Youv'e hit a nerve with this post .
I had a large black dog that , a few people said , looked like a wolf . We hiked alot of miles together in a lot of places . When we were out in the woods I took off the leash so she could run around . I knew and trusted my dog and KNEW she would never hurt anyone unless someone physicaly attacked me or her . I would have NEVER let her off the leash if she were a danger to anyone . When we hiked she would never get to far from me because she always wanted to keep me in sight . She mostly walked a little ways ahead of me sort of like she was taking the point . Sometimes when turning a corner in the trail or going over a hill , we would lose sight of each other for a moment . A few times she came upon other hikers , cross country skiers , and mountain bikers in the moment when I was not in sight yet . Like I said , she sort of looked like a wolf and did surprise some of these people and I'm sure some of them were scared for a moment . Now , I can understand that people would get scared when coming across a big dog like that in the woods . They had no way of knowing she was a GOOD dog [ IMO there are no bad dogs , only bad owners ] . I've met some VERY bad dog owners . BUT!!!!! If anyone had been STUPID and IRRESPONSIBLE enough to shoot or harm my dog in any way in the brief time that I was not in view . I would have made them EXTREMELY!!!!!! sorry they did such a STUPID!!!!! thing <img src="/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />. Before you shoot a dog , you better be ABSOLUTELY SURE your'e doing the right thing .