Are there ways of protecting my dogs when we're out?

[TheHappinessTrap]

We took a walk earlier and a nothing little event left me unsettled.

I keep my girls on leads, they are small/medium sized friendly, non-aggressive dogs who would willing approach most people and dogs for cuddles. Approaching us from the opposite direction was a large dog, also on a lead. I've learned about how to watch the dog and owner for signs that they should not be approached and I respect these rules. They displayed some of these signs, at maybe 50 feet away, so I called my dogs close to me. I had them sit thinking we would be still and wait until they passed. There was plenty of room, etc., and I was just giving them a cuddle while keeping my eye on the other dog. As the dog neared (this is still 15/20 feet away) the owner made me feel less confident that she really had control of him. He was growling low and pulling and she was a slight woman kind of digging her heels in trying to keep control while calling his name in a voice that left me very much not reassured. She got him stopped and went to put his muzzle up and she actually let go of his lead for a moment. A part of me wanted to believe that she thought this was ok because he was so well trained but I hadn't seen other signs of that so I thought it best to move my girls out of sight and we calmly went into a little alley nearby and waited for them to pass. The owner at this point decided she didn't need to muzzle.

Reader, that's the end of the story. Everything was fine. Only it left me really anxious about how I would have protect my girls if things had turned out differently. For the rest of the walk I kept an eye out for this other dog to make sure we didn't re-cross paths, but how would I have protected them at close range? I thought through a few options, discounting them, and deciding the safest thing to do would be to cover them with my body taking the damage myself until the owner got control.

Clearly I don't find that a comforting or great resolution to my worry! How have you or would you protect your dog should another dog take offence at them?

[GraysAnalogy]

Urgh I hate that attitude, it's not a real dog indeed I like dogs of all shapes and sizes, my friends chuahaha(sp) is a little shit but doesn't leave my side when I'm there, so loving. Lovely little dog

[pigsDOfly]

TBH Grays I do understand what you mean about some people letting their small dogs get away with behaviour that wouldn't be accepted with a bigger dog, but I seem to read it on here so often about small dogs being awfully badly behaved that I suppose I'm a bit sensitive about it. I'm sorry if I ranted a bit.

In fact I was posting and commenting on here for quite a while before I admitted to having a small fluffy dog as I felt people would make assumptions about my dog and my ability as an owner; I've had so many 'it's not a real dog' comments in RL that as I said, you get a bit sensitive about it after a while.

[GraysAnalogy]

pigs I'm sorry if you're offended by my comments. Of course I don't think all small dogs and their owners are like that. Unfortunately the majority I have come across are. Obviously my anecdotal evidence can't speak for all small dog owners, but i now have to be more wary around small dog owners than I would larger dog owners. It's not acceptable for any dog to snap and lunge for another dog, unfortunately smaller dogs get away with it moreso as a whole as they are seen as less of a threat. I'm glad that there are good dog owners (like you) for all shapes and sizes of dogs, but I wish my experience was a better one with smaller dogs.

[TheHappinessTrap]

Thats a better outcome than it could have been Mutt, glad for you and your pooch!

[MsAdorabelleDearheartVonLipwig]

No worries Gray

I have to say, after the initial new puppy days, he's turning out to be quite a nice a nice dog.

[pigsDOfly]

I have a small dog and would just like to point out that not all owners of small dogs seem to think it 'hilarious to see their dogs straining at the leash' to get to other people's dogs and not all small dogs are yappy.

My dog is extremely well trained, she never pulls on her lead as I've trained her to walk on a loose lead or to heel. She has never in her life 'yapped' at another dog - in fact she actually never barks when we're out as she only barks to defend her home and then stops when told - she pretty much ignores other dogs in the park as she is busy doing her own thing with her ball. And her recall is excellent so if she's off lead and we come across anything I don't want her to go near she will come to me as soon as I call her.

I get so sick of all the prejudice against small dogs on here. And the sweeping statements about how owners of small dogs allow them to behave.

There are good owners and there are stupid owners of all sizes of dogs.

[StarsInTheNightSky]

We're not in the UK, so things are a bit different here. All three of my dogs are giant breeds and are very unfriendly to strangers and other dogs. On the extremely rare occasion that I walk them in public (rather than on our land) if I see an out of control dog, I say very loudly and firmly "easy, easy, we do NOT kill other dogs". The owners are very speedy at getting them back under control and on the lease then.

My dogs will lie calmly and silently at my feet until other dogs pass, but they will not tolerate other dogs approaching, sniffing or generally getting that close, nor will they tolerate other dogs barking or growling at us. Where we live there are a lot of stray rabid dogs, so I'm quite happy for them to enforce a perimeter around us!

[CrabbyTheCrabster]

I usually try to make it clear that mine isn't particularly friendly by saying to her "It's ok, it's alright" and "Gentle... be gentle" or "Nicely" in a warning voice. That seems to get the message across to the other owner. If that hasn't worked and they do the "Oh it's ok he only wants to play/is friendly", a curt "Yes but mine doesn't/isn't!" often does the trick.

After a few bad experiences, mine was getting really defensive. I've done loads of clicker training and positive reinforcement with her, using 'gentle' as the prompt to stand nicely while the other dog has a quick sniff. She'll usually do that, now, but much more than that and she loses patience with persistent dogs pretty quickly.

Happiness you sound quite nervous about your dogs' interactions with other dogs. Are they always on the lead? Have you had a bad experience that is making you too nervous to let them off?

[TheHappinessTrap]

I know an old dog our walks. He's huge and grumpy. I think he's safe within reason and his growl when we first came upon him was more like "(sigh) let's just NOT do this". When we see him now I've got to know him I can exchange friendly smiles with the owner from a distance and leave the old boy be. He's off lead but he's never worried me. In fact this just happens naturally and it's ok.

