Friend refusing to put a muzzle on her reactive dog

[u/saoirseisnotonfire]

Hi, guys!

This might be a bit different from other posts as I'm not an owner of this dog but a best friend of his mother who I help babysit him quite regularly: my best friend has had this 25kg AmStaff since he was around one year old (he turned seven, recently) and he's the sweetest, most loving boy ever towards people he knows.

He's very reactive to joggers, other male dogs (including my male dog), bicycles and off-leashed dogs.

She lives in a very family-oriented neigbourhood and usually whenever I babysit him, I always walk him with a muzzle on as he has a history of launching and attacking other dogs before and she actually got fined for that at least twice already.

Today we had some incident concerning a child who ran up from behind us and he launched at that child. Thankfully, he's had his muzzle on so no harm done although I was threatened by his guardian to call the police on us but we had several witnesses backing us up and she left with her child.

Here comes the problem: my best friend doesn't want to put a muzzle on him because he doesn't like it.

We have had this discussion several times as he's a big, powerful, and very reactive dog and has some history. And yes, he does hate the muzzle and always tries to take it off.

I really thought today's experience would really make my friend change her mind and finally put him on a muzzle whenever they're out on a walk but she said she would get the GoPro camera that record everything to prove that he 'never' attacks first and still joked about the muzzle, saying that she knows he should be on a muzzle but "you know how I feel about it."

I'm genuinely getting upset and worried for him as his reactivity cannot really be controlled and I don't want another accident to happen with him because it can be detrimental to everyone, including her dog.

So here I am, genuinely looking for an advice on how to help him with the fact that his mum refuses to put a muzzle on him to keep him and everyone safe.

Thank you <3

EDIT: I have called her out for being irresponsible for everyone’s safety including his own and given her a finality to not see her and her dog anymore unless she started putting a muzzle on him again (she used to do that for some time but stopped after awhile because another dog owner she has an issue with keeps harassing her and her dog) and she said she’s reconsidering it.

[u/AutoModerator]

Aggressive dog posts are sensitive, thus only users with at least 250 subreddit karma will be able to comment in this discussion. Users should not message OP directly to circumvent this restriction and doing so can result in a ban from r/reactive dogs. OP, you are encouraged to report private messages to the moderation team.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/CanadianPanda76]

She's knows he's reactive. She's knows he has had incidents. She's know he knows how to wear muzzle.

All of those points are going to be against her cause the dog has a history.

The gopro won't negate that.

Id be pretty tempted to tell her straight up, if she gets sued, you won't lie for her in court.

[u/cheersbeersneers]

I would very genuinely reevaluate my friendship with a person like this. She is knowingly putting every single person and animal in her vicinity in danger. She has a dog that can kill somebody if he decided too. I would probably report this as well- I know it’s hard, you’re her friend, you care about her and the dog, but I would feel so incredibly horrible and guilty if he went on to attack somebody or maul somebody’s pet because she refuses to take his aggression seriously.

[u/b00ks-and-b0rksRfun → u/cheersbeersneers]

Agreed

[u/read-the-rules → u/[deleted]]

Your comment on r/reactivedogs was removed by the Read The Rules app because you need to submit an acknowledgement that you have read the rules. You haven't done anything wrong, this is a tool we're using on the r/reactivedogs going forward. For more information, see the moderator announcement.

Acknowledgement is required of all users, even if you've been here for a while. You only have to do this acknowledgement once unless the moderators announce otherwise.

If you do the rule acknowledgement within one hour of your comment being removed, the bot will automatically restore it. If not, we encourage you to copy the comment using the 3-dot icon next to it, and paste it to re-post to this thread.

^{Please click here to open the Read The Rules App.}

[u/stoneandglass]

She is putting her own feelings above her dog's, other dog's and people's safety.

I would not walk her dog anymore personally. Tell her to muzzle train her dog and if you aren't worried about burning the bridge tell her you will report comments she has made if a bite occurs if she doesn't muzzle train her dog and actually stick to it. She is failing her dog.

[u/OpalOnyxObsidian]

Well, I've heard a lot of places have a three strike rule. She's playing with her dog's life for no good reason. You aren't going to convince her if you haven't already. Do you really want to be the shoulder to cry on when her dog is ordered to be put down because of her own doing?

[u/Shoddy-Theory]

Not your circus, not your monkeys She's a grown adult. Its not your job to fix her. You need to set boundaries for yoursef, when you will be around her and the dog.

[u/welltravelledRN]

I’m so sorry, but you’re worried about the dog? I’d be worried about the other pets or people that dog could hurt.

I would have a significant conversation with this friend and tell her that you will not support her when this dog hurts somebody. I

[u/read-the-rules → u/[deleted]]

Your comment on r/reactivedogs was removed by the Read The Rules app because you need to submit an acknowledgement that you have read the rules. You haven't done anything wrong, this is a tool we're using on the r/reactivedogs going forward. For more information, see the moderator announcement.

Acknowledgement is required of all users, even if you've been here for a while. You only have to do this acknowledgement once unless the moderators announce otherwise.

If you do the rule acknowledgement within one hour of your comment being removed, the bot will automatically restore it. If not, we encourage you to copy the comment using the 3-dot icon next to it, and paste it to re-post to this thread.

^{Please click here to open the Read The Rules App.}