December 3, 2025 • 16 mins
This week, Tony breaks down some bad dog owner behaviors, and how we should all try to do better with our four-legged counterparts.
Connect with Tony, Cal, and MeatEater
MeatEater on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and Youtube Clips
MeatEater Podcast Network on YouTube
Shop Cal's Merch
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey, everyone, Welcome to the Foundation's podcast. I'm your host,
Tony Peterson, and today's episode is all about the decisions
we make that we might not even really think about
that make us bad dog owners. You know, sometimes inspiration
for these shows is tougher to locate, you know, tougher
(00:22):
than of finding a down rooster in the cattails after
you've just tickled in with your second shot. But other
times it runs right up and bites you in the ass.
You'll hear about what exactly lit the fire for this
show soon enough. But honestly, a lot of dog training
advice and info centers completely on us changing our dogs behavior,
but not a lot of it centers on us changing
(00:43):
our behavior with dogs. Now, if you have any off
the record conversation with a decent dog trainer, you're going
to hear all about that. It's no small part of
being a dog owner, and we could easily slip into
bad owner territory without even realizing it. This is what
I'm going to talk about right now. Back in twenty seventeen,
(01:07):
I boarded a flight bound for Houston, and once I
got there, I boarded another flight that was pointed in
the direction of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The trip was a
combo hunt for ducks and doves, and it was something
that I hadn't even really dreamed of because it felt
like it would never actually happen. But I did get
the invite from Lacrosse Boots to head down there and
test out some waiters and footwear, and since I'm no dummy,
(01:30):
I said yes and listen. The duck hunting was incredible,
if not somewhat gratuitous, while the dove hunting was just
completely gratuitous. I can see why some folks want to
hunt like that, but for me, it was just way,
way too much. I'm just not angry enough at the
dove population to chase a body count of one thousand
in a day. Anyway, the outfitters we hunted with were
(01:53):
top notch, and one of the partners had a wild
job in his youth which he told stories about, which
involved catching why animals in Africa for placement in European zoos.
Now I'm not talking squirrels here, but big dangerous critters.
This fella, who went by Junior, I don't even really
know if it was his name or his nickname, said
(02:13):
that if you can get close enough to a running
giraffe to grab it by its tail. It will instantly stop,
and then you can pretty much do what you need
to to capture it. He also said that for a
while they fed young male lions in order to gain
their trust over time, and eventually, I guess get him
into a trap now. At one point, he recounted a
story of carrying in a side of zebra or some
(02:34):
other planes game animal into an area where they were
conditioning a specific lion. As you can imagine from an
operation like that, safety wasn't a huge priority, but Junior
said they always went in in pairs so that the
feeder had armed backup. On this particular trip, Junior said,
the lion walked up and when Junior looked him in
the eyes, he said to his partner, you better get
(02:57):
ready because this dude's going to bite me. Must have
been a not much fun instant. The cat did exactly that.
It swatted him to the dirt with a big old paw,
sunk its teeth into his backstraps, and picked him up
to carry him off. Junior's armed partner couldn't get a
clean shot off, and so Junior rode along for two
(03:17):
hundred yards like a stuffed dog toy or I guess
cat toy. Then, for reasons known only to that lion,
it set him down and just walked off. Maybe Junior
tasted like shit. I don't know, but I do know
that recently, I was in a hotel with a worn
out lab when I realized my phone charger was still
in my truck. So I walked down the stairs and
happened to get to the door leading to the parking
(03:38):
lot at the exact same time as a fellow struggling
to get a cooler to his truck, and he had
an off Leashweimerunner who didn't quite look directly at me
when I entered the scene, but seemed to become vaguely
aware of me. The instant I saw that dog, I
thought to myself, that dumb son of a bitch is
going to bite me. I wish I was joking, but
(03:58):
I'm not. For whatever reason, I've been around seven million
dogs and have rarely, rarely thought that. But I looked
at the disconnected stare of that dog and it was
just like plain as day that he wasn't all there. Now,
maybe I'm as dumb as I don't know your average
Wimer honor because I walked out there anyway, and when
that dog started barking at me, I just kept walking
(04:20):
while the owner started yelling. I don't remember if the
dog had a collar on or not, but I know
