Why are some dog owners so bloody selfish

[goldenmarshmallow]

Sorry- rant incoming.

I am sick to the back TEETH of some dog owners who think it’s acceptable to put their dog with no recall or training off the lead and to let it run up to anyone and everyone.

I have a golden who is generally good with dogs but gets very boisterous and excitable with some, which comes out as her being reactive. She doesn’t bite or show any aggression but she bounces and growls and tries to rough play. We’re doing training atm to work on her reactiveness and recall. She gets off lead time with other dogs that we know she gets on with (friends/family) but only in our family’s land/hired dog fields etc so she’s not off lead around the public as her recall isn’t reliable. I don’t let her meet other dogs on walks as she is too unpredictable. So, I keep her on the lead away from dogs we don’t know. But I am so sick of dogs off the lead approaching her, usually with the owner making a half hearted attempt to call the dog back but it just completely ignores them. I shout over ‘can you get your dog away from my dog because she isn’t always friendly!’ to which they usually say, oh he just wants to say hello! Or, don’t worry he’s good with all dogs! I don’t give a shit if your dog wants to say hello, move it away from mine before she barks/growls/lunges and frightens your dog and you start having a go at me

there’s nothing wrong with off lead dogs with good recall, and some dogs come back as soon as they are called which is fantastic, but WHY on earth are some people so bloody selfish? If your dog won’t respond when you call it back, put it on a lead FGS! She’s also scared of some dogs and responds by trying to hide behind me- again, I’ll shout over to the owners that my dog is scared and can they collect their dogs but nope, it’s always just oh don’t worry he’s friendly!

bloody sick of it.

For what it's worth, we hire a secure field from a local dog trainer a couple of times a month, so our girls can have a run around without being tethered to us. Costs about £10 for the hour, and from chatting to other folk it's pretty similar across the country - you just have to know where to look.

For what it's worth, we hire a secure field from a local dog trainer a couple of times a month, so our girls can have a run around without being tethered to us. Costs about £10 for the hour, and from chatting to other folk it's pretty similar across the country - you just have to know where to look. The point is dog owners shouldn't assume it's ok to to let their dogs approach other people/dogs without permission. My large greyhound enjoys walking a route past a mums and tots group, but knows he needs to give children a wide berth until he's told it's ok to approach for fusses.

Another dog owner here, and couldn't agree more.

My dog is aloof by nature, though thoroughly socialised and not unfriendly IYSWIM, and very ball-focussed. The number of owners who allow their dog to harass/hound/round him up /jump up at me while he's trying to play. He mostly doesn't react and to be fair when he has the owner has taken it on the chin that their dog had it coming for being nuisance. Still....

This is is always paired with ineffective name-calling instead of walking over straight away to remove the dog. Don't get me started on ball thieves. Always always always have no recall at all and owners just give a tinkly laugh. Oh, and "he's a herding dog" - so keep it on a lead. And "he wants to play" - well my dog doesn't. I now just give them a stony face instead of sympathy and say I have places to be so can I have the ball back.

One of the earliest things I trained my dog to do was to leave other dogs' toys alone, much as he would love to snatch up a stray ball. I spotted this tendency when he was a puppy and didn't want him to turn to be "that dog". The idea of him pursuing another dog. To be fair he's not done this yet, but I know how I would respond - back on the lead.

Rant over. God I feel better for that.

Totally agree OP. Another Akita owner here @xyhere ! She is a very friendly dog, but too friendly. She wants to play rough with every dog she sees. She's still young and I am working hard to stop her being so excitable, but when people let their usually little dogs run up to her I usually end up getting badly pulled around by her. She's strong and heavy, my poor shoulders often have injuries. She never off lead in public as her recall is poor, but it winds me up when people watch me struggling to deal with her while their off lead dogs wind her up. She has never shown aggression, but what if she does one day? She would get the blame as she's a big dog, which is frustrating as I am doing my best to have a nice quiet walk. She gets to play with her best friend who is big enough to enjoy the rough housing but I would rather unknown dogs didn't approach or would return to their owner when asked.

