Why wouldn't Mrs. SourFace let her spinger play with whippy? Did I break some unspoken rule?

[D0oinMeCleanin]

I took Whippy out alone to do some off lead work with her. When we got to the off lead part there was a springer playing fetch. I knew whippy would do zoomies around him trying to entice him to play, so we went to the woods instead.

On our way back he was still there and ran up to whippy when she was sniffing grass. They greeted. Whippy did her chase me, chase me dance and zoomied off. Springer obliged, having a whale of time.

Mrs. SourFace pulled a catsbum mouth at me and threw her ball in the general direction of the chase instructing her dog to go and wait with the ball. The dog looked at the ball and decided Whippy was more fun.

Eventually he half heartedly went to the ball, Whippy was still doing zoomies in his vicinity. Every time Mrs. SourFace collected the ball to throw again he springer resumed his game of chase the whippet. She catsbum mouthed me again. This repeated a few times before I led Whippy away.

Whippy was doing nothing wrong imo. She wasn't approaching springer or the ball. She was just doing zoomies near him and he chose to chase. The springer was having far more fun and much more exercise chasing whippy than guarding his ball, so what was up? Why not just let him play? I thought it was okay to let off lead dogs play with other off lead dogs?

Perhaps it's her PFD???

CANNOT wait for the thread from Mrs Sourface bemoaning the dreadful whippet that chased her innocent springer!

:o :o

Some dog owners have no idea of the fun that dogs can have amongst themselves!!

They'd already chased away a doberman puppy who wanted to play with the unsociable catsbum mouths. We spotted them on the way home I heard the owner tell her little girl "You can't let him off again X, he will go and play ball with that other doggy again and the lady didn't like that"

It's like she thought the whole area should just be for her to train her dog to guard his ball. There are quieter off lead areas you can use for training. This part is generally where the dogs play together. Or at least I thought it was.

I should have arranged to play with doberman puppy and let him and whippy create havoc

Hmm. Well she sounds a bit of a crosspatch but playing Devil's Advocate, maybe she wants her dog to play with her rather than other dogs?

I was a bit like this when I got mine; I got her partly to compete in Obedience with, and want her to ignore other dogs in favour of playing with me.

Not saying this woman wasn't being a sourpuss but maybe the catsbum mouth was aimed at her dog for preferring to chase your Whippy, rather than at you and your dog?

maybe that wasn't her catsbum mouth, maybe that's just how she always looks?

They didn't look like they were having much fun. Is guard a ball part of obedience? retrieve I can understand but they weren't doing that. She was throwing the ball about three foot away and then the dog was going to lay down where the ball was.

Maybe it wasn't guarding. Maybe she was using it as a target for Sendaway or something? Or some sort of gundog training?

if she wanted somewhere to train her dog without interruption she should have taken it somewhere where she was unlikely to see other dogs. If it's a park where people walk their dogs she has to expect that the dogs will play, esp if they are off the lead! You didn't break a rule, she was weird.

Thing is (again playing Devil's Advocate) at some point, if you're training, you have to have other dogs around as distractions, in order to proof what you're training for. There's no point just getting your dog performing perfectly when there's no other dog around - you risk getting to a show and your dog being completely oblivious to you.

HOWEVER, you then have to be prepared that other people's dogs will bounce over. I certainly don't give people the catsbum mouth; if their dog distracts mine it's MY training that's got holes in.

Maybe she was training. She was definitely pulling the looks towards me and not her dog. She made me feel unwelcome and I got the feeling she made the dobe owner feel unwelcome.

God help her when summer holidays is over and all the school gate mums are there with their dogs.

Perhaps she should retrain somewhere quieter until her dog is more focused. He didn't very well at all around distractions. He even ran up to me at one point when I called Whippy and gave his best "You called. I came. Fud me" face

I'm not even sure I want to know what 'fud me' means :o

I think it is great when the ddogs find other dogs to hare round with - I get to stand and chat with someone, or wander gently along, whilst the dogs exhaust each other!

Weird. I'd be bouncing with excitement if someone let their dog do zoomies near my Springer. She lives to play and our Westie only obliges her when she's in the mood (approx. once a week ). Don't worry about it; maybe she was just trying to leave the park?

We're going out with my Dad's dogs tonight so she can play with them. He offered to take her every evening for me, but I declined. I am worried he will 'lose' her and then find an identical dog a few weeks later (I only visit them once every couple of weeks). He's always trying to sneak her out of my house under his jumper and she bloody lets him too

I thought of you whilst on holiday Dooin. I was watching a whippie doing Zoomies on the beach all on her own some - then a massive Rottie came over a dune. Then came super Zoomies, it was a joy watching then play together.

Dooin, there's no accounting for some people. I would be delighted if your dog came up to play with my Dog2. There is a whippet that he gets to run around with sometimes and I love to see them - zoom, zoom, zoom in all directions.

Ddog2 is a lab-pointer cross (we think) and she definitely does zoomies - mainly chasing birds (but the little feathery feckers cheat by flying away). She must do 4 or 5 times as far as anyone else when she's out for a run - it's lovely to watch.