a little crazier than when he left, which makes me worry whether this back-and-forth situation is good for him. He recently bit the man who installed our kitchen tile and he’s growling more than usual. What can I do to help the situation? —Laura
A Stop the spur-of-the-moment overnight visits. Riblet needs the security of one home. Your neighbour gave him up. This means she abandoned responsibility. Now you’re the owner and set the visiting rules. Overnight stays should be limited to once a month if at all. Make sure you tell her Riblet chomped the tile installer. Fear is frequently behind aggressive behaviour such as biting. Little Riblet is wary and weary.
Also, a small dog’s cuteness doesn’t mean he should be coddled or indulged. Do whatever you can to not pick up Riblet and carry him like a toy. He’s not.
Dear Dog Lady,
Dog walkers talking on cell phones drive me nutty. These yakkers ignore their dogs, other people, and even traffic lights. The other day a woman talking on her cell phone remained oblivious as her dog slipped out of his collar and nearly ran out into a busy street. If a posse of pedestrians, including myself, hadn’t grabbed the dog by the scruff of its neck and hauled it back from the brink the poor animal might have been killed. Even then, the woman kept talking on her phone until I yelled, “Get off the damned phone, lady!” She put the collar back on her dog and scurried off. I’ve also seen people on phones ignore their dogs when the animals deposit waste on the sidewalks. Can you please advise all dog walkers not to talk on cell phones? There should be a law. —Stephen
A: Distracted people on cell phones are indeed a menace—in cars or with canines. Taking the dog for a walk is no excuse to talk or text. Such multi-tasking is grossly unfair to the dog but obviously cell addicts don’t get it. Dog Lady has seen cell-talkers commit any number of offenses, from leaving poop behind to ignoring dogs tangled in leashes. Dog Lady wishes she could wave a wand and make people stop. Alas, they will have to figure it out on their own.
Dear Dog Lady,
On a dating website I had been writing back and forth with a man who described himself as a 57-year-old lawyer. In his photo, he had a nice smile. In his emails, he mentioned grown children, an ex-wife, but no pets. I finally asked him if he had any animals at home and he wrote me back a startling reply: “No, I don’t have pets and I don’t want to date a woman with a dog. I can barely stand cats. I have no allergies, except to women with dogs. Hope you don’t have one.”
I do have a dog I love very much so I didn’t write this guy back. But I wonder about someone who has an aggressive dislike of women with dogs. Do you think this sort of thing will be a problem as I start dating? (I’m a divorced 54-yearold woman who hasn’t dated for 30 years.)— Ellen