"Be nice" and other dog walking rules of thumb

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Is it just me that recalls my dog the moment I hear an owner telling them to "be nice"? I've had it twice now where the dog has turned out to be distinctly snappy a few seconds later; there's no reason to tell a dog to "be nice" unless it has a history of being not nice.

My other rule of thumb (and my judge pants are firmly on for this one) is that the type of lead used tells you a lot about the owner and dog - extending leads typically for owners who lack knowledge, long lines for more knowledgeable owners of friendly dogs with crap recall, and short leads when used in a park where most dogs would be off lead for more knowledgeable owners of unfriendly dogs. I know I had an extending lead until I became more knowledgeable and realised how dangerous they can be!

Anyone else with judgey pants rules of thumb for dog life?

“I'm fortunate to have access to and use of a large, safe enclosed field.”

I’d blooming bite your hand off if you offered me the use of that...

Mine isn’t fear aggressive, well not in the usual sense, so nowhere remotely nearby is deserted enough to have him properly off lead, one dog and he’s after it... no matter how far away.

Hence the flexi and hiring what they call a field and I call, well it’s bigger than my garden size half an hour away, lol

Being able to hire enclosed spaces for dog walking is becoming increasingly popular. There's quite a few near me - you hire the field/space for periods of time - there's a Facebook group for such places - see image

I wonder if people are judging me for sometimes using an extendable lead. I use it for two reasons, firstly so I don’t lose my dog in the woods. My dog is both tiny (3kg in weight) and the same colour as the leaf litter, she has decent recall but if she went off the path because of her size she could easily get into difficulty in the tangle of undergrowth.

Secondly I use it because she sometimes just stops. I think I overtaught her recall using treats, she thinks if she sits down I’ll call her and she’ll get a treat, but she doesn’t do that when on the lead. I use the extending lead when she keeps stopping that so at least she can have a bit of freedom.

“there's a Facebook group for such places”

I’m in it, they’re not as common up here (Scotland) I suspect because there are no trespassing laws.

@rotavixsucks but there are a lot of owners out there with very traumatised rescue dogs. I had a family dog as a teenager and would walk him around the neighbourhood a lot. One particular dog would always go mad barking at us through the fence. One day we met the dog and his owner in the park (it was enclosed all around and had two separate sections we were in one section and she was in the other) our dogs were socialising through the fence but hers had a muzzle on. She seemed really overjoyed and came up to the fence to thank us for not leaving. Apparently her dog had been badly abused as a pup and didn’t get on well with other dogs most of the time hence the muzzle even thought they were the only ones there. Apparently she had to gone to the park in the middle of the day when everyone was at work to even be able to let him off the lead. But obviously if she wasn’t retired she wouldn’t be able to do that really. There are a lot of dogs out there with psychological problems so being off the lead isn’t necessarily an option.

I walk my dog with a short lead as it's the most comfortable for me. My husband uses a longer one. I've neve even thought about looking at other leads and making judgements. I'd just assume they were using the best lead for them and their dog.

Yes, please do recall your dog. You know nothing about what mine has been through and we’d very much prefer yours did not approach ours.

@Racecardriver if you read my other posts you'll see I also have a rescue dog of that type but I make sure that she is given the opportunity to be off lead and to socialise in controlled situations (she too is muzzled as she has bitten people in the past).

It may be difficult but you should find a way to at least let your dog off at some stage and try to make it regular enough to make improvements.

There is NO excuse to refuse to let your dog off the lead especially if you have been offered a suitable environment free of charge (which I have offered to people before).

It is no life for dog nor owner to be on a lead all of the time.

@rotavixsucks I agree that if an owner has been offered a safe space to go off lead it’s just lazy not to but if there is nowhere to do it then surely that is an excuse? The alternative is putting people and dogs at risk which is surely unacceptable?

@Racecardriver if you look hard enough you will find somewhere suitable and as others have said suitable areas are becoming more common, easier to find and more available.

It's all to easy to say 'there's nowhere suitable' without looking very hard or to make excuses-some I've heard are absolutely ridiculous.

There is always a solution if you look hard enough for it.

@rotavixsucks there really are some dogs who cannot go off lead. My mother’s rescue lurcher is one of them and it’s so upsetting as we would love her to run with my greyhound. She is a mix of three sighthounds and mum is a very experienced owner but despite all our efforts she has no recall. We don’t know what her background is but she is terrified of many things, strange dogs, large men, people coming up behind her. We did let her off on a fenced path which she jumped and were lucky to get her back thanks to DH running ability I wouldn’t have managed. So sadly we accepted that we had to go down the long line and harness route for places like the woods and a lead for built up areas. We hired an enclosed space with really high fences, took her toys etc and my dog to play with. She ignored it all and spent the whole time looking to see if she could get out and trying to dig under the fence. She is probably the nicest dog my parents have ever had and they have had some lovely dogs over the years. It upsets my mum that she cannot run free but better to be on a lead or long line than running free and causing a road accident with the inevitable consequences.

“if you look hard enough you will find somewhere suitable”

Not always to be fair... like I said my nearest one is half an hour away, so it takes me 2 hours to walk him for an hour - and tbh, it isn’t large enough or interesting enough to regularly spend an hour there, I do when I can, but it’s once a week at most.

The next closest is an hour, so that’s 3 hours to walk him for an hour.

And he’s not overly keen on the car.

