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.