To not know if I'm doing something wrong (dog related)

[Sunsoottitsoot]

I walk my dog in the park next to my flat and I'm not sure if I'm breaching dog etiquette.

I keep her on the lead at all times as I'm in a city, I'm fairly new to dog ownership and I dont want her to run away.

Every day someone with an enormous dog (not the same one) will have it off the lead and it will come up to us. My dog barks (we have training booked but it doesnt start till the end of the month) which isnt great but the other dog always then follows us. Often the owners continue walking/running in the opposite direction and I'm left to deal with their dog.

What am I doing wrong? Other than training, how do I avoid this situation? I picked my dog up tonight because she was terrified but the other dog didnt back off and I was getting worried I would get bitten by it.

This isnt just one dog, if it was I'd just walk somewhere else to avoid it. I dont know how to handle it, I always end up apologising, but surely given I keep my dog on a lead I'm not the one who should apologise?

Well the obvious answer is to call the owner and tell them to get their dog away from yours?

Take a pocketful of treats out with you. If another dog starts following you chuck a handful down and be on your way while it’s distracted.

Try not to panic/immediately pick up your dog if you can avoid it; you’ll end up making yours nervy because it will pick up on yours.

You can teach recall by looking at a video on YouTube. Then your dog can go and socialise. How old is your dog?

I've not wanted to do that in case I'm somehow in the wrong and theres some dog etiquette I'm missing out on. I'm quite happy to start being assertive, just wasnt sure if I'd be a dick if I was!

Try not to panic/immediately pick up your dog if you can avoid it; you’ll end up making yours nervy because it will pick up on yours.

Yes, tonight is the first time I did it as she was obviously very very scared and the other dog wasnt backing off.

Shes 8 months but I've only had her for a month. I dont want to let her off the lead outwith enclosed spaces as shes only tiny and there have been a spate of dog thefts recently.

You're not doing anything wrong; dog owners should be required by law to either have their dog under control or keep them on the lead.

The fact is, lots of dog owners have no control over their dogs and laughingly mutter "he's just being friendly" when their dog bounces on toddlers and eats cats and because there aren't many laws, just "should do"s owners can get slack.

I'd suggest loudly shouting to the owner "call your dog off, now". However, I'd also avoid picking your dog up, though, unless it's essential because your dog needs to learn to be around other dogs.

As for running off, keep high value treats in your pockets, use a long training line and an enclosed field to begin with and give your dog some freedom. It's always worked well with training ours off-lead, and when you're confident with it, ensure you've build their commands to return to you; our command is "off" because it sounds different to every other command we use, but find a command that works for you and use it often so your dog knows what you expect.

It's annoying the other person shouldn't let their dog run up if yours is on a lead. Unfortunately there's not much you can do about it so if you are going to keep your dog on a lead the best thing is just to walk in areas there are no off lead dogs.

You aren't doing anything wrong, they are.

Dogs need to be under control at all times, either on a lead or with good recall.

Apart from anything else, if they carry on running / walking away from their dog how are they picking up dog dirt?

Dogs are social animals and like saying hello to other dogs. It's quite normal, and, unless there are aggression issues, nothing to worry about. Some dogs may act more defensive when on a leash, because it can make them feel trapped and unable to escape if they need to.
Is your dog particularly nervous or scared of other dogs?
In my experience, owners of nervous dogs usually say something to other dog owners to warn them.

You're not in the wrong to ask the other owners to call their dog off.

Shout at the other person and tell them they need to retrieve their dog. I have a temperamental male so I only walk him off lead in fields where I can see for miles that no-one else is around or in a secure (empty) dog park. It makes me so angry when people can see mine on lead and let theirs run up while they shout 'it's okay, he's friendly!!' while I'm trying to walk my 2 past and distract them. My boy likes most female dogs but male dogs don't seem to like him and he's not fond of them either. We had someone with a jack russell (off lead) in the woods, it ran up while they were barely visible in the distance, it started chasing my boy around and he was tying me up in his lead, I shouted at them to get their dog, they continued at the same pace. He was getting upset as this dog was then running underneath him, at this point I screamed at them to come get their bloody dog. They walked slightly quicker to retrieve their dog without a word of apology. He's a large dog, if he'd been really annoyed, one bite from him could have killed their dog but they didn't seem to give a crap. Not that I would expect him to do it, but they have no clue what temperament an unknown dog has!
Sorry for my rant but no, you are not doing anything wrong. If your dog is happy to greet the other dog, by all means allow it, waggy tails, sniffing each other and no sign of aggression from either, that's great. If you're not comfortable allowing that until you've got some training in place then are completely within your rights to tell other owners to get control of their dog. You could always get a yellow lead or neckerchief with a slogan on as a warning to other dog owners, they don't need to know that your dog isn't going to attack theirs, but seeing the yellow, might make other owners be a bit more considerate for your dogs space? You can get ones with 'NERVOUS' on the front for example which might be good. I keep meaning to grab one for my boy that says' Stay back, I'm a bit of a twat' XD

It's not you. Mine is 13 months. Still a bloody handful and needs constant supervision or he joyfully bounces over anyone and every dog. Nobody, nodog, needs to put up with that, so his training is ongoing.

