Cujo!!??

[OutOnaLimb]

Yesterday I showed up at a customers house to trim up an apple tree in the back yard, the owner wasnt home, so I walked through the back gate to get to the tree. I was sizing up the little apple tree when out of the corner of my eye I see what looked like a bear charging at me barking. Out of instinct I hurtled the neighbors fence to get out of the 150lbs Chow's territory. Fortunatley the neighbor didnt have a dog and I was able to get out of their yard, and shut the gate to the home owners back yard. This is the second time in the last month or so that I have showed up to do a tree job and the home owner has left their dog in the back yard with out telling me or the permitter. Fortunatly the first pooch was just a little
"attack poodle" and I ran decathalon in college. I have been cautious when approching a fenced in back yard where I need to work, I usually whistle or call out to see if there is a dog in there, but this last canine actually seemed to be waiting untill I got into the yard before he decided to spring his ambush. Out of curiousity, who is liable if a tree worker is bit by a home owners dog when the home owner is not home but has contracted for work to be done on their property?

:Monkey:

 

[ROLLACOSTA]

the funniest thing that ever happend to me was when i got atacked by a persian cat

 

[Curtis James]

I'm not sure who is liable but that happens alot to us while doing line clearence. We aren't in the neighboor hoods for long so occassionally we will have to leave notes on their doors to put up the dog so we can get our clearence. I have also had to transfer to a tree that had some relatively aggresive dogs in the yard but I was able to decend down over the fence as to not bother them. Chows were the top of the biting dog list last year. They can be very protective of their domain, and agressive towards those not in the immediate family!

 

[Gypo Logger]

What has two legs and bleeds?
A dog bucked in half with a chainsaw.
John

 

[jamie]

eh

eh,

no head, no tail.....

jamie

 

[treeman82]

That sucks that you had the encounter with the dog. However I have heard and seen some pretty disturbing things when it comes to large dogs.

1) guy ripped out the dog's vocal cords so it wouldn't make any noise before it attacked the "intruder"

2) dentist ripped out doberman's? k-9 teeth and replaced them with carbide ones so that they could go right through denim, or whatever else the intruder might think to wear.

3) great danes (180 lbs - 240 lbs) 5 of them. Guy put a sign down in front of the house on the fence, "beware of dog" The reason for that being, if you only expect one dog, and see one dog, then you won't be looking for the other 4 which are coming up behind you and on your sides.

I have never had problems with dogs on a property I was working on. A couple people have had rotties, and I got along great with those dogs. A couple other people had shephards, I got along great with them too. The only one I ever had problems with were the danes, and with that guy all I had to do was call before I went there to do anything and he would lock them up inside. When I would leave, he would let them out and it looked like a bunch of little horses running up to the fence barking their heads off. Those 5 dogs feared nothing, killed lots and lots of stuff. However one of the guy's neighbors had a wild cat, and there was a mutual respect between the cat, and the dogs from what I understand. Ocellot (sp?)

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

I walk up to a gate I make a lot of noise and yell "Here puppy puppy puppie!"

So, does anyone charge a customer a trip fee if they have to leave for the dog?

I know a fellow who has a box to check for outside pets along with utility dsiconnect and locating.

 

[Stumper]

I seldom have problems with dogs- They can generally sense whether or not a person is "trouble" and if the person is not afraid, makes no sudden moves and speaks calmly while the dog smells him or her they accept the person into the yard. -There are exceptions of course. I was attacked by a German shepherd as a boy- I was afraid of strange dogs for a few years but when I "grew up" I decided that , while I could get mauled, there were very few dogs that I wouldn't be able to kill barehanded if they were to attack me. I like dogs and when I quit being afraid of them I noticed that I had very few dog problems. In the last 20 years I suppose I've encountered perhaps 5 that I thought might actually bite me if i didn't stay out of their yard.
Liability wise-if a dog bites someone the owner is almost always liable (exceptions involve criminal actions on the part of the bitee.) In fairness, I do not begrudge a dog guarding his/her yard-thats the dog's job. On the other hand, if a dog comes into MY yard and growls at me..............Does anyone have a taste for dog? I'm about to have a fresh one.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

There is allways the Korean restraunt down the street.

 

[OutOnaLimb]

After consulting my girlfriend, who is an insurance adjuster, she said that if there were no "Beware of Dog" signs posted that the home owner would be liable. I am not so much worried about being bitten its just the fact that I was not able to get that last little job knocked out on a Friday afternoon. The guy I am sub-contracting for told me on the phone after we were heading home that he didnt remember a dog in the yard when he bid the job back in November. Go figure. And it also turns out that he didnt call the home owner in advance to let him know that we were coming that day. Go figure again. This is the second time this has happened, I am seriously thinking about keeping a can of pepper spray in the truck for a little added protection when approaching a job site. It would be nice to be able to talk to the home owner the night before the job, or early that morning, but for what ever reason that never seems to happen. Call me crazy, but as a sub I really dont think its my responsibility to be making courtesy calls to the home owner every morning before I head out to the job site.


Kenn

 

[MasterBlaster]

Don't count on the pepper spray if it might be your life. Dogs react differently than humans.
Sometimes, it just pisses them off. I've seen it.

 

[OutOnaLimb]

Are you saying that I should count on my Heckler & Koch USP .40??? Just kidding, Prior planning prevents pi$$ poor performance right???

:Monkey:

 

[MasterBlaster]

Heres my pepper spray

Its quiet.

 

[OutOnaLimb]

LOL For about $15.00 worth of parts at a hard ware store I can suppress a Ruger MkII .22 pistol. I would rather have that over Jim Bowie anyday.

 

[MasterBlaster]

But its so noisy!!!

And not fair...

Nobody appreciates close contact anymore.



Ohh... you said 'suppress'

That would work!

 

[Stumper]

Shhshhhhh.......Kenn, Don't let Big Brother know that you can figure that kind of stuff out.

 

[MasterBlaster]

What about a potato, like in the movies?

 

[OutOnaLimb]

Originally posted by MasterBlaster
What about a potato, like in the movies?

The potatoe doesnt work, neither does the 2 liter bottle taped to the barrel. All you need is a 8 inch piece of black pipe that is capped on one end with a 1/2 hole drilled in it, fill it with poker chips that have a 1/2 inch hole drilled in them, capped again and threaded to match the threads you tap into the barrel of the pistol. Im not gona get a 2 week suspension for revealing this little secret am I?

:Monkey:

 

[MasterBlaster]

What?

I didn't hear nuttin...

 

[OutOnaLimb]

Right on Butch, just dont ask me how to make Amonium Nitrate explosives like Carl did.