Nowhere else is definitely secure or empty, I’ve tried 2am, I’ve tried an industrial estate at midnight (I mean you’d think I’d be the only one walking there, but nope).

So mostly he’s on lead, that’s just the way it is, I can’t have him attacking any dog that happens to appear.

He’s not trainable, well he is, but we’re talking 5 years of behaviourists, trainers, behavioural vets... and the improvement in all that time is that if he’s on lead and a dog is just in sight I can move him on in a different direction without him redirecting on to me.

My dog isn’t typical and yes I agree that there are people who just don’t bother to try to find a solution, but sometimes there really isn’t one, if there isn’t anywhere safe to let your dog off, there isn’t anywhere safe to let your dog off...

@MyGirlDaisy my girl was the same when we 1st got her, but through perseverance, access to safe spaces and balanced training methods she can now be allowed off lead in some situations.

She was a dog that escaped from several homes, attacked people and other dogs, would whine or howl constantly regardless of if you were in the room or not and trash the house. She is also a combination of sighthound breeds.
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Any dog can be let off the lead in the right environment-they may not interact how you want them to in the beginning but if you keep at it they will improve. It's not a quick fix and is a lot of hard work-she'll never be 100% but she lives a much happier life with freedom and the opportunity to be a dog and is now one of the soppiest dogs you'll meet once she's learnt to trust you.

@tabulahrasa but you allow it when possible.

I'm talking about people who put excuses and barriers in place and whose dogs have not been off lead in their lifetimes or for several years.

Even if it's just once a month at least you have made the effort and are giving the dog the opportunity.

FairfaxDog has been attacked a few times so if a dog runs full pelt at her but it's body language is non- threatening I tell her "gently", which basically means "you're all right. I've got your back and this one is safe" to keep her stress levels down. Never occurred to me that it could be interpreted as her being snappy ( she runs away rather than snaps. She's need to be REALLY pushed before she'd snap).

“I'm talking about people who put excuses and barriers in place and whose dogs have not been off lead in their lifetimes or for several years.”

I know

It’s just, some people will be doing their best and just can’t access anywhere - if I worked 9-5 for instance it’d be never, because the one that is accessible to me would be closed.

There are worse things than only being on lead... I’m fairly convinced there’s a few people near me who only walk their dogs in summer for instance... lol

There are worse things than only being on lead... I’m fairly convinced there’s a few people near me who only walk their dogs in summer for instance... lol

I live in a street of about 40 houses. I'd say 1/2 of them have at least 1 dog and I can count on one hand how many go for regular walks (not including my own 4!). I couldn't even tell you what either of my immediate neighbours dogs look like, it's very sad.

I kept mine on lead for months and months. Giant sighthound so risk of buggering off or joint damage. Now she’s off lead every day (except for seasons!)
We used to live by a family with a hound that I NEVER saw walked. And met someone who had husky types who said she never walked her dogs. So sad. Walks with my girl are my favourite thing.

I’m on a completely different walking schedule than most of my neighbour’s because I’m trying to avoid dogs... but I see most of them occasionally and then on the first sunny day there’s suddenly dogs that I’ve never come across before.

Though, me and my neighbour once spent a good half hour chatting in the street, really judging a woman down the street who we knew had got a puppy and we’d never once seen it out in the next year, like pure judgy pants on and how sad it was because she’d seemed like such a nice woman...

Turned out she’d taken on the puppy because it only had 2 1/2 legs to save it from being PTS

We did tell her when we found out, because we thought it was hilarious and totally served us right for gossiping.

I'm judgy about people who will not accept their dog is a problem and always allow it to walk off lead then do the mad panic shout recall for it when they see some poor bugger with their innocent dog coming.

I had this recently in the woods with a huge German shepherd. Owners had it offlead and I could see the panic when they spotted my dog. The guy had to run up to his dog and grab it as it approached mine for a sniff, fortunately mine is a very submissive female so no harm was done but I gave him a piece of my mind.

I also judge those who don't muzzle their dogs when they know they'll bite if approached.

Flexi leads are the work of the devil. So dangerous beyond belief.
They shouldn't ever be used by anything bigger than a Westie. Those who are clueless about them just google it.

I suspect my neighbours think I never walk my dog. That's because we 99% of the time get in the car and drive into the forest to certain places. They wouldn't see him getting into or out of the car and we only do road walks near the house occasionally.

2 and a half legs?! Really? How?!?!
Bitey I rarely walk from home. Max 3x a week. Rest of the time we drive to more exciting places.
And I’m convinced my neighbours think I don’t feed her. She’s raw fed and snacks (necks,wings and feet) are in the garden in the evening. And a bone every three days or so. I bet that’s all they think she ever gets.

“2 and a half legs?! Really? How?!?!”

Born like that, she was a toy poodle and her back legs were fine... so not much weight to her and she just walked about on her back legs.

I know nothing about the person that bred her, but the neighbour took her on because she thought she might as well give her a chance and see how she got on as long as she was comfortable.

Only lived about 5 years or so, I can’t remember what she died of, but up till then she was a happy wee house dog walking about like a little fluffy person, lol.

Oh bless. Better five years with a loving owner and the best of care than none. Pretty sure my mega beast wouldn’t manage on less than three legs though.

Haha Wolfie yes I can imagine your neighbours saying 'poor dog, that big and all she gets is a few bones to eat'