Did this dog walker expect me to leave the area?

[BrownBogie]

Was walking my dog this morning - she’s reactive and on lead at all times. Another woman with a little dog in front of me bends down to take her dog off lead - thankfully she sees me and stops before asking “is your dog friendly?” So I said “no sorry” so she looked disappointed and then said “oh - it’s just that my dog likes to play….”
ok … she continues staring at me as if waiting for something so I just carried on walking. She then looked pissed off and kept her dog on lead and stormed off! What did she expect me to do?? Leave the area so she could let her fog off lead??

I think she may have actually wanted your dog to play with hers. 😂 You’d be amazed how annoyed people can get if your dog isn’t allowed to interact.

People are nuts though. We were out walking ours in a quiet forest area. She’s in season but we hardly ever see dogs there, so seemed safe enough. Down the track come 5 dogs, all dragging their leads behind them, and a woman half heartedly trying to recall them and none of them listening to her. About a mile back we’d passed a family with another dog, but it wasn’t theirs, they found it in the wood and it had followed them on their walk. Turns out that one was hers too. So she had 5 off lead dogs who were completely ignoring her recall and so many of them running in different directions that she couldn’t catch them, plus another one that she’d lost at least 30 minutes or so before and had no idea where it was. Hopeless. One of those dogs is going to get hurt one day running into the road or coming across a reactive dog while she’s a mile or two behind poodling along with no idea where it’s gone.

People just don't have good manners when it comes to their dogs. If I see a dog on a lead and mine is off lead, I always put him straight back on - I don't want to cause an incident if the other dog is reactive, or in heat, or is on lead walks because of injury or something, but lots of people think that every dog wants to play with their dog and is entitled to do so. It's utterly mad, and you weren't in the wrong.

At least she did ask, rather than assume. If it was a designated off lead area, then the reactive dog should be kept away from off lead dogs (I have a reactive one I never take to off lead areas). If it's an on lead area, then she shouldn't have even been thinking of taking her dog off the leash.

You know people are going to say your in season dog drove them wild now?

I don't know what on earth she expected to happen but it's on her to control her dog and be able to recall it from yours.

If she can't do that then she shouldn't be letting it off the lead. It sounds like she has a poorly trained dog and was annoyed she couldn't just be lazy and let her dog off.

No - off lead doesn't mean you let your dog do whatever. You must still be able to control a dog off lead and recall it from others.

Obviously. And I never said a dog can do whatever it wants.

Genuine question. What constitutes a dog being described as 'reactive'

What would you expect to happen if for example a reactive dog was accidentally of the lead in amongst other dogs playing or excited children running about wild.

At least she asked which is a step up for many dog owners.

Reactive means exactly that - they react to certain triggers and contexts in a way that puts themselves or others at risk or at least, involves behaviour you'd rather they didn't practice.

Some dogs are reactive on the lead - because it traps them and reduces their options from flight/fight/freeze/fiddle about to just 'make a bloody big racket'. Those dogs might well not be remotely reactive off lead but might also have a shit recall.

Some dogs are of course reactive on lead and off it, aggressive to other dogs, or children, or squirrels etc etc.

Some dogs are reactive but not aggressive, just lacking in manners and with a rude approach to other dogs and a poor recall.

Some dogs reactivity might be to run away, dangerously across roads, in a blind panic.

One of mine can be a bit reactive on lead because he's excited and silly and makes ridiculous hound noises and thinks people wish to cuddle him, but he's also 30kg of hairy dribbly hound, who has no recall because once his nose is down his ears are switched off - he genuinely has no clue we've been shouting him, and similarly, just expects us to be right behind him as he beetles off after a scent and is utterly bewildered to find we are not (but this hasn't given him any ability to switch the ears on when scenting).

So he stays on a long line and we avoid getting near people who might look at him or engage with him (he's fine if people ignore him, but not if it looks like they'd like to say hi!) as his excited 'I want to cuddle that person' noises sound bizarre (Strangled howling, the boy cannot hold a tune).

Not an aggressive bone in his body, he wouldn't know how. But would still be a flaming liability off the lead.

So if he got off the lead he would say hi to other dogs, try to solicit cuddles from people (sit on their feet then when they bend down to pat him, or fall over him, squash them with a full GBGV cuddle), slime them with dribble... and after a couple of minutes of that he'd be nose down and halfway to the next county, oblivious to everything but the scent.

