Dog pissed on my rope

Two questions:

1) I'm leaning towards retiring it unless someone can convince me otherwise. It's a relatively new rope with a dry coating. The dog just gave it a courtesy squirt. Can anyone speak to this?

2) I'm a dude. Dog owner was a lady. I was pretty pissed (no pun intended) but at the same time I had my dog (same breed as hers) right there at the crag. My dog was leashed, quiet and not peeing on things but it's not like I could play the you shouldn't have brought your dog to the crag card. She didn't do anything. Didn't leash the dog, didn't offer to replace the rope, just made some half-hearted comment about how "Fluffy that was punk move. She's a bad dog right now." I'm not really sure how I should have handled it. I considered asking her to permanently trade ropes but it's just tough for me as a guy to get at all aggro with a woman I don't really know. What's the etiquette here?

Online etiquette suggests you should stop trolling.

TheBirdman wrote:Two questions: 1) I'm leaning towards retiring it unless someone can convince me otherwise. It's a relatively new rope with a dry coating. The dog just gave it a courtesy squirt. Can anyone speak to this? 2) I'm a dude. Dog owner was a lady. I was pretty pissed (no pun intended) but at the same time I had my dog (same breed as hers) right there at the crag. My dog was leashed, quiet and not peeing on things but it's not like I could play the you shouldn't have brought your dog to the crag card. She didn't do anything. Didn't leash the dog, didn't offer to replace the rope, just made some half-hearted comment about how "Fluffy that was punk move. She's a bad dog right now." I'm not really sure how I should have handled it. I considered asking her to permanently trade ropes but it's just tough for me as a guy to get at all aggro with a woman I don't really know. What's the etiquette here?

Unless you got it in the wash right after it happened, I'd dump it.

blackdiamondequipment.com/e…

WOW 20kN...way to turn a troll into a sweet learning opportunity. Hats off to you!

i think he is just asking for some advice here, not trolling, shit i wouldnt know what to do in that situation either! id be sure as hell pissed off though!

Summary from BD link:
Observations

The "Cat Pee" rope was approximately 95% of the static strength of a new rope.
You can see during the first drop tower test that the "Cat Pee" rope saw higher loads faster. This means that it did not have equal elastic properties to the brand new rope.
The "Cat Pee" rope withheld slightly fewer falls in all other drop tower tests.

Further Information

I contacted Pit Schubert who is an expert in climbing gear accidents and testing and asked if he had done any tests regarding urine and ropes. His response is below:

"I made test with ropes and human urine-I put rope samples in a pot with urine over night and sent them to the university of Stuttgart for testing according to EN 892-the result: reduction of the number of falls 30%-after this I had the idea, that a rope in a pot of urine over night is not realistic-so I put only a lot of urine drops on the rope samples, but morning urine (because morning urine is stronger than day urine)-the result: reduction of the number of falls 13%.

I'd rinse it and use it.

Matt N wrote: I'd rinse it and use it.

after reading that.. i agree ^

thats the nice thing about ikea bags ... each time you use the rope it goes flakes back into the bag ... usually dogs dont run all over and piss IN the bag ...

however you do see dogs run all over ropes on rope bag tarps ...

and yes this is a shameless plug for the 1 dollah ikea bag ... and another reason to buy el cheapo 85$ ropes for cragging ;)

i would have kicked the dog ... i dont mind dogs generally but if it pissed on my rope all bets are off =P

bearbreeder wrote:... i would have kicked the dog ... i dont mind dogs generally but if it pissed on my rope all bets are off =P

Bear, please don't kick the cur...
Kick the dog's owner, then walk over and politely pee on her rope in a similar fashion.

Some people's kids...:-P

piss on the dog

Jason Kim wrote:Online etiquette suggests you should stop trolling.

Hey moron, look at my post history and then determine if I'm a troll. I think online etiquette suggests you should think before you speak (or type in this case).

My questions were 1) about the actual safety hazards of using a rope and 2) asking the guys on this website (which I would imagine amounts to at least 80% of the population on this website) how they would deal with a girl who's dog pissed on their rope. I didn't want to scream at her obviously, but I was definitely pissed. Should she have offered to buy a new one, give me her rope, or what? I made some half-hearted comment about how she should really leash her dog because the next person her dog does that to might not be so understanding. Her response was to not leash the dog and just to tell me that the dog had never done that before.

As for kicking the dog, I don't blame the dog. I blame this irresponsible girl for letting her dog roam free while she belays and has zero control over her animal.

I'm only going to answer question #2. I don't know why you want another guy to answer it, you are a guy and another guy would have similar insight, and in an internet forum no one wants to come across as a bastard to women. I also apologize in advance that I am long-winded.

I'm a female, and I don't think you should treat the irresponsible female dog owner any differently than you would treat another man.
If you would have yelled at another guy, yell at her.
If you would have not said anything to another guy, don't say anything to her.

Women are in many ways equal now - we have the right to work, vote, and participate in almost every activity traditionally for men. Therefore we should not expect alternate treatment. If women got the "right" (who would want this) to fight in the front lines of troops, then men should not act all chivlorous and put their lives in danger. (However, I understand why women should not be in the front lines, I personally would have a tough time dragging an injured man out of danger).

"Women and children first" was fine back in the day when women were also deprived of other privileges. Of course, if a woman is pregnant, or if she is not physically strong or tall enough to do something, yes help her, but that is due to her physical capabilities (just like you would help a blind guy cross the street) - and not by virtue of her being simply female.

