To have assumed it was common courtesy among dog walkers

[SomewhereInbetween1]

To put your dog on a lead if you see another owner do so to their dog once they've spotted you? Especially if your dog's recall is a little sketchy? I've seen a lot of owners put their dogs on the lead at the sight of other dogs because they may, for instance, not get along with other dogs. But if the other dogs are off the lead and so still able to approach the one on the lead, it entirely defeats the effort. Anyone had any experience with this?

Yes, if they are within earshot and not miles away that works! I normally bowl straight in with "Mine is very aggressive and can't be approached." The muzzle also helps a little...stops people from trying to make friends with her too (she looks adorable), her pet hate after other dogs.

Thanks Navy. I know I'm really moaning but I've never had the chance to vent about it before!

She is a major conundrum. She hasn't covered herself in glory lately, she seems to be escalating her aggression sadly. We have had "talks" with the vet and don't know what to do for the best. She's not geriatric quite yet and apart from her degenerating joint pain is otherwise well...

I have a dog aggressive male Golden Retriever. He's especially aggresive with male dogs. I've also got a bonkers black lab bitch who loves everyone and every dog. I always, always lead both my dogs when other on lead dogs approach or move away if I can. I expect the same courtesy when my two are on lead but it sadly rarely happens.

Rebecca you have no idea how much I've modified my behaviour to be able to walk PageDog (fear aggressive) safely. I walk him at the most unsociable hours I can manage, in areas well away from the main dog walking hangouts. He has a yellow "I'm nervous, don't approach me" harness and lead and is usually muzzled, although thanks to a recurring benign growth on his gum which periodically has to be removed, he has spells during post-op recovery where he has to be unmuzzled. We have spent literally hundreds of pounds working with a good behaviourist. He has now improved to the point where he can pass an in-control dog on the other side of the road without any barking, lunging or growling. But out of control dogs running up to him and getting in his space will still set him off - and set him back.

We are not asking people to put their dog back on lead if it is a couple of hundred yards away and disinterested in other dogs. Not are we saying that us hoving into view with our on-lead dogs means end of off-lead playtime for the rest of your dog's walk. Be assured that if we walk into an area with other dogs already playing, we're not going to hang around. We're either going to pass straight through or, if the space is big enough, go to the quietest farthest part away from you and your dogs. All we ask for is the time, space and courtesy to get there. So if you know your dog has good recall, call him a little further away. If you know he hasn't and has a tendency to want to approach other dogs, please pop him on the lead for the 30 seconds or so it will take us to get out of your way.

As for training puppies to recall away from the distraction of other dogs - well, yes. Very important. But it's for the owner of the puppy to decide who "helps" with their training. With our last puppy, before the series of recent rescues, we asked friends or fellow walkers we'd got to know with calm sensible dogs to be our doggy distractions initially, and set our pup up to succeed rather than to fail. It's incredibly arrogant to assume that you, random dog walker, get to decide that your dog will form part of that day's lesson for someone else's puppy just because you don't see the point in controlling your dog.

I don't put mine on the lead but my girl would never approach another dog and my boy knowso "leave it" so will not approach. But I often see a dog on lead. Call leave it to mine only to have the other owner saying oh its OK he's only on because he won't come back. He likes to play. then calling mine over. Drives me mad. Trying to explain that a rule is a rule all the time goes right over thier head. Explains why thier dog doesn't obey though

I don't mind one bit dogs being off leads-so long as their owner can keep them under control. I grew up with working dogs and my dad always walked them without a lead (always slung one over his shoulder tho ) but they always heeled perfectly, recalled every time and would never approach another dog or person without being instructed too.
fast forward to adulthood and my rescue terrier can't be off a lead in public yet as he's recall is awful and he is not impressed with other dogs or strangers saying hello (in training at the mo)
Yet everyone seems to have dogs off leads lately that have no recall or training whatsoever-jumping all over me and my dog even when I clearly shorten his lead, walk the other side of the track or beach etc. Owners shouting he's friendly when he's jumping all over my scared dog do my head in. When I have young dc with me they even seem to think it's ok for them to jump all over my children terrifying them too.
Friendly or not i don't want your dog jumping all over me,my dog or my kids-teach it recall or get a lead rant over!

