So I encountered the next level up from “don’t worry he’s friendly”

[Turquoisesol]

How can people think it is ok for their dog to charge at your dog and shout “he’s very boisterous” 🙁

There are good owners - but sometimes it feels hard to find them.

I too am thoroughly pissed off with this sort of comment - there is nothing to be done. Dogs rule and you are in all sorts of trouble if you dare to say they are a bloody nuisance. I have a disability and could so easily be knocked over with serious consequences, so it is a particular problem for me.

There is no hiding from them - they are everywhere.

I wait to get shot down in flames.

Well bloody call him back then they'd get short shrift from me. My eldest DC would be petrified.

My lab is friendly, boisterous and has no recall. This is why he is never let off lead! There are a few of us good owners out there but the poor owners tend to be the ones you remember.

How annoying and so rude , boisterous dogs should not be approaching anyone!

@Turquoisesol

How can people think it is ok for their dog to charge at your dog and shout “he’s very boisterous” 🙁

What exactly do they think that helps you with?? Idiots. Perhaps they’re telling you to run like fuck.

I think you are right that there are lots of very good owners but you just don’t notice them. Even if it’s every 1 in 50 dog is badly behaved they just stick out in your memory. I was so annoyed my dog is timid and polite with other dogs. It must be quite unnerving to have a large dog charge towards you with no manners. No sniffing just paws straight on top of your head.

Some owners are just entitled. If they know their dog is ‘boisterous’ and doesn’t have good recall, then their dog shouldn’t be off lead in a public place.

Thank you. Just needed to vent it somewhere

Gosh my dog does this, so excited she often bounces at people (on the leash so doesn't make contact) If we're going to pass near someone I make her sit and wait till they're out of reach of muddy paws. I'd of hoped she'd of grown out of it by now (age 2) but no such luck.

The problem is that if your dog is boisterous and very difficult to unnerve. Then it does t matter how many of these encounters they have, you go home with a happy dog. But they have created havoc in their wake. I know sometimes owners like these think it’s for the other dogs to “teach them a lesson” but I don’t want my dog to be stressed enough that they have to do that.

My child was boisterous when he was a toddler. If we were walking past groups of kids, I always held his hand so he couldnt just run off and try to wrestle with them.
Why can't people just do the same with their fucking dogs!?!

@Turquoisesol

How can people think it is ok for their dog to charge at your dog and shout “he’s very boisterous” 🙁

"I can't be bothered to train my dog or keep it on a leash"

That is my dog - and that is why she is on lead. I do shout it when I am heading towards another dog and there's no way to avoid meeting (eg street walk) as they are then able to tell that my attempts to keep her focus is because of that and not because she is aggressive. I also have a lot of elderly owners (with equally elderly dogs) who make a beeline for people with dogs so they can chat and I always warn them. But I'd never let her off lead and allow her to behave boisterously. The friendly thing drives me mad but a boisterous dog running up to her would set our training back significantly

It’s just awful isn’t it. Nobody except another perhaps another young boisterous lab would want this encounter. So many timid or old dogs would hate it. It would be a nightmare for anyone with a reactive dog.

Another one with a “boisterous” dog who is never off lead in public here. She has a run around a secure field with no other dogs around when necessary. There are certain dogs we can meet on walks that she can “box” with as they have the same play style as her. Otherwise she’s on short lead and kept at a distance because she’d squash some smaller dogs by virtue of being a big oaf. It’s not a hardship for us and saves so much potential hassle of her diving all over other dogs and owners.

If only every owner was like you guys

Just to add - we have trained ours! When she arrived (as an adult rescue) she tried to jump up at every single person who went past. With lots of focus and cue training she can pass 99% of people and bikes without trying to jump up. Every so often someone will make eye contact, or it’s someone she’s been allowed to greet before, and she’ll try to jump. So we’re always alert to it. With other dogs she’ll have a good look when passing on the other side of the road but no longer pulls to greet them. She can sit to let one pass. But again there’s the odd one that she is super keen to greet and so we make sure we manage it so she can’t unless she has permission.

I'm with you OP. That's the next level of annoying.

I have a nervous dog. Totally happy on lead and she actually has fabulous recall; however that recall completely disappears if she's scared by a 'friendly' off lead dog.

So she's either on lead all the walk or off lead but popped back on when any dog is within sight. Can't risk her being scared as she is a bolter and that could end badly. I've lost her twice due to over exuberant off lead dogs and their piss annoying owners. My DH lost her when a bouncy cockapoo ran at her. Luckily she ran all the way home (but not after racing across a fairly busy road, no doubt scaring the daylights out of a few car drivers ).

I adore the dog owners who see me put her on lead and recall their dogs and also keep them under control as we go by. Then I can manage a more pleasant dog meeting scenario and my dog learns not all dogs are arseholes.

Those fabulous dog owners are out there but there are way too many useless ones.

I even said to the owner “she won’t like that” in case he was kind of asking permission for his dog to play and if my dog likes boisterous play too. But it didn’t matter. He still didn’t recall him.

I am constantly afraid of being caught in the middle of a dog fight because some "friendly" or even worse "friendly and boisterous" off-lead dog bounds up to one of mine. I have a very very reactive dog who is actually very nervous of other dogs because of previous past bad experiences, whose first reaction upon being approached by a strange dog off lead is to lunge and snap. And she's a VERY big dog. If other dogs are on leads and pass by quietly she's fine - anything flying straight up to her off lead could result in carnage.

If i see off lead dogs in the vicinity I always put myself between them and her so that she doesn't feel threatened and shout a warning to the owner that she's not friendly. (She is - just nervous. Absolutely fine with dogs she knows and dogs who don't get in her face without being asked!)

Owners who let their off-lead dogs bound up to other dogs who are on leads are really asking for trouble.

Yes,very very annoying.My collies hate these kind of dogs(owners).I think the worst combination is boisterous with male dominance behaviour and far far away is the owner shouting:dont worry,he is friendly and just wants to play.there is fuck all play,there is jumping on my girls back and trying to pin her down.so few people actually know anything about dog play.when I say something to the owner ,like keep your dog on a lead,they go into a sulk and mumble to the dog:sorry fido,these dogs dont want to play with you.WTF!

Thatido do your dogs cope with the interactions ok if you just rush them away as quick as possible?

I agree with you thatido it’s not fair to call it “play” if it’s just one sided

I had to rescue my dog from another dog attacking him as the very posh owner shouted, he is only playing. I was furious. My dog was terrified and looking to em to save him. Which I did.

I have a very reactive lab who I have worked really really hard with to ignore other dogs/joggers/people. I live in fear of this sort of encounter because it could ruin everything, and I think my dog would really go for a ‘boisterous’ dog charging at him while he’s leashed. He’s nearly 40kg so I’d have fuck all chance really.