Fed up.

[SlubberKongWubba]

Just wanted to come and have a quiet little moan in here.

Eleison said the other day that dog walking was the only area in her life that left her open to conflict and the same applies here.

I HATE conflict, hate it (hence not venturing into AIBU much) but three times this week Elsie has been jumped all over, pushed over, growled and barked at and generally just frightened and mugged and her crime...

Walking quietly on the lead (twice), walking quietly at heel off the lead (training).

All by dogs off lead with their owners waaaaaaay waaaaaaay over there

On two of the occasions when the owners had ambled over to get their dogs I got nothing, nadda, not a word with my dog lying under my feet.

Today after I had the temerity to ask the owner to get her dog under control please I got a mouthful of abuse. Abuse! My favourite being " dogs are allowed off lead here so they can do whatever they fucking well like" with the most perfect of conversation codas " Fucking Labradors"

I actually feel sick and it totally ruined the puppet theatre afterwards and I BLOODY LOVE puppet theatres

Sorry moan turned into rant

I am so with you on this Slubber. I hate conflict and will also go a long way to try to avoid it but have found I have had to develop a thick skin when protecting my dogs and in some cases DC's.

I do pick where I walk very carefully - it does mean that I travel further to walk to a quieter dog walking spot. I avoid the "popular" spots like the plague even though it is much more convenient.

You know the spots where the people go to the same place every day at the same time and walk the same route - stay away!

I console myself that if the owner is so ready to retaliate it is because they have been in the situation before and deep down know they are in the wrong.

I frequently give a "can you call your dog please shout and now am beginning to enjoy their discomfort when the dog has a rotten recall As my five are all in a down position at my feet and have not moved while their crazy dog jumps all over them.

Do not feel sick or any way upset, you are in the right, they are idiots but unfortunately there will always be dog owning idiots.

Thank you for your kind words minimu.

I know what you mean about picking dog walks, and avoiding popular spots. I'm having to do it more and more which pisses me off as this particular area has a wonderful 'beach' for safe river swimming from and is only a short drive away.

Love your secret pleasure at rotten recall discomfiture

I love being a dog owner and I love dogs but I'm rapidly going off other dog owners (apart from the lovely ones on here obviously)

I'm with you, Slubber, except when some idiot lets their dog run up to mine (mine ALWAYS on the lead) invariably, their dog will get attacked. Cue lots of shouting and I will ALWAYS win the argument because my dog was on the lead and theirs was out of control by not returning to them when called.

BodyofEeyore agree with you too. I have a reactive foster collie that goes crazy if he sees a dog as far away as America! Yet owners still say "mine only wants to play" as they dog charges over to see the crazy dog on a lead - can they not see the spit and lunging and barking and crazy behaviour of my dog on a lead muzzled with me walking very quickly in the opposite direction obviously is the sign of a dog that does not want to play!!!

I do have a jacket for some of my dogs that says dogs in training do not disturb on it. That can help a bit but obviously people have to be quite close to read it and still their dogs can not read it - honestly illiterate dogs as well as rubbish recall

Oh no Eeyore you would have been completely in the wrong today because dogs should ALWAYS be off lead in these sort of areas to "play and socialise and just be allowed to be dogs"

[not enough s in the world to cover that]

I have often thought of getting a t-shirt with 'DO NOT RUN PASS THE DOG' on the back as well because joggers seem to think it's ok to sneak up on you.

Damn those sneaky joggers.

I actually quite like joggers (gawd just typed doggers) as they provide excellent 'leave it' and 'watch me' fodder and they are always really grateful that I take my dog off the path so they can run past.

Maybe the joggers round here are especially noisy and puffy as I've never been caught unawares by one (yet).

Leave it and watch me would come in handy though if we were to encounter doggers.

Slubber, this is one of the worst parts of dog ownership. I hate the fact it can turn what is a beautiful time in a beautiful day into a stressfest. I also am completely bewildered as to why dogs who are on the lead and muzzled and walking well away from others should have this seeming magnetic attraction for idiots.

Down could be handy when encountering doggers too....

You are so right Scuttle. It is going from being very happy and relaxed and generally enjoying the outdoors with the dog to, as you say, a stressfest.

Argh!

Lol @ Down with Doggers

When I go out later with the beasts I shall be thinking about doggers!!

