Pack of dogs!!

[fridayfreedom]

If you were in the woods, Forestry Commission Land, used by walkers, runners , young families etc would you be alarmed if someone had six large dogs ( my waist height) running as a pack, all off lead, 4 with no collars?
We had this yesterday. The woman with them warned us as she let them out of the van that they were a bit boistrous but friendly. They were ones used to round up cattle in South Africa??
They bounded up to us , and charged around the woods. Two of out party do not like strange dogs and the dog we had with us was growling which is very out of character as he tried to protect the daughter of his owner.
When we got back to the car , she also arrived back and they were all around us with their heads in our boot etc, she didn't seem happy when I shouted at them to get out!.
WWYD, would you report her for having dogs without collars in a public place, and a pack of intimidating dogs off lead? If we had had my others friend's daughter with us who is very wary of dogs she would have been beside herself.

[Dorris83]

Op I think you are worrying about 'what could have happened'. In reality, nothing happened. The dogs came over to your car, sniffed and then got called away. They sound under control to me. Dogs don't need to be on a lead to be under control.

My DDog in off lead in big open dog friendly spaces ( or in the woods, on beaches or in parks) and has very good recall.

We put him on a lead if there are smal children eating ( DDog is a lab who loves food) or if there are people with a dog on a lead coming towards us, as the dynamic between dogs changes whether they are on or off the lead.

Essentially we know our DDog and check his behaviours accordingly. Sounds like that is what the person with 6 dogs was doing. Honestly no dog owner wants their dog to cause trouble and will usually take precautions if they are necessary.

[ImperialSantaKnickers]

I've got three Ridgebacks booked in our dogwalking business, two of whom are walked daily, and they need off lead exercise for their health. So we go miles to a place where people aren't - a friend's arable farm. They're both huge, and tend to bounce, and they have a habit of baying at people. They're actually trying to make them stand still until they've been acknowledged as safe by their master/mistress, but it looks to the person they're doing it to as if they're about to attack. I had to learn this the hard way, and still feel bad about the poor girl with SN who got petrified with fear.

We are insured to walk up to four dogs per handler, and will not take them out without a collar and id tag - we attach an extra one while they're with us, with our phone number.

[Santasapunkatheart]

I know the breed and love the breed - so I would be busy making a fuss over them. But six is a large number and impossible to control by one person, if anything should go wrong. I am sure the woman was responsible and knew her dogs well but it would be easy for them to knock someone over in a pack...so I can understand if they might frighten folk.

It always a difficult scenario...people love their dogs and sometimes cannot see the other side of things. Likewise non-doggy people cannot see that these large breeds need lots of exercise. You can't put six large dogs on leads! Maybe she needs someone to help her walk them...it must be quite a task.