“Don’t worry, he’s friendly”

[BigJean]

This should probably be in The Doghouse, but I’d really like to hear from people who probably don’t go there.

I know on MN that everyone is a perfect dog owner with their dogs properly under control, but I also know that in real life there are far too many people who don’t. If you are one of those people I’d love to hear your reasoning. Namechange for anonymity if you want.

My dog is reactive, for lots of reasons, and I am successfully working on it and every month is better than the last. She is a large dog, and as such could easily kill another dog if provoked enough to do so (she’s not a bully breed, she’s walked with a muzzle but could still damage another dog). I am a responsible owner, I have her under control.

Every week I come across at least two other dog walkers who don’t have any control over their dogs. They run up to people, dogs, horses, children and leap around whilst the owner calls it pointlessly, and cries out “it’s ok he’s friendly”. It’s not ok.

This behaviour enhances my dogs reactivity, it sets her back every time. I have a yellow “nervous dog” coat and collar, they don’t give a shit.

I put my phone on to film every time, because I’m very aware that if anything happened to another dog mine would be blamed, even though I’m doing everything I can possibly do to manage it, and it’s the friendly dog’s owner who is being irresponsible.

Please, come and tell me why you do this, and tell me what you would do if your dog was killed by a reactive dog because you haven’t kept your dog on a lead or taught it effective recall.

See, posts like this really just cheapen the original point. You don't actually get to decide what comes 'near' you. On lead or off, my dog is free to stroll past you.
You can, of course, complain and be pissed off if he so much as touches you, but you can't demand that he's not 'near' you.

Reminds me of the man who told me his dog was friendly - except the wee git went on to bite my leg quite badly- as the blood poured down into my sock I said to him
“your dog just bit me!”

And he replied
“No it didn’t”

What can you do with someone like that??
🤷🏼‍♀️

Feed it chocolate apparently 🤷‍♀️

🤣🤣🤣

The clue was in the OP
“They run up to people, dogs, horses, children and leap around …”

THIS is what I don’t like.

@AgileGreenSeal I don’t like them, and I don’t want them anywhere near me.

And that is what I was responding to.

If they don’t encroach on my personal space … fine! Keep moving, doggo 🤣

just don’t sniff me, jump on me, walk on my blanket, bark or growl in my face

In short - if the dog ignores me, I’m happy to ignore it. I DO NOT want to engage with it at any level.

@AgileGreenSeal absolutely, you are bang on. We shouldn't have to interact with anything or anyone that we don't want to - no arguments here.

It was the 'near me' that I was picking up on.

It’s probably because it’s a figure of speech, where I’m from this saying doesn’t so much mean “in my vicinity” it means “where I need to engage with it”.

So …. We all have to make sure our “ he wouldn’t harm a fly “ dogs don’t trigger your “reactive”dogs?
How about you keep your reactive dogs away from normal dogs?

Op keeps her dog on a lead with a muzzle.

Keep your dog on a lead if you can't control it. Pretty fucking simple

How many reactive dogs with muzzles are there? And why is it that the minority who are aggressive mean all the other dogs are stigmatised .

No dog should ever ever be off lead and un-recallable. Reactive dog in the vicinity or not.

Christ.

I shout 'she won't hurt you', because that is what I would want to know, if a dog was coming towards me, ignoring it's owner. but it seems from this thread, no one is interested in that information so I will stop saying it

And keep my dog on a lead until it has recall...........?

I have a disabled dog, who has no recall because of his disability. He stays on lead at all times, including private property. My other dog is older and deaf, so he's now also on lead at all times. He used to be able to be off lead.

Obviously poor ownership is the biggest part of the problem, but I think part of it is that I don't think a lot of people recognise what a yellow vest means. And with some breeds now being automatically muzzled because of the breed, I'm not sure some people are understanding why some dogs have muzzles.

Essentially, I think there needs to be more education for owners and the public in general.

I'm sorry, I don't understand what you are saying/asking

You seem such a lovely sensible dog owner. I live in the countryside and therefore my dog is usually off lead. But if I see another dog has a lead on, then I pop my dogs lead on too. I was advised to do this by a friend and just feels the right thing to do.

I think the problem is (definitely where I live) increased population density, reduced access to outdoor spaces and whatever weird stuff COVID lockdown has done to our psyches tbh.

everyone is so intolerant of each other. everyone wants to enjoy their day/time without anyone else inconveniencing them/impacting on them at all. it's not realistic.

as I've said we have had a few embarrassing moments with our younger dog, not responding to recall but luckily the people who it impacted were very understanding. as I am, if we every attract the attention of a dog who isn't listening to it's owner.

if I'm being honest, and this will cause an uproar I'm sure, I don't believe the people who say they get repeatedly bothered by out of control dogs. I'm old, I have had dogs all my life, I worked with dogs. I walk at least 3 miles twice a day in dog walking places and have done for 50 odd years. I have also done my child rearing stints in parks with babies toddlers etc. I can count on 1 hand the amount of times I have encountered a dog who is really out of control

Exactly. It's hard not to "approach" dogs (i.e. be near them at some point) in a cafe. I always worry about my child stepping on a tail/paw and provoking an aggressive reaction from the dog.

You said you're going to stop shouting to people that your dog isn't going to hurt them. I hoped you'd also say the above.

oh I see, thanks for clarifying

Well, it's because you do NOT know that for sure. There's always a first time as my baby was unlucky enough to find out when he was 6 months old. So people who shout that are just moronic.

God, this kind of attitude just gives dog owners a bad name. I can't believe you actually wrote that and meant it 🙈

@surreygirl1987

Ok. I stand by that. A dog being 'near' someone isn't a dog that's out of control.

If people could sit and read through this thread and see comments that weren't completely hysterical, I think it would give a lot of people food for thought. Instead, we see comments from people who supposedly cannot leave their front door without being mauled half to death by a legion of savage dogs, people complaining about having dogs near them. It really does cheapen the argument.

I once walked with my dog and my children in to my local high street to buy a particular drink they wanted from a small takeaway place. We got there and they decided they were far too shy to order themselves whilst I stood outside with the dog. The person serving them said I could step in with the dog to help them out. I took one step forward and noticed a little girl already inside the shop move behind her mum, and her mum started telling her it was ok. I'm not an absolute dick, so asked if she was alright and her mum told me she was scared of dogs. I apologised, instantly moved back and told my children that if they would have to order themselves. Wouldn't dream of taking my dog in to a place where you wouldn't normally expect to see one if someone had a problem with it.

If I was walking through a park, with my dog on or off lead, walked past someone and they started kicking off because my dog was simply near them, I'd not give a shit to be honest. If my dog were to approach them, or touch them in some way, then I would be mortified, apologetic and the dog would be straight on the lead and I'd have to work on training more.

Do you see the difference there? One is an actual issue, the other is just life unfortunately.
I don't particularly enjoy being near some things, doesn't mean I can demand that they aren't around.