PSA: Dog Owners

Shortstack06 · October 2014

I have a German Shepherd roughly 95 lbs. and he can be intimidating so I understand, but I am not happy about it. The power guy came to read our meter at 4:00 PM, walked in our backyard and met our dog. Thor ran up to him barking and by the time my husband got out of the back building all he saw was an orange cloud from pepper spray. My husband was furious and I think the guy was more afraid of him at that point; I mean a dogs reaction to someone entering their territory is usually barking. But it was not documented in our account we had a dog and he was just defending himself, the man said. He also gave my husband a wipe to help get it out of Thor's eyes. So my PSA is if you have a large dog, make sure your utility companies are aware so this doesn't happen to your dogs. I wasn't aware that it needed to be documented, I called the company to get it added and they were shocked we have had him for 3 years and it hadn't been added yet. Thor seems fine other than a slightly swollen eye and extremely thirsty; I also called the vet and they recommended pouring warm milk over his eyes to clean them if it persists on bothering him. (Sorry for the long post)

Jessie333 · October 2014

Oh my gosh. That is terrible. Your poor pup. I hope you complained.

Eta do you have a beware of dog sign on your fence?

CandEChicago · October 2014

That is horrible. I would have been a little less understanding when dealing with the meter guy and the fact that it is an acceptable company policy to use pepper spray... versus say leave or wait until the owner is there to let you in.

neonsun0419 · October 2014

The meter reader made it into our yard without us noticing, so when our lab/greyhound mix wanted out, we opened the door. She has a very loud bark, and the reader was definitely terrified. I'm sorry your pup got sprayed! How awful.

Shortstack06 · October 2014

The meter for our house is in the front yard by that driveway. We have the in ground electric fence that covers 1.5 acres in the back but we recently got a second meter installed in our 40x68' building in the backyard also that has a separate driveway. The meter guy parked at the house and walked around so my husband never knew he was there until it was too late. I wasn't home when it happened, but getting the text "Thor got pepper sprayed" put me in panic mode. The man I spoke with on the phone said he was going to let the supervisor in the area aware of what happened, but my husband is friends with him and called immediately after it happened. Thor isn't outside if we aren't home because I am just super paranoid, I have a neon orange collar on him so hunters don't think he is a large coyote. I also don't trust people and they will twist it to fit themselves and he can't I also have a sign that says "I can make it to the fence in 2.8 seconds, can you?" with a had on it in my yard.

PacoCat33 · October 2014

Aw! Your poor puppy!!! I hope Thor is feeling better!

I am so angry at the power guy! Come on dude- let people know that you are entering their yard!

irish2014 · October 2014

I would have sprayed the guy in the face with it. "What, you were talking to me, I thought you might be aggressive..."

Glad ours is outside the fence, too.

ae793 · October 2014

I think I would have tackled the meter man. Hope Thor feels better

poor baby

krystrist2014 · October 2014

OMG! Not okay!!!! I would be screaming at the power company!!!

arynras · October 2014

Omg!!! Poor doggie!!

that breaks my heart!

kelsz12 · October 2014

That is awful!!!! I would be livid...we have an American Staffordshire Terrier but people typically let us know before they are coming by to do work. Thankfully on the off chance they haven't, I have had our dog inside with me.

rshamos · October 2014

Poor Thor! He needs extra cuddles tonight!

BankerBSN · October 2014

I always make sure they know I have a "large and aggressive" dog and a beware of dog sign on my fence. I don't want anyone in my yard/on my property without me knowing about it first.

My dog is huge and scary and I love him for that.

Amandak2012 · October 2014

I'm so sorry about your puppy!! I get some people aren't dog people. It still doesn't give someone the right to hurt the dogs that are in their own yard!! There are people in the area near ours who are actually hurting animals just to hurt them! It makes me so upset that someone could do that!! (Ours hasn't been feeling good and I'm praying someone hasn't been messing with him!! He has never had an accident in the house in the 5 years we have had him! The last two days I have had to clean up three runny accidents

I feel so bad for him!! I hate it when my babies, fur babies included, are sick!!) I hope Thor feels better!!

Cryssteen · October 2014

I would be so pissed. You are way more understanding than I am. I've never heard of telling utility companies about your dogs.