@Akitamum - one of the problems with Akitas is that they unintentionally attract trouble. Near as I can tell, it's their natural resting stance - back legs leaning forward, tail up, ears pointing forward...all of it screams "FIGHT!" in dog language even when they're totally relaxed, so they're a magnet for unwanted attention from badly-trained, off-leash dogs.

So with you Op!
I have a dog who is great with dogs she knows.. loves her dog walking pack, and those we see regularly on morning walks, but is nervous and growly at unknowns if they rush up to her.
If I'm walking her off lead in the fields and I see an unknown dog, I clip her back on, give space and if I have to pass I call out 'sorry if my dog barks, she's nervous', though I always have treats ready to distract and praise for good behaviour.

But the number of people who let their dogs just dash up to mine, mine on her lead and then get snotty with me if my dog growls or is less than enthusiastic INFURIATES me.
But of course my dog is a bigger wolfy looking (rare) breed so of course she's to blame... despite the fact she's scared not aggressive!

I hate this. I have a miniature dachshund, lovely wee guy. Shy around bigger dogs but in very much a trying to climb up my legs way. If we're just out walking and another dog walks by he's not bothered. Recall at home in the garden is excellent, as soon as we're somewhere interesting he ignores me, so we don't do off lead, seems simple to me.

Few weeks back an off lead collie ran right up to him, right in his face, he was terrified. Owners is said collie were still coming up the hill so couldn't see him but were shouting his name and squeaking a toy which to me showed they knew full well his recall wasn't good enough. By the time they got to the top of the hill I'd lifted my dog and asked them to recall theirs. Their response was "oh he's friendly, don't worry". After this interaction he ran right up to a couple who were walking and again ignored his owners.

My pet hate (no pun intended) is the "Don't worry, he's harmless! He just wants to say hello." line. Sure, your dog might be both of those things, but shouldn't you check that mine is as well?? Unfortunately, I lost my little dog a couple of months ago at age 14, but this used to happen all the time to is when out on walks. Used to terrify my dog! And now that he's dead, I still have to smile through gritted teeth with the neighbour's "he just wants to say hello" chocolate lab who charges through my garden and decimates each plant in his way!

I had read that about the tail being up @xyhere , the other points about their stance makes sense too. Often small dogs bark and growl at her, I worry one day she might retaliate. At the moment she just looks bewildered, poor big lump 😆

Yeah...it's actually kind of heartbreaking when the Akita wants to introduce herself and play, but the other dog's just been an aggressive asshole. I can see her getting upset by it every time :(

Shouting, “He’s got ringworm! It’s contagious!” usually gets a badly-trained dog back on a lead pretty sharpish, I find.

I’m so glad it’s not just me who thinks this. Too many times in my local park I’ve had dogs approaching my toddler and completely ignoring that half hearted call from their owner ‘fluffy come here’ ‘oh he just loves meeting new people’. Toddler is now terrified of dogs. If the dog can’t respond to recall commands it is not under control and surely therefore dangerous!

Where do you walk your dog OP?

only most dogs who are off leaf tend to be in fields or remote areas - no one really lets there dog off near roads and paths

therefore yabu imo

i walk my dog off lead every day in remote wild fields

it pisses me off no end when I see someone go by with a Dog on a lead - you can walks a dog on a lead ANYWHERE - more remote areas should be for those who’s dogs want to play and are otherwise well behaved

owners like you (presuming you walk in such areas) piss off others in equal measure I can assure you

Well, there's a plot twist.

Another in agreement, I had words with someone who couldn't control their 3 off lead dogs that came charging up to us the other day with the owner saying "They're friendly!" As my small dog is faced with 3 large dogs bounding towards her barking..... When I replied "That's as may be, but your 3 big dogs charging over and barking is a little overwhelming for my small dog, she might not be friendly back" I was told if my dog couldn't 'cope' I shouldn't have her out because they just want to be friends (and what's even scarier is they don't recognise the signs in their own dogs that they are not being friendly, their body language is not friendly at all) ...... I'm very tempted to go with my horse one day, let him bound over them if he feels like and just shout over that it's ok because he's friendly - I wonder how that would go down!

