Ooops

[Ambler54]

Out for a walk with Rosie, a confident 9 month old, along the River bank and coming in the other direction a young ( well any one under 50 is young to me now) man and 2 labs.Rosie sits waiting to say 'hello' and the 2 labs run towards Her, nothing aggressive just a tad over enthusiastic, and promptly send Her flying down the river bank and into the River. Now, She loves playing in the river, very shallow, slow moving, but this was at the point where the bank was highest.So what the lady passing by must have thought to see two people laying on their stomachs , arms hanging over the side of the bank apparently talking to something.....luckily the nice young man had long arms and Rosie was hoisted by Her harness up the bank, a little surprised but otherwise unscathed. She could have been injured but it was just one of those things, the labs meant no harm and once Rosie was on dry land they all said the usual 'hellos' and We all carried on our walks just a bit wetter and muddier than when we started out. And the young man was mortified and very apologetic.

[bizzylizzy]

Oh poor Rosie!!
Nice to hear it all ended amicably and you saw the funny side!! 

[Markr64]

It can be quite un-nerving for both dog and owner when a full onslaught like that happens. Happy to hear that all ended well.

[Ambler54]

Yes, very difficult, because the labs were lovely, just a tad over enthusiastic, but then so is Rosie which can be a problem with smaller/ old dogs.Very difficult to know how to handle that.Out at the weekend, Rosie dashes over to say hello owner grabs His dog ,muttering , dog doesnt like to be rushed at apparently....I am not going to keep Rosie on a lead, She is a lovely, friendly dog, I try to read signals from on coming dogs ...most are perfectly ok, the odd one , well c'est la vie..as they say.

[its.sme]

My dog is one that doesn't like to be rushed at, I think I would be a little un happy if someone came rushing upto me and court me off guard.

You never know how a dog is going to react and things change very quickly,

This can change a very confident happy dog into a reactive stressed and un happy dog very quickly, something which can take months of training to hopefully change.

It also spoils a walk being a happy experience for dog and owner.

Please be aware that this situation can be a very dangerous one and I wouldn't want anyone's dog hurt.

Sharon.

[MIN]

Gemma can not handle dogs bounding up to her. We automatically put her on the lead when we see a situation arising. We are under the illusion that this might just make the other owners think and get theirs under control. Sadly some people just take no notice because theirs is "friendly" and we have to contend with a spitting, snapping devil dog spinning on her lead while trying to keep the other dog(s) at a distance.
For Gemma to be " comfortable" she need to be the one initiating the bum sniff. . I have yet to get the courage to shout " please hold your dogs  while mine makes friends"

[Briggo09]

Charlie is really friendly and will run over to dogs and army crawl on his front- so funny to watch. Polite sniffing then a crazy boy who wants to play- I don't however, allow him to run over to dogs who I don't know for all reasons stated above- I tend to put him back on lead and ask the owners if they are OK for him to say hello. I know how annoying loose dogs can be as Charlie has always gone a bit crazy with excitement with other dogs. Love watching him play, but always try to be respectful of other dogs/owners.

[Ambler54]

If I see an owner grab there dog or a dog is on a lead I do hold Rosies harness and ask if its ok for Her to say hello, If another dog is off lead I am beginning to learn dog body language and Her recall to a whistle is ( at the moment) very good.luckily where I live most dogs are ok , during the winter months we meet the same people on our walks and this time of year with all the visitors around the tendency is for for friendly dogs.We walk early and late, as do most of the locals, before the visiting dog walkers, bikers , children etc hit the trails . If we are anywhere different or very busy then She is on a lead .

[its.sme]

A "friendly" dog can and will bite if they feel threatened, any dog rushing into another is at risk of being bitten.

My dog is friendly and will SCREEM if frightened by a dog doing this to her, I then get told " o he/she is friendly and only wants to play" .

Putting her back on the lead increases the issue as then she feels unable to get away, I now say " Incoming"  and ask her to stand , all the time I am holding my hand up in a Stop gesture for the owner to see and hopefully call there dog off.

We all need to respect each other in the park, be aware of our dogs behaviour and if it can cause an issue to other's.

We are responsible for keeping our dogs under control at all times.

Sharon.