I am of the mind that if you see people you and your dog don't know , you call back and put them on the lead . This means the people who are approaching are confident that the dog is under control .
I do remember an incident where I had to walk the dog very early as we were going out and wanted him to have a good hurtle around before leaving him , we were on a regular dog walking patch and there was no-one else around or so I thought , dog was doing his patrolling the perimeters thing , checking who had been before sniffing around the field , then out of the blue this very agressive but muzzle wearing staffi , barrelled into him , my dog was big but also very very fast , so for the next 10 minutes I watched as a very agressive dog got its little legs run down trying to catch my much bigger faster dog whilst I listened to the owner go from massively apologetic to delighted as he watched his dog go from aggressive to 'yaaaay this is fun' , they both ended up spreadeagled at our feet panting for England . They then walked nicely together back to the carpark

Do people not realise that on lead greetings are very stressful and unnatural for dogs and can make aggressive, shy or nervous dogs very upset?
If your stuck to a lead there's nowhere to run if your uncomfortable and it can make dogs lash out in defense. This means it's more likely the friendly dog that is going to get hurt or chased and is more danger than the on lead one.

I wouldn't be so entitled as to let mine upset someone else's, training or not and I wouldn't want to risk my dog being bitten when it runs up to an aggressive one.

Can't recall don't let it off simple.

I don't put my dog on the lead. But my dog doesn't really like other dogs - she's not aggressive in any way, unless they come sniffing round her in which case she will curl her lip. She trots straight past them as through they are not there, ideally with me in between her and them. I think it is because she believes she is not a dog but some sort of royalty and is therefore far too important to socialise with ordinary run-of-the-mill dogs. Or people, for that matter - she's a lassie dog who often attracts attention and people will call to her to stroke her - she looks at them like they are a bad smell and then turns her back and wanders off to do something more worthy of her. Our local pet shop owner does in fact call her 'the Princess'.
Her recall is good though so if she were to ever show any interest I could call her in no problem.

I own the world's snootiest dog. But in her world, if she is a Princess, then I am definitely the Queen, to be followed and adored (which is annoying if I'm in the bathroom hiding from the kids for 2 minutes peace and the bloody dog follows me, but otherwise rather soothing for the ego!). So she's forgiven!

don't put mine on the lead but my girl would never approach another dog and my boy knowso "leave it" so will not approach. But I often see a dog on lead. Call leave it to mine only to have the other owner saying oh its OK he's only on because he won't come back. He likes to play. then calling mine over

This happens all the time, I am getting a bit fed up with constantly putting mine on a lead for this reason, it's a pain, we just want to go out for a good run and it's constant stop start for this reason.

But it's those who allow their dog to run up to strange ones that are the problem! We're always happy minding our own business until that happens: we can even walk fairly close by without issues. It's the sign of a bad mannered uncontrolled dog who doesn't take the cue to go away

I love seeing dogs running up to each other, they need to interact and socialise. Unless there is an aggression or fear problem, I will always allow my off lead dog to approach another off lead dog.
Luckily most people near me are of the same mind set.

It's done wonders for my rescue.

"I love seeing dogs running up to each other, they need to interact and socialise."

That's not socialisation though.

Swap it to children...you take a child to soft play - they start playing with strange children by playing beside them, they might even introduce themselves (depending on age) they don't start off by pushing a child they don't know down a slide or throwing balls a load at them unexpectedly...they might end up playing like that, but that's not where it starts.

If it does, the other child is upset, parents get angry...

That's exactly what dogs who run up to strange dogs are doing.

How are you going to know about the fear or aggression though when you're standing so far back and not paying attention to your dog?

I will shout as loudly as I can at you to get your dog back but if you don't I won't be accountable for what actions my dog takes to defend itself

Just had a right old rant at a fella in the woods. I was walking up one path with my dog and he was walking on one which goes across mine, he was about 50 yards ahead. His dog was off lead and running wild, so I got my boy on his lead and we stayed where we were, he sat at my side.
His dog started running in our direction so I shouted for him to call him back. He shouted "he's only a puppy". Yes, and? It was quite a large puppy, a lurcher I think, and it was jumping all over and around my dog, putting its paws up on his back while my boy calmly sat there. In all of this time the man just stood ahead of us and watched.

