To the ignorant dog owners at Devonwood Conservation who allow their dogs to walk off-leash, hundreds of feet ahead of them and without any recall abilities: you are putting your dogs (and any other dogs walking on-leash) in a very dangerous position. Do not be surprised if my dogs, while properly leashed and thus in a vulnerable position, attack or bite your dog if yours charge at them or get in their faces. Do not shout "my dog is friendly" from 100 feet away...mine are too. However, when placed in a situation where they feel threatened and vulnerable (such as being constricted to a 3 foot leash and being quickly approached by a free-running dog), then they can and probably will go into defensive mode and protect themselves.

Yesterday, I saw a large, overweight black dog (chow mix) standing down the pathway, unleashed and without any owners in sight. I froze so that the dog would not see me and my 2 large breed dogs, hoping that the owners would appear and leash him. After a few moments, I saw the owners long down the path, too busy chatting away to check on their dog or even care enough to see if anyone else was around and call their dog back. We were forced to turn around quickly and take another path.

There is also a middle-aged woman who notoriously allows her 2 dogs (large white german shepherd mix and a smaller, dark beagle mix) roam Devonwood with her trailing MINUTES behind them. The first time we stopped well in advance of the dogs and waited for someone to get them. After at least 3 minutes, this rude woman starts to get near them and I asked her to put her dogs on a leash so we could walk by. She shouted at me to "continue walking" and made no attempt to call her dogs back towards her or anything. Another time this happened, her dogs started to run towards mine and so I shouted to her to put her dogs should be on a leash! She told me that her dogs are "friendly" and to just "keep walking". I had good control of my dogs when hers approached mine and was able to move past them quickly BUT, it could have turned bad if her dogs continued to follow us or got in my dogs' faces.

I love all animals and would never want one to get hurt, especially due to the ignorance of an irresponsible owner. So please be responsible and have some respect for those walking the trails with their dogs and have some respect for your own dogs! Leash your dog, keep them safe and enjoy your walk.