RicKeyBaby · October 2014

I heard postal service people carry around mace too. I dont agree with it entirely......., yes, protect yourself.....knock at my door if you hear barking........because I swear, if some one ever maces my dog....all hell is breaking loose.

SerenityAE · October 2014

OMG your poor baby!!!!!

Ditto to what vet said- warm milk will help with his eyes.

You handled it better than I would've. That guy would've been body slammed out of my yard if he pulled pepper spray on my dogs.

Our meters are on the side of the house but if a utility man walked in our backyard he wouldn't have time to get his pepper spray out...it only takes .5 seconds for our 100 pound Doberman to make it to the gate barking and his hackles raised.

Make sure you have some beware of dog signs posted in case the company wants to make a stink about it you can point out the person chose to enter at his risk.

amieeyoung · October 2014

That is sad, and I hate it for Thor, but I do know some utility men who have been attacked by dogs so I can understand having something to protect themselves. Though I would think that unless the dog was coming towards him menacingly there would be no need to spray. Looking at and barking while in its own yard not a good reason to spray. Poor pup, hope you get it all out and he feels better soon

Cryssteen · October 2014

Unrelated - I went home during lunch to walk my dogs today. We're finally testing them out of the crates for 4-5 hours at a time. So far so good. Until I got home today and found the remote on the floor, with the back open and a punctured battery on the ground. A puddle of vomit on the coffee table and another battery. So we all loaded into the car and went to the vet. Vet says they're fine. Recommends anti-anxiety meds for the dogs (yeah, ok buddy.. they chew, they're dogs), or crating them forever. I was pissed at the dogs, pissed at the vet, pissed at verizon for making remotes with batter covers that pop off, pissed at myself for leaving the remote within reach. Ugh. anyway.

littleboyermoose · October 2014

Poor Thor baby! He was just being a good protector. It's awful but the sad news is it could have been worse. If it was the police...

I'm glad to hear that he is doing better now!

Shortstack06 · October 2014

@cryssteen when my dog was a year old I attempted letting him out of the crate for 20 minutes for the first time as I went to the store, he ate a cordless phone. I kept him crate trained until 1.5 and did small time frames like you did, never had an issue again. I actually think it is better because he expels some of the pent up energy during the day running around.

ambernjj · October 2014

Poor Thor! I hope he feels better soon.

I have two pits, that have wireless collars, that are by no means vicious. In fact, a small terrior type dog got into our yard a few weeks ago and my dogs RAN from him.

Our meter readers also have the radar so they dont have to get out of the vehicle. So luckily we dont have to deal with that. Otherwise, I am sure we would have problems. We have found out that people in our area do not like pits. We have had several comments about our pittys.

AnonnAni · October 2014

Shortstack06 said:

I have a German Shepherd roughly 95 lbs. and he can be intimidating so I understand, but I am not happy about it. The power guy came to read our meter at 4:00 PM, walked in our backyard and met our dog. Thor ran up to him barking and by the time my husband got out of the back building all he saw was an orange cloud from pepper spray. My husband was furious and I think the guy was more afraid of him at that point; I mean a dogs reaction to someone entering their territory is usually barking. But it was not documented in our account we had a dog and he was just defending himself, the man said. He also gave my husband a wipe to help get it out of Thor's eyes. So my PSA is if you have a large dog, make sure your utility companies are aware so this doesn't happen to your dogs. I wasn't aware that it needed to be documented, I called the company to get it added and they were shocked we have had him for 3 years and it hadn't been added yet. Thor seems fine other than a slightly swollen eye and extremely thirsty; I also called the vet and they recommended pouring warm milk over his eyes to clean them if it persists on bothering him. (Sorry for the long post)

You might wanna check with your city on your signage (or lack of if you don't have a sign).

I know in our city if you have a dog no matter the size there has to be a sign on your property "Beware of Dog" which I would never think would need to be the case for just "any" dog and I only know this b/c my parents had an issue with getting mail a while back and were pointed to the city ordnance and it was stated there and that was stated to be the reason that it was ok that the mail man refused to come in the gate, that they had a dog but no sign so if they didn't use proper signage what else were they failing to do to alert to his safety 8-| .

Not saying it was your fault by any means just a piece of advise to look into to protect yourself in any other events.

Shortstack06 · October 2014

@Anonnani we actually live in the country and the only thing required is a dog license

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PSA: Dog Owners

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