03-01-2010, 01:24 AM
1
Danger dogs
Part of my job as a TV engineer was going to people's houses to order do in-house repairs. This quite often brought me into contact with some rather worrying dogs. One customer had a pair of Dobermans reputed to be so fearsome that the house bell was at the gate rather than on the door. A ring of the bell always produced distant furious barking. With the dogs safely locked up the owner would come and open the gate. I'd been there a few times before so was familiar with the procedure.On one visit I rang the bell but heard no response at all, not even a whimper. "Hmm...nobody in" I thought, "Must have taken the dogs for a walk, now what?" It was important to leave a 'no reply' card to let the customer know that I had kept the appointment. If I left it on the gate someone might remove it. Also, it would have advertised the fact that no one was at home. The card had to go in the letter box. There wasn't one on the gate so I cautiously opened it and started on the journey to the front door, which seemed miles away.
I was about at the halfway mark when the dogs came bounding towards me. "This is it" I thought, "I'm gonna get torn limb from limb". The dogs surrounded me and I waited with gritted teeth for the first bite. What I got instead was a big lick on the hand followed by lots more licks and a lot of fuss. To my great surprise and relief the dogs were as friendly as any little lap dog. The owner eventually came out. I apologised for letting myself in and explained why I had done so. "That's alright" she replied "But please don't tell anyone the dogs are friendly, I tell everyone they're ferocious. If word gets out about this the dogs won't be a deterrent anymore". I assured her that the secret was safe with me. On future visits to the house I still went through the pretence of the 'vicious dogs' procedure just in case anyone was watching. This was more years ago than any dog lives for so I reckon that I haven't broken faith by telling the story now.
Dogs are lubbly 
03-01-2010, 11:13 AM
3
Re: Danger dogs
Lovely story Mart. I have a large notice on my back gate "Beware of the Dog". If only people knew, she has a large bark, but if anyone comes in they are likely to be licked to death, or knocked over by my stupid lab's enthusiastic welcome. She thinks everyone is a friend and is very submissive with other dogs - curls in a heap should they come near her (until she knows them). I rehomed her five years ago and have never heard her growl once.One of the friendliest dogs we meet when out walking is a massive Rotweiler. We also regularly meet a man with THREE Newfoundlands - now they really are big dogs.... but soft with it.
03-01-2010, 06:13 PM
6
Re: Danger dogs
Thanks for saying it's a good story. It's one of a few memorable dog encounters. They all happened years ago now. The trouble is that it seems like they were only yesterday.
Originally Posted by liverbird
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but on my front door i have a different picture of what is lurking behind it.
04-01-2010, 09:51 PM
8
Re: Danger dogs
Another dog tale. I did experience and write about them myself but this was a few years ago now. It was when decided I'd try and put a web site together with various bits an pieces in it. The stories are copied and pasted from that. Here's the whole site if anyone's interested:http://homepage.ntlworld.com/boots44/
..and this is the encounter I had with another dangerous dog:
The address was difficult to find. A house name somewhere in a long country road was all I had. At last, I thought I'd found the right place. It had no name on it but, by a process of elimination, there was a good chance that this was it. It was a sunny summers day and the owners of the house could be seen working in the back garden. As I walked towards them I saw a Dachshund attached to a stake by a length of heavy duty chain. The chain thickness seemed a bit over the top for such a little dog. It soon became apparent why this was.
"Excuse me" I shouted, "I'm looking for......" I never got any further than that. I'd made the mistake of standing within reach of the chained up dog. After its initial surprise the dog flew at me, the heavy chain didn't impede the small dog's speed all. It bit me on the hand between the thumb and forefinger and the blood started to drip. I hastily got out of range as the owner approached. I assured him the bite was only a scratch (drops of blood were on the patio now) and asked,
"Are you Mr ...?"
"Ah no they live next door" he replied.
"Oh..right..thanks..sorry to have troubled you" I said and made my way to the right address.
I'd been bitten for nothing and still had to go and carry out the repair. When out of earshot I began to mutter awful things about dogs, the job in general and the fact that some people never think about blokes like me who have to find their houses. The incident caused a trip to the doctors for an anti-tetanus jab.
05-01-2010, 11:58 PM
10
Re: Danger dogs
Originally Posted by Dolly
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We also regularly meet a man with THREE Newfoundlands - now they really are big dogs.... but soft with it.
A barking dog is not necessarily an aggressive dog, there are allegedly ten distinctive types of bark. e.g. the three short sharp barks with a pause in between is telling the rest of the pack that there are strangers about, one of ours fullfills this role, then leaves it to the other three (Dog and two humans) to sort the stranger out
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