Annoyed at other dog owner

[m0therofdragons]

We were walking dpup (8 month old working cocker spaniel) across fields that we have a licence to use but dpup was being a teenager/total dick. All his training and recall was being ignored. Yesterday he was fab, today he was testing so I put him on the long line and while we walked we did recall training etc. He was ignoring dogs walking by and we were encouraging this as part of his training. That bit was going well until an older guy with his Akita came along.

The Akita seemed quite well behaved but normal etiquette is that if there’s a dog on a lead and your dog isn’t, you call them away from the dog on a lead. The guy totally ignored his dog bounding towards us and I called dpup to heal and crouched down praising dpup for not playing and for waiting nicely. I then shortened the lead as we walked away. I said to the man (who was way behind his dog) “it’s standard to keep your dog away from dogs on leads” he replied my dog clearly was untrained and the pulling on the lead showed he needed a good run. He’s a puppy and we’re training him ffs.

Anyway, I just needed a rant because it irritated me.

Fence sitting as a dog on a long line is effectively “ off lead “ if you use it as generally suggested ie it trails and you stand on it as an “ emergency brake “.

If you are holding the lead , that’s different and they shouldn’t approach.

I got a bandana for my dog saying " in training " you should not have to put some people are numpty's

Yes, owners who let their off lead dogs bound over to your on lead dog are fiercely irritating. However, the amount of badly trained dogs and pups we have encountered over the last year, with their really annoying owners, is unbelievable so I think you need to just get used to it and try to not let it get to you. Carry on with your training and reap the benefits in the future.

I agree I'm afraid - dog on long line is in training, yes, but part of that training is interacting with other dogs. I would always recall my dogs if another dog is on lead but would assume it was ok to interact with dogs on a long line.

I've used a long line for 30+yrs for training my own pups and rescues and that's always been the etiquette.

Not sure how it’s relevant that you have a “license”. What even is that?
I wouldn’t assume a longline meant a dog was undergoing intense training and couldn’t greet another dog.

Longline was being held at normal lead length as I didn’t want him interacting with other dogs at that time and we were moving away from a hill to a flat open space so we could stand in a circle (5 of us) calling him. At points when we were doing recall I was holding the end but allowing him to have 10m length for training and once he was listening again I let go.

The dog walking area requires an annual licence to walk your dog as it’s private land so usually quieter. I was just explaining this is an area for dogs and people with nervous dogs use it.

I agree that socialising is important but it’s my decision as to when and how I do this not the job or another dog owner who doesn’t know my dog and his mood at that time. If we see a puppy we call out and ask if they would like their dog to meet ours rather than arrogantly assume.

A license for a field?
You’re trIning your dog to ignore other dogs which is great but other dogs will come over and say hello it wasn’t aggressive so I’m not sure the big deal. I have a 7 month old pup and it’s a work in progress but if i wanted to do exclusive recall without distraction I’d take him elsewhere - secure fields with no other dogs. As you said your pup sat and you rewarded him which is great and I think you handled it well so he’s learned something.

I guess I’ve always come across great owners in that field - it’s privately owned land but has hills, water, woods etc so a massive space. With the stay home rules it gave us another local option to help with boredom of repetitive dog walks.

Yes dogs need to socialise and sometimes stuff happens but it was the owners lack of awareness that annoyed me. I don’t let my dog bound up to other dogs unless I’ve checked dog is off lead and assessed the situation or asked owners if dog is on lead. That takes seconds and sometimes I give dpup permission and other times I don’t. Sometimes I want his attention on me as his key source of fun. Sometimes it doesn’t go to plan but a dog being held on a lead is a sign.

I guess we walk in more relaxed areas where people rarely do formal training and are happy for dogs to mix.