Reactivity does not determine what the dog is like off the lead, and aggressive behaviour is only one way a dog can be a liability to themselves and others.

They react to stuff that others don’t. Could be anything.

my dog isn’t reactive as such, smaller dogs bark at him all the time and he doesn’t even look at them but if one comes into his personal space (for example off lead) he reacts. He’s happy enough with kids but any stranger puts him on edge and the quick movements kids do mean I ask them not to come close or if they want to stroke him I tell them how first.

generally dogs aren’t accidentally off lead. It’s the owners job to protect them whether they are or not. People have gone a bit doolally with dogs in recent years which has caused some terribly behaved dogs.

To answer the OP, I have no idea why this woman was annoyed enough to storm off! It doesn’t sound like you were in an enclosed area and you say you continued walking so she just needed to wait til you were far enough away?! Only she knows so don’t waste too much thought on it.

I have a reactive dog. He’s old, has no teeth and could do zero damage to any dog or person yet the worry is that if he was to react to a dog and they reacted back, he’d be the one in danger.

He is kept on the lead and it boils my
blood when dog owners just let their off lead dogs approach mine. It’s basic rules that if a dog is on the lead you don’t let an off lead do approach it.

If you’re going to have a dog off lead it needs to have good recall.

I’d say it depends on the are you were in. If you took you dog to a field where dogs always run free and play then you could have perhaps chosen a different area to walk. If it was just a regular park then I’m stumped.

My DDog has been attacked a few times lately so I keep him away from every dog I see now. People are always so offended when I ask them to keep their dog away! I spent a lot of time training and socialising my dog, I’m not having other peoples dogs ruin his confidence. A few weeks ago I had to pin someone’s dog down in the mud because he locked onto my dogs leg and made it bleed. The owners just stood there doing nothing. I was wrestling their dog like Steve Irwin with a croc whilst my DH was pulling its mouth open.

I think it depends on the type of off lead area. Yes,you'd probably be asking for trouble to walk your reactive dog off lead through an extremely busy park and not expect other off lead dogs to approach. In areas like beach, forestry etc where there is more space there's no reason why a reactive dog can't be off lead if it has good recall. My reactive dog is nearly always off lead on our "big" walks and I just make sure he doesn't run up to other dogs

I don't really find my dog's reactivity a problem. I can manage that and do keep him on lead everywhere, to be sure. It's other people's badly socialised dogs that are the problem, running up and having no recall.

Of course, if it's an off leash area, then that's on me, so I don't go to those kinds of areas at all. If it's an on lead area and they're off leash, those are bad owners. The areas are clearly sign posted here. It matters less if the dog in question has perfect recall, but most owners just aren't that considerate.

Not an off lead area, it’s a pedestrian footpath with large grass verges on either side.

It reacts negatively to other dogs/people getting in its personal space. If a reactive dog was accidentally off the lead and other dogs interact then I expect an accident could happen but there shouldn’t really be a time when you accidentally let your reactive dog off lead in a public area

He sounds adorable!!

If that's your preference fair enough, but I don't think it is on you - it's on them to be able to recall their dog. Just making the point that there's no reason why a reactive dog can't be off lead in an off lead area as long as they have good recall

I'd add, as long as they are recalled before they can get anywhere near another dog, especially one on leash. I don't know if your dog has good recall or not from seeing it (most don't), but I can see if your dog has been called and gone to you, which is reassuring. If I can see you have that kind of control, it doesn't cause me stress. If a dog has no control and my dog bites it, it doesn't matter the circumstances, still my liability.

When you drive you have to realise that some other drivers will be idiots. When you own a dog you have to realise that some other owners will be idiots. You can only control your own driving and your own dog.

If the OP is walking with their dog a lead yes the oP can only control their dog but no one can control a dangerous dog off the lead so it is not like cars

We have the same problem here in the US of A.

I'm think I'm gonna bring in an Executive Order that every dog must be in one of these (see photo) not on a lead.
The thingy in picture is quite small, for the yappy type dogs, but there will be biglier ones for biglier dogs.

Another beautiful thing is it saves having to pick that poop too - it stays inside the err... I think we will call it the Trump Truck.