Off lead dogs approaching on lead dogs

[cutthebs]

I have a 7 month old pup who is very boisterous and loves playing with other dogs, but he doesn't pick up on others dogs cues that he's being too rough, and since hitting the teenage phase his recall has completely gone to pot.

Due to these things I am trying to a responsible owner and keeping him on a lead, or in a large open place on a training line while we practice recall.

I'm getting really annoyed by the number of owners who just let their off lead dogs approach making absolutely no attempt to recall their dogs, usually small dogs so the owners seem to think because their dogs are small they're ok to approach who the hell they want.

It's so frustrating as I'm really trying my best to train him and it makes it really difficult when these dogs wander over and then my dog gets all over excited. I'm trying to teach him to ignore other dogs which is hard with unwelcome visitors!

I'm a first time dog owner and I just assumed there was an etiquette about on lead and off lead dogs... am I being too precious or are there just a lot of self absorbed knobhead owners where I live?!!

Rant over!!

Oh god I was guilty of this today.

Saw white coat in the distance, called twat spanna back. On lead. All good. Couldn’t see anyone so let him off and then realised white coat woman was retracing her steps. Aaaargh.

Twat dog ran over to her. Her dog on long line. She was waving her arms which twat dog thinks is stuff being thrown. I had to resort to emergency ball which thank goodness worked. But white coat woman then lectured me endlessly from a distance. I kept shouting’Thank you for your helpful advice’ as I must have had my nice head on. But dear lord she wouldn’t stop. How dangerous it was. How irresponsible I was. On and on and on

@JayAlfredPrufrock I promise I wasn't white coat woman 

@Moonface123 Obviously with this type of dog you do need to take precautions, but to go on a walk and be terrified another dog may come and want to say hello, dogs are sociable animals, where's the fun in that?

I said my dog loves playing with other dogs.. the issue is my dog is boisterous and so when other dogs come over and my dog gets over excited jumping all over the other dog , coupled with my dogs recall currently being completely crap now , other owners get pissed off with my dog. Also if of lead my dog will make a beeline for any dog it spots across the other side a field . Hence me attempting to train him. He going off lead on open fields most days and has a good run around as I do try and go to quiet places.

Thing is, twat Spanna couldn’t give a rats arse about other dogs, it’s the people.

I spent five years walking ddog in fields and diligently putting her on her lead anytime an on lead dog turned up (majority are walked off lead so this was not often).

Then lockdown 1 happened and all of a sudden every Johnny come lately was walking their poorly behaved dog with no recall on their lead. Poor ddog spent days being walked on a lead because of all these other dogs (which we usually never saw again). So I stopped doing it. She has little interest in the on lead dogs anyway, aside from a polite sniff, as with @JayAlfredPrufrock it is all about the people.

the issue is my dog is boisterous and so when other dogs come over and my dog gets over excited jumping all over the other dog , coupled with my dogs recall currently being completely crap now , other owners get pissed off with my dog
Then they are idiots and I would ignore them.

My small dog is it afraid if bigger dogs at all. And yes, he had to face the consequences of young boisterous ones. Often owners will apologise and get anxious but I explain my dog is used to it, usually not bothered and if they are, he comes right back to me. It would never be the fault of the other dog. At the same time, I'm glad my small dog is confident around bigger ones.

In the situation you describe, I would never be upset with your dog or you.

OP after my slightly grumpy post above (lockdown getting to me) I completely second what @dontdisturbmenow says. These owners are idiots, try to ignore them.

But equally, if you are training your puppy in a field where dogs are off lead this is very good training in keeping her attention while another dog zooms about. You will probably spend months thinking it is completely hopeless and then one day it will click and she will come to you.

DDog is a rescue, unsocialised ex puppy farm bitch and 7 when we got her. She's aggressive to anything on 4 legs (much better after 5 years, but wouldn't ever trust her around another animal) so I walk her on lead, muzzled and she wears a yellow warning vest. We walk at quiet times in quiet places and I still have off lead dogs coming up to her, despite me calmly and politely asking owners to keep their dog at a distance and DDog's body language being more than obvious. One woman just smiled at me; another said "Oh, not for otber dogs then?" while her dog tried to sniff mine and DDog was completely wound up. If it gets to this point, I always say "This is why she's muzzled, wears a yellow vest and is on the lead AND why I asked you to keep your dog away." Why don't people educate themselves if they own a dog? I'm very responsible with DDog, I move out of the way as much as I possibly can and I try not to infringe on other dog walkers walks.

Can I ask @MrsZola. Do you feel your dog gets enough exercise with on lead walks? I’m conscious that as my rescue’s recall is shite when he sees someone who might offer him more fun, I am going to have to keep him on the lead more.

It is rude and totally unacceptable to approach a dog on the lead with your dog off the lead and absolutely boils my blood.