In this case, her gender or physical capabilites had nothing to do with her control of her dog. So now she probably thinks her dog can go pee on people's stuff, including NON-REDUNDANT life saving equipment. Yes it is gross if the dog pees on a jacket (and on a rope too as you have to flake the rope across your hands or coil by draping across your shoulders) but it's not keeping you alive. If anything, having an acidic liquid penetrate your rope is sure to make you feel uncomfortable, possibly sketching you out during scary climbs.

I think her response of "it's never done that before" was not a good explanation. It did pee on your rope regardless. As an analogy, it is important to lock the carabiner on the belay device to the belayer each and every time. Maybe 99% of the time the rope doesn't push the gate open and the belay device/rope remains inside the biner, but there might be that one time it does. "Had never done that before" is not a good excuse, when there is something she can do - just leash the dog.

She probably won't have offered to buy you a rope, pay for the damage, or traded ropes, unless you brought it up. There's no incentive for her to do so. I probably wouldn't take her rope though, who knows what it's been thru (more dog pee?) Yes usually when you spill wine on someone's white blouse you offer to replace it. But because the rope is more expensive, she didn't want to bring it up. Even though it is invisible, dog pee ruins the purpose of the rope (safety purpose) as much as red wine ruins a white blouse (for it's looks... a person can still wear it and it would prevent them from being naked and keep them slightly warm). Depite the apparently minimal reduction of the strength from cat pee tests, it seems that there is some reduction in strengh, and who wants that in their rope? It would also prevent you from climbing as hard as you may otherwise if you are wondering whether your rope needs that extra 13%. Heck maybe if that guy in Yosemite's rope was 13% stronger it would not have cut and he may be alive.

Your life is nothing to toy with, and this is no time to worry about whether you are being kind and courteous to the girl. Did she show you the same courtesy? If your rope fails later on, that would be your life, versus a few minutes of her discomfort at being yelled at, or some coin. It is not very fair if you have to foot the bill of her mistake. Even though she did not pee on it, she is the "master" of her dog and is responsible for its actions. Just like when you are driving for a company, if the driver gets in an accident the company is responsible for it.

If you don't feel comfortable yelling at a girl, have ME (or another girl) go yell at her. However, I'd probably first nicely ask for a replacement / damage cost (price of your rope reduced by the cost of how much you have used it) before yelling.

TheBirdman wrote: Hey moron, look at my post history and then determine if I'm a troll.

There's only so much time in the day. I call 'em as I see 'em.

Ok, you want to know the truth? What did she look like? Because that factor, alone, is going to dictate how most of us would have handled the situation.

Yeah but it sounds like she had an ugly character.

Jason Kim wrote: There's only so much time in the day. I call 'em as I see 'em. Ok, you want to know the truth? What did she look like? Because that factor, alone, is going to dictate how most of us would have handled the situation.

Considering my girlfriend was standing right next to me, it didn't really matter.

I guess a better way to frame the question: If your dog pissed on someone's rope, what would you do and/or say?

Caprinae monkey wrote:Yeah but it sounds like she had an ugly character.

You have much to learn about the male brain.

It's better to be pissed off than pissed on. . .

TheBirdman wrote: Considering my girlfriend was standing right next to me, it didn't really matter. I guess a better way to frame the question: If your dog pissed on someone's rope, what would you do and/or say?

I suppose I would have just shrugged it off, if it was only a "courtesy squirt" like you say. She probably saw that you had your pup along, same breed and all, and figured it wasn't a big deal. I never would have guessed that a little urine would adversely affect a rope. The BD report is interesting, and far from a rigorous test, but would suggest to me that it's still safe to climb on that rope.

If my dog pisses on someone's rope, I would apologize profusely and leash him to a tree. I would not, however, offer to buy the person a new rope or swap my gear for theirs. That seems like overkill.

If you've spent any time at all at a public dog park, you are no doubt aware that there is a very wide range of behavior and expectations when it comes to handling dogs, and the mischief they can cause.

Steve Williams wrote:It's better to be pissed off than pissed on. . .

You underestimate the allure of a golden shower, when engaged upon with the appropriate partner.

Kick the dog, wash the rope. When the rope is dry throw it in the dirt, step on it a few times and you're good to go.

TheBirdman wrote: Considering my girlfriend was standing right next to me, it didn't really matter. I guess a better way to frame the question: If your dog pissed on someone's rope, what would you do and/or say?

If my dog pissed on someone's rope, I'd apologize, ask if I can rinse off their rope before the pee saturated through the sheath to the core, isolate the pee area, wipe it off with my paper towel or extra shirt, slowly pour water on it from my nalgene bottle making sure to rinse every affected area, then dry it with my shirt. I would also offer a consolation locking carabiner, 24" sling, or quickdraw. Defintely I would tie my dog up, hogstyle (j/k).

If anything, I wouldn't want them to touch pee when it passes thru the belay device or when they coil it.

Truthfully I wouldn't offer to purchase a new rope, as I usually don't have $200+ with me, and trading ropes is not an equal proposition.

Other scenarios:

• If my dog diarrhea'd on your rope, I would repeat the above steps and offer you a cam.
• If my dog bit thru your rope I would give you my rope (I hope you like pink).
• If my dog got in a fight with your dog I'd bet $10 on my dog