it wasn't leashed. The guy had no free hands, and
after making a run at me once, the dog made
another run and bit me right on the ass. I
again wish I was joking, but I am not. When
I turned around, thinking I might have to kick the
second dog in my life right in his face, it
(04:41):
ran off and I just looked at the guy and said,
Jesus Christ man, this guy wouldn't even make eye contact
with me. Now, before all of you high flying Wymer
on her owners try to mobilize and cancel me, remember this,
I don't care what you think. I have no doubt
there are great Wymer Honors out there and that they
are the as absolute best dog for certain people. I
(05:02):
actually have no hate my heart for that breed or
any breed really, So you can relax. But that owner,
I hope he zips his nutsack up and his Jean
zipper like I did one time when I was very
hungover and heading off to hunt bears in Canada. You
guys and gals all know where this is going. It
wasn't that dog's fault. I can promise you that owner
and knew his dog was as smooth brained as they come,
(05:25):
and he still brought him down a hotel hallway and
out into a hotel parking lot without any way to
control him. An absolutely zero chance of a recall if
that dog set out to do what it wanted, which
by the looks of it was a very likely scenario. Now,
it was a light bite on my ass, which was
fortunate for all involved. But what if it hadn't been
(05:48):
or it had not been a dude who's six too
and was wearing brush pants but instead of four foot
tall kid wearing pajamas. That town I was staying in
is right in the heart of some of my favorite
pheasant country, and it's one of the few places that
still allows dogs. That hotel is kind of a rare
find these days. Now, imagine if that bite had been
(06:08):
worse and the policy that hotel had changed because of it.
Literally one bad dog owner could have kept countless good
dog owners from heading out of town to chase roosters
around or at the very least made it a lot
harder to facilitate such a trip. What does it make
that guy, well, you decide. But the off leash, no
handle on a dog thing is always indicative of owners
(06:30):
who've made a poor choice, who are making poor choices. Look,
we all love our dogs to death, and we view
them with the rosiest of glasses. But our heavily biased
perception of our dogs doesn't alter the reality in which
we live, and we have to tamp down that love
fest when it involves other people and other dogs. The
amount of times I've had people's dogs run up to
(06:52):
me off leash while I was running in the park
by myself is dozens. And most of the dogs that
actively run up to you in that situation display some aggression,
you know, unless they're just puppies looking for love. I
don't expect much out of the general pet owning public, honestly,
But folks who decide to buy dedicated bird dogs and
(07:13):
then train them to some level, I just hold them
to a higher standard. So not only is it incredibly
rude to let your off leash dog run up to strangers,
it's also dangerous to your dog. While you might have
the most lovable Golden Retriever or German short hair on
the planet, the dude walking his pitbull through the park
(07:34):
might not have the same vibes. If there's one thing
that can trigger a quick nasty response out of some dogs,
it's a strange dog running straight at them, especially when
they are on a leash. And look, we all make
(07:56):
mistakes on this front. I was mortified one time when
I was working with my lab Luna in the front
yard when she was I don't know, maybe seven eight
months old. A woman who runs in our neighborhood a
lot went sprinting right on by, and I wasn't paying
attention to Luna enough so that I had no chance
to get a hold of the check cord before she
took off and tried to get a little scratch behind
the ear. But this woman didn't know that, and I
(08:19):
still feel a little embarrassed when I see her, and
it's been like twelve years since that incident. It happens,
but we should try not to set things up so
it's guaranteed to happen, especially in a place where you
have no idea who you're going to run into. Not
everyone loves dogs, which is weird, I know, but I'll
never forget one. And Sadie was a little puppy, like
(08:40):
maybe a three month old type of puppy, and we
took her to Cabella's to get her a little socialization
and to get me a whole bunch of bass lures.
When we were standing in the checkout line, Sadie was
just milling around at my feet on leash by the way,
and the woman in front of us turned around and
absolutely lost her shit because she didn't know she was
within like seven feet of a dog. I guess I've
(09:00):
never seen someone scream louder over something less threatening other
than the times that a cottontail rabbit jumped into the
side of my buddy Ryan's bike while we were riding
through the neighborhood in sixth grade. In his eyes, it
was like a Monty Python level rabbit attack or something.