Typical unresponsible dog owner who doesn't have a clue.

@Indoctro overweight and underexercised dogs who are poorly socialised and therefore go bonkers when they see another dog are another form of irresponsible dog ownership. In an area known for off lead dog walkers, and when their dog is clearly on a one off excursion from their usual plod round the block, why should I have to put ddog on her lead?

In the case of @MrsZola I would absolutely put my dog on a lead but for a seven month old puppy or the dogs I describe above I no longer do. Ddog has good recall, I can keep her attention, and she likes a quiet life so is highly highly unlikely to go tearing across a field to some unknown/excitable/aggressive dog.

Funnily enough all of the dogs being enthusiastically walked in lockdown 1 (beautiful weather) failed to appear during lockdowns 2 & 3 (shit weather and loads of mud). THAT boils my blood.

Rant over. But it is never as simple as not putting your dog on a lead equals irresponsible dog owner.

I’ve just had an incident this morning which upset me so much. It was very early in a fairly popular wood. My Romanian rescue (2 yo very nervous) was on lead. A massive male lab came bounding up. I backed into a bush trying to keep my dog calm but he makes a sort of high pitched screeching noise trying to get the dog away. Nowhere for me to go and the owner was like a chocolate teapot - my dog and lab were totally over threshold. A passing jogger asked the lab owner if he needed any help as if my dog was to blame. I’m afraid that just summed it up for me- my dog was panting ears back and that will have set him back hugely - we probably won’t be doing any similar walks for some time now. It’ll take him days to recover from this one incident, and likely that it will be imprinted on him now with off lead labs

I have a rescue GSD who is very reactive to dogs. We only had her a few days and I was walking her home on lead, when a neighbour’s dog came flying out their door and attacked her. To see her cowering on the ground when this little yappy dog went for her broke my heart. She was also chased by another neighbours little dog. Consequently she has major reactive issues.
We’re at the stage now where I can distract her with treats, but off lead dogs get far too close. I tell the owners to move away as we’re not friendly. Then I get the looks as if it’s my fault.

Generally in a field, wide path etc I can cope (and he can) - it’s upsetting for rescues or nervous dogs as their resilience is low already and they’re at an immediate disadvantage.

[quote Stresseddogmum]@Indoctro overweight and underexercised dogs who are poorly socialised and therefore go bonkers when they see another dog are another form of irresponsible dog ownership. In an area known for off lead dog walkers, and when their dog is clearly on a one off excursion from their usual plod round the block, why should I have to put ddog on her lead?

In the case of @MrsZola I would absolutely put my dog on a lead but for a seven month old puppy or the dogs I describe above I no longer do. Ddog has good recall, I can keep her attention, and she likes a quiet life so is highly highly unlikely to go tearing across a field to some unknown/excitable/aggressive dog.

Funnily enough all of the dogs being enthusiastically walked in lockdown 1 (beautiful weather) failed to appear during lockdowns 2 & 3 (shit weather and loads of mud). THAT boils my blood.

Rant over. But it is never as simple as not putting your dog on a lead equals irresponsible dog owner.[/quote]
Because of some has their dog on a lead it's normally for a reason and because you don't know that reason it's common courtesy to put your dog on a lead incase it approaches their dog and being a animal , it doesn't matter how well you think you know your dog it has a mind of it's own.

@Stresseddogmum overweight and underexercised dogs who are poorly socialised and therefore go bonkers when they see another dog are another form of irresponsible dog ownership. In an area known for off lead dog walkers, and when their dog is clearly on a one off excursion from their usual plod round the block, why should I have to put ddog on her lead?

Quite frankly if you allow your off lead dog to approach on lead dogs then you are the irresponsible owner. Dogs are on lead for many different reasons as many people have explained in this thread. I think maybe you should put yours on a long line and get it trained before judging other responsible owners.

[quote cutthebs]**@Stresseddogmum* overweight and underexercised dogs who are poorly socialised and therefore go bonkers when they see another dog are another form of irresponsible dog ownership. In an area known for off lead dog walkers, and when their dog is clearly on a one off excursion from their usual plod round the block, why should I have to put ddog on her lead?*

Quite frankly if you allow your off lead dog to approach on lead dogs then you are the irresponsible owner. Dogs are on lead for many different reasons as many people have explained in this thread. I think maybe you should put yours on a long line and get it trained before judging other responsible owners. [/quote]
Long lines and leads are VERY different. A dog on a long line is learning recall, a dog on a lead might be reactive. The etiquette is very different.

I have a reactive dog that is always on a lead. I walk him with the other dogs but it is TOTALLY my responsibility to keep him under control if I walk him where there are off lead dogs. I've had other reactives, in the past, who either couldn't be walked or had to be muzzled. No one with a normally friendly sociable dog is responsible for my dogs reactivity. I have to make the decision about how to keep him below threshold.

