It's not my dog

[BiteyShark]

I have had this from several people recently. If it isn't your dog and you can't control it why don't they put it on a bloody lead rather than letting it jump all over my puppy who is on a lead. It's so hard trying to train my manic spaniel to ignore dogs when you have someone else's bounding about in its face.

Rant over just had to vent as really cross

Is it a dog walker?
On a plus side, it may help your pup with socialising

One said it was a neighbours dog and today's encounter was with some elderly people so again did not fit the dog walker stereotype.

Unfortunately my trainer said my dog is socialised enough and is too friendly so to get recall under control I need him to focus on me and not want to play with other dogs. It is so hard to get him to do that but even harder when people don't recall their dogs so they bounce straight up to us and stay even when I am batting them away with a stick :(

Could be worse. My mum was walking her little terrier on lead the other day and a bloody great dog ran straight over and went for it. Owner was shit. Ambled over before trying to lever their dog off.

Yeah I think I have to start to get tougher with them as it's a nightmare now the weather is getting better as more people out walking dogs.

Whilst most people put their dogs on a lead when they see me do it there does seem to be those that don't bother given mine is obviously a daft spaniel. I had thought about saying my dog had a contagious disease to get them to recall theirs but thought better of it

Wolfiefan I have had an encounter with two out of control dogs when he was very young which resulted in me picking him up to stop them stomping on him. I now go walking with a hiking stick so I can push other dogs away without putting my arms at risk. I feel bad having to do that but have no other option.

I feel your pain from the other viewpoint. My lab thinks everyone wants to play with him. I have to work him off lead at our dog training club and he's fine up until the point where he will suddenly bolt off to play with another dog. The other handlers all know how daft he is so it's not a problem but they're very good at shooing him away. I make sure I put him back of the lead if I see an on-lead dog coming whilst we're out. His recall is usually ok. Occasionally though I have been caught out and he's seen a dog coming before I have and completely ignored my calling. Luckily no ones complained yet but I need to be more vigilant! I'd be bloody mortified if I let him upset someone. He's a big dog too, and black, and probably looks very intimidating running at you full pelt. Total wuss though.

MsAdorabelleDearheartVonLipwig i totally understand your pain as I am trying to still work on recall and the one time I had not spotted other dogs in the distance in time and he would not come back straight away I was mortified and apologised lots.

The difference is that these people had plenty of time to recall their dogs and put them on the lead but they don't bother and then dog won't leave my dog alone and there is no apology other than 'it isn't my dog' as if that is an excuse to not bother attempting any control even though they are waking it. The other annoying one is when people say oh they just want to play with again no attempt to put theirs on the lead when they clearly seen me put mine on and take my dog to the side to work on controlling him.

I need a scarier looking dog I think

Must admit, I started to wonder why I was keeping my pooch on a lead when I was seeing so many others off lead and less controlled. He's a very friendly pup that wants to play with everything and everyone and is blissfully unaware that some dogs or humans don't want to play, don't appreciate dirty paws on them.
I've never seen him bark or growl at another dog yet, which is more than can be said for some who have come up to him whilst on his lead. So, he's off lead when nobody near and put on when someone gets close (always comes back for a treat :-)).
If only others would have better etiquette, but then why be surprised, the "not my dog" brigade are probably the same ones that let the dogs foul all over paths and parks, because it's somehow not their job to pick it up - despicable!

Some people are still very clueless unfortunately. These days it is becoming more well known that if you see a dog on lead, you put yours back on lead.

I was on the beach recently and a big staffy type dog came over for a play. Kept dominating my dog, herding him and stopping him from coming back to me, knocking him over etc. I could see my boy was getting stressed so I shouted to the bloke nonchalantly wandering over that he had to come and get his dog. His response was a cheery 'oh he won't hurt you, he's just playing'. I was quite cross and told him that his dog was being a bloody nuisance and to get it on a lead right now. He shouted at me but he did call it off. Idiot.

I think I was so frustrated yesterday because that's another opportunity gone for me to train my dog to not swing on the lead and concentrate on me when a dog goes by which I can't do when I am having to push other dogs off him just because they couldn't be arsed to get theirs back.