Some people don't want your dog in their business, you know,
like at parks, at beaches, at anywhere public, and you
(09:21):
know what, that's fair. I don't really trust non dog
people much, but I know they exist partially because I
was raised by one, and it's just a sign of
a good dog owner to recognize that and live as
if that's true wherever they take their pups out into
the world. We had a neighbor a few years back
who thankfully moved away, but he and his family were
(09:44):
terrified of dogs, all dogs. We have a pretty loose
policy in our neighborhood with dogs in our yards because
there are several of us with bird dogs and they
are all pretty well trained. But one of our neighbors
has a catahula, which, if you've never met one, makes
the average whim runners seem like a well adjusted, super
intelligent dog. Again, guys, I'm kidding. Louis. The cata hula
(10:06):
casually wandered over to the new neighbors one day and
it didn't go well. There were death threats, which felt
a bit extreme to me, But as Eddie Vetter said
a long time ago, some words, when spoken can't be
taken back. It kind of sucks, but as dog owners,
we are responsible for how our dogs integrate with the world,
not the other way around. The world doesn't have to
(10:26):
accommodate us, and so we have to read situations, try
our best to train them well, and just maintain a
level of common sense with our dogs. This goes for
a lot of things too. Have you ever stepped into
an unexpected pile of dog shit. If you're listening to this,
I bet you have literally not once in the history
of humankind has anyone ever enjoyed that. And there are
(10:49):
some sick bastards out there. I once woke up in
the middle of the night to my dog panting really
heavily in my ear, which is when you know that
your lab has a two inch grip on a sixth
sinch turred and as I quickly and very athletically leaped
from my bed to get her out, I stepped in
a large, cold pile of dog poop with my bare feet.
(11:10):
If there is any sensation that's worse than that, it
probably involves the zipper of your jeans and a part
of the male anatomy. You definitely don't want caught in
a zipper, especially after you drank way way too much
at a wedding the night before. Not cleaning up after
our dogs is a great way to piss off neighbors,
lose privileges to bring your dogs to different places, and
it's just bad owner behavior. That hotel I stayed at
(11:33):
where that demonic whimer on or viciously attacked me, has
a huge grassy area in the back of it that's
fenced off from the nearby highway, which means it's just
a perfect spot to let the dogs out to do
their thing in the morning. It's all so littered with
piles of dog poop, which is insane considering there are
bags available in trash cans literally right there. The thing
(11:57):
that pisses me off the most about that is that
I know a fair amount of those piles come from
bird dogs. This is kind of like when there is
a private land open to the public hunting program, you know,
in some different state, which is you know, just generally
always a net benefit to hunters, except that some hunters
leave gates open, some hunters use screwing steps to put
(12:18):
in their tree stands, you know, when they're not supposed to,
and just generally don't treat the place with a modicum
of respect, and then everyone loses out. It's just a
good idea to have some poop eggs handy pretty much,
you know, wherever you go, so that your dog doesn't
leave land mines out for folks who really don't want
to have to wash their shoes when they get home.
It's simple stuff mostly, but it seems to be lost
(12:41):
on a lot of people. I keep going back to
that hotel as an example because it's one of the
few places I interact with a fair amount of strangers
in their dogs, so I apologize for that. But you
know what else is a huge sign that someone is
a bad dog owner that I learn over and over
at that hotel when their dog barks and barks and
barks and barks and barks around other people in a hotel,
(13:04):
that is just insane to me. If your dog does
that once and you figure it out, okay, If you
keep going into settings where your dog can hear people
in the hallways and hear your doors closing, and it's
the kind of dog that will never stop barking at
those noises, you should figure out how to stay in
an airbnb er somewhere else. The amount of people who
allow their dogs to just bark and bark is amazing
(13:26):
to me, and not like, you know, the Northern lights
are amazing. I once spent a couple of nights in
a tent in South Dakota wall hunting pheasants, where I
listened to a pair of setters bark all night long,
and the dude who owned them could not have cared
less that literally everyone hated him and his dogs. We
have a cabin at a lake in Minnesota that is
close to a large campground. The amount of times I'm
(13:49):
out there fishing at sunrise and I can hear someone's
dog just barking away while families try to sleep in
tents is insane. And often you'll eventually hear someone finally
screams some not PG related suggestions at the dog owner. Again,
if that's your dog, don't go camping where other people
are in close proximity to you, or at least make
(14:11):
an attempt to figure out how to shut them up. Now,
I realize all this stuff happens, but I think a
lot of these bad dog owner behaviors come from one
of two places. The first is just that some people
suck and they don't care about others. Not much we
can do about that crowd, but maybe the zombie apocalypse
will hit and we can stake those people to trees
(14:31):
to occupy the undead while we make our break for
it or something. The other reason is that people just
get in over their heads with dogs. The bad behavior
that we allow is the bad behavior that we allow.
