Bloody off lead dogs.

[Sexnotgender]

2 days running fucking off lead dogs harassing my 2.

If your dog has zero or unreliable recall then don’t let it off lead.

My boy is a rescue too. Super nervous when I got him, but with loads of work became more settled. Too many fucking useless owners letting their dogs jump at him when we were out left him a wreck. He literally wouldn’t leave the house for nearly a year. Would pee if he saw the lead.

We’re finally at the point where he’s comfortable out walking again. We got him another more confident greyhound to give him confidence and did lots of work with him. He’s still skittish and the bloody divebombing seagulls aren’t helping right now.

@Sexnotgender I did wonder if yours was also!

That's very reassuring thank you. I'm a new dog owner and I think to begin with I was oblivious to this issue . So he had a lot of bad experiences until I realised how terrified they were making him as his signs are quite subtle. He doesn't bark or lunge . He's very submissive.

He walks fine with other hounds so a second is the solution but I keep going through my budget and I can't do it !

I don’t understand why people get weird about it and going on about their dogs being sociable and playing etc etc.

Cause if they’re not harassing on lead dogs then it’s not those dogs anyone is complaining about.

(Sorry mine is a greyhound to be clear ! Gorgeous dogs I'll never have anything else , I'm besotted . Just a tad expensive with food and insurance )

My boy was super submissive too, would nearly fall over in fear. Just totally freaked out. Now he’s getting reactive because he’s more confident.

My dogs are walked off lead. Super recall, only eyes for me, VERY well trained. Never harass others. How sad people want to punish me for all the training and hard work I've put into them by wanting a law change making me pay for fields instead of directing their anger at the correct people

This thread isn’t about you. I made very clear it was about dogs without recall that harassed on lead dogs.

Sexnotgender I understand that. Yet some people think the solution seems to be to punish us that DO train our dogs. Some people want a whole law change so dogs like mine can never never run. Secure fields are expensive.

My dog has good recall the issue is we walk in an area with lots and lots of other dogs and I have two children I need to watch as well. So it occasionally happens. I feel these threads make all off lead dog walkers out to be uncaring assholes who are trying to upset your dogs. Your solution to walk my dog on a lead would send him nuts, he is a young spaniel and needs a lot of off lead time. Why don’t reactive dog owners avoid very popular dog areas?

This is one of my biggest bugbears! I have no issue with a dog being off lead if it is under control, i.e. close by with excellent recall. However I object to dogs bounding over to me and my dog and running round us, I object to the hoards of off lead dogs in our village running from the park and up my drive, I object to being unable to walk a group of young girls through our local woods because of all the off lead dogs that bound up to them and frighten them. Unfortunately, it is getting to the stage where there will need to be a blanket ban on off lead dogs, just because of that group of entitled dog owners who have no control or recall. Very sad but the majority will suffer because of the minority.

Mine is anxious but better off lead as she can get away.
That said I put her on the lead if I spot another dog as she might bolt home.
She's a racing breed and loves her zoomies, although she has no prey drive. She might sniff another dog but I don't allow it if the other dog is on a lead

I second this I have an xl bully she is always on her lead, unless in a selected secured space without other dogs and we let her have a run about. People are very judgey and say you’ll never be able to let her off her lead cos she’s quite boisterous. I don’t intend on having her off her lead she’s a big dog she doesn’t know her own strength at times.. but people have their dogs off the lead and she goes mad if the come near her. I’m not fearful of her biting anyone she’s just a really strong dog. But winds me up when people can’t handle their dogs and have them off a lead, this is how accidents happen.

Tell me about it. My dog is a rescue he's reactive. He can't stand other dogs bounding over and jumping on him and he will bite them if they do. I have a big neon attachment on my lead. Idiot dog owners. They are as bad as the "ok it's my dogs friendly crew".
I shout get your dog on a lead and have my phone on video ready to record any incident as my dogs big so he would get the blame.
I have now come to conclusion that I will tell owners twice if they ignore I will kick their dog away from mine to protect my dog.

I read these threads and wonder where on earth is all this going on??! Because it’s not where I live! Had our dog 6 years now, we walk locally in parks (off lead) and at weekends out in the Cotswolds on hills and in woods. She’s been off lead pretty much all her life, she has good recall but it took 18 months to really I still it, she had to be off lead to learn.
We have never had a single incident 🤷‍♀️ 99% of dogs we meet are as sociable as she is. Nervous ones, the owner will let us know or has them on neon leads or something. We call our dog back to our side then or perhaps put her on lead.
I do not see the types of behaviours or problems that I read about on here when I’m out and about dog walking.
And no she won’t be doing every walk in a lead and I won’t be hiring boring expensive fields. Perhaps those can be for the reactive anti social dogs?

