“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.

My dog is very friendly. That's exactly why she's always on the lead! I find it infuriating when people allow their off lead dog to approach mine on lead. She gets so excited by it and I get tangled up.

What worked for me was walking him in a muzzle..people stayed away then ( he wore the muzzle because he went through a stage of eating everything he could fit in his mouth)

I'm not a dog person and have never had dogs. I don't really understand dogs. I don't dislike them, some are lovely! I just don't really get them.
Often I'm out walking and a dog bounds up to me, jumping up at me. I get the inevitable "Don't worry, he's friendly". I'm still nervous and don't want muddy paws on me! One woman laughed as her muddy dog got my coat muddy.
Once this huge dog appeared out of nowhere and put his front paws on my shoulders. Standing up, he was taller than me. He was growling very aggressively in my face and there was no owner in sight. I was terrified! Then the owner appeared and also looked terrified and screamed! This made me even more scared. She told me to put my hands in front of me and he dropped down. If he does this sort of thing and even makes his owners scared, why on earth was he running free??
Recently, I saw a big dog rush up to a two or three year old on a tricycle. The poor child was so frightened he fell off the tricycle onto the ground. He was crying and shaking as this big dog was running around him, barking. The owner was about ten metres away doing absolutely nothing to stop it apart from saying in a bored way "Come here Luna". She should have rushed over to drag the dog away from the child!
So while I know most dogs are lovely, i do think owners need to be more considerate. Many people are scared of dogs, or just don't want dogs jumping up at them. Saying "He's friendly" isn't good enough.

I walk my dogs on our local rec. It is full of dogs - there are maybe 10 to 30 dogs there most times. And I assume that anyone walking their dog there has a friendly dog, otherwise I would think there are other, better places to walk.

Some people dislike dogs approaching theirs but that's usually them. I have big dogs. Most people are fine with them but some people are anxious and I will put them on the lead.

But imo if you have a reactive dog, you should think carefully about where to walk it.

Me too

I'd be interested to know just how many people are self-excluding from outdoor activity because of the glut of dogs every bloody where.

I would be much fitter and healthier if I could walk in the countryside or on the beach more. It seems the only people allowed to enjoy the countryside and keep fit and healthy are dog owners.

I bet it's contributing to the bad health of a huge number of people.

I don't understand why dog owners can't just keep their dogs on leads in public.

They actually should be on leads on footpaths & bridleways. Makes me sad for the birds whose nests are destroyed by actually well behaved dogs running in & out of the heather & gorse on the heaths. Used to see nightjars & larks now nightjars are completely gone & larks a rare sight due to dogs treating the heath habitat as a play park

We used to have at most 1 incident of sheep worrying a year but now it happens monthly & many ewes abort their lambs & even lambs killed by 'hes normally friendly never chased anything before' dogs owned by oblivious owners.

I agree I think it's time for dogs on leads in all public places. There are just too many of them now. It's anti-social for people who don't want to be constantly hassled by dogs.

If they want their dogs to run around they can club together and buy a field with a tall fence around it.

Sadly so many dog owners are complete twats who think they have control of their animal yet do not. I don't even care if it IS one that would not bite me,, I still don't want it anywhere near me. All dogs should be on leads in all public places.

Round here, that would mean “don’t go in clothes shops. Don’t go in coffee shops or pubs. Don’t go walk down the road. Don’t get in a train or bus”. All allow off lead dogs.

I even see off lead dogs on beaches (where they are banned) and children’s playgrounds (where they are banned). They are everywhere.

💯

@Saschka - quite. I had to leave Clarks the other day because someone brought a dog in and it was sniffing all the shoes. I couldn't relax. Why on earth would you take a dog shoe shopping?

Your dog should not be approaching ANY people in an off-lead area. Your dog should be under your control and trained to leave other people alone. If it won;t do that, keep it on the lead.

I feel exactly the same. If your dog is going to run at my 2 year old possibly knocking him down then your dog is getting a kick. I don't care if he's friendly, I don't want him anywhere near me when I'm trying to enjoy my little one playing at a park

Sadly I agree. In the past dog owners were responsible and kept their dogs away from people. Now they let their dogs run up to strangers. So I think we need far tougher rules and more dog bans.

The fact is, OP, the sort of people who let their dog with no recall off the lead are the sort of people who don't care about their dog. So they're unlikely to appear on this thread and tell you what you want to hear.

I find they’re often people who think we don’t mean their dogs because theirs are perfect fur babies and the rest of us are jealous because they’re not ours.

