Such an annoying day of off lead dogs in on-lead areas

[tritonx]

Bit of a rant here I'm in such a grumpy mood tonight after both of my walks today with Fraser were interrupted by gamboling off lead dogs frolicking around him with the owners not doing much to pull them back. This morning I was hoping we'd not cross paths with a very powerful looking pit bull in the neighbourhood (in Canada we'd say he was built like a brick s**t house). We've crossed paths before with a little boy on the other end of a lead and the dog pulling mightily to come to greet Fraser. I honestly don't care whether any individual pit bull is the world's friendliest dog. Even if the pit is calm, my dog can be excitable at greeting when on lead and can get growly with the combination of lead restraint and a younger dog. And if for doggy reasons, the pit gets triggered by my dog's behaviour and attacks, my dog wouldn't have a chance. Naturally, when I took Fraser to an open area behind my house, there was the pit bull, off lead and bounding toward mine, followed by its adult owner saying 'he's friendly, he just wants to play.' I said, 'my dog can get growly when he's on lead' but by that time the pit is bouncing around Fraser and Fraser is beginning to growl because he's intimidated. It seemed to take ages for the man to finally get far enough distant that the dog broke off and went after him and I was able to resume my walk, cursing under my breath.

Then on our afternoon walk in an official on lead area, a couple with a small shepherd type dog on lead and a rotti off lead approached with the idiot man (I'm still stewing) letting his half grown pup dance on his hind legs at Fraser who was starting to growl and react again with the restraint of the leash and the puppy behaviour even though I was telling him that Fraser doesn't like pups much. He just laughed merrily and said, 'it will be good for my pup to be told off.' Then the rotti came in to greet in the midst of all this going on and Fraser got more anxious, growling at the pup coming at him from one direction and a large dog from another. The rotti reacted a bit to Fraser growling, but it didn't escalate and eventually the group moved off. What is is with people that they will not listen to what other owners are saying about their dogs?? I'm so irritated it's going to take a sleep between today and tomorrow to get back my good humour.   

[Poppsie]

I think you need some of these to calm you down  's x x x

[beanbag]

 

[caza61]

I know exactly how u feel !! It's just the same where I walk my dogs , I keep them both on leads ( one is a cocker the other a jack Russell x ) I have them both on leads because the cocker just wants to run and jump up at everyone ,but I always bump into people who have not got there's on leads !!! And as their dogs come running over to mine , mine start barking and pulling me !!!! ,some days I just dread taking them out !!! Oh and another thing as I am picking their poo up I ALLWAYS tread in some other dogs poo !!! There that's my rant over  hope u have a better walk with yours tomorrow 

[tritonx]

  Well, it's a new day and a new mood. Feeling much better after a night's sleep and sympathy from the kind folk here.  I've learned so much here about bringing up a doglet and reading doggy behaviour. Most folk, however, are what I now see as 'casual' dog owners. They know about their own dogs' behaviour, but they don't take into account the more complicated interactions that can happen with other people's dogs. In Fraser's defence, if he's approached in a mature manner by a big dog, he'll do all the appropriate things and after a mutually polite greeting, we all move along. But if the other dog is puppyish or shows aggression signs at him, he'll react and being on leash increases the chance of reaction. Which is why I warn people if any likelihood is there. But a surprising number of people just do not listen or wave off my concerns with a dogs will be dogs attitude. Oh well. Hope it goes better today.

[Sarah.H]

Oh god I know exactly where you're coming from! I can't let Millie off lead a lot of the time as she runs off to hunt but being on lead makes her reactive to other dogs. I'm quite good now at judging the other dogs behaviour/intention and can often leave her on a longer line to let her express herself and not feel restrained. I do have to sometimes call her so she does a little circle back to me and back to the dog or she can go barrelling in like a right cocky madame  .

And then some moron with an out of control dog sends her right over the edge and it will take a few days for her to be less aggressive again  . The most annoying thing I find is the person with one on lead dog and one off lead dog and they let the off lead dog cause a problem, what the hell is that about!

[Countrygirl]

I sympathise with you.  I was out with the girls today and they were happily sniffing around when bounding towards us came 3 labradors, one with a muzzle on which doesn't inspire confidence.  Ellie did her usually screeching, it is an unbelievable sound if you have not heard it before, and Toffee stood stock still with her tail clamped between her legs as she has been raped a couple of times.  I was hoping the owner would quickly walk by, but no, he stopped to ask if mine were cockers.  Yes I said, having to shout above Ellie's screeching and trying to push his labradors away.  Thought they were, he said, mine are working labradors.  Do they actually work, I asked, oh yes, he says, they retrieve from the gun.  I was feeling a bit stressed by then but I do wish I had said 'well if you can train them to the gun it's a pity you can't train them to be polite'.  Eventually we got away, thankfully all unharmed.

[tritonx]

I don't get it. Why do they think it's okay for their dogs to mill at other dogs or a stranger who might not enjoy all the attention? Fraser does have what I call a scream of excitement when people come to the door. It's a awful sound and you can see people's eyes go round with surprise when they hear it. Must wake up the neighbourhood when he does it as it's so penetrating. When you say Toffee has been raped, does that mean a dog has mounted her? I thought female dogs told off unwanted attention from male dogs in no uncertain terms. Or maybe that's cats.