All you can do is not let your fear of the 'whatifs' get to your dog. If you keep on scooping her out of harm's way she will come to associate other dogs with fear, anxiety, being scooped up.

If the other dogs are sniffing and not, like my terror is wont to do, bouncing all over yours, then all you can do is keep walking, talk to your dog in a happy voice [name, move on, good girl] and wait for the other dog to lose interest - that and shout to the owner that yours is a rescue and nervous, scared, most dog owners respond quickly to that!

Hard isn't it? It does get easier

You're not in the wrong.

Presumably the dogs are being friendly and interested because the owner shows no concern about them coming to you (not saying that it's ok). However it's not a good idea to pick your dog up. If the dogs are aggressive it could be you who gets hurt. If the dogs aren't aggressive and just being nosy then you're depriving your dog of learning how to socialise with other dogs and teaching it that other dogs are scary and dangerous.

I'd call over to the owner to get them away.

Your will be making your dog nervous by your body language. Dogs like other dogs unless they are given the impression other dogs are some thing to be wary of. Of course the other owner needs to control their dog but you do yours and if you don't let it play at 8 months it will never learn.

You need to be bright an breezy about other dogs coming up to see yours or she will assume all dogs are dangerous and react accordingly.

Is there a puppy socialisation group at your vets you could take her to?

Don't pick up your dog and stand still shout for the other owner to get their dog.

My dog is over friendly with other dogs and won't come back to me if off lead around other dogs. So a lot of walks are spent on the lead. If another dog approaches I try to keep her attention on me using treats. I call her name and when she looks at me I give her a treat. If she doesn't look at me straight away I make clicky noises and shake the treats until she looks at me. We do this while staying still in the hopes the other dog gets bored. Over time this has helped her calm down around other dogs and not try and pull my arm out the socket every bloody time she sees another dog

They are in the wrong with their dog if the dog is out of control or they aren't making an effort.

But you need to focus on yours so you getting stressed or anxious etc will pass to your dog and your dog will learn big dogs are something to be scared of (or generalise to other dogs on the whole).

If a dog runs over to mine and I don't want them engaging I call mine to heel (or to return if they're off lead) and then I make mine sit and stay and reward accordingly. I stand still and call the other owner to collect their dog.
If they don't then I keep walking with mine to heel, light and breezy, lots of treats, and it's the other owner's job to call their dog.

Equally, socialisation is important so it will do your dog some good to interact with other dogs without an owner, you, getting stressed by it. If they really are just being friendly I'd be breezy and encourage brief interaction, otherwise you'll have a dog who barks at other dogs, being taught to be nervous by a twitchy owner, which is a recipe for a poorly socialised dog

The great dane was growling at my chihuahua which is why I picked her up in the end. She was crying and distressed so it seemed unfair not to lift her since when we walked (she was running) away the other dog followed.

I'm taking her to classes which focus on training and socialisation so hopefully that will help. I'm also going to start being more assertive with folk.

If we are in a cafe and there are other dogs it's fine, shes quite chilled out and will have a sniff, the issue is mainly off lead dogs in the park.

Can you tell the difference between a friendly dog growling noise that means Hey dog play with me! or an aggressive snarl that means I'm warning you that I'm dangerous ? Which was this?

The noise is very similar but the doggy body language is completely different.

True, @Haffdonga, but it shouldn't be up to the owner whose dog is on lead to make that decision.

OP, this happens to me a lot too and I hate it. My dog is an older rescue and doesn't like being run at, he will root himself to the spot sometimes instead of walking away from an overexcited dog because he doesn't like having a dog behind him where he can't see it, but he also gets stressed when they don't back off. So it's kind of a lose/lose for me when a disinterested owner won't call their bloody dog back.

....or the owners who do call their dog, but the dog doesn't listen, so clearly shouldn't be off lead in the first place.

No it shouldn't be up to the OP to deal with an enormous pestering off lead dog.

But for her own safety how she should react to a friendly playful Great Dane is massively different to how she should react if this dog was actually on the loose growling aggressively.

Please don't do the treats as suggested above. No dog should be fed without the owner's permission for various reasons.
Stupid idea.

Its so annoying when there are irresponsible dog owners out on the dog walk. Used to drive me bonkers, esp when my dog was a pup.
As you now know, do not pick up your dog, as it reinforces fear in them. Shout to the owner to keep their dog under control. I used to think I would feel stupid about shouting at other dogs/owners in the park and out and about on walks, but nope. You can even say, not that it always works, that your dog is injured so can't play.
Before your training sessions start, you need to work on recall at home. High value treats and lots of praise. It will help huge amounts if you have already started this, and it will help your own confidence.
If you can, try walking at different times if the day to see what other dogs and owners are about. You might find it quieter at around 9/10 am, but of course that depends on your job etc.

Normally I'd agree lazy.
However if a dog really can't eat certain things and it's so detrimental if they do then the owners would surely be responsible owners who had their dogs muzzled or on lead for their own safety.

I agree haff. Ultimately we have to make decisions based on how things are and can be, not how we'd like them to be in an ideal world.