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?

If the dog is basically friendly but overly boisterous or something and the owner has not got good control over them it's best to walk back towards the owner rather than walking off as quickly as you can in the opposite direction. In that case the dog may follow you and the further it gets from the owner the less chance they have of recalling it.

The rules are that a dog off lead should be trained to not go near a dog on lead and the owner should ensure that their off leash dog does so. I'm a dog owner. There's also something in the law about dogs doing this.

I always wonder how to train for such situations. My dog is a small Labrador, so not tiny, but she is work-oriented, flushing birds and small game. She's terrific on the road and elsewhere, perfect recall, but she's easily flustered by other dogs, especially smaller dogs. We walk in real country, not parks, and often see no other people or dogs on our routes.

Xing
One of mine is similar.

We had to make a conscious effort to take them to places where they'd encounter smaller dogs. Ours was brilliant off lead, walks to heel, no worries there but despite that still would be a bit startled by the smaller yappy ones who want to start a fight with any dog in eyeline. It meant a few deliberate park trips, preferably to ones with a cafe where we could get a coffee and sit outside or take out and sit in busy areas whilst they watch the world go by.
Now they treat them with general indifference.

She copes easily with runners and cyclists, comes into heel, waits politely, crosses roads intelligently but struggles with toy dogs. I think it's because she doesn't immediately know how to classify them, as dogs or as vermin.

I have four dogs. Two are great and very steady. One has a tendency to get anxious but is easily managed. The other is a puppy and very overexcited by everything especially other dogs so I put him on a lead when I see another dog. The good etiquette is if you see another dog approaching on lead you put your own dog on lead but this rarely happens and the number of people I have yelled at to remove their dog I’ve lost count. It’s very frustrating OP and you’re not in the wrong.

You can train your dog to ignore other dogs like I am doing with my puppy. Every time we see another dog I ask him to look at me and reward him with chicken when he does. We are getting there slowly. It does take persistence. Unfortunately we can not control the world, only our own reactions and our own dogs. I know it can be overwhelming but when you see another dog don’t look at it, just focus on training and rewarding your own dog for calm behaviour and good manners. If the other dog is persistent yell at the owner to control it. That’s how I cope with it anyway, rightly or wrongly.

People mostly have big working dogs locally; there aren't many small yappy ones, and most people have well worked dogs, leads are pretty unusual.

Please don't pick up the dog. I have two dogs. They're soft but they're big. I've had a few occasions where an owner has picked up their little dog, Yorkie /shih tzu size and up until then my dog hadn't even noticed the little one! But then it kind of becomes a thing of interest because the dog is in the air
You're not doing anything wrong. The owner should make sure the dog doesn't run off If the dog isn't a danger to yours maybe just say hello. Your dog will pick up on your fear and you could be creating a problem later on.

@Junkmail, mine doesn't really engage with people or most dogs; she
isn't interested. Bur she's apprehensive except around pheasants, which she sends flying, or squirrels and she loves to catch them. our rangers love her for keeping the population down in the months they're out of season.

I've had a few occasions where an owner has picked up their little dog, Yorkie /shih tzu size and up until then my dog hadn't even noticed the little one!

This is happening 3 or 4 times a week, I've picked her up once because she was terrified and had a great dane up in her face. It had definitely noticed her and wouldn't leave us alone.

Thanks all for the advice, I have bought lots of chicken and will see how we go with ignoring other dogs and telling their owners to call them off if need be.

I dont think it posted, but I have a hearing impairment so all growls just sound like growls to me.

I think the treats were being given to the posters own dogs, weren't they?

I dont think it posted, but I have a hearing impairment so all growls just sound like growls to me
Read up on dog body language and behaviour then. You need to adapt your training and learning.

I walk mine in a park with an enclosed kids’ play area into which I can escape if necessary (my dog is terrified of others, yes, he’s been to a LOT of classes/behaviourists-one off the telly gave up as he just won’t chill out, he’s perfect unless another dog gets in his face)

I would also ask owners to keep theirs away and say your dog is scared. It pisses me right off that I can’t sometimes just exercise my dog without idiot owners letting their untrained lumps bounce at my terrified dog.

Read up about on lead aggression too. I’m not saying yours is aggressive on lead, but he’s possibly fearful and reactive and may be better off lead, but tbh, chihuahua versus Great Dane, I’d be picking mine up too! I know a GD, she loves me, but face to face with my DH (he was sitting), she growled and meant it, it was terrifying!

Carrying some treats in your pocket and throwing them to distract an off lead dog to get your own on lead dog away if needed is a well recognised and standard procedure that is regularly taught by dog trainers/behaviourists. If the other owner can’t or won’t control their dog they are at fault not the owner doing what they need to to protect their own dog.

You aren't the dick here.. its RUDE to allow your dog to run up to a dog on leash, a dog doing close heelwork, a dog clearly training with their owner.

Everyone saying 'don't pick up your dog'... you realise that when there is a huge size difference, a dog like a Dane can kill a yorkie or a chi simply by splatting it with a paw, there doesn't need to be any aggressive intent there!

