If you saw Sex, Lies, and Videotape, the husband kept cheating on his meek wife until she had enough and started fooling around herself, where she finds true happiness. An analogy can be made with dogs on the trail and their irresponsible owners.
Owners of aggressive dogs cheat on their pets in many ways, including:
- Letting them go unleashed when they are not well disciplined,
- Failing to teach them that humans, not dogs, are on top the food chain, and most important,
- Failing to properly train their dogs to respect humans unless a clear threat is posed to the owner.
The worst sin is #3, which when combined with #2 usually ends with the dog finding true happiness in an innocent hiker’s leg or other fleshy spot (innuendo intended). Usually, the hiker does not consent to this intimate encounter, though the dog will argue the point.
The point (my point, not the dog’s – remember I’M on top here) is, if your dog is not properly disciplined, don’t bring him on the trail. Remember that not all hikers are capable of discerning a “bluff charge” from the real thing, and some hikers may act accordingly when faced with a threatening dog and take defensive action.
As is the hiker’s right. If a dog is unleashed and snarls, snaps, and – most importantly – invades the hiker’s “personal space,” the hiker would be a fool to wait until its teeth are in his flesh to assume aggression. The dog has already presented obvious signs of aggression, thus justifying a defensive strike.
Pointed hiking pole