Untrained Dog Owners

As I rode my bicycle along the beach today on Hilton Head Island with a gray sky and cool breeze, I came upon a large family and their Doberman walking in front of me in the same direction. I slowed until I was noticed. I waited for someone to collar the dog. The fellow I took to be dad, older and heavier than all his teenaged children, had a red plastic extendable-retractable leash in his hand. The dog was not attached to it despite what the large signs said at every beach entrance.

No one grabbed the dog but they did separate so I could proceed along the beach so I went. That’s when I heard dad shout, “Bradley”! I kept biking. He shouted, “Bradley” again with some urgency. I wondered if that could possibly be the dog’s name. Who names a dog Bradley?

That’s when I heard the noise of racing paws and nails on hard sand and there was the Doberman barking, “Woof, Woof” at my heels. This was obviously another well-trained Doberman. Dad screamed, “Bradley stop”. Bradley aimed for my right leg and snapped.

I shouted, “Fuck off Bradley”. He paused. “Fuck off Bradley” I said again. He slowed, then stopped. Obviously, I was not the first teenager to tell Bradley to stop whatever he was doing in this fashion.

I got to the big creek in one piece and sat enjoying the view. The family arrived. Bradley was still loose, but one of the kids herded him away from me without me so much as swearing in his direction. No one came over to say that Bradley is a lovely dog who hardly ever bites elderly bicyclists.

When I finally got back on my bike and turned to head back up the beach, the lady who appeared to me to be the mother of this bunch, older and worn-out looking, smiled and said, “Hello”. I suddenly had the feeling Bradley was not her favorite either.

I don’t dislike dogs, Doberman or otherwise. I dislike people who do not train their dogs and seem surprised by, and even try to justify, the untrained dog’s bad behavior. I once had a boss whose terrible dog knocked a kid off his bike out in the street and bit him. My boss speculated that the kid should not have been riding a bike in the street by his house. That was clearly the only problem.