Should you 'mirror' other owners?

[WinkyWinkola]

I walk my dog (black lab) in a field. Occasionally there are other dogs there. He likes to greet the other dogs and run with them. If they aren't interested he leaves them alone.

Today he ran up ti golden retriever on a lead. I got told off by the owner because her dog was on a lead(had been attacked before) and was nervous so my dog should be on a lead.

Is this right? My dog bounced up to hers, hers lunges and growled and my dog runs back to me and goes back again and then leaves her dog alone to come with me.

Apparently dog owners mirror others.

Kittensoft, if you have something useful to add to the thread, that will help first time or inexperienced dog owners to train their dogs to recall regardless of distractions, please do share. We would all be delighted to hear your methods.

If not, please don't keep coming back to sneer and cast aspersions. I'm sure, as a community, we all have much to learn from each other, surely sensible, adult discussion is far better than insults and insinuations?

I think the old adage 'Don't feed the troll' is applicable here.

Not a troll, just finally had enough of the inanity.
I did try to share my methods, and see where that got me...

For those who can read- and are not too literal minded, the naughty step idea refers to not giving attention to dogs that are behaving badly - for whatever reason. Dogs want fuss. The worst punishment is not to give them any sort of attention. Even shouting at them and telling them off is attention, which is why, after the initial reprimand, I stop and ignore her.
If I see a dog on a lead I will normally ask if it is friendly. 9x out of 10 the owner says, its fine, just too bouncy, on heat, has poor recall or whatever. If they say that it is unfriendly I will call her to me, but usually she has got the vibe and steered clear anyway.

Can I please retract my previous piss taking of the naughty step. I was wrong and I am sorry. Hullygully has recently bombed up the stairs covered in mud from digging in the garden.

Clearly she knows this is wrong so I tried the naughty step. And fuck me It works!

She obviously just needed time to reflect.

Love it, Honeydragon! That needs to go on Dogshaming.com :)

What a CUTE dog! Is it a lab cross? It has tiny little dainty paws unlike my labs huge spade like paws

Honey I just actually Lol'ed.

From now on I will ignore Whippy attempting to eat people's puppies. That'll cause no problems at all, I'm sure it won't, because Kittens said it is the right thing to do.

After reprimanding her first of course, by the way how shall I do this?

That is one sorry doggie.

So if you ask and recall, what's the issue?

That's the same as putting a lead on, to the other owner anyway.

Nope, she's [apparently] purebred. She's actually quite tall for a lab bitch. But she's very pretty and dainty looking till she vomits up a decomposed eyeball

I don't know, tabul, I just don't know.
I just don't spend all day putting the lead on and off.

My dog has been to puppy training, several visits to the vet, spent time with other dog owners and NOBODY has blardy told me anything about the etiquette of not allowing him up to a dog on a lead.

So, I might be thick or whatever but I think doggy etiquette needs to be broadcast.

I started another thread on The DogHouse for top tips on this kind of thing. You might think it's obvious (okay, picking up poo IS obvious) but the rest.... please do add to it.

Well Dooin.

Once you've ignored the puppycide, than I suggest you take her to a nearby cafe for an ice cream and explain patiently but sternly that what she did was wrong and how disappointed you are.

The call your insurance company and check how far they are prepared to go third party.

aaaaaw, poor Hullygully...

She has a beautiful face - she looks just like my dog. Maybe it is just the camera angle making her paws look small. I luffs golden labs --apart from the ingesting and regurgitating of gross animal parts including poo-

D0- you don't know how to reprimand your dog?

Winky

I like that thread and thought it was a good idea. I Los don't think you are thick. You love your dog and asked a fair question

Strike out fail!

She's very cute, Honey!

Winky - i didn't know this either. My dog is very, very rude and i need to rethink her training plan!

That's a much better explanation for those that are new to dog training Kittensoft. I remember when I first started out that the idea of negative attention being rewarding seemed contradictory to me, until I managed to get my head around the whole reward/non-reward, rather than reward/punishment idea.

I don't think people were criticising your methods, it was just phrase 'naughty step' that conjured up a funny image - like Hully Gully's picture in Honey's last post.

The only thing I would (or rather have done) differently would be to not use the stern words at all. Just clip on lead and exit park/field - end of walk, end of fun. Not sure how stern words would help the situation, particularly if the behaviour was fear based. I would have thought confident handling with low stimulation would be better.

Sounds like you do the same as the rest of us in terms of checking if it's ok for your dog to approach. The putting on the lead thing is a bit of a red-herring, because the issue is controlling your dog, not whether or not they're put on the lead.

Actually, no, I don't know how to reprimand my dogs. I don't think I've done it before.

Unless making Devil Dog get off the dining table is a reprimand? He seems to think it is.

Winky, you're not thick at all, you asked a question, listened to the answers and sought more info. That's quite smart in my books

Winky
I wouldn't take too much notice. This lot would have you keeping your dog in a box and never letting it play until it was scared shitless of other dogs.
You'll find more normal people out at the park.

fwiw I never put my dog on a lead unless we're next to a road, but she is an old lady and has excellent recall and pretty good doggy manners