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If you're worried about your pet's health, please speak to a vet or qualified professional.

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If you're worried about your pet's health, please speak to a vet or qualified professional.

The doghouse

grrrrr other dog walkers

52 replies

anxious123 · 23/09/2015 19:33

What is it with them letting their dogs bound towards mine - who is on a lead - and them calling "it's ok they're friendly"...frankly I don't care if your dog's friendly, mine might look like a tiny little Jack chi but he can be a grumpy sod at times hence him being on a lead. And then when he barks its his fault. Really annoys me! Rant over.

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WhoAteMyToast · 23/09/2015 19:36

There should be a way of notifying other owners that dogs are reactive - a horse that kicks would wear a red ribbon on its tail, or a young horse a green ribbon - shame we don't have the same.

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anxious123 · 23/09/2015 19:48

Aye the horsey world has some sensible rules. But that doesn't mean it's acceptable for a dog to run towards another one because "they're friendly" or maybe I'm just a witch

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Madbengalmum · 23/09/2015 19:52

There is a way of showing your dog is reactive, a special yellow jacket, but the problem is most dog owners dont know it.
I have a big dog who hates other dogs, due to me being attacked, and i really get irritated when dogs bound up to us.
Dogs out in public should be kept on leads whatever, there are lots of people with children, runners and the like who have been attacked by dogs off lead, it should be law.

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mermaidbutmytailfelloff · 23/09/2015 19:53

when my dcs were little I had a soft looking collie spaniel cross. She WAS soft unless the dc's were there! Woe betide any dog who looked like they were getting too close! I had many arguments with other dog walkers who refused to get their dogs away! Most of the time she was friendly, unless she was protecting the little ones.

Sadly she's no longer with us...

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tabulahrasa · 23/09/2015 21:46

You get yellow stuff to indicate that your dog needs space...given that mine wears a very obvious baby blue muzzle and I call over that he's not good with other dogs and he then makes enough noise that my OH can hear if for example we meet a dog at the bottom of our road from inside my house...and I still get 'friendly' dogs bouncing over, I don't really see how adding in yellow would help.

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WhoTheFuckIsSimon · 23/09/2015 21:51

I hate it.

Had my dog on a lead yesterday. Some muppets coming towards us had their dog on an extending lead. Made no effort to shorten the lead even though they had time.

Their dog chased my dog round my legs, my legs were getting sawn by the cheese wire lead. While I quite snotify pointed out the obvious that my dog was terrified. They just kind of laughed and eventually managed to untangle their dog. Never said sorry.

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Binglet · 23/09/2015 22:00

Completely agree. Nothing worse. I took my dog to a beach where we are on holiday. Loads of space for us to stay right out of he way, he was muzzled just in case and on lead. Having fun playing in the sand and sea and a dog run over to Us. Owners miles away half arsed calling it back. My dog barked, I managed to get his attention and we walked away. No attempt to stop their dog at all. Grips my shit.

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WhoAteMyToast · 24/09/2015 01:23

I'm recently new in the dog-owner-world, though grew up with lots of dogs. I honestly didn't know this was so much of a problem. Is this about education and raising awareness?

Much of our puppy training was about introducing our puppies to x number of dogs a day to ensure they don't become reactive - there's not much out there about other dogs being reactive, from a new-comers perspective.

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anxious123 · 24/09/2015 07:05

Unfortunately puppies can't be kept in their lovely little world and some of them have had some bad experiences - a lady up the thread said hers is reactive as she's been attacked, mines reactive as he's a rescue and was beaten and used as bait previous to me getting him. In an ideal world all dogs would get along but the world isn't ideal.

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Catzpyjamas · 24/09/2015 07:19

There are a lot of untrained OWNERS out there. It always amazes me, especially when they are the ones most surprised when another dog, on a lead, is grumpy towards their "he's just being friendly" hyper bouncy pooch.
I'm seeing more of these leads and harnesses with temperament indicators on them. Unfortunately I have seen a FRIENDLY harness on an unfriendly dog though.

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chelle792 · 24/09/2015 07:28

Ugh it's a nightmare. Every bloody evening a the same dog comes running over to my boy, upsetting him. Every evening I shout over that my dog isn't friendly. Every evening the owner can't get his dog back and every evening my dog spends the rest of his walk stressed and hyper-visualant. We now walk the roads in the evening and avoid the field - shame that we miss out.

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potap123 · 24/09/2015 07:29

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

tabulahrasa · 24/09/2015 07:32

WhoAteMyToast - sadly, you can't ensure a dog won't become reactive, because despite any amount of socialisation...other stuff can happen that can stuff it all up.

Basically if you see a dog on a lead - assume it's on it for a reason unless the owner says otherwise and keep yours away, it may be reactive, it may be that it's old and arthritic or recovering from an operation or some other reason that means it's not supposed to be greeting other dogs.

If you see a dog on a lead with a muzzle on, definitely keep yours away, lol.

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potap123 · 24/09/2015 07:32

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

anxious123 · 24/09/2015 07:40

Catz I've just ordered one of the leads thanks for that! I wanted a harness but he's a silly size so lead it is!
Chelle I have the exact same problem :(
Potap you sound like one of the young ladies near me, has a lovely but bouncy young dog that she always asks if hers can say hi before they get too close, if mines in a chilled mood I say yes come over and its generally been fine and if he's stressed I just say not today sorry but thanks and we go our seperate ways.

