RRC Archives

I guess the end question in my mind is......what have we learned

I did post the question, "who wants to be known as the jerk who had Torrent shut down." That was inflammatory. My bad.

I'm glad that we know what's up now. What I also "heard" and will talk to Mark to verify, is that he was considering closing Torrent because people are not abiding the leash law. I admit that I am part of this problem. I have allowed Dakota to free range. Apparently, there have been some duck murders at his pond. I'm climbing tomorrow and will get all of the facts then. Maybe in the card we will be able to let Mark know that we are aware of the problems and will work to make amends in general. I know that I will tell him that tomorrow.

Hey Spragwa,
did he say close Torrent completely or just ban dogs?

Mj

Here is a good link on Dog Aggression and why they behave the way they do.

http://www.doggiedoor.com/aggressi.shtml

On the topic of dogs in the Red. I was backpacking several years ago and just after bedding down for the night, we heard what sounded like a pack of dogs barking and howling coming our way. We got out of our sleeping bags and listened more closely. They were definitely headed our way. We climbed some trees close by and just as we did, about 15 dogs came tearing through the site. They basically ransaked our site and then were gone as quick as they came. They were all different breeds of mutts, some large, some small.

I'd hate to think what would have happened if we hadn't gotten out of our sleeping bags.

It's times like that I wish I carried a gun.

Here is what happened regarding the situation (coming from the dog's owners):

The dog was tied up and was approached by Mark's dog. As we know, the dog attacked him, and Mark's daughter came onto the scene. The owners took responsibility at the time to make sure the dog was okay. The wound wasn't that bad and Mark's daughter reassured them that it was okay. A couple of weeks later, the wound became infected.

As a result of this thread that made them look like assholes who took off without assuming responsibility for their dog's actions, the owners of the dog were contacted and they contacted Mark who was totally cool with the situation (he even thanked them for being so nice to his daughter). Mark even refused payment from them.

Regarding the closing, Mark's thought on this has nothing to do with the alleged mauling. It has to do with his complaint with dogs off their leashes and the damage that they do (i.e. the ducks in his pond - I guess he had ducks that were killed by dogs).

Another fact: the owners are very distraught over this situation because they love their dog and they love climbing. It's just a dog owner's nightmare come true because from what I know, they take a lot of pain to prevent this, but it was quick, unpreventable situation.

Well, I wouldn't say unpreventable.

Mj

Hell, don't some perfumes and colognes elicit very negative responses from dogs? I don't think anyone can be 100% sure their dog will NEVER bite another person or animal. My wife works for the health department here in Lexington. When she first started she worked some with the rabies program where they have to quarantine dogs who have bit people. A person gets bit by a dog in Lexington about once every couple of days in every neighborhood, rich and poor, from both aggressive dogs to well trained dogs who have gone through expensive obedience courses. Other than saying when a large dog bites there is a better chance of more damage and smaller dogs tend to have "Napolean" complex, there is just no way to predict if or when a dog might turn on someone.

It seems to me that the issue has been resolved. We should all just be happy that:

a) The issue is now resolved between the owners of both dogs
b) Mark's dog is now okay
c) Torrent is still open (as long as people start abiding by the rules)
and
d) There was an amazing display of generosity and compassion within the climbing community

Let's not play the blame game/point fingers. We've all been guilty of stretching the truth/not getting the facts straight at one point in our life. Just be happy about the outcome and leave it at that.

In the future, just be cautious, conscious and mindful of your surroundings.

My dog, Maizy, is one of the sweetest dogs in the world. She was laying down once, in our home, and a friends retarded niece came over, sweetly pet Maizy, and Maizy snapped at her and broke the skin. I think Maizy sensed something because of the girls' mental disorder. I felt terrible and, yes, that was my worse nightmare come true. Maizy and I used to go to this lady's house every week for a jam session and from then on I had to leave Maizy at home (my choice).

You never know what will provoke an animal. I never allow Maizy to be unsupervised around kids anymore because of one instance. Was this instance preventable? Of course. But how could I have known, right? If this dog that bit Mark's dog has bitten before then, in my opinion, it was preventable. If not, then it was a painfully unfortunate learning experience.