I didn’t suggest dogs did have ‘rights’ – I questioned your approach to social interaction, basing it on a subjective set of ‘rights’. It seems a somewhat narcissistic worldview, which was reinforced by your comments on this thread, which are focused on everyone’s obligations to you, and give no indication that you have any awareness of your obligations towards other people.

I am perfectly aware of the laws requiring me to keep my dog under control, but I am also aware of the laws governing the proper treatment of dogs and the penalties for failing in either respect.

If you were to read TJ’s comments on any of the umpteen million dog related posts he does always say the same thing; dogs who are under the control of their owners are no issue to him, those who aren’t, are.
I’m a dog owner myself and I do take him riding, usually during the week and never at trail centres on weekends when there may be ‘conflict’. If you have trained your dog to recall or stop on command you should have no problems in my mind. Obviously there are those times when a squrrel or cat gets their attention before you can intervene but if people are involved it must be 99.99999999% of the time.
Problem is that there are dog peole and non dog people. Those of us who have dogs will never understand why non dog peole don’t like them and vice-versa. There’s no point arguing about it really.

yes there is. its what the internet was invented for.

mattbee – Member

If you were to read TJ’s comments on any of the umpteen million dog related posts he does always say the same thing; dogs who are under the control of their owners are no issue to him, those who aren’t, are.

Thank you

Guys we all know that in every thread TJ has ever posted on he is always correct even when clearly NOT, I really do think it was time he was left to his perfect fantasy world and you all stopped taking his bait, IMHO he is the best and most succcesful internet forum troll I have ever seen

he is the best and most succcesful internet forum troll I have ever seen

Thank you

Love dogs but I would have gladly killed that **** rat of a terrier that was chasing me today. And as I told it which I’m sure it understood, **** off before I boot you!! Woman that was supposedly in charge of these dogs just gave me a dirty look. Id gladly have stamped on her as well!!

TJ – I really haven’t got the time or the inclination to read the other posts on the subject but I’m intrigued by the statement that animals don’t have rights.

Living in the 21st century, I’ve heard differently. Please explain what you mean / believe.

Animals don’t have rights as they are either chattels or wild animals.

Only humans can have rights.

That does not mean that we can treat them as we wish – we have duties towards them but an animal has no rights.

Try and find any piece of law that gives an animal aright – you won’t be able to find one

but surly humans only have rights as imposed by humans

are we not animals too

Surely an animal has the right to not be abused? Is that not a right in itself??

It doesn’t matter if animals have rights or not, the fact is that they should have rights and should be treated with respect. That’s part of the problem nowadays.

rights are enforcable in a court of law. An animal cannot take a human to court
Trount – we can go to court on our own behalf to enforce our rights

Wrightyson – we have a duty not to abuse an animal – that not the same thing as it having a right.

LHS should? what is the imperative? I am happy that we have duties towards animals but how can an animal enforce its rights? It simply cannot.

Why should an animal have to enforce its rights? Why do you think that you are more deserving of rights than another creature? Lets not forget the civil rights and gay rights movement, for years their rights were not recognised.

If a creature further up the food chain suddenly took control and wiped out human rights, would you think this was wrong or would you still believe that you were entitled to your rights even if you couldn’t enforce it?

You cannot have a right you have no legal recourse to enforce.

Its just nonsense to say you have a right but you cannot enforce it. Its opnly a right if you can enforce it and an animal never can.

Ok its a bit arguing on the head of a pin but animals hove no rights, humans have duties towards them

Civil rights refer to humans – humans can have rights

Ok, well lets just disagree on this as you seem to be repeating the same thing in just different ways.

You don’t think animals should have rights, fine. Thats why ignorent vile people still on a daily basis abuse animals and get away with it.

I’m sure that any RSPCA officer would gladly enforce the law regarding abuse to any animal. Whether that is a right or not is irrelevent. The outcome would be the same.

http://wolf.ok.ac.kr/~annyg/english/e5.htm

These had no rights

My top tip that my mates dog doesnt do but I read somewhere (I think in ST mag!) is that this guy taught his dog to scarper on a certain command so that he wouldnt nail it if he crashed etc. He also taught him to run at ‘heel’ whilst he was riding his bike so that he always knew which side his dog was on?

LHS

I am trying to explain a concept that is difficult

I Strongly believe we have a duty to treat animals well. However this can never be a right. How can an animal have a right? What does it do if its rights are breached? It does not have the capacity to understand what a right is, it does not have the ability to go to court to sue if its rights are breached.

Thanks for ruining the thread TJ. I was planning on posting here to say hello to iDave as a fellow new dog-owner. If he has any sense, he’s not bothered reading it since you trampled in like a bull in a china shop.

TJ. I WILL not argue with you. Sorry. You just ruin threads nowadays. 😐

What don’t you agree with nicky – nice line in abuse BTW – you might want to edit it as the mods are rather zealous ATM.

Sorry dudes.
I’m out of here

iDave, if I see you and Spud out on the trail, make sure you slow down. I’d love to give the little fella a bit of a scratch behind the ear and some fuss. No danger of me running him over or objecting to being approached by the savage beast.

Enjoy!

how’s the pup deadly?

how’s the pup deadly?