My other dogs are recalled when we see an on lead dog. One put on lead as he's a work in progress, the other simply called to heel as she is well trained. I would never recall them if I saw a dog on a long line, that's not how it works. Training on a long line doesn't signal "keep away" to other dog walkers, on a fixed lead (short or flexible ) does.

Oh thanks for that about long lines. The dog my fool ran over to was on a long line.

I have two dogs, both friendly. One in fact is so friendly that he goes up to everyone and jumps all over them. He's 12 but acts like a puppy. I keep him on a leash unless i am on my own. My other one has excellent recall and while she will approach other dogs she will come back immediatelywhen called.
I find when people see that I have a dog on a lead they put their dog on or call them back, or approach with caution. Occasionally you get a thoughtless dog owner who lets theirs come bounding up with a feeble call or shout of 'he's friendly'. Well so is mine but you don't know that.
You could try a dog jacket that says 'in training' or similiar off Amazon. People may assume you are training a service dog, but hopefully the result will be the same and they will keep clear.

@cutthebs where did I say my dog approached on lead dogs? She doesn’t.

As for training, I spent over two years officially training her, she recalls and walks to heel at command. She has the highest level of obedience our dog club offers plus the gold award for the KC good citizen training scheme. Yet I still work on her training every single walk because I don’t assume that her training is perfect and complete.

You have a seven month old puppy NOT a dog reactive dog. I think you need to relax about dogs coming up to it and see this as an opportunity to socialise your dog.

I think long lines can be demonstrating training and I wouldn’t allow my dog to interrupt. Our trainer advised never letting dpup go to other dogs without permission so I don’t need to put him on a lead as he does follow that rule. Yesterday he was being a teenager and not listening so had him on a long lead but at normal lead length as I was trying to reinforce training that had gone out the window and 3 dc being unhelpful. Massive dog ran over and over ignored his dog and kept walking while his dog ran at full pelt towards my pup. When I called out that a dog on a lead means keep your dog away he yelled back my dog looked poorly trained and needed a good run around (he’s a working cocker and always up for a run around if his eyes are open and we were about to move to a space for off lead training!)

I started a thread and some said I was in the wrong so it’s nice to find people here who understand general etiquette with dogs.

Quite frankly if you allow your off lead dog to approach on lead dogs then you are the irresponsible owner
My dog approached on leads dogs...very gently. If the dog reacts in any way unwelcoming as he comes closer, he backs away immediately.

I would say this has happened a handful of times against the 100s of times he dog in lead was happy to say hello. Just yesterday, passed 5 dogs on leads. He ignored 2 for whatever reason, approached gently the other 3, all three very happy to say hello gently, clearly on lead just because of poor recall.

I actually had one owner once saying thank you because her dog was desperate to be friendly with other dogs but couldn't be let off as he runs away.

Ultimately, whatever one's view in the matter, there is rarely the needs for unpleasantness. A brief explanation or request with a smile goes a lot longer way.

Agreed.

I've met off lead dogs before and politely asked the owner if my dog can say hello/play. The amount of times I've been ignored is not helpful and just rude. Equally, I'm much more responsive to a polite request than being aggressively shouted at. I get that when owners aren't controlling their dogs it can be necessary, but if you're just walking your dog and get shouted at it's not pleasant.

Stellaris22
Being clear and polite goes a long way, I agree.

I'd say I've had more negative experiences walking my off lead dogs during lockdowns than before this year. There's been quite a few people who probably rarely walk their dogs (I guess they have dog walkers or dogsitters) who seem to think that getting shirty at the mere sight of off lead dogs is acceptable, even when said dogs are nowhere near them or their dog.
There's also been an increase of people with new puppies who scoop them up every 5 seconds when another dog comes in sight or start frantically yelling for us to get our dogs. Again said dogs are running around the open space playing with each other and minding their own business. I would put money on some of these lockdown puppies becoming reactive as they get older as they've got owners who are teaching them to be terrified of everything.

I wonder what's happening to many of these lockdown dogs now though as my usual walking spots have been significantly quieter now.

I've also had more negative experiences walking during lockdowns and it's precisely the 'he's only being friendly' brigade that has done it; people who can't understand the very clear signal that calling your dog back and clipping a lead on it means that you don't want to interact with their dog, whatever your reasons.

Politeness ("Sorry, he won't want to say hello, thanks", breezy smile, carry on walking) gets you nowhere with people who can't recall their dog, have no understanding of dog behaviour and signals that a dog is not ok with a situation, or who simply think it's their dog's god given right to do whatever it likes.

Honestly if anyone is scooping their dog up it's probably because they've already experienced some of the shitty behaviour that I've witnessed that in itself creates a fearful, reactive dog. Good on them for stepping in to protect their dog.