[Spoiler]

I'm also fed up with off lead dogs running up to Harvey. As you say, people just think of their own dog and say "its ok, he's friendly". Sometimes Harvey is ok with them but often gets snappy if they go in for a sniff. I have now started shouting as the other dog runs over to us "my dog will savage your dog".  Its not true, but it seems to be the one thing that actually makes owners take some sort of action.

[JennyBee]

this is my pet peeve - I put a lot of work into building Brodie's confidence levels up and then someone goes and ruins things by not controlling their dog. Even worse, pretty much all incidents like this have happened in the street; why certain people think that having an offlead dog run around near a busy road is a good thing is beyond me . I ended up buying Brodie a vest with 'please give me space' on it and it has helped, although some people seem to think it doesn't apply to their dog. Annoying that she has to wear it in the first place though!

[Jane57]

I have the opposite problem , Im working on, and" trying really hard with Riley, I dont let him off lead when there are other dogs around, other than a couple of my friends dogs who he plays with.
He is the puppy that bounds up to every dog thinking they want to play. I appreciate this is bad manners on my behalf and Im working on it. Its really hard with him, thats why I dont let him off, but if a dog and owner suddenly appear he will bolt toward them then lay down about 10ft away from them and see if they are wanting to play. Im working on himm 

[HoneyG]

"my dog will savage your dog". 

I'm sorry as I know this a serious thread and serious issue....but this did make me laugh 

Like Jane57 this is also something we are working on at the moment.  I walk Honey off lead on the country park near our house (no roads near etc). But I am constantly on watch (as are the kids!) for other dogs.  If we see another dog on a lead I immediately put Honey back on her lead as I cannot trust that she won't run ahead in excitement.

If we see an off lead dog, I see this as a training opportunity!  I try to get her to stay with me with "wait" and "stay" commands and rather than running off the moment she sees an off lead dog, we can now get within about 5 metres before the temptation gets too much!  But this is close enough for me to assess the other dog and owner (i.e are they frantically trying to get their dog on lead etc!).  And the good news is when I walk in the other direction she now follows me rather than trying to go home with her new found friend!

I hope that in time I can have Honey off lead and when we see another dog (lead or off) she will stay by my side unless I say it is fine to go play. But until that time, she will go back on her lead if we see another dog on a lead.

And I can never imagine a time when we can be off lead near a road!! But I see others with very well trained dogs so who knows!

If I am talking with other friends about 'lead etiquette' I try and make a point of getting this across, as there are so many people who don't think of this at all.

[JennyBee]

I have the opposite problem , Im working on, and" trying really hard with Riley, I dont let him off lead when there are other dogs around, other than a couple of my friends dogs who he plays with.
He is the puppy that bounds up to every dog thinking they want to play. I appreciate this is bad manners on my behalf and Im working on it. Its really hard with him, thats why I dont let him off, but if a dog and owner suddenly appear he will bolt toward them then lay down about 10ft away from them and see if they are wanting to play. Im working on himm 

That is understandable though, and you are doing your best to train your boy which is a huge difference from those owners who don't give a toss what their dogs are doing. Brodie wouldn't mind a puppy bounding up to her; she'd tell him off for being rude but wouldn't be scared of him. It's those big adult dogs who haven't learned any manners (and neither, it seems, have their owners) that are the problem.

[Lily Freya]

I have the opposite problem , Im working on, and" trying really hard with Riley, I dont let him off lead when there are other dogs around, other than a couple of my friends dogs who he plays with.
He is the puppy that bounds up to every dog thinking they want to play. I appreciate this is bad manners on my behalf and Im working on it. Its really hard with him, thats why I dont let him off, but if a dog and owner suddenly appear he will bolt toward them then lay down about 10ft away from them and see if they are wanting to play. Im working on himm 

I'm with you.....it is hard with an exuberant puppy who wants to greet anything or anyone.  We do, however, have to let them off  lead at some time, or they never learn recall.  I try very hard to respect the other dogs though.....and their owners.

[tritonx]

I do let Fraser off leash, but only in places that are empty and I can see another dog coming from a distance. As Jane and Lily point out, they have to be off leash sometimes to teach them recall etc., quite apart from the dog's need to run about, snuffle and explore freely. Fraser's recall is pretty good (apart from one rogue event when he got freedom in his head and would not come because he was too busy trotting down the side of a condominium row, going into every garden and peering in through their patio doors, absolutely deaf to my calls.)  It's the off leash dogs in supposedly on leash areas and their careless owners that make me so angry. I'm wary of Fraser ever being in a situation where he might bite another dog. I'm pretty sure in any past snarliness, it has been warning, not biting, but I now know him well enough to know he gets wound up when feeling defensive and assume that's not out of the question in heated situations. I wouldn't want to take any chance that he could harm another dog or get harmed himself, or even be reported if he did bite another dog. Which is why owners ignoring my attempts to indicate I'm not happy about their loose dogs coming up to mine make me so angry. In fact, I've just remembered an occasion when an off leash Westie came running up to Fraser, wanting to play. Before I could lock the leash (and extensible one), Fraser was off and while I was trying to sort out two dogs bouncing and chasing each other, his leash almost tripped an old man walking past.