Dog owners who don't have a reactive dog, can I ask?

[Springermum1350]

The reactive dog thread has been really helpful.

One of my 'things I bought up' was other dog owners and what they think when they see a dog like that.

Can I ask you guys for an honest answer as to what you think when your walking your dog and you come across a reactive dog.

Is there anything us owners can say or do?

I always do my usual training stuff and praise well so I hope they know I am not just some idiot with an in trained dog.

I also bought a yellow bandana with the word nervous in it. Does that kind of thing help?

Yeah he's had a pretty rubbish run of it, he's only 3

It's just one of those things, he shouldn't have elbow dysplasia...he comes from good lines with great elbow scores, he was a really good candidate for arthroscopy and there's no real reason it didn't work...the spinal thing is a complete mystery, we stopped investigating that when it became obvious that it wouldn't change the treatment plan, the ulcer came with no warning signs (it should have) that he wasn't tolerating the NSAIDs and he wasn't on them as long as other dogs are with them...and the behaviour, we did everything right, puppy classes, which carried on to novice training classes, followed a socialisation plan when he was tiny, everything.

There's no ultimate - that's what went wrong, just, lots of stupid bad luck things that added up.

He's not great with strangers either, but, that's fairly manageable because I managed to limit access to him, so we can work round that, as long as he's not touched he's fine, but dogs are a different story because despite him being on lead and muzzled for the last 2 years, we still get them coming over every couple of days at least - and that's with walking him at night in quiet places and telling people he's unwell, then not friendly and doing my best to avoid them by clearing off the paths or crossing roads.

I have a reactive dog and am working my socks off to desensitise him to other dogs. I really appreciate it when other dog owners smile and say good morning and keep walking when they can see what i am doing. that really helps. I love it when they call their dog and say something like "come on jasper, you're not helping!" it makes me feel like they understand and are supporting me.

But I had one owner yesterday (whose dog had clocked that mine was a bit too interested in him and had shuffled off) actually CALL HIS DOG OVER TO MINE to see how he did. Um, no. I suggested very politely that we weren't ready for that and could he please enjoy the rest of his walk.

I have one reactive and one totally laid back and loves everybody. When I come across another reactive dog, I think thank God it's not just mine and often I chat to the owner and sometimes we allow the reactive dogs to sort it out between themselves and they are fine. I am watching this thread with interest though for tips! I often choose to walk in the middle of nowhere but my other dog is very sociable and loves the country park.

I realised yesterday that the mornings are lighter. As I am a early bird anyway I was at the forest at 5.30 this morning.

It was wonderful. No one around. No runners, dogs , bikes or people. Just me and my raffles. We walked for miles and had a wonderful time.

Will be doing this at least twice a week now.

I would rather walk miles with him in the forest than a walk in the lead. I love seeing him run and sniff and he always has this big smile on his face.

It beats sitting watching telly at 5.30 which is what I normally do. But don't ask me to stay up past nine pm as I couldn't do it lol