If that makes sense and much of that comes from
having just a little too much dog to handle. Not
everyone will admit this, especially us men and our giant,
fragile egos. But if we are of the couch potato
(14:54):
variety and we get an absolute burner of a breed,
we're bound to have some problems. Even when we go
for the perfect breed, you know, based on a million
factors just for us, we can still mismanage that relationship,
or the dog's energy level and whatever else, and eventually
end up with a dog that will exhibit bad behaviors
while we grow increasingly frustrated because we don't know how
(15:15):
to get a handle on something that we could have
addressed early on successfully. Good dogs are a work in progress.
But so we're good dog owners. We not only owe
it to the public at large just because it's the
right thing to do, but we owe it to ourselves
and our dogs to try to not be bad dog owners.
I don't really know how to put it any other way,
(15:36):
and I don't know how to make it any more
simple than that, I guess because if we don't do that,
we just might find ourselves in a mortifying situation where
we are clearly very bad at owning dogs and when
that happens, it can bite us lightly on the ass, or,
if not us, some innocent stranger heading to be struck
to get a charging cable for his phone. That's it
(15:56):
for this week. I'm Tony Peterson. This has been The
Houndation's podcast. As always, I just want to thank you
for your support. Truly means the world to us. You know,
here at meet eatter Without you guys, we have nothing.
We need our audience and you guys are the best,
So thank you for that. If you want some more content,
maybe you need to be entertained, maybe you're looking for
a little education or a nice mix of both. We
(16:17):
have a huge podcast network with a bunch of different
really good shows. We drop new hunting films all the time,
tons of articles. All of this content goes up at
the meadeater dot com literally new stuff every day. Go
check it out and thanks again for your support.
Hey, everyone, Welcome to the Foundation's podcast. I'm your host,
Tony Peterson, and today's episode is all about the decisions
we make that we might not even really think about
that make us bad dog owners. You know, sometimes inspiration
for these shows is tougher to locate, you know, tougher
(00:22):
than of finding a down rooster in the cattails after
you've just tickled in with your second shot. But other
times it runs right up and bites you in the ass.
You'll hear about what exactly lit the fire for this
show soon enough. But honestly, a lot of dog training
advice and info centers completely on us changing our dogs behavior,
but not a lot of it centers on us changing
(00:43):
our behavior with dogs. Now, if you have any off
the record conversation with a decent dog trainer, you're going
to hear all about that. It's no small part of
being a dog owner, and we could easily slip into
bad owner territory without even realizing it. This is what
I'm going to talk about right now. Back in twenty seventeen,
(01:07):
I boarded a flight bound for Houston, and once I
got there, I boarded another flight that was pointed in
the direction of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The trip was a
combo hunt for ducks and doves, and it was something
that I hadn't even really dreamed of because it felt
like it would never actually happen. But I did get
the invite from Lacrosse Boots to head down there and
test out some waiters and footwear, and since I'm no dummy,
(01:30):
I said yes and listen. The duck hunting was incredible,
if not somewhat gratuitous, while the dove hunting was just
completely gratuitous. I can see why some folks want to
hunt like that, but for me, it was just way,
way too much. I'm just not angry enough at the
dove population to chase a body count of one thousand
in a day. Anyway, the outfitters we hunted with were
(01:53):
top notch, and one of the partners had a wild
job in his youth which he told stories about, which
involved catching why animals in Africa for placement in European zoos.
Now I'm not talking squirrels here, but big dangerous critters.
