A tale of two dog walkers.

[MissBetseyTrotwood]

Ddog is not comfortable with most other dogs for a variety of reasons. In public places he is on the lead at all times. Most other dog walkers respect this and call their dogs when they see him coming. Most other dogs ignore him and he's happy like that. He has 2 or 3 dogs that he likes and is interested in/plays with but that's it.

I wanted to share our walk this morning and the very different approaches to him that two different dog walkers took.

Walker 1 saw us coming. She called all three of her dogs to her and treated them as soon as they came. Her dogs had noticed mine so she carried on treating them while they walked past. They watched him go past as we crossed but the treats were flowing; they were being rewarded for ignoring him and it worked beautifully.

Walker 2 also saw us coming. She was on her bike, on her phone and dog not on a lead running beside her. Her dog had zeroed in on mine. She realised this and from her bike made a half hearted attempt to grab its collar. Mine was on the lead, not even looking at hers and having a good sniff of something. Her dog makes a beeline for him, speeding up even as she started to call it. Said dog jumps for mine's throat. I kick it, it runs away before any physical damage is done.

I roared at her 'GET YOUR DOG UNDER CONTROL'. Her reply was 'Oh sorry, she's never done anything like that before to any other dog. It must be something to do with yours.' To which I replied something along the lines of, 'so what you're saying is it's my dog's fault yours just went for him when he was just minding his own business, not even looking at it and on the lead. And FWIW there's always a first time.'

FFS. My poor boy. and

[MissBetseyTrotwood]

Sorry for the rant. Raging case of PMT here too, hence perhaps the extreme reaction. He is my furbaby though and we've worked really hard with him to get him confident so when things like this happen the red mist descends.

And when I see other owners being helpful and lovely and respectful of him it makes me really happy.

[chandlery]

YANBU, I hate the "he only wants to play" line or even, "he's not my dog I didn't realise" I have been known to see the red mist big time with these type of twats.

[MissBetseyTrotwood]

I know. They don't know the damage they do, how far that sets him back. No dog's perfect of course, but a little more effort to take responsibility for what happened would be better than fobbing it off on the victim.

I guess she knows what her dog a little better now.

Glad it's not just me chandlery

[Scuttlebutter]

No, it's not just you, Betsey. We've done so much work with our darling Mick using BAT and he's come on a lot, so much so that he can now pretty much go past a dog on a lead or under close control without any problem at all (almost unthinkable to start with). He's even gone for walks with some of our greyhound chums and met new hounds very happily which was lovely, and I was so proud of him.

But the thing that he really doesn't like is the offlead dog who come hurtling over - it frightens him so he reacts. He's twelve, arthritic and has poor eyesight - of course he's frightened. For some reason, Lab owners are particular culprits - they all seem to assume their bouncy cannonball will be welcome everywhere so let their dog offlead, chat on the mobile and then completely lose interest in where/what their dog is doing. NB our usual daytime walk is also used by a local gundog trainer - his Labs are a model of exquisite behaviour and he is a very considerate owner/trainer who practices in a quiet area, so it can be done.

I've had a few "red mist" moments with owners like that. It's also one of the frustrations about the yellow dog scheme - Mick wears his jaunty yellow bandana, but to be honest, he could be carrying a large neon sign and it would make no difference, because the owner is simply often too far away to see anything smaller than a Piccadilly Circus style billboard.

For the owners who are good, though, like the one you describe, I just want to kiss them (but don't!) as they make walks so much more pleasant and enjoyable, and less stressful.

[Goldencity1]

That sounds awfull...

But just an idea, a couple of the dogs at our training class wear a sort of stretchy fabric yellow vest with "give me space" printed on when out and about...this does make it clear to even the dimmest owner to give them a wide berth. Would something like that help?

have a look

[MissBetseyTrotwood]

Aww, scuttle, I love the sound of your mick. Wasn't Andy a bit wary too or am I imagining that.

Golden city, I will defo consider that. We are about to move to the countryside and our walks will be over fields/orchards with no other dogs so he will be a bit less pressured.

[Goldencity1]

Our dog training group went on a group walk through town just before xmas - there were about a dozen dogs, some owners were walking 2.

My 2 goldies, the pretty golden cocker and poodle cross got lots of fuss. The dogs with the yellow vests, people kept away.

Good luck with your move!

[Owllady]

You kicked her dog??
I may well have kicked you if you had kicked mine!

[MissBetseyTrotwood]

Her dog was about to lock on to mines throat. It meant business and she had no control.

I wasn't going to mess about shouting for help. Her dog gets a boot or mine gets his throat ripped out. I'd do it again and not sweat it.

[MissBetseyTrotwood]

And thanks Goldencity. It's been a long time coming and we are super excited. Our boy is a retired racer and the local kennels does lots of group walks on the coast so we'll be joining them when we've unpacked!

[Owllady]

DO you live in the Bronx love? :o

[MissBetseyTrotwood]

East London. And not a gentrified bit. So near enough.

[Scuttlebutter]

Golden, I've seen those vests, and agree that they are brilliant when someone is close up, but the point I was making is that anything like that is useless with an offlead dog whose owner is several hundred yards away, engrossed in a phone conversation. Unless the dog can read, of course.

[MissBetseyTrotwood]

Just picturing you on your walks scuttle, Mick engrossed in Jane Eyre and you kissing all the sensible dog walkers. Arf!

[Goldencity1]

Scuttle, unfortunately there's no cure for stupidity! The rest of us just have to do the best we can to avoid them...a few months ago oldiegoldie (she was on her lead) was beaten up by an out of control GS, it was wearing a muzzle, but it's owner had still let it off the lead. Oldie was knocked over and bruised and I was shouted at for being in the wrong place. I won't walk there any more, she still just opens her car door and lets her dog run.

[Scuttlebutter]

[Scuttlebutter]

Actually, Mick is a secret reader of People's Friend. I discovered one day an issue hiding inside his Racing Post. I've not told the others - he likes the stories.

[MissBetseyTrotwood]

Poor oldiegoldie.

I think she should join Mick's book group for some more sophisticated company.

[diddl]

My dog was "attacked" the weekend before last.

He was on a lead as recall was shit.

I couldn't get to him to get the lead off-he'd gone down into a ditch.

Saw same dog this last weeked.

Not on a lead, but he was hiding & trying to get through barbed wire into a foeld of highland cattle!

Then after the dog had gone (ignored him this time), he turned round to head home

[Owllady]

A farmer can shoot a dog it finds in his field like that. They would here.
Lol at east London v the Bronx

[diddl]

Yes, fortunately he didn't go in, but that's how desperate he was to get away from the other dog.

[Owllady]

Sorry diddl I misunderstood, I thought you meant untrained dog was going after the cows
Not your poor dog was petrified :( and trying to hide

[MissBetseyTrotwood]

Poor dog. It must have been traumatic for you too diddl. Did yours need vet treatment?

[diddl]

No, the other dog certainly had had hold of him as there was slobber around his neck, but that was all.

It was awful, but happened so quickly & the chap did at least ask if everything was ok.

But then when I saw him the next week, jogging & dog again off a lead I realised that he didn't really give a f*!

His is a big dog & he probably couldn't hold it back tbh.

Hopefully the dog's a bully that just gives a warning!

[Owllady]

I don't know, I think some people just shouldn't have dogs. My neighbours make me weep with theirs, it spends most the time running off. So what did they do? They bought another (sigh)