As for today, I will communicate in future. I'm normally friendly with those we meet. I think the fear must have just kicked in leaving me mute, it's what I do when I'm scared generally. I will override that in future!

[GraysAnalogy]

Oh I'm sorry I got the wrong end of the stick. Yeah you're right.

That reminds me, about 3 weeks ago we were walking, GrasDog was on lead and a small skinny 3 legged dog came over, yappy as you like, snapping at my dogs chops and basically being a pain in the arse. I was quite proud of him for not retaliating. The owner laughs 'oh he's a rum 'un, only got 3 legs but gives a good go!'. I felt like saying he'll have a 'good go' when he gets my foot up his arse . He would have been the first to complain had my dog retaliated though.

Sorry about your older dog. Good luck with the pup. I don't envy you having the puppy stage all over again.

[MsAdorabelleDearheartVonLipwig]

But the majority of small dog owners we come across think it's hilarious seeing their smaller dog bark and strain their lead trying to get at mine. Even then 'ha thought bulldogs were supposed to be hard look at my little lad giving him what for' hmm

People like this gray. People that can't read signals and don't realise that if you see a dog on a lead that it's polite to put yours back on the lead. People that assume that you want their dog leaping all over yours because 'he's only playing'. My old boy wasn't vicious or anything, I just didn't like their ignorance and assumptions. And you know damn well that if their off lead dog jumps on your on lead dog and he can't run away so he defends himself instead, it'll be you getting the flack.

He wasn't unfriendly, he was old and didn't like being jumped on. He's dead now so I don't have to worry about him anymore. I do however have a young pup now and I don't want him jumped on either. He's only a baby and he's still learning about the world. I don't want his training fucked up by ignorant twats that don't know the first thing about responsible dog ownership.

[GraysAnalogy]

Sorry x posts. crabby I get you. I never let my dog do that. I always see if the owner is happy for them to have a sniff and a play. I leash straight away when I see a dog we don't know just in case the other is nervous or aggressive.

[TheHappinessTrap]

Thanks grays. I didn't think you were but was just clarifying. I felt better that at least we were not in an isolated area and whatever should happen there would be help straight away.

[GraysAnalogy]

And if your dog is 'unfriendly' what are you doing about it?

[CrabbyTheCrabster]

Fair enough Gray, I see what you mean now. It's the dogs that rush her and bounce all over her that really upset her. The ones that stand stock still and watch her with lowered head make her nervous because that is sometimes a precursor to the rush. Not always, though, sometimes as you get nearer they'll give calming signals/lie down/rush past you instead.

[GraysAnalogy]

Who's the 'my dogs friendly' brigade? Is it wrong for people to have friendly dogs and tell you so? It's perfectly fine to not have a friendly dog and tell people so and that your dog needs more space, but no need to have an attitude about it.

[MsAdorabelleDearheartVonLipwig]

On the odd occasion that I met the 'my dog's friendly' brigade I just used to say well mine isn't so you'd better put yours back on the lead. The odd huffy look was better than risking a fight. He probably wouldn't have hurt anyone but he could get a bit snappy at unwanted intrusions.

[GraysAnalogy]

Oh no TheHappiness I didn't mean to insinuate yours were, I ended up on a bit of a tangent about my dog being barked at. I'm sorry

I don't blame you for being nervous. But really, a bit of communication can work wonders. Half the time we're using guesswork aren't we, trying to fathom out the body language of both the dog and the owner. Hope you feel okay now.

[TheHappinessTrap]

I haven't meant to imply that my dogs are yappy. They aren't. They bark irritatingly at cats and at what we call the ghosts in the garden but that's it. They do wriggly bodies and other happy submissive stuff when they merry dogs and people.

[TheHappinessTrap]

That's the word I couldn't find in writing my original post, I felt vulnerable Mutt.

The reason I stopped is because of the radius her dog had access to. It wasn't an extendable lead but she was getting pulled about a bit randomly. It would have left us too near him with the possibility he'd lurch, whereas pulled over as we were kept us as much out of his space as possible and gave him more room to pass while keeping me near the alley to exit if need be with a gate that can cloose. To be honest the whole event only took a mere handful of seconds and probably wasn't a real event but there's a lot of detail because of the concern it raised. I just felt vulnerable. Doesn't help that I have occasionally had dreams of harm coming to them!

Mutt and John, sounds like you've been through terrible experiences. You have my sympathy. You didn't say how your dogs were after the attacks?

[GraysAnalogy]

I did some reading on it and apparently its down to socialisation. Smaller dogs are more likely to get away with being yappy and aggressive because people see them as this little dog who's intimidated and just being vocal and can't do much harm anyway.

Whereas if people see a bigger dog barking, and going for another dog it immediately gets peoples backs up, people have no choice but to train or people recommend muzzles etc.

My dog has never barked at another dog whilst I've had him, I wouldn't tolerate it anyway. He's a bulldog and it would be scary for both owners and other dogs. But the majority of small dog owners we come across think it's hilarious seeing their smaller dog bark and strain their lead trying to get at mine. Even then 'ha thought bulldogs were supposed to be hard look at my little lad giving him what for'

[GraysAnalogy]

It's not "pushy/in your face" at all.

What I mean by body language is when he sees another dog he stops all of a sudden and looks intently. Owners take this as some sort of defensive sign, dogs obviously know differently.

I say no no playing, he comes to heel and we then walk past them, and the little dogs go hell for leather barking at him. He acts like he's deaf and blanks them.

Or in other situations the owners will say, it's okay they can play, and I allow my dog to go closer, they have a play and thats that.

[MuttonCadet]

I wear walking boots or sturdy wellies, if a dog comes for either of mine I kick and yell.

The number of badly behaved dogs off the lead seem to be increasing.