This fella, who went by Junior, I don't even really
know if it was his name or his nickname, said
(02:13):
that if you can get close enough to a running
giraffe to grab it by its tail. It will instantly stop,
and then you can pretty much do what you need
to to capture it. He also said that for a
while they fed young male lions in order to gain
their trust over time, and eventually, I guess get him
into a trap now. At one point, he recounted a
story of carrying in a side of zebra or some
(02:34):
other planes game animal into an area where they were
conditioning a specific lion. As you can imagine from an
operation like that, safety wasn't a huge priority, but Junior
said they always went in in pairs so that the
feeder had armed backup. On this particular trip, Junior said,
the lion walked up and when Junior looked him in
the eyes, he said to his partner, you better get
(02:57):
ready because this dude's going to bite me. Must have
been a not much fun instant. The cat did exactly that.
It swatted him to the dirt with a big old paw,
sunk its teeth into his backstraps, and picked him up
to carry him off. Junior's armed partner couldn't get a
clean shot off, and so Junior rode along for two
(03:17):
hundred yards like a stuffed dog toy or I guess
cat toy. Then, for reasons known only to that lion,
it set him down and just walked off. Maybe Junior
tasted like shit. I don't know, but I do know
that recently, I was in a hotel with a worn
out lab when I realized my phone charger was still
in my truck. So I walked down the stairs and
happened to get to the door leading to the parking
(03:38):
lot at the exact same time as a fellow struggling
to get a cooler to his truck, and he had
an off Leashweimerunner who didn't quite look directly at me
when I entered the scene, but seemed to become vaguely
aware of me. The instant I saw that dog, I
thought to myself, that dumb son of a bitch is
going to bite me. I wish I was joking, but
(03:58):
I'm not. For whatever reason, I've been around seven million
dogs and have rarely, rarely thought that. But I looked
at the disconnected stare of that dog and it was
just like plain as day that he wasn't all there. Now,
maybe I'm as dumb as I don't know your average
Wimer honor because I walked out there anyway, and when
that dog started barking at me, I just kept walking
(04:20):
while the owner started yelling. I don't remember if the
dog had a collar on or not, but I know
it wasn't leashed. The guy had no free hands, and
after making a run at me once, the dog made
another run and bit me right on the ass. I
again wish I was joking, but I am not. When
I turned around, thinking I might have to kick the
second dog in my life right in his face, it
(04:41):
ran off and I just looked at the guy and said,
Jesus Christ man, this guy wouldn't even make eye contact
with me. Now, before all of you high flying Wymer
on her owners try to mobilize and cancel me, remember this,
I don't care what you think. I have no doubt
there are great Wymer Honors out there and that they
are the as absolute best dog for certain people. I
(05:02):
actually have no hate my heart for that breed or
any breed really, So you can relax. But that owner,
I hope he zips his nutsack up and his Jean
zipper like I did one time when I was very
hungover and heading off to hunt bears in Canada. You
guys and gals all know where this is going. It
wasn't that dog's fault. I can promise you that owner
and knew his dog was as smooth brained as they come,
(05:25):
and he still brought him down a hotel hallway and
out into a hotel parking lot without any way to
control him. An absolutely zero chance of a recall if
that dog set out to do what it wanted, which
by the looks of it was a very likely scenario. Now,
it was a light bite on my ass, which was
fortunate for all involved. But what if it hadn't been
(05:48):
or it had not been a dude who's six too
and was wearing brush pants but instead of four foot
tall kid wearing pajamas. That town I was staying in
is right in the heart of some of my favorite
pheasant country, and it's one of the few places that
still allows dogs. That hotel is kind of a rare
find these days. Now, imagine if that bite had been
(06:08):
worse and the policy that hotel had changed because of it.