She’s in great form iDave 😀 It’ll be a while before she ever sees a trail but she’s getting lots of (tough) love and I can hear her and mrs deadly downstairs having a battle of wills 🙄 Still keeping us up a bit at night but overall, she’s fantastic. We took her out today (we take her out every day in the car to get her used to it…she’ll be travelling a lot in the spring and summer) and just sat outside a coffee shop with her in a blanket. I talked to more strangers today than I have in the last year I reckon. 8)

Cool DD – make sure you train her to run away from TJ

This was my previous step-terrier at full chat….

iDave, saw you out today – your dog was very well behaved as it went past us and our 2 – black lab and golden retriever on the way down to 7 springs. I didn’t see it crap in Anyones shoes or jump up at anyone or anything. Nice to see dogs enjoying themselves. Have fun and keep taking him out – the Chase is big enough for everyone – even TJ!

I do actually agree with TJ.

Training a dog does not just start when they are a puppy, it continues throughout their life and needs to be reinforced.

Regrettably there are some people that are unwilling to devote the time needed to training and hence this is why some people are anti dogs.

One could almost compare dogs to children – owners/parents think they can do no wrong. 😉

Auntie C_G
(still wanting to be Auntie to a gundog)

Spud looks cool!

I have to laugh at the ‘dogs must be under perfect control or on a lead’ comments. Can we apply the same to mountain bikers, they must be on legal trails or not at all. Then I won’t have to worry about idiots getting shirty when Ted chases them whilst we are walking in fields protected on all entries by kissing gates and with not one bridleway on them.

Will someone please come and train my dog, as I’ve bloody well tried, but he ain’t having it.

As a consequence, I’m fully aware that I can’t have him running loose at will, as he’s too unpredictable. I do 100% know that he won’t bite anything other than another dog, so don’t stress too much if he does ‘do one’. The massive over-reaction of some people, even when you warn them well in advance of his approach that he’s friendly, is quite frankly ridiculous sometimes and I believe often a reaction borne of prejudice and propaganda.

Fair enough, people seem to breed more ‘agressive’ dogs these days, but when I was a kid dogs used to roam the streets untethered – maybe it didn’t enter my psyche, but as a 5-10 year old, I don’t seem to remember horrific reports of people being savaged by wild dogs – just a few more turds on the pavements maybe.

TheArtistFormerlyKnownAsSTR – Member

……………The massive over-reaction of some people, even when you warn them well in advance of his approach that he’s friendly, is quite frankly ridiculous sometimes and I believe often a reaction borne of prejudice and propaganda.

this is the bit that dog owners simply don’t get. Many folk dislike dogs, some are afraid of them. I find it very unpleasant to have a dog run up at me. Its nothing to do with fear, its nothing to do with how aggressive the dog is

We have the right not to be bothered by your dog at all

If you cannot trust him off a lead then keep him on one. Please. Show some respect for others

You couldn’t **** leave it could you?! You just couldn’t.

😆

My mutts are never on a lead (2 Scottish Deerhounds, sight hounds) and they are not bothered who they come across on the trail, walkers or MTB’rs, they roam around searching and scanning the horizon for small furries to chase and don’t care about people or other dogs (apart from once at Pitfichie on top of Cairn William when one of them decided it was time for a bit of action with a black lab bitch, sorry to the owner of the lab if you are reading). They have instant recall when I see OP on the trail but that does not stop OP screaming from a distance GET YOUR F*****G DOGS ON A LEAD THEY ARE F*****G DANGEROUS!
So extremely large dogs must be dangerous because they are large? I will be the first person to destroy one of my own dogs if it ever bit someone. But don’t tag large breed dogs as dangerous just because they are large!
I’m grateful the hounds don’t give OP the time of day, it saves me having to converse with the ignorant b******s!
Don’t take them when out on the bike nowadays anyway as they were forever beating me and the mates on the DH track at Fichie, fast feckers they are!

Im with TJ mostly.I have two dogs that are my best biking buddies but no way would i let them in any way bother anyone out on the trail unless invited.Most people we encounter love dogs but thats not to say evertyone is a dog person.If u dont have control of your dog on the trail then i firmly believe neither u nor the dog belong there.Theres no bad dogs just irresponsible owners

this is the bit that dog child owners simply don’t get. Many folk dislike dogs kids, some are afraid of them. I find it very unpleasant to have a dog kid run up at me. Its nothing to do with fear, its nothing to do with how aggressive the dog child is

We have the right not to be bothered by your dog children at all

If you cannot trust him off a lead then keep him on one. Please. Show some respect for others

Same principal applies.

i’m an ex dog owner and tj makes some valid points. Most dog owners don’t understand that not everyone wants bothered by their dog. Even if it is a ‘he’s only saying hello’ .

People, much like dogs, should be trained and educated before being let loose on the internet/trails.

Like a dog with a bone, TJ will not let this one go. You will be beaten into submission by his sheer tenacity.
Some people just don’t understand dogs, this lack of understanding generally is translated into fear.
I’ll let you choose, is my little angel being aggressive or simply palying?

jumping1 by simoncarter.es, on Flickr

Hint: You can just see what she is/was eating at the bottom of the picture.
😉