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chelle792 · 24/09/2015 07:48

I had a big yellow lead that had 'nervous' written all over it. Problem was the lead was a flat piece of material. I need a proper round rope lead for my 30k boy so I can get a decent grip without it cutting into my hand.
anxious it's the people that allow us to have control over the interactions that make dog ownership a pleasure. My boy is sometimes able to greet some dogs and I always massively thank the considerate owners. potap thankyou for being such a considerate dog owner I don't mean it in the patronising way it sounds, my gratitude is genuine. My dog is 'training' to be less reactive - every positive experience I can get him gives him a boost. Every negative one ruins him for about a week!

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MrsRossPoldark · 24/09/2015 07:48

Have to say I get a bit cross with this sort of attitude - and I don't actually mean from the 'mines friendly' crew either. Bit of a rant coming so be warned:

My dog is a friendly soul and as such, he will look over to another dog (he doesn't actually check if said dog is wearing a lead or a yellow coat with a slogan on it as he isn't that clever and can't read), wagging his tail and often waits until I say 'go & say hi' before he goes over, which gives me a bit of time to assess whether the other dog is equally friendly. If we make a mistake and the other dog snaps at him, he either comes away, having decided for himself that the other dog doesn't want to play, or I will go over and retrieve him.

However, I don't run as fast as he does so it will take me more than 2 seconds to get to him and my voice isn't that loud so yelling at him to come back doesn't work very well over 200yards. He is on a lead whenever it's necessary but if he's in a public park, he needs to run around cos it's what dogs do, so chances are he'll be off-lead. Just because yours doesn't like other dogs or is a bit nervous, doesn't give the dog immunity from other people's dogs & being on a lead does not confer you with some sort of 'holier than though' protective cloak either.

Stop being so patronising to those of us who have 'average, normal' dogs. It's yours that has the problem, not mine.

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MrsRossPoldark · 24/09/2015 07:53

Incidentally, if you substitute human for dog - if you approach me when I'm not in the mood, I will warn you away, but that doesn't mean that you can't approach me at all, as I know that you can't tell if I'm not in the mood until you 'try it on'. I don't wear a handy label either.

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tabulahrasa · 24/09/2015 07:58

The handy labels are for the owners, not the dogs.

Normal well adjusted dogs can tell from a single glance that my dog is not going to welcome them, they stay clear.

If a dog can't read my dog's signals, tbh they have just as big a problem as he does.

Also, if you can't recall your dog, it shouldn't be off lead, train it.

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Floralnomad · 24/09/2015 08:07

Life would be much easier if everybody just trained their pups to stay away from other dogs rather than encouraging them to play . It's perfectly possible and you end up with a dog that is easier to recall because she how are out and about the dog is focused on you / the game / the ball rather than on other dogs whilst still having the ability to say hello to other dogs and then move on . mrsross ,it's completely unacceptable to let your dog go up to a dog on a lead and if you don't stop your dog eventually you will come unstuck and your dog will come off worse for it .

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MrsRossPoldark · 24/09/2015 08:30

Let's be clear - I didn't say that I can't or don't recall my dog. I said that it will take me a finite amount of time as I am not a sprinter and don't have a voice like a foghorn. My dog will and does come back when I realise that the other dog is nervous and ask him to come back to me.

However, if he is off-lead and more than 6 feet away, it won't be immediate. If I have time, I will put mine back on his lead and walk him away from the other dog, but if you are in a public area where dogs can reasonably expect a bit of freedom (who wants to be on a lead all the time when all he wants to do is have a sniff around) you also have to expect dogs to be off-lead and their owners to be some distance away (& I don't mean miles away totally unaware of what their dog is up to). I may be being a responsible dog owner and i'm spending 30secs picking up my dog's poo, or waving to my friend who has come to meet me in the park, not noticing that my radar didn't pick up someone else's dog 100 yards away behind me, with a nervous owner getting cross because I haven't stood up with said bag of poo and noticed her scowling at me.

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tabulahrasa · 24/09/2015 08:33

It's not even just about reactive dogs though, my dog didn't start off reactive.

But all the people who think their dog needs to say hello to every dog, despite me telling them that he's not allowed to because he's got sore legs, or a sore back (he has both) despite me telling them he's recovering from an operation (3 of those if you count castration) means that his association of other dogs is that they cause him pain.

So he tries to see them off before they hurt him.

In turn any dog meeting him and dogs like him could well learn that other dogs are aggressive gits and become reactive eventually too.

Why? So they don't miss out on one dog interaction?

But recall is just basic safety, if you can't recall your dog from another, it's not yet safe to have offlead, not because of the other dog, but because of everything else that could happen too.

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tabulahrasa · 24/09/2015 08:38

"don't have a voice like a foghorn"

That's what whistles are for, not that I get to use mine much in anything other than a training situation as said aggressive git rarely gets off lead, lol.

I don't walk mine in busy parks, I don't know anyone with a reactive dog who does...but, you can't avoid dogs completely.

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mollie123 · 24/09/2015 16:38

my dog is old and gets stressed by smaller dogs he does not know getting in his face (no matter how friendly they are intending to be - and some of them are not that friendly)
worse are the 'hunting in packs' dogs where 2 or 3 harrass any dog they come across (old, sick or terrified) while the owner is unable to do anything because they can't be bothered or too far away.
all owners should have the lead with them and the ability/common sense to hold back their dog(s) if the situation requires it.

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JustBeingJuliet · 24/09/2015 21:36

I have recently rehomed my extremely anxious, reactive and aggressive JRT (not because of how he was with dogs, more because he hated children and got very stressy with my ds) but this used to really boil my piss. I had a very loud shout of "GET YOUR DOG AWAY" yet people still let their dogs run over. I live in a small village and literally know everyone with a dog, so it wasn't a surprise to anyone that my dog hated all other dogs, yet the same bloody owners would let their dogs come over to "say hello" and would get arsey with me when he attacked them.

If a dog is on a lead, there is a reason for it!