AIBU re dog off lead this morning

[HyacinthBouvier]

Ddog has social issues with other larger dogs but lovely with puppies, most female dogs, cats, kids and people in general. He's perfect socially 90% of the time.

Were trying to improve his social skills by training with treats and praise etc and it's working in that he isn't interested in other dogs at all when out walking.

People I know have suggested that my keeping him on the lead around other dogs won't help him as we think his problem is fear-aggression, which I totally agree with, but I am not sure there's a safe alternative

Hes a Staffie cross and I don't want to be responsible for worsening an already bad reputation if he was to nip another dog/get into a fight.

Today a stupid woman encouraged her Staffie to bolt over to us, Ddog was on lead, happily sniffing a lamppost, DS was strapped to me in stretchy wrap.

I saw her bolt over and shouted (stupid woman was at least 20 metres away, naturally) that my dog was nervous can she call hers back.

Her dog was very sweet and stopped a metre short of us (better manners than her owner!) but Ddog was eyeballing her so I walked on, keeping him on close lead but could hear SW mouthing off that if I lived round here I'd know her dog was friendly.

I said it wasn't the point, I love dogs but had my dog on a lead as he gets scared when approached.

She clearly wanted a fight (I suspect not the first time she's been told to use a lead) and quizzed me further on whether I 'lived round here' - still don't get the relevance, because even I said I did she kept saying but not 'round HERE' - the park?! Who knows?

I explained that she shouldn't allow her dog to bound over to a dog on a lead when she's nowhere near by and her answer was that if my dog can't cope with it, he should be muzzled as he's dangerous. WTF?!

Important to note that while this exchange was happening, her dog was bouncing round us and barking - still off lead as she didn't actually have one, and Ddog was just growling at her.

AIBU to think that my on-lead dog doesn't need a muzzle if the only time he's not friendly is when an off lead dog charges at him and won't leave him alone?!

[StressedOuMyMind]

Yanbu.

Boils my piss. My poor dog is still terrified of other dogs after a "friendly" lab came steaming up to her and trampled her in excitement. Lab was off lead, I was shouting at the (distant) owners to call the dog back. They tried and didn't work.

My dog a year later will still go into panic mode if she sees an off lead dog she doesn't know and this includes bolting in terror if she is off lead.....otherwise she has perfect recall.

The owners didn't even come and say sorry but I bawled them out on the village FB page. They now slag me off to all and sundry saying I was very rude to them and they couldn't believe the language. Which is bollocks.

[gettingtherequickly]

I get so annoyed by this, my dogs are never off the lead in public spaces. They are 4 large dogs and could easily kill a small dog. Two are always muzzled (one because he has shown aggression to small breeds and the other because I haven't had him long enough to trust), but it still doesn't stop people letting their dogs approach us.

[TitaniasCloset]

Oh gosh, I was one of the bad dog owners, my dog was attacked badly as a puppy and nearly died but was still very friendly with other dogs, so I used to let him off the lead for short burst and then quickly put the lead back on if I saw other dogs. Anyway, of course one day I didn't grab him in time and he saw another dog safely on its lead and bolted. The other dog was nervous and became aggressive so my dog started a big fight. He is a big dog and we think has a bit of pitbull in him. The other dog didn't seem to be hurt as my dog saw it as a big game. But it traumatized me and of course the poor man walking his dog. Much as I love my dog I would never again get a big dog like him, my son rescued him from a terrible situation and wanted a dog badly so we kept him, but I just don't think I'm the sort of person who should keep a big dog. The garden is small and I don't own a car to take him out to places he could run off lead. Some dogs are a huge responsibility, more so than the average pet. I love him dearly but I clearly have a lot to learn about dogs.

[DecaffCoffeeAndRollupsPlease]

Titan I've got a homemade long line, made from a washing line attached to a normal lead to use with my big dog/puppy when I am practicing giving him freedom, without letting him loose. Perhaps something like that would be useful for you, in a big field with visibility in case another dog approaches, and to help practice recall?

[maninawomansworld01]

I was walking one of my dogs on a lead once because he had ligament surgery and I was told no free running until it had healed.

Visiting Dsis who lives in a town so we were in a park with lots of other people / dogs around which Ddog isn't used to as we live on a farm so he's used to his own private land.

Dog comes bounding up, growling . Partly playful but with an edge. My boy is injured, in pain after the op, in an unfamiliar place and restrained on a lead which he is not really used to.

I shout the owner to get her dog under control, she laughs and ignores me. Her dog comes a bit too close and Ddog takes a huge chunk out of its flank (would have required a few stitches).

Totally her fault imo, refused to give her my details and told her to do one. People need to realise that dogs may be on leads for a REASON and you shouldn't allow your dog or DC's to approach without checking first.

Felt bad for her dog but the language, well, I hope the vets bill was huge!

[MadisonAvenue]

I've just had two annoying instances in the space of five minutes while walking my dog.

First one was two women walking 9 dogs, I assume they were professional dog walkers. All dogs were large apart from a Springer Spaniel and were running in a pack well ahead of them. We were walking through the woods and met them head on along a winding path. They all surrounded my boy, with the exception of the Springer, and I could see his body language changing, his ears were back, his tail dropped between his legs and his rear end started to curve down towards the floor so he was obviously feeling scared. I hadn't had chance to get him on his lead so was holding his collar. I shouted over to the women that mine was worried so could they get their dogs away from them, which they did half-heartedly by calling them but there was one Boxer who refused to stop bouncing around us.

A couple of minutes later I could see a horse rider coming towards us so got my dog on his lead in good time. There was a huge German Shepherd Dog chasing her, bouncing around the house and barking A LOT! As she got level with me she said, and sounded quite worried, "It's not my dog!" No one else was in view. It continued chasing her and I kept my boy on his lead and carried on walking. He then came back to us and started circling us while barking before running of ahead in the direction he'd come from with the horse rider. There's a corner to turn at the end of the path and when we got there he was being put on his lead by a man, probably in his late 50s and with his wife both typical rambler types, so I gave him a telling off as the dog was obviously poorly trained, reactive and had no recall so should be on a lead in public spaces. This was all happening on an open piece of land and he'd run out of their sight.

[TitaniasCloset]

Decaf that idea is genius, the usual extender leads are weak and not that long anyway. Thank you!!!

[MadisonAvenue]

*horse, not house

[WLF46]

All dogs should be kept on leads when in a public place. It would save an awful lot of trouble. Muzzles are a good idea for most dogs, but only really necessary when the owner/walker feels that they are unable to control their dog with a lead alone.

Remember that most many dog owners are irresponsible though, and the more irresponsible they are (and the more dangerous the dog), the less likely they will be to keep their dog under proper control.

You will not be able to stop other dogs running at your dog from time to time. Usually they will just be being playful, sometimes they will be aggressive and attack. It's just the nature of dogs - they see other dogs as a threat, unless that feeling has been suppressed (it can never be entirely removed) by good training.

Remember that your first priority is your child's safety, and your second priority is your own. Your dog comes a distant third.

[KayTee87]

She sounds like an idiot. Try the yellow lead/vest as others have mentioned.
I saw a dog the other day wearing one from a distance, was pushing my pram (which I know scares some dogs) so crossed to the other side of the road before the dog spotted me.