On a lead vs off a lead.

[diddl]

Struggling with recall atm, so don´t let dog off.

Just starting walk & there are 3 women with dogs-2 on lead-1 in back of car-which jumps out & bounds over.

Sniffs for a while, then my dog grumbles-and the bloody other dog growls & snaps.

Of course the woman apologised & another said-that often happens when one is on a lead.
(Ya think?), so I said that mine can´t go off atm.

Then near end of walk, a dog running along in front of owner-comes for a sniff.
My dog grumbled so I carried on walking.

By the time I got to the owner she said "he only wanted to sniff"-to which I just said "well mine didn´t like it"

Btw, he doesn´t grumble at all dogs who sniff, seems to be if it carries on too long.

And sometimes if I pull away, the other dog only follows.

So-am I not allowed to keep my dog on a lead?
And why can´t other owners keep their dogs under control when they do see one on a lead?

Thanks for replying-I did rant a bit

Well, the one time I let him off was a disaster.

I´d been practising commands.
Got him to stay-which he did really well, & then when I called him, when he was almost to me & veered arond me & shot off.

He ran home (along the edge of a road), so it has knocked my confidence as you can imagine.

Well, I´d rather a dog on a lead than a dead dog!

And we have a garden where he can run around freely & once a week there´s a "playgroup" for dogs that I´m looking into & my daughter has a couple of friends with dogs who he walks with every week.

So I don´t feel he has a bad life-and I´m not saying never re off the lead-just not atm!

Dogs off a leash should not be allowed to approach dogs who are leashed.

Your dog will be grumpy because he feels trapped and helpless. His growling is a normal defensive reaction.

Any responsible dog owner knows this.

I have the same problem. Devil Dog is not often allowed off leash because his recall around distractions is still not 110%. When he is on his long training leash he is great with other dogs because he feels he could escape if he needed to. When he is on his walking leash he is not so great. Like your dog he is tolerant to begin with, but he will become aggressive if he gets scared or if the dog won't back off.

He's not so bad when the other dog is also leashed.

dogs on leads often feel vulnerable when approached by dogs off leads because essentially they can't get away.

The dogs off leads aren't technically doing anything wrong if they just had a sniff walking past, but they shouldn't be encouraged to harass other dogs if they're on leads. I call my dogs away if they approach other dogs on leads.

"He's not so bad when the other dog is also leashed."

Same here.

And there´s one particular dog-they seem to hate each other-it has even growled at mine from across the street!

But if it´s the chap rather than his wife with the dog-they can walk past each other (both on leads) with no reaction

People shouldn't allow their dogs to approach another dog that is on a lead. For a start, maybe that dog is on the lead because it is not good with other dogs. (as in the case of one of ours)

Depending on my mood and how they react if I meet people like this, I either smile at them, but in despair whilst saying 'can you call your dog away please?' or just shout 'it's fucking rude to let your dog approach another that is on the lead'. Usually makes them get their dog away pretty fast.

"And there´s one particular dog-they seem to hate each other-it has even growled at mine from across the street!

But if it´s the chap rather than his wife with the dog-they can walk past each other (both on leads) with no reaction" it may be a protective thing more than anything else. I have a dog who is like this - he reacts strongly to other dogs when on a lead, and when with me. He's not agressive but will bark and growl at the other dog and of course the other dog's owner has no way of knowing that he's not agressive. But he doesn't react like that when he's off lead or when he's with dh or with other people.

Interestingly he was a guide dog and was ultimately rejected because of this behavior, and one of the thoughts was that it was a protective instinct and that he was protecting us as a unit iyswim. He's actually much better now that he's not a guide dog any more.

Hadn´t thought of the protective thing.

They are actually getting better now when it´s her with the dog-perhaps us females were projecting "tenseness"

I´m just pissed off because i feel bad enough about keeping him on a lead-without feeling that others are judging/disapproving of it.

I shouldn´t have to let him run free just because they can´t be arsed to call their dogs back-and I mean dog as opposed to bitch & mine is also a dog.

"The dogs off leads aren't technically doing anything wrong if they just had a sniff walking past,"

No, but if my dog grumbles because he wants them to go away, & they snap- as happened this morning, what then?

I dread to think what would have happened if she hadn´t got hold of him when she did.

Am I supposed to just keep hold of my dog knowing that he can´t fight back, but happy in the knowledge that I have him under control?

I hear you.
The other day I had mine on a long line, and he did a big poo in the middle of the park. Mine is a poo-eater, so I was trying to distract him and simultaneously pick it up (no easy task), when someone let their dog bound over to say hello. Cue dog running in circles, trailing line in poo, which I then have to carry.boak

Actually I decided sod-it, let mine off lead, and figured if he jumped and licked them with his nice pooey breath, then frankly that was their own silly fault.