OP, pick up your pup where you need to.
Understand that, picking up a dog that hasn't seen you coming may startle them, so train your dog to paws up on your leg on cue and be lifted fully aware of whats going on. Reward them using high value treats for this, bothfor the paws up, and the lift.

Also know that SOME dogs will find a dog being lifted off the ground something of a trigger, and it MAY cause that dog toleap up at you and grab for the dog you have lifted - sometimes it is safer not to pick up, sometimes its a risk you have to take.

Treat bombing is a good tactic to redirect an oncoming dog, but I would reserve this method for after you have asked the other owner to recall their dog, and after you have tried walking back to them so they can collect their dog.

Another option is the Voice of Doom... but you'll need to prepare YOUR dog for this so it doesn't upset them, so just pair the VoD with a scatter of high value treats, at home, in the garden, then in the park when its quiet, before trying it on an actual incoming dog. Something like a big deep NO! Or even a SIT! can help.

Meanwhile, before you get to training, make a habit of pairing the sight of other dogs with yummy treats, for a Chi since their fill level is low, a good option is Primula cheese, direct from the tube. A little lick of that is a really strong reinforcer. Remember you are pairing your dog SEEING the other dog, you are not distracting your dog by using the food so that they don't notice!

OP get this onto the Doghouse board. If a dog is off lead it shouldn't approach another dog, or the owner should have control over it to recall it immediately. They are in the wrong completely.

Posters who come on other threads saying their dog was off the lead and followed another dog are normally handed their arse on a plate saying their dog was out of control If you take your dog to some formal training classes they'll have tips on dealing with other dog owners who don't give a fuck.

Thanks all

YANBU My stock phrase to owners as their dog races over to be friendly is "My dog is very reactive, so you might want to keep your dog away from her", then it's their responsibility from that point. An owner should be within hearing distance (and not have earphones in) so they can hear as well as see their dog if off the lead. She's a rescue lurcher with a high prey drive, who plays extremely rough with other dogs if given the opportunity (chase, pin down, release, chase, pin down, release), so has to be kept on the lead. She also doesn't much like being approached, and really doesn't want her butt being sniffed, so will growl a warning and snarl/nip if that's ignored. Her recall is great - apart from when she's sighted something across a field and is at full speed of 40mph, then she goes completely deaf! Returns at the same full speed.

I don’t think it’s been suggested here but with my dog I find putting my body between hers And the approaching dog can work well. Then I don’t have to pick her up (she’s small too). She was attacked as a puppy and I had to pick her up to get her away from the other dog, the problem was I then had my hands full and couldn’t defend either of us. Looking back I would do the blocking thing and try to grab the other dog. If a dog bites a dog no one cares but if a dog bites a human you can get it put down

My dog adores other dogs and has to meet and greet every dog she sees. She usually rolls over for them to play with her as well, the little tart.

Unless there's aggression, I'd leave them to get on with it. An important part of dog training is socialisation with other dogs, to either be friendly or ignore.

On paper, they are rude and you are doing everything right.

However, I find there are local differences. When we lived in City A, there were some parks and the beach where it was accepted that dogs "did their own thing" and owners only interferred if something went wrong (e.g. what you described in your OP). One of the unwritten rules was that you keep your dog away from dogs on a lead, unless the dog seemed interested in company (in which case they were likely to be on a lead because of re-call issues) - even then we always checked with the owner first. Yes, sometimes dogs followed us for a bit but they all eventually returned to their owners. It took me a little to get used this "dog culture"(?) but it worked wonderfully.

Now we are in City B and it is generally understood that everyone keeps to themselves and their dogs on the lead, unless there is a fenced-in dog area. That is partly because some men have started to pick-up dogs against the owners wishes in local parks and most of us are suspecting that these people are involved in dog fighting, looking for bait dogs. So it is really more for the protection of our pets. One town over, where my PIL live, everyone deals with things the way people in City A did.

The bottom-line is, you have done nothing wrong but it is worth to keep in mind that different places have different habits. Some are more relaxed than others and if your frequently see (well-behaved!) dogs playing and following someone else to return to their owner later, then that might just be the done thing in your area - which doesn't mean you have to participate in it. It is also perfectly okay to tell the owner to get their dog. Some might just think that you welcome the opportunity to socialise your dog and not realise that it is not always the time and place for that.

Had a better walk with her today, allowed her to greet other dogs (no massive ones) and all but one reacted well. The only one that djdnt was terrified of her!

Dogs should be under control but this doesn't mean on a lead. They are (mostly) social animals who great and sniff each other. You need to relax, by 8 months yours should be fully trained, perhaps find out from whoever you got them from. My dog doesn't care to play but it's essential you don't panic, it's passing it on to your dog

Ps, in my experience small dogs like yours tend to be the aggressors, perhaps due to nerves but the the only dog to bite mine and draw blood was the same breed as yours

She isnt fully trained. We're not starting from scratch, but near enough. Shes just gone into heat which explains a lot.