Literally one bad dog owner could have kept countless good
dog owners from heading out of town to chase roosters
around or at the very least made it a lot
harder to facilitate such a trip. What does it make
that guy, well, you decide. But the off leash, no
handle on a dog thing is always indicative of owners
(06:30):
who've made a poor choice, who are making poor choices. Look,
we all love our dogs to death, and we view
them with the rosiest of glasses. But our heavily biased
perception of our dogs doesn't alter the reality in which
we live, and we have to tamp down that love
fest when it involves other people and other dogs. The
amount of times I've had people's dogs run up to
(06:52):
me off leash while I was running in the park
by myself is dozens. And most of the dogs that
actively run up to you in that situation display some aggression,
you know, unless they're just puppies looking for love. I
don't expect much out of the general pet owning public, honestly,
But folks who decide to buy dedicated bird dogs and
(07:13):
then train them to some level, I just hold them
to a higher standard. So not only is it incredibly
rude to let your off leash dog run up to strangers,
it's also dangerous to your dog. While you might have
the most lovable Golden Retriever or German short hair on
the planet, the dude walking his pitbull through the park
(07:34):
might not have the same vibes. If there's one thing
that can trigger a quick nasty response out of some dogs,
it's a strange dog running straight at them, especially when
they are on a leash. And look, we all make
(07:56):
mistakes on this front. I was mortified one time when
I was working with my lab Luna in the front
yard when she was I don't know, maybe seven eight
months old. A woman who runs in our neighborhood a
lot went sprinting right on by, and I wasn't paying
attention to Luna enough so that I had no chance
to get a hold of the check cord before she
took off and tried to get a little scratch behind
the ear. But this woman didn't know that, and I
(08:19):
still feel a little embarrassed when I see her, and
it's been like twelve years since that incident. It happens,
but we should try not to set things up so
it's guaranteed to happen, especially in a place where you
have no idea who you're going to run into. Not
everyone loves dogs, which is weird, I know, but I'll
never forget one. And Sadie was a little puppy, like
(08:40):
maybe a three month old type of puppy, and we
took her to Cabella's to get her a little socialization
and to get me a whole bunch of bass lures.
When we were standing in the checkout line, Sadie was
just milling around at my feet on leash by the way,
and the woman in front of us turned around and
absolutely lost her shit because she didn't know she was
within like seven feet of a dog. I guess I've
(09:00):
never seen someone scream louder over something less threatening other
than the times that a cottontail rabbit jumped into the
side of my buddy Ryan's bike while we were riding
through the neighborhood in sixth grade. In his eyes, it
was like a Monty Python level rabbit attack or something.
Some people don't want your dog in their business, you know,
like at parks, at beaches, at anywhere public, and you
(09:21):
know what, that's fair. I don't really trust non dog
people much, but I know they exist partially because I
was raised by one, and it's just a sign of
a good dog owner to recognize that and live as
if that's true wherever they take their pups out into
the world. We had a neighbor a few years back
who thankfully moved away, but he and his family were
(09:44):
terrified of dogs, all dogs. We have a pretty loose
policy in our neighborhood with dogs in our yards because
there are several of us with bird dogs and they
are all pretty well trained. But one of our neighbors
has a catahula, which, if you've never met one, makes
the average whim runners seem like a well adjusted, super
intelligent dog. Again, guys, I'm kidding. Louis. The cata hula
(10:06):
casually wandered over to the new neighbors one day and
it didn't go well. There were death threats, which felt
a bit extreme to me, But as Eddie Vetter said
a long time ago, some words, when spoken can't be
taken back. It kind of sucks, but as dog owners,
we are responsible for how our dogs integrate with the world,
not the other way around. The world doesn't have to
(10:26):
accommodate us, and so we have to read situations, try
our best to train them well, and just maintain a
level of common sense with our dogs. This goes for
a lot of things too. Have you ever stepped into
an unexpected pile of dog shit. If you're listening to this,
I bet you have literally not once in the history
of humankind has anyone ever enjoyed that. And there are
(10:49):
some sick bastards out there. I once woke up in
the middle of the night to my dog panting really
heavily in my ear, which is when you know that
your lab has a two inch grip on a sixth
sinch turred and as I quickly and very athletically leaped
from my bed to get her out, I stepped in
a large, cold pile of dog poop with my bare feet.
(11:10):
If there is any sensation that's worse than that, it
probably involves the zipper of your jeans and a part
of the male anatomy. You definitely don't want caught in
a zipper, especially after you drank way way too much
at a wedding the night before. Not cleaning up after
our dogs is a great way to piss off neighbors,
lose privileges to bring your dogs to different places, and
it's just bad owner behavior. That hotel I stayed at
(11:33):
where that demonic whimer on or viciously attacked me, has
a huge grassy area in the back of it that's
fenced off from the nearby highway, which means it's just
a perfect spot to let the dogs out to do
their thing in the morning. It's all so littered with
piles of dog poop, which is insane considering there are
bags available in trash cans literally right there. The thing
(11:57):
that pisses me off the most about that is that
I know a fair amount of those piles come from
bird dogs. This is kind of like when there is
a private land open to the public hunting program, you know,
in some different state, which is you know, just generally
always a net benefit to hunters, except that some hunters
leave gates open, some hunters use screwing steps to put
(12:18):
in their tree stands, you know, when they're not supposed to,
and just generally don't treat the place with a modicum
of respect, and then everyone loses out. It's just a
good idea to have some poop eggs handy pretty much,
you know, wherever you go, so that your dog doesn't
leave land mines out for folks who really don't want
to have to wash their shoes when they get home.
