Sick of hearing 'my dog is friendly'

[monkeycrzy]

I have a very fear aggressive springer spaniel when it comes to other dogs. It is getting to the point where I dread walking him. I always take him to places where dogs would not normally be off. As soon as I see a dog coming up to us, I muzzle him, but sometimes I get caught off guard and he tries to attack the other dog.

I am so fed up of people letting their dogs come up to him and saying 'My dog is friendly." Even when I shout out a warning I often get the other dog owner shouting "they'll be fine'"

When he does snap at them, i get the dirtiest look off the other dog owner. I feel like I cannot win.

AIBU :(

@ littlewhitebag not dog - sorry!

underdone

Florainomad says it perfectly 'It's quite simple, if you see a dog on a lead you call your dog away before she gets near it'. Just that.

The thing i am trying to say is that it is not simple at all. I see dog on a lead, my dog sees dog on a lead. My dog is off to welcome said dog before i have even had a chance to try and call her. If i see dog on a lead first of course i call her back and get her on her lead. In a perfect world that happens. But not always. I do really really try, but we are not all perfect.

But Springers are never aggressive

Not read thread so excuse me if this has already been suggested. Have you heard of the Yellow Dog campaign? You can buy vests for the dog which state "I need space". Google it.

Why are these dogs all off their leads?
Surely if every dog was on a lead it would be much better for everyone......
My DD has been traumatised by enormous hounds, staffies and labs making a beeline for and jumping on her when she was a much smaller child.

I can't understand why dogs are off their leads in public spaces at all....

(Perhaps I'm missing something?)

If you don't have control of your dog it should not be off lead IMO. The point has been made ,your dog going and having a 'sniff' can disrupt weeks of work by someone else , why should your dog and your dogs training take priority .

My dog is off lead either on the golf course at 5.30 am, on the beach at the far end where it is quiet or in a wooded area near our home. Everywhere else she is on her lead. I would never ever let her off in a park where there were lots of children.

If my dog is on a lead, I'm not going to muzzle him as well just in case someone lets their dog invade mine's personal space.

In the case of my dog, littlewhitebag, the approach is everything. In doggy terms, a dog which approaches another full on, is considered very rude indeed. Dogs who are polite approach from the side, not full on frontal.

My other dog (not the reactive one) got injured because three off-lead dogs came running up, whippy started barking, tangled my other dog up in his lead and pulled her over. I had to carry 20kg of dog home due to her injured leg whilst still holding onto whippy as well. I should add - he does not react to dogs who approach him politely, rather than full-on . As it was, the owner of the three dogs screamed abuse at me when her dogs were the ones off-lead.

When my dog approaches another she lies down flat for a bit then moves closer and lies down flat again before going in to greet them. She doesn't approach head on now and goes in fairly calmly to gauge the reaction of the other dog. What does the laying down flat signify?

"Some dogs will lie down almost flat to the ground often eg in Border Collies. Some will lie and slightly roll over averting their eyes this is a submissive but friendly gesture The ones that lay down but in a Sphinx position head erect and body and tail upright are signalling to the other dog that they are confident and high ranking but are friendly and its ok to approach."

copied from my dog language book...I'm not that clever!

She is not upright. She is as close to the ground as she can get with tail wagging on the ground.

Ah I do understand Littlewhitebag here. Our local park has a large field for dog's use. Only when we're in this field do I let my dog off his lead and generally when we're alone in the field.

All other times he's on lead because his recall isn't 100%, If other dogs on leads come into the field then I put him back on his but if unleaded dogs come in I will leave his off too. He does love other dogs and wants to play so there have been occasions where he's lolloped off to see if they want to play and been too excited to come back to me when I call (I've taken it as a bit of a rule of thumb that if they are off lead their owners don't mind other dogs coming over for a sniff). I take on board all points raised but surely A) they need time off the lead to actually learn recall skills B) they need a bloody good run sometimes that they just can't get on the lead. Is it truly feasible to never let your dog off its lead? a stroll around the park just wouldn't provide him with the exercise he needs but I am mindful about other dogs and their owners.

If we're alone in this field off his lead and other dogs off their leads also come to this field am I in the wrong if mine runs over to meet them? he's only a year old and so not 100% reliable with recall but he does need that run off the lead.

He is very submissive to ALL other dogs but also does the sphinx position too. So, he's basically showing submission (shows his belly) and then asserting friendly authority? He's not at all dog aggressive but I get it that he's been rude on occasion - yet he's still young and going through all the learning processes. Also, and a bit weird, he's never bounced over to try and play with a dog on a lead anyway, only ever other dogs off lead.