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??

Oh my god, is that actually a thing???

Op, you did nothing wrong.if she wanted to let her dog off, then she could have stood to one side until you had passed and left a bit of distance between you, before letting her dog off lead.

My lab is one of the least reactive, most disinterested in other dogs , animal you could meet, but I know enough to let an on-lead dog pass in peace.

Its hard to know what other dog walkers are thinking when they don't say.actually its impossible. So don't worry about it. On my dog walks I never know if their dog is friendly or not so I don't let my dog near their dog to say hello unless they ask me, so sometimes they think I dont want my dog to say hello to theirs which isn't the case. Until ppl say their intentions, nobody knows. You didn't do anything wrong

This is one of the most common hits for dog walker bingo. The top 3 are

My dog likes to play
My dog is only playing/being friendly
My dog has never done that before

it is common courtesy to either put your dog in a lead or call them to you when passing another dog on a lead. You did nothing wrong

Did she storm off or just decide this area wasnt suitable and went to walk elsewhere? My dog is rarely on lead during her walks, unless there is a situation which requires it. I'd rather find a place where she can run and play than walk her round on lead for an hour. I know many places nearby so I'd likely do exactly the same. Surely that's respectful to you and your dog?

Tough luck for her. My Springer spaniel is not the playful kind either, dog owners are often disappointed. ☹️ My dog prefers adult humans.

She "looked disappointed", "stared" and "stormed off".

Are you sure this isn't just you being overly anxious and defensive in your interpretation of another person's body language?

And even if she was at all irritated, isn't silent irritation ... allowed? It needn't imply a judgement of you, just a sense of frustration when encountering an obstacle to letting her dog off-lead.

You are setting the bar very high for other people to adopt a demeanour that reassures you that they don't harbour any negative feelings at all towards you or your dog.

I don't believe in a dog being reactive as much as I believe in a dog owner not putting in the research and work to train it.
In general.

I wouldnt be pissed off but I might stand still for a minute or two thinking, shall I go up to the old railway path, or do I have time for the canal, is there likely to be children playing in the other park right now etc. Not pissed off, just rerouting!

My dog has perfect recall 😇 (he’s a git in other ways) and isn’t really interested in other dogs.

However, if I come across a dog on a leash, I still shout out to the owner asking if they need me to put mine on a lead. I do this mostly to protect my own dog.

I have come across these dimwits who get offended if my dog doesn’t want to play with theirs but I just ask them to call their dog off or get away from them as quickly as possible.

Too many owners walking dogs off lead who aren’t in control of them.

I get this OP

i have a large dog who is reactive in that he will pin down yappy dogs that run up to him and yap at him and lunge at him.

obviously I cannot let him do that

so he is on the lead

then little dogs that are off lead still run up at him barking like mad. “Owner saying: she’s friendly”, me saying “mine is not”

then they ask “should he even be allowed out” 🤷‍♀️

if other people’s dogs had recall, it would be easier, but small dog people often don’t bother

This. I would reroute rather than follow a dog on lead. My dog is good off lead, has good recall and like to let him off to saunter at his own sniffy pace. It is frustrating when I plan to walk a particular way and there is an on lead dog going to same way. But I’m not annoyed at the other dog owner. I just need to rethink my walk

I was walking a reactive dog. And someone let their dog run over with no recall. So I shouted ( they were far away) a good few times for them to come and get their dog. I walked on.

she then followed me further down and stood in front of me saying her dog was friendly and I shouldn’t have called her. And it was all fine. All the while the dog I was walking going mental and Martin front of her. But she refused to move and kept going on about her dog. Why.

Assuming you were just in a general open area/field/park/whatever then she’s bonkers.

What drives me round the bend is when people take their dogs into the little fenced off area specifically for dogs in our local park, keep them on a lead and then get annoyed when their dog wants to play with all the others and can’t. As for the woman who brought her in season dog into said dog park, let her off and screamed “she’s in season, get away” when a couple of dogs sniffed at her…no idea what was going through her brain.

Reactive dog owner here too!!! You’re not being unreasonable OP!

My dog is dreadfully excited, tail wagging and she barks like a mad thing as soon as she sees another dog or person which being honestly sounds aggressive but it’s just excitement. We keep her on a short lead at all times though. Rescue dog - she’s not very well socialised so we are working on it slowly. Short walks and we regularly explain to people that we are out socialising - she’s well known in the area now!

Drives me absolutely insane though when people have their dogs off leads, their dog approaches mine at speed sniffing her bits and they shout from distance ‘they’re friendly!’

Well yes I can see that as they are literally all over my dog who isn’t ready for this sort of interaction!!!

On the other side of things we have a slow old dog who is fine off a lead and will literally heel the entire walk - will not approach another dog or person unless we indicate she can. But we lead her if there is another dog who looks like they need space - just in case.

Well she asked and then she kept her dog on the lead so what’s the problem? I have 2 very social dogs I do find it inconvenient when their walk is spoilt because they have to stay on a lead due to a reactive dog. Personally I would of just power walked until a good distance from you and then let my dogs off, they both have good recall and can be trusted in any situation

The thing is I would love a cuddle from your dog- he sounds ace! 😀

Alison kayla mandi

I'm one of those controversial people that says all dogs should be on a lead unless they are in enclosed fields, so I'll put that out there first of all. I have a reactive dog. It's bloody hard work. I've constantly had people say to me that their dog is friendly (mine isn't), my dog just wants to play (mine doesn't), and I've had to tell of many, many dog owners to come and collect their dogs as they have no control and recall and are hassling my dog. One thing a reactive dog is good for is making you an advocate, because you have to in every situation. My dog is never off lead. Ever. Unless he is in a pre-booked field. He sees a dog and goes nuts, he sees people getting too close to me and he goes nuts, and not in a nice way, so he also has to wear a neon top telling people to give him space. The entitlement of some dog owners is shocking. I'm in solidarity with you!

if her dog is off lead it should have recall that enables her to call it away from yours, if she can’t control it it shouldn’t be off lead at all so your response shouldn’t effect her allowing her dog off

Why did that woman presume you'd be okay with a dog off the lead. The dog may be an angel in her eyes, but unless they are in a dog secure area, letting a dog off the lead isn't always acceptable.

It seems daft to me to that someone would get Infront of you take their dog of the lead.

Why are there so many "reactive" dogs these days? There didn't used to be! Is it since Covid and everyone thought they'd be off work forever and have time for lengthy walks and training?
Might be a whole other AIBU thread..... just musing.

My dog was reactive. She would bark and lunge on the lead or if behind a fence. Off the lead she would chase and jump and be all in their face. She wouldn't bite, but she'd make the other dog bite by being so goddamn intense and jumping all over them. She'd never actually bitten even when she was bitten. She just had no sense of appropriate behaviour at all and being such a big dog she looked very aggressive. You'd call her reactive be uase of how she was on the lead. She wasn't aggressive, she wouldn't bite, but her reaction to seeing a dog was extreme and uncontrollable.

Yes lots of untrained dogs now who are just left of lead whilst owners drink coffee, chat, and maybe just shout “he’s friendly ” 😁

10 years ago it wasn’t like that really, it seems especially numbers of smaller/medium yappy breeds like cockapoos have increased

also there are a lot more dogs now

Yes of course she expected you to leave. I have lost count of the number of people who tell me to walk somewhere else when I explain, politely and quietly, that their loose dogs around my feet are a big threat to someone who is partially sighted at ground level.