Not to want to be yelled at by ignorant pig when i am out with my DD and DP and Ddog!

[LucyEllensmummy]

We have just had a lovely walk along our beach - just the right weather, DD and DP on scooter and me there behind them (quite a long way).

Dog off the lead (small jr type) not bothering anyone with children (he used to do this and was kept on lead but doesn't bother now). Lots of other dogs off lead - loads, hundreds possibly, all happily meeting greeting and generally having fun. Its lovely to watch - my dog is a friendly little character.

So, my dog approaches some dogs on the lead - one of the dogs starts snarling (NOT mine!!) as is quite common with dogs on leads - my dog is a bit dim and thinks it a game so is bouncing around. The owner then starts bellowing at me to put my dog on the lead (by this time my dog had walked off anyway) that i was breaking the law by having him off lead on the beach. Which i know is not true as dogs are banned from that beach between may and september only. Its perfectly legal any other time. My dog wasn't bothering anyone else. Comes when called etc. So the guy gives it all "well we'll see about that" Gets his phone and calls who? The council, the police??? I just go and sit on the wall and say, call who you want, we'll wait!! WANKER!!!!!!! Its not my fault his dog is aggresive to other dogs and his wife goes into a panic. I think he might have an interesting walk today - thousands of dogs on the beach off the lead, with people with and without dogs/children enjoying watching them play.

I would have had my dog on the lead if he were a)bigger (i used to have rotties and only ever walked them off lead in the depths of winter as they are a bit intimidating. b) aggresive c)likely to approach children (i don't like this myself) or liable to be a pain and not come away from other dogs - he is none of these.

What a thoroughly unpleasant man!

Waits to be flammed, just ranting really - i know I ANBU

OK - I get where you're cming from (You and 2shoes are buggers when you get together!) but I doubt there were a thousand dogs all at once and if there were, more fool the dopey buggers for taking their leary dog who needs to be on a lead into the fray!

There would be lots of bum sniffing and worse. Can see the headlines - 1000s of dogs involved in shock beach orgy!

I've no problem with sociable dogs being off the lead as long as they don't come bouncing up to me. Coming boucing up does not = sociable. It = badly trained.

Wow! I've actually been on BOTH sides of this particular debate: my old Murphydog doesn't get off the lead, as he puts his nose to the ground and takes off, and also he seems to have bad dog-body-language! Other dogs seem to really dislike him, but he is overjoyed to see them. I imagine it might be like someone you have never met running up to you in the street and shrieking "well, HELLLOOOOO!! Great to see you!" while shaking your hand enthusiastically: that's the way he behaces around other dogs, so they try to bite him- can see where they are coming from, he is just OTT so on the lead he stays. For this, I have had grief from several other dog owners ("My dog only wants to eat yours because he's on a lead"-ie, it's YOUR fault; "Oh, why is he on the lead, what a shame" and even "when I see a dog on the lead it tells me that the owner hasn't trained it properly"- seriously!)

My bitch, OTOH, is off the lead, and not particularly under my control. Both my dogs are beagles, so they are motivated mainly by food and scents- she is likely to disappear off for up to 2 hours, but very very unlikely to bother people/ dogs. She approaches other dogs in a far more sensible fashion and has never been snarled at. Although I did get a HUGE rant from some old guy whose dog ran off to play with mine, because he didn't want his dog to get dirty (this was in a muddy park in February ) He did actually say "Can you not control your dog?!" (despite the fact that his was also running off. I couldn't be arsed to argue with him, so I just shrugged and said "Obviously not!" I stick to walking mine at a set time in a set place, where I meet the same people and dogs every day- saves a lot of aggro!

So where was the dog?

Because you say that you were quite a way behind your dh & dd "DD and DP on scooter and me there behind them (quite a long way)"

and that the dog was keeping up with them... so you were not in control of your dog as it was too far ahead & your dh was pre-occupied with dd & the scooter...

So who exactly was in control of your dog? You were in a public place & if not on the lead he should be kept close to whomever is in control of it.

We have a border collie that we cannot let off lead anymore after a JR almost attacked him as a pup & now he is very cautious about small dogs.

We were all on the beach, dog (on lead) was playing with dd who was building sandcastles when the dog came over & started to nudge & snap at dd. So our dog barked & the mutt went for him. Only because our dog was on a lead & dh pulled him back did the mutt miss him! And the owner came bounding over, grabbed her dog saying that dd must have provoked him because he is normally such a lovely good natured dog!

A few feet down the beach & he was badgering a toddler in the sea!

I think you have an air of self importance LEM, with your comments about owing the beach & that the beach should be dog only for several months (albeit said in gest, you seem to really mean it). You just DO NOT know when your dog is going to react & how. And you have no idea why this guy reacted as he did, maybe he had been attacked prior to this incident, maybe his dog had!

In all fairness when dogs are off lead they are unpredictable & no one can ever say 'my dog wouldn't do that'

Haven't had time to read the whole thread but I agree with you - most dogs who are never let off lead are either not to be trusted (potentially dog/people aggressive or just lousy recall) or they have slightly crazy paranoid owners who bizarrely think that their dogs will be safer from other dogs if they are kept on lead. They really irritate me. Have they read no dog books? The crazy thing is that just being on the lead is enough to intimidate some other dogs, and makes the dog itself feel very vulnerable and cornered, and therefore more likley to be snappy. (They cannot run away if they need to.) You are right, they need to be let off lead to socialise. I just don't get anti-social dog owners and anti-social dogs. Where is the joy of owning a dog if walking them is fraught with such stress and paranoia? I do admit some dogs (esp. if they are very big aggressive breeds) can be intimidating if they are off-lead, so it's tough call, but all he needed to do was explain politely that his dog was a bit unpredictable and could you give it a wide berth? Don't blame you for being fecked off.

