Well, I don't have a dog in this fight (pun intended), because I don't do group rides. But it doesn't seem all that unreasonable to request that people not be expected to deal with your dog without prior clearance. Like showing up at the trailhead before you mention if you want to bring your dog along puts people who don't want to ride with your dog in an awkward position. To me it's just common courtesy. And even if he didn't have a daughter who was scared of dogs--take that out of the equation entirely--the behavior described in the article of the dog owners whose dogs were off-leash in a place that (presumably) required them to be on-leash is not acceptable. If your dog is off-leash in an area where leashes are required, you ought to have 100% voice command of that dog. As the author said, "usually" just doesn't cut it.
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the guy's daughter has a phobia. and while I agree that unleashed dogs are an issue sometimes, the world does not need to be sanitized of dogs for trail rides just cause your 6 year old has an issue with them.
the chances of meeting a dog on a trail is not going to go away just because he's annoyed he has to deal with his daughter having a meltdown over even seeing a dog. and its irrational for him to expect that everyone will cater to that.
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Yeah, it sounds like this author should work on desensitization for his daughter instead of expecting people to cater to an uncommon behavior.
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This concern seems so niche
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