Minimu where did you get the "Dog In Training" jacket?? Am I right in thinking you train assistance dogs? If so, are you "allowed" to use such jackets if your dog is NOT an assistance dog in training? 'Cos I want one.

Or would my dog be liable for arrest like I would be if I pretended to be a Police Officer or Brain Surgeon?

Joggers in our local country park seem to have been trained in stealth - there have been LOADS of times when one has seemed to hold his breath until he's right behind me, and then suddenly I hear "PUFF PUFF" and running feet just behind me, and jump out of my skin.

Oddly (or not) joggers are one portion of society that my dog takes absolutely NO interest in - possibly because they generally do exactly the right thing and completely ignore my dog. They tend to just run past, not making eye contact or anything.

Whereas people with bags are her biggest temptation. I think it stems from when she was a pup and a man was walking across the field carrying a takeaway, and she went to investigate him and he gave her a prawn cracker.

I bloody hate when unruly dogs and owners annoy MY dog walking time. It drives me insane too.

Often if I am out training my puppy I get all sorts coming along and just getting in the way or worse their dogs come charging over. I have developed a death stare and a sharp tongue!

Have found it is often the small dogs that have no bloody recall and jump all over ME and my dogs. Can you imagine if my GSDs did this to them/their dogs? I would be hung, drawn and quartered.

I walk in lots of different places now, dont go to the same place every day.

@ dodging the doggers!

I thought i would reply, i now exactly how you feel, we have 3 dogs, but i can only walk one of them as the other two are too strong for me(gsd and staffie) so i walk our lovely girl summer, she is a husky, 7 years old and soppy, so she doesnt pull, just bimbles on next to me lol anyway i am now too scared to walk her anywhere after a few weeks ago a very large staffie was off lead and full on attacked her with me stood there shouting at the owner to get its dog off mine and my shouting at the dog to fuck off. it was horrible, i can still hear the snarling and biting now. luckily my summer was ok, she has so much fur he didnt managed to pierce skin but he had her pinned to the floor by her throat after thwoing her around quite a bit and huskies arent small dogs!!

i cant walk her now, i have a panic attack whenever i try, the attack happened litterally near our house so i cant avoid it very easily.

dogs should be on leads when they are near other dogs, even if they are safe and friendly, the other dog may not be. a fight can start too easily and owners should know better. when i walked summer she would go off lead as long as there were no dogs around but as soon as i saw a dog in the distance i put her straight back on lead.

I have the same problem. We adapted a CKCS three weeks ago, who seems to go deaf when you take his lead off, so we have kept him on lead whilst we practice recall. My Beagle's behaviour has deteriated since second week of Cavie being with us - She is very jealous and I am not sure if she is just trying to get my attention by being naughty! She was brilliant on recall - until last week when she took off and decided to go visit a dog over the other side of the park and ignore me. Caught her ten minutes later, straight back on lead an haven't let her off since. Been doing recall training on long line.

Was in the park the other day with Beagle on long line - recall training, My DC's had Cavie and were playing ball with him on long line - we have to keep a distance away from each other so long line does not get caught up. JRT came bowling over to Cavie - who is nervous of dogs when he is on his lead, so he started wrapping himself around DC's trying to escape - I called to owner that Cavies is nervous can you remove your dog please, JRT then starts growling and snapping at Cavie - My DC's stand still but I can see they are scared, I started to run towards them shouting at JRT to leave! Owner then decides to come running as his dog has ignored his recall several times. Man grabs dog, shouts at it, belts it one picks it up and walks of, glances at me with a 'Sorry'.

My adrenalin was pumping as I feared for DC's and Cavie - was seriously worried they would get hurt and I wasn't close enough to protect them. I was horrified man hit his dog - when it is his fault he hasn't trained dog properly.

I understand the issue - I have the same one - dog ignoring recall - but you don't let them off if you know they won't come back!

AHHHHH!

Some horrible (and SO similar sounding) experiences here .

Jaynerae I know what you mean about the adrenaline pumping. God it's awful.

dingdong I hope you find the courage to go back out again. Can you drive somewhere else, somewhere very quiet to start walking your dog again?

I had a gobful from some woman in the park the other day because I kept the dog ON a lead (as he'd decided to completely forget all recall ever taught to him).

Stupid woman.