My dog has had a bad experience and always goes on the lead unless there's no one around, for dogs she gets anxious and reactive but she loves humans and would greet anyone and everyone given the chance and so I don't give her that chance, she wags her tail and leans towards anyone we pass, she's friendly, she wants to say hello, but I'm not so stupid to expect everyone must accept that, it's my responsibility to make sure she doesn't, and going on the lead means I can do that, and keeping her far enough away that she can't get up to them, and distracting her.

There are a couple of dogs she's got to know locally that she's happy to interact with, but they've been introduced slowly and properly and they greet each other, sniff and then carry on with what they were doing.

I don't think you'll ever stop people like that though, they're like it in life, expecting everything to be done their way and it just so happens they're dog owners too.

It is! I humanise her a bit too much and imagine she's like a child who's a bit different to the others, big and awkward and nobody will play with her :( She's like no dog I have ever had before, hard work at times but such a character, I love her so much 😊

And as for people paying for secure fields …. Honestly you can’t have any training or hold over your dog if you have to pay for a secure area

I suggest you look closer to home when discussing untrained dogs

people using these fields obviously don’t have confidence - therefore really shouldn’t own a dog

You don't own the remote areas, you know.

No but done moan about dogs being off as these places are limited! Why so entitled to ruin other dogs (and their owners) fun / exercise because you didn’t train your dogs properly! Go spend your tenner elsewhere and leave others to it

i walk on pavements, in streets, in the country, in public parks- none of those areas are dog only and you don’t have the right to let your dog off the lead to hassle other dogs if you don’t have decent recall. And sorry but you are wrong- people DO let their dogs off in these places.

My dog has a right to walk safely on the lead in any public area without uncontrolled disobedient dogs running up and hassling her. You DONT have the right to let your dog off the lead anywhere you want and to try and insinuate that dog owners who walk their dogs on the lead are just as bad is just ludicrous.

LOL, no - you've completely misunderstood, and your attitude is typical of the people who cause this problem in the first place and think their dog is better trained because they walk them off-leash.

I keep my dog on the leash to protect her, not other people or animals.

We use a secure field to protect our dogs from other people's. As I said - if there's ever an injury involving an Akita, the Akita is the one that gets the blame by the authorities. I'm not taking the risk that another dog attacks and gets hurt by our (obviously more powerful) dog defending herself and she ends up PTS.

She's not untrained, and she's better-behaved than all of these dogs that come running up to cause trouble; we've even had police round at the house (completely unrelated), and they've been amazed at her behaviour given the breed's reputation.

Why take the risk that your dog could end up dead through a chance encounter where they did everything right? If there's even a 1% chance it could happen, that's 1% too much.

You're moaning about dog owners keeping their dogs on a lead and spoiling your fun, though I'm buggered if I can see how that works, as you don't know why they've chosen to do so. And it's none of your business.

um, did you not read my OP? I’ve had dogs for decades. I am experienced. She is fully trained. She is socialised. Unfortunately she was attacked by an off lead disobedient dog and is now reactive. She is now being retrained. But sure, blame me.

and FYI- I never said there was a problem with dogs being off the lead. As long as your dog has good recall, then it can be off the lead anywhere. That’s perfectly fine. If it doesn’t have good recall then it shouldn’t be off the lead anywhere in public.

I'm not bothered if a dog is off lead, as long as it stays away from mine, it's not the being off lead that's the issue, it's the approaching me/my dog (and in the past when I rode) my horse and the owners not bothering to recall or the dog not listening.

It shouldn't matter if a dog is on or off lead to you if you can control yours enough to stay away from someone else. Keep it off lead if you want, but make sure you can also keep it away from others who may not welcome it's advance.

Because Atikas are not exactly a family pet are they? They’re literally known to be an aggressive breed

any dog could come up barking away at mine and she wouldn’t have the size or strength to react in a way to put others or herself at risk

i question why you’d want to own such a dog?!

to pp I don’t care why an owner keeps their dog on a lead - just give over and walk somewhere else - don’t actively go to areas where dogs get exercise off lead then moan because you haven’t trained your dog not to retailiate or be sociable

are you doing it to prove a point?

its not a normal reaction for a dog to react badly to other dogs bounding over - well trained dogs recognise that it’s play

It’s bad owners and bad training and a huge sense of entitlement