LBA Park visitors: Put your dogs on a leash!
Please, please people put your dogs on a leash unless you're at a designated off-leash area. Tonight at LBA park I was walking my leashed dog when two off leash pit bulls with no owners in sight aggressively approached us, low to the ground and growling. I picked up my 50 lb dog so she couldn't get bit and yelled at the dogs to back off.
I yelled out for the owners if they were around. No answer. The dogs kept getting closer and growling so I set my dog down and got the Costco bear spray out. I yelled to the one car in the parking lot if these were their dogs. "Yeah, so what" they answered as their dogs still kept approaching and growling. I said "I am going to pepper spray your dogs if you don't call them back", and almost immediately one of the dogs made a lunge and I sprayed it.
Two women came out of the car yelling and screaming. I explained that their dogs were being aggressive, that my leashed dog had been attacked in the same parking lot once previously by off leash dogs, and that dogs are required to be leashed in LBA Park except for one small section of trail off in the woods. Of course all I got was being told that I was a bitch and that I should "fight her like a man". I offered her some bear spray if she was going to try and attack me as well, which she declined. They were clearly drunk or on drugs, slurring their words, and drove off yelling "fuck the police" before the cops showed up. White Lexus sedan - police have the plates.
Please people. Just leash your dogs. You don't know how they will react to other people or dogs, or how other people will react to them. I genuinely felt like my dog was about to have her leg ripped open again and had nowhere to go with pitbulls on either side of us. I love dogs and hate that I had to do this, but I'll do it many times over if it means keeping my dog out of the hospital.
LBA in particular only has one small area that is off-leash. Learn where it is and keep leashes on outside of that area. The fields, pathways, and 90% of the trails require dogs to be leashed. There are clear signs communicating this. As for me, I'm headed back to Costco tomorrow to buy more bear spray.