Had our dog 4 years and we’ve never encountered these terrible off lead dogs, and reactive dogs are rare. Manly because all the owners are as friendly as the dogs and talk to each other.

The way these threads read you’d think there were packs of out of control dogs everywhere.

Yes, this is similar to my experience too. I’ve no doubt that these events do happen, but MN is often quite different to real life

In real life, dogs off lead do give each other a polite sniff and go on their way. The owners say hi and that’s it. If someone has a reactive dog they tend to stand with their dog on the lead to one side of the path which is a clear sign to put yours on and then that’s that.

no spraying dogs with spray etc etc

If you have reactive dogs that you need to keep on a lead, you should avoid walking them in areas where there are likely to encouter off lead dogs. There are many more places for on lead walks than off.

You should also be considerate and cross the road to avoid walking past other dogs on leads.

Either your dog should have near perfect recall and you should be paying full attention to where your dog is and recall if there are any other dogs or people around or your dog should be on a lead.

if your dog is going to be jumping up or running over to people or other animals and you are not able to stop that then they should be on a lead. The vast majority of dogs are walked in public spaces and therefore people should be safe to walk without being harassed. Friendly or not I should be able to walk without being jumped on.

btw I love dogs and I am happy to give them lots of fuss so long as they are well behaved (otherwise I’m rewarding bad behaviour and potentially undoing their training!)

oldwhyno where are these on lead areas? Unless you only walk around residential areas they simply don't exist where I live. The canal, parks, woodland, beach, lake, all full of off lead dogs. I find that owners of reactive dogs are very considerate of others. Off lead, friendly dogs don't tend to be.

There’s literally nowhere without offlead dogs tbh.

A surprising amount of people walk their dogs with no recall or social skills offlead on busy pavements. More than once I’ve had dogs run into traffic to get to mine.

Areas that are predominantly houses, you’ve then got the double up of both offlead dogs and dogs in gardens.

Ceneteries with huge signs saying dogs must be on lead, still offlead dogs.

Tried an industrial estate, offlead dog.

1 am walk somewhere rural... someone put hunting with lurchers - to be fair they weren’t interested in my dog, but it wasn’t my most fun night.

So where are people supposed to be walking?

My current dog isn’t actually dog reactive, he’s on lead round strange dogs because he’s a dodgy recall no social skills dog himself, so it’s not a huge deal when one rushes up to him, mildly annoying that he’s had yet more confirmation that other dogs are in fact for wrestling... but a slightly interrupted walk once a week or so, not a huge issue.

My last dog was massively reactive so despite trying hard to avoid dogs, keeping him on lead and muzzling him, that once a week meltdown meant he was stressed for days and reset any progress he’d ever made.

So it’s all very well saying - just don’t walk where off lead dogs are, but unless you live in literally the middle of nowhere, have your own land or always drive to secure fields - it’s impossible.

People are so weird about dogs and leads. A random woman went into a full on rant at me in the park recently because I'm 'cruel' to my Golden Retriever because I don't let her off the lead. She, the woman, was huffing and puffing, it was insane.

I've had dogs all my life and my current GR is the only dog I can NEVER let off the lead because her hunting drive is so strong I can't get her back and she wouldn't be safe.

She is a strong dog and is very very friendly and has nearly had me over so many times when people don't control their off lead dogs and allow them to jump all over her.

Most dog owners are responsible. Some aren't. But criticising people for not letting their dogs off is absurd. It is not morally superior to have an off lead walking dog. A lot of the time it's just the luck of the draw of getting a trainable dog.

Plus everywhere I've been with an on lead only rule we've met an offlead dog bounding over on at least one occasion . There are no guaranteed on lead only places.

It's just not working at the moment. There are too many entitled people who think it's ok for their dog to run over.

Follow any dog trainer on Facebook and this is one of the things they constantly try and educate dog owners about . It's very dangerous .

I always wonder this too!! we live in London and I never seem to have this problem at all, walk in a local urban park, most dogs are off lead and I never see any problems what so ever. My dog is usually off lead ut dislike certain breeds so I always scan our surroundings and put him on the lead if we encounter one of his "forbidden breeds"

Must be one of the worst tempered thread I have ever read on the dog boards

I live in a country where off lead is illegal. It seems to work very well for us. There are clubs and areas in parks for dogs to run around.

I can see positive and negatives.

There is literally nowhere around here to walk where you won't encounter off-lead dogs.

People walk their dogs off-lead everywhere - on pavements, in designated "on lead" areas, in the park, on the local industrial estate, up the woods, around sheep - everywhere.

If I want to guarantee my dog wont' meet other dogs, I'd have to drive for nearly two hours to use the nearest enclosed field and pay £10 an hour for the privilege!