It's simple stuff mostly, but it seems to be lost
(12:41):
on a lot of people. I keep going back to
that hotel as an example because it's one of the
few places I interact with a fair amount of strangers
in their dogs, so I apologize for that. But you
know what else is a huge sign that someone is
a bad dog owner that I learn over and over
at that hotel when their dog barks and barks and
barks and barks and barks around other people in a hotel,
(13:04):
that is just insane to me. If your dog does
that once and you figure it out, okay, If you
keep going into settings where your dog can hear people
in the hallways and hear your doors closing, and it's
the kind of dog that will never stop barking at
those noises, you should figure out how to stay in
an airbnb er somewhere else. The amount of people who
allow their dogs to just bark and bark is amazing
(13:26):
to me, and not like, you know, the Northern lights
are amazing. I once spent a couple of nights in
a tent in South Dakota wall hunting pheasants, where I
listened to a pair of setters bark all night long,
and the dude who owned them could not have cared
less that literally everyone hated him and his dogs. We
have a cabin at a lake in Minnesota that is
close to a large campground. The amount of times I'm
(13:49):
out there fishing at sunrise and I can hear someone's
dog just barking away while families try to sleep in
tents is insane. And often you'll eventually hear someone finally
screams some not PG related suggestions at the dog owner. Again,
if that's your dog, don't go camping where other people
are in close proximity to you, or at least make
(14:11):
an attempt to figure out how to shut them up. Now,
I realize all this stuff happens, but I think a
lot of these bad dog owner behaviors come from one
of two places. The first is just that some people
suck and they don't care about others. Not much we
can do about that crowd, but maybe the zombie apocalypse
will hit and we can stake those people to trees
(14:31):
to occupy the undead while we make our break for
it or something. The other reason is that people just
get in over their heads with dogs. The bad behavior
that we allow is the bad behavior that we allow.
If that makes sense and much of that comes from
having just a little too much dog to handle. Not
everyone will admit this, especially us men and our giant,
fragile egos. But if we are of the couch potato
(14:54):
variety and we get an absolute burner of a breed,
we're bound to have some problems. Even when we go
for the perfect breed, you know, based on a million
factors just for us, we can still mismanage that relationship,
or the dog's energy level and whatever else, and eventually
end up with a dog that will exhibit bad behaviors
while we grow increasingly frustrated because we don't know how
(15:15):
to get a handle on something that we could have
addressed early on successfully. Good dogs are a work in progress.
But so we're good dog owners. We not only owe
it to the public at large just because it's the
right thing to do, but we owe it to ourselves
and our dogs to try to not be bad dog owners.
I don't really know how to put it any other way,
(15:36):
and I don't know how to make it any more
simple than that, I guess because if we don't do that,
we just might find ourselves in a mortifying situation where
we are clearly very bad at owning dogs and when
that happens, it can bite us lightly on the ass, or,
if not us, some innocent stranger heading to be struck
to get a charging cable for his phone. That's it
(15:56):
for this week. I'm Tony Peterson. This has been The
Houndation's podcast. As always, I just want to thank you
for your support. Truly means the world to us. You know,
here at meet eatter Without you guys, we have nothing.
We need our audience and you guys are the best,
So thank you for that. If you want some more content,
maybe you need to be entertained, maybe you're looking for
a little education or a nice mix of both. We
(16:17):
have a huge podcast network with a bunch of different
really good shows. We drop new hunting films all the time,
tons of articles. All of this content goes up at
the meadeater dot com literally new stuff every day. Go
check it out and thanks again for your support.
Host
Cal Callaghan
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Bobby Bones Show
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.