Am I the c#%t??

[cantthinkofausername26]

Walking my cavapoo today in a big open and empty field. He trots along happily off the lead, if he comes across another dog he will go and give them a sniff and be on his way.

usually if I see another dog on a lead I will put him on a lead too. I didn’t see this woman soon enough as she appeared from behind a bush. Big gnarly dog on a lead XL bully type dog. My dogs starts trotting in her direction, she goes mental shouting “go away, this is a dangerous dog, get your fucking dig away” etc. I called Doggo over and put him on a lead, no drama. She is still mouthing off at me, to which I replied “all right calm down!” This set the mad woman off shouting that I’m a fucking idiot and her dog would rip mine to bits and I shouldn’t let him off the lead. To which I replied “you’re the one with the aggressive dog you can’t control, who is the real idiot here?” I then got called a butch and a c£&t!

Now is it me that is a c£&t? Or the person with a massive aggressive dog that was literally pulling her along??

You don't feed, house and walk them, i presume

As I side note, I find most 'aggressive' dogs we come across on walks are on the small side. The sort people think are no bother by virtue of their size. Obviously its anecdotal, but in my experience larger dogs seem to be trained better, as they'd be almost impossible to control without training given that you can't just scoop them up when their behaviour needs stopping.

Thankfully not but they still cause me a lot of inconvenience. Even more so than the horses, dogs, children that I do feed, house and walk them

Therefore surely you would want all dogs to be under control? A little girl and her mum in my street are terrified of dogs. It’s took loads of work from them but they absolutely love my spaniel now and watch out for him going for his walk to come out and say hello. They like that he is trained and doesn’t fly over to them or jump up etc

That's my whole point. Some of us are terrified of small yappy, anklebiting dogs. I'm not a dog person at all.

Why would your dog ‘rip him up too’? Just for casually approaching?

I hope you keep that creature muzzled lest he lose his rag and attack someone?

My dog isn’t aggressive at all, but she doesn’t like it when other dogs come up to her and it always really annoys me when people let their dogs off lead if they are going to do that. I do let my dog off lead when appropriate but she doesn’t approach other people or dogs and if she did, I would keep her on lead.

So many dogs now whose owners allow them off the lead to approach other dogs. I'm a dog lover, but find it stressful simply watching it... So probably not worth me getting one myself tbh.

I have a friend with an absolute marvellous dog. She's exceptionally well trained, and great with people, but can be reactive if another dog approaches her, especially if it takes her by surprise.

She's only off lead in open spaces, is whistle trained to recall on demand, and would never willingly approach another dog.

The amount of owners who let their dog wander up, with "oh don't worry, he's fine" to be told sternly "well she's not, so get your dog away" is mystifying. The majority act all offended too, when it's their problem to deal with.

Ideally, everyone would train their dogs to not approach humans and/or other dogs until told that they can but I don’t know how possible this is!

Impossible.

It’s never been the case and will not be in the future.

The best case scenario is a % of dogs that are trained not to approach other dogs on a lead or whose owners can get them back on the lead in time. It won’t be higher than 50, 60%? Even then we’re talking about humans and animals so even that percentage isn’t reliable.

Surely it’s more efficient and pragmatic to change the behaviour of the few - to not have violent and aggressive dogs that might attack if approached?

I don’t mean the dogs that don’t like it or might growl or bark or bare their teeth - I mean dogs per the OP that will “rip a dog to shreds”.

Yes you make a good point. I guess all dog owners can do is to try and be as responsible as they can with their own dogs.

As you say, there is a world of difference between giving a warning snarl and ripping a dog to shreds.

ESH. Dogs with poor recall should be on at least a long line at all times, not just for the safety of others but for their own safety too. Mine were always friendly with other dogs but would take off after a squirrel, rabbit, cat, bird that flew too low, so they had harnesses with a long line attached

Her dog should be wearing a muzzle if it has aggression problems with dogs or people, because not everyone does keep control over their dogs.

Fwiw I'm pretty sure the law sides with her if its not acrually a banned breed. Her dog was on a lead and therefore considered under control, if your dog or you gets hurt because your dog approaches it you have no comeback as it was yours who was not under control

Probably impossible, which is why they should be on a lead unless they can do this.

I'd love to know how you propose a dog can learn how to do something off a lead, without being off a lead to learn it.

You do it on lead - using a long line, using stooge set ups in safe places, proofing to a variety of distraction levels, environments, then you repeat that process off lead in the safe places, stooge set ups, then in quiet but public places... you might let the long line trail on the ground (clipped to a harness not a collar) as a half way between on and off..

You condition the dog to check in automatically, not go too far and to automatically recall at the sight of whatever it is you want them to avoid.

They don't need to be off lead and indeed should not be off lead until you have compliance at a level where you'd bet your house on it.

It is possible, but that level of conditioning and proofing to various contexts takes a fair while and a huge degree of consistency that most owners can't be bothered with.

Definitely not impossible, one of mine ignores other dogs. It’s not always easy to train, but it’s doable. One of mine however is a trouble causing barking terrorist so he stays on the lead 🤣

This is a ridiculous statement because you don’t know whether a dog is going to be aggressive when you get it as a puppy.

My dog is absolutely fine with people and for the most part, other dogs providing they are calm and not in his face. But if they start jumping on him he absolutely will growl a warning and if they don’t stop, would give them a nip.

I don’t blame him tbh.

Imagine a stranger you’d never met came running towards you, then jumped on you and started touching you - would that not make you uncomfortable, a bit stressed and probably quite reactive OP?

Easy solution - teach your dog not to approach other dogs. If you can’t, then keep it on a lead.

Well I’m not dangerous. Unless bothered by another human being.

You can bet your ass if a human I didn’t know jumped on me out of nowhere I’d be goddamn aggressive!

In a secure field or on a long line

Sorry I meant impossible to ensure everyone trains their dog to do this!

There definitely are dogs out there that can do it, I’ve encountered plenty of them, there’s also plenty of barking terrorists 😂 lots of which are off lead 😫

I agree with other posters, why would anyone want to own, walk with a dog that "would rip another dog apart" its like living in the wild?! I thought we were meant to be a civilized society, my personal opinion it sounds horrendous when someone comes out with a comment like that and its basically a cop out for the fact they have put no effort into training and socializing their dogs to be able to be in the company of another dog in public, its getting out of hand the amount of stories you hear where dogs are mauling other dogs and cats to death with no trigger

Yes