I know, I know, this is like P & C parking. I am having a bit of a rant but I'm also genuinely puzzled.
We have four dogs - all greyhounds. One is reactive to other dogs - we are working with BAT and he's slowly improving. The other male is nervous around large dogs he doesn't know (especially if they run up to him) and if Reactive Dog starts barking, he joins in. He's also nervous with strange men so we keep him muzzled when we are walking.
So, we are walking this morning in our regular park - a local NT property with lovely spacious grounds, a lake and lots of squirrels. Being spacious and open is great, as we can take avoiding action if other dogs come too close and there's plenty of room (it's rarely crowded). We see a woman with an Am Bull walking down the path (carriage drive) ahead of us - she is about 30 yards away. We pause - all of ours are on lead, and walking nicely alongside us. She passes slowly along in front of us, and we wait happily while she does so. Just after she has passed level with us, her dog spots us. It steps on to the grass, looking interested. At this point, we turn around and start walking briskly away putting more distance between us. We glance over our shoulder and Am Bull is now trotting after us, watched happily by his owner.
DH pauses, shouts "Away" at the dog, and then calls to the woman "Please can you call your dog away?" Woman then responds with "Oh, but he is only being friendly"
DH tersely replies "But ours are not" as 38kg of greyhound now starts jumping about, growling and barking at dog which is continuing to encroach. Sigh. Woman then gets shirty with us and tells us that we shouldn't be out in public, calls dogs and flounces.
Honestly, what more can we do? Admittedly, Mick wasn't wearing his yellow bandana today as it was so hot (he does normally, but so far it's been useless at deterring numpties).
Can someone from the "He/she is only being friendly" club enlighten me as to what goes through your mind when you see four on lead dogs clearly taking avoiding action from you, that might make you think for a nanosecond they secretly want to play? My only consolation is that we weren't chased into a local supermarket.
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Scuttlebutter · 21/07/2013 17:05
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