Eventually, my dog had had enough and retaliated, knocking the other dog to the ground at which it squealed. He got back up, jumped at my dog again and got knocked back down again. Another squeal.
By this point the owner had decided that it might be an idea to get his dog's lead on.

Apparently I was a bad owner for not controlling my dog, and I have no heart because my dog was upsetting his uncontrollable off lead puppy and all I could do was rant at him.
I gave him every chance. Got my dog on his lead, didn't walk any further in order for him to pass across our path and asked him to recall his dog, yet it was my problem and not his.

I cannot fathom out the intelligence of anyone who thinks on lead dogs are at fault when it's off lead dogs approaching the on lead ones.

How miserable for the dogs to never come into contact with other dogs luckily everyone round here walks the orchards sans lead the dogs learn and have fun running rings around eachother

My dogs are friendly and inquisitive. (Never said "it's ok their friendly" to anyone !) They're recall is good but they're procrastinators and will have to finish sniffing...weeing... etc (they only get let off in big wooded areas/fields) but I will always get them on the lead if I see someone coming who has a dog on a lead.

My pet peeve is when you're clearly trying to get your dog on to a lead to accommodate yours... don't keep walking towards me as the closer you get the more likely mine will want to be social and have a sniff. Or the dogs who get lead up 5 ft away from you! It's too late then!!
Yes my/their recall should be better but I'm not denying them the chance to run in a field incase a dog on a lead happens to come along.

I wish the owner of the large blood hound that ran up to my toddler in his pushchair, grabbing his food from his hand, and giving him a fear of dogs which a year later we are still dealing with, had kept that bloody dog on the lead. He was about 50m behind his dog and couldn't catch up, and the dog was too determined and big for me to push away properly. We were sat at an outside cafe ffs. He apologised and I said it was okay, if I'd know the impact this dog fear would still be having on us now? Well let's just say that I don't think I would have been so polite. If you can't get your dog back to you quickly, then keep it on a lead. Especially if you know it loves food and you are walking past a cafe....

Our houndie was always nervous around other dogs, especially small yappies, whose owners found it incredibly funny that a big dog would be so scared. Even the yellow "give me space" tags didn't work, because - yes- their dog was friendly. I think that the selfish entitled behaviour of some dog owners is, sadly, indicative of the way society is today, as very few people seem to care about others. It's no longer a problem for me anymore, as she had to be put to sleep last week. (the results of the abusive greyhound racing industry)

gs running up to each other, they need to interact and socialise."

That's not socialisation though.

Swap it to children...you take a child to soft play - they start playing with strange children by playing beside them, they might even introduce themselves (depending on age) they don't start off by pushing a child they don't know down a slide or throwing balls a load at them unexpectedly...they might end up playing like that, but that's not where it starts.

If it does, the other child is upset, parents get angry...

'That's exactly what dogs who run up to strange dogs are doing.'

It's nothing like a random child doing that. It is socialising, how on earth do dogs do it otherwise?

If another dog is off lead, I will allow that and the dogs all play happily or say hello and walk on.

This proud talk of 'ranting' at elderly people and shouting at other dog walkers would mark you out as the weirdo where I live.

I have rehabilitated a badly abused street dog from abroad without managing to have screaming matches with other walkers who didn't quite get it right.

Comingup not proud of a rant at all, annoyed that the man had the nerve to berate me when it was him and his dog who were the cause of the problem. What am I supposed to do, stand there and take it from him? Not stick up for myself and my dog?

"It's nothing like a random child doing that. It is socialising, how on earth do dogs do it otherwise?"

It's exactly like that, actually, dogs who have learned how to behave properly with other dogs don't run at strange dogs, they approach them slower, try to initiate interaction further out and see if they're welcome.

Dogs who rush up and bounce straight on strange dogs or stick their nose straight in their bits might think they're being friendly, but they're the exact equivalent of an overexcited toddler running straight up to a strange child and snatching their toy off them to initiate a game of chase.

They are being friendly, they do just want to play...but nobody has yet taught them that that's not nice.

You forgot to put 'in your opinion' there.

I am afraid that I don't equate dogs with children.

I will continue to let my dogs socialise and interact with other dogs who are off lead. It works for me and the twenty or so other dogs that we meet every day.