I'm a dog lover but tbh I think that as they are animals and not governed by human reasoning it is best to keep them on a lead for their own sake when around strange people and their dogs.

It takes the stress out of the whole situation for everyone. I tend to think it comes under the heading of responsable animal ownership etc.

I was once attacked by a loose dog, my collie was on a leash and she gave as good as she got but I had to get handfulls of skin and heave her up on my shoulders to break up the fight. Had the other dog been on a leash the fight wouldn't have happened and I wouldn't have been scratched as the loose dog tried to climb me. I think I was probably lucky not to get bitten. The other owner did nothing.

When animals take a dislike to each other it is not in the least bit genteel and all dogs are dangerous when they start fighting.

Speaking as a confirmed dog owner, I really don't get this.

If your dog is 'under control' then it is nowhere near me, thank you very much.

If you need to put it on a lead/call it/take it somewhere quiet & shoot it - whatever.

Your dog is annoying other people = your dog isn't under control, or, alternatively, your dog is behaving quite reasonably given that its owner is a bit dim about respecting other people's needs.

Heck, if I can see that the leashed dog's owner was justifiably pissed off, you'd need to be a bit lacking to see that if your dog's running up to other dog walkers who feel the need to shout, it's not under sensible or considerate control.

I personally think that dog owners who have aggressive or nervous dogs that have to be kept on the lead (like this one) should, given that they have an antisocial problem dog, walk it on a lead somewhere where they are unlikely to encounter dogs roaming off lead. Common sense really

Bugger. I'm not a confirmed dog owner. I am a confirmed dog hater.

Possible Freudian slip due to ds barracking for a puppy for his birthday. No chance.

Tiggy, it is so wrong to assume that we don't let our dogs off lead because they cannot be trusted!

As I stated, our dog is kept on as he hates small dogs now, so in busy dog friendly places, we have no choice. However at the quieter local park, he is great, with immediate recall skills!

Don't be so bloody righteous about your 'wonderful, allowed off the lead' dogs! half the time it is such dogs that have caused the problems that prevent our dogs from being off leads in the first place!

hmc I disagree wholeheartedly. My collie was a highly trained sheep dog, she was neither aggressive nor nervous nor was she ever known to attack another dog. But she did defend herself. It's common sense not to leave it up to chance that an animal might behave on instinct. The police also recommend that attitude to dogs.

I agree that some dogs are very bothersome about running up and jumping or giving unwanted attention, though in my experience it is very very rare. Most dogs are just happy to say hello, have a friendly sniff and a frolic for a few seconds then pass on by with their owners, which is what mine do. Mine will approach almost any dog to say hello but if I sense from the dog's or the owner's body language that they are tense I call mine away and they come straight back every time. Some people seem to equate a dog's playing and running around and instigating social interaction as being 'out of control' or poorly trained. How so?! And why do some of you feel that a dog is 'bothering' you by approaching you? (if you don't have a dog I understand completely, but if you do, why do you not want it to socialise?) I live in the country and my dogs get walked almost exclusively on huge open heathland and fields where other dog owners go, and no children play, and generally it is very sociable and everyone is approachable and friendly, and so are their dogs.

TiggyR - can I copy and paste your post and claim it as my own, because it is precisely my sentiments, right down to living in the country and walking them where other dog owners go and general public are absent (except on bank holidays, when they turn up in trackie bottoms with cans of Stella)

Sorry Sandcastles, I'm confused. You say you keep your dog on a lead because 'he hates small dogs now.' Have you had a bad experience and why does keeping on a lead help now?

Sorry again Sandcastles - just seen your earlier post about the JR attack..

Yes, Tiggy, further down iin the thread I wrote...

"We have a border collie that we cannot let off lead anymore after a JR almost attacked him as a pup & now he is very cautious about small dogs.

We were all on the beach, dog (on lead) was playing with dd who was building sandcastles when the dog came over & started to nudge & snap at dd. So our dog barked & the mutt went for him. Only because our dog was on a lead & dh pulled him back did the mutt miss him! And the owner came bounding over, grabbed her dog saying that dd must have provoked him because he is normally such a lovely good natured dog!

A few feet down the beach & he was badgering a toddler in the sea"

The point is that any dog is dangerous if it feels threatened and who knows what circumstances will provoke an animals basic instinct, they act on base, species specific instinct, common sense does not apply to them and why should it?

I think a responsible owner will treat their dog with respect, as a pack beast with killer instincts under the wrong circumstances. And no amount of training can be guaranteed to quell those instincts.

I think owners failing to appreciate that is why a lot of animals end up being put down.

sandcastles - dog owners like that make me seethe. A dog bit my ds' feet the other day when he was running backwards and forwards trying to dodge incoming waves. Didn't break the skin, but did cause reddening. Ds was quite upset....

Don't believe in blanket banning dogs off leads though.

"The point is that any dog is dangerous if it feels threatened and who knows what circumstances will provoke an animals basic instinct, they act on base, species specific instinct, common sense does not apply to them and why should it?"

I don't mean to be facetious, but imo you could apply that to a fair proportion of people....

(including me - I had to fight an impulse not to stove someone's head in earlier today, but fortunately good sense and social conditioning prevailed)