I’d really hoped that someone would come on and explain 😬
It’s such antisocial behaviour.
The worst near me is someone who fancies himself as a bit of a local celebrity (he’s not, most people think he’s a wanker!) who will put his dog on the lead when he sees men and dog/s, but keeps his unruly unsocialised dog unleashed for women walkers, then criticises them and argues about why we shouldn’t have a dog. He’s the bane of local dog walkers. Misogynistic prick.

I’m very limited now where I walk my dog.
I live in a rural area but stick to road walks, but there are still people who leave their dog off lead along a relatively busy road.

There are three private rentable dog parks locally where I take my dogs so they can go off lead.
I avoid all the lovely field walks as I can’t risk it - to be honest I don’t begrudge this, it’s lovely to see dogs playing together and letting off steam. It’s just a bit much that it’s also difficult to walk my dog on roads because some people insist on not having their dog under control.

I find they’re often people who think we don’t mean their dogs because theirs are perfect fur babies and the rest of us are jealous because they’re not ours

I just don’t think they care about other people as much as they care about their pwecious doggy.

When DS was a toddler we were on a dog-free beach, eating some chips. This off-leash Labrador bounded up and knocked DS flying, to get at his chips. The stupid woman walking it thought this was hilarious, and rather than making any attempt at getting him off DS she just stood there laughing “‘He’s eating that baby’s dinner! He’s so greedy! Haha!” I tried to pull him off, and she told me not to “because he’s vicious if you get between him and his food! Haha!” I told her he shouldn’t be off the fucking lead if he was that badly trained, and she looked at me like I was insane.

Some owners are just so fucking thick they are a lost cause.

My local park has a fenced off bit in the middle. Years back, no dogs were allowed in it as kids had football matches etc in it. Now, it is a an official dog space.

I walk my dog in the park, but not in the fenced off bit. A lot of people meet in there with their dogs, and every time me and my hound walk past, several dogs come right up to the fence, barking and tracking my dog. One owner actually blamed me for her dogs barking as "they are only barking at your dog because she is not in here with them. They are friendly". My dog didn't think so, and neither did I.

My older puppy has perfect recall, she is allowed off lead on our land. I still always use a lead for her when we are anywhere else. Honestly for her safety more than anything else.

We were minding our own business on a quiet walk one day when a dog appeared from nowhere and launched at mine. The owner saw what was happening and walked off in the other direction, calling their dog...... so I had to separate them. My dog was bruised all over, had a gaping chest wound and then ended up with a massive blood clot. Cost me over £1500 at the vets, and the owner initially denied it was their dog .... I was "fortunate" in that I got bit as well separating them, so the Police were able to charge the owner and they got a magistrate order for it to be on a lead/muzzled at all times in public. Otherwise they would have completely gotten away with having their dog out of control.

My dog is now terrified of other dogs approaching him (understandably) and although we worked hard with a vet/behaviouralist, he's never lost that fear so I keep him on a lead at all times. But that yellow collar and lead with NERVOUS in huge fuck off letters may as well be written in martian for the effect it has on other owners

This all comes down to training. For all the stories here of this dog did that, another dog did something else, if everyone who has a dog put the effort in to train a recall the majority of these situations would not happen.

My dogs can be recalled from any situation, so if I see another dog on a lead, or a child running about I call them back, they often do not go backon a lead but are told to walk to heel. I can train them to that level due to lots of time and effort, plus years of experience. As I have put that time in, I would not be happy to be lumped in with the "ban dogs, always on lead, shouldn't be allowed" brigade.

Too many people think the answer to all problems is to ban something, or stop peoplw doing something they enjoy, in this instance walking their dog off lead. Education is the answer - people should not have dogs if they are not prepared to train them.

To those on this thread saying they do not get the exercise they want due to not being able to walk in the countryside due to all this out of control dogs, you are the type who call for bans and you are wrong. There is plenty of rural areas for us all to use, so you are being economical with the truth saying rural areas are no longer available to you.

Finally, training a recall can be difficult, especially in some breeds, dog owners need support to achieve it.

OP, you're 100% right but people just don't know how to deal with dogs. Not your job but just do EVERYTHING you can. So the yellow lead is great but also call out when you see other dogs "can you put your dog on a lead please". I know you shouldn't have to.

There is plenty of rural areas for us all to use, so you are being economical with the truth saying rural areas are no longer available to you.

Rubbish. Every single park, country walk, beach is full of dogs.
There are no dog free places because dog owners go loopy if anyone tries to suggest it.

Oh it’s horrible. My colleague has a guide dog and wants to walk in the park with him of an evening/weekend. Fair enough, right? Except he can’t because of sodding dogs with no recall interfering.
And don’t get me started on my 2 reactive rescues… luckily we live in the middle of nowhere but in summer we always get some visiting numpties who are shocked when our 2 lose their minds.