Bloody irresponsible dog owners!!!!!!!

[Wibbli]

I have a male lab (year old) who was severely attacked a few months ago in an unprovoked attack (on his part). I’ve seen a behavioural therapist who said he suffers PTSD and to take measures to keep him safe (he wears a bright yellow “nervous” collar, I keep a ball as a distraction and I keep him away from other dogs, as he will snap at a dog if they come into his face and act aggressive towards him).

I was just walking him by a river (with a friend who has a dog) and he went into the river with a ball. Suddenly, a fucking husky runs from nowhere and straight up to his face into the river. The owners aren’t there. I can see my dogs ears go back, he’s obviously scared as this dog has gone for him before. I tried to call my dog and this dog growls at my dog, so I jumped into the river to get my dog. Queue the dogs fighting. I’m screaming trying to get this bloody husky away from my dog and then the bloody owners show up; “oh dear, is that my dog? Well he was just tied up outside the house, the 3 year old let him off the hook by mistake”. I am fuming -land saying “my dog is nervous! He was attacked and your dog has gone for him before!”. They don’t care. They start taking to the girl I was with, and she actually turned around and said “ah she’s (me) fine, just a bit wet”.

I am so mad, both at the owners (who didn’t realise the bloody dog had run off!) as they don’t care! Surely if a 3 year old can undo the hook for a huge husky, that is not keeping the animal safe and secure?! I’m angry with my “friend” for thinking I’m overreacting as she knows that my dog was severely bitten a few months ago.

AIBU to think I deserved an actual apology from these owners?! I’m so angry right now and want to go back and tell them what I think of them.

An adult male husky should be around 60cm tall and weigh around 27kg max.
An adult male Labrador should be a bit taller (around 62cm) but around 10kg heavier.

A well bred husky definitely shouldn't be "much bigger" than a lab. Are you sure they're not malamutes or other Northern breeds? I walk a Sarloos Wolfdog who is often mistaken for a husky even though she's nearly twice the size of one!

I would like you removing from the UK. But that also isn't going to happen.

😂
My reactive dog is always on a lead. I warn other owners he does not like being approached by other dogs and I frequently get "Don't worry, my dog is very friendly". Some owners just don't get it.

I'm not a fan of husky breeds. I have alwàys found them easy to react.

I have a giant breed dog.

One husky thing was off lead before in a forest and snarled at my giant breed, and him (my dog being the lazy dog he is) just barked at it and puffed himself up. I shouted "leave it, come" and my dog trundled back at me.

The husky tried to follow him and my dog again low loud bark again as if to say "fuck off mate"

The husky held its ground, but continued to snarl and yap. I just put my dog to heal and walked off.

But OP honestly, if your dog is nervous around unknown dogs for your dog's safety I would keep him on lead or at least on a long tether. He can go in the river with the long tether on but at least you have control of him.

Husky owners in your scenario are irresponsible for letting their dog roam, but maybe it was a one off, never happened before.

@CuteCillian if I had a pound for every time I hear this I could worry less about the electric bill this winter 🤣

Yes my dog is 53kg and 76cm tall. Not quite sure why this husky decided to have a pop at mine 😂 he could have just sat on him and inured him lol

You need to tell your friend not to speak for you.I can't believe that you're in a river and she has the gall to say you're alright.
I’d say she was diffusing the situation as op sounded stressed (and probably getting more stressed as the other owner wasn’t)

You see this is what I hate about this website and why I'm always on the fence whether to ditch it or not. The place is absolutely full of arse'oles whose only valid opinion seems to be their own.

OP, in my humble opinion it seems perfectly reasonable to let you're non-aggressive dog off it's lead when you think it is safe to do so. Unfortunately you cannot account for the half wits that think it's OK to let their dog roam free "because he/she is friendly", I normally tell them that mine isn't.

3 year old letting the dog off its hook? Bollocks.

What you need with you is a large stick or wear big boots. I had an incident a few years ago. My dog's a rescue with an unknown past, if she sees another dog she immediately goes on the defensive. When we're out she's usually off her lead and is free to go where she wants, however if another dog appears she's immediate put back on and the lead is shortened as far as possible. A few years ago I was in the woods with her when I saw a woman and her dog coming in the opposite direction, lead goes on but the woman does nothing whilst her dog comes running up to mine, I asked the woman to put her dog on the lead as mine is nervous, she did nothing. Whilst her dog was jumping all over mine I told her that if she doesn't do something I will kick her dog out of the way to protect mine, she does nothing so the dog became the target of my boot, it took a few attempts but I eventually landed a good one and the dog cleared off. Woman nonchalantly walked passed and didn't bat an eyelid when I called her a fucking idiot to her face.

Then there was another time on Skegness beach where a bloke aggresively tried to defend himself by saying, "fucking tourist, I walk my dog on here everyday", he fucked off when I pointed out that he had an Essex accent.

Don't let aggressive dogs off the lead. What if the husky was a fox or swan? They'd have no owner to keep them secure and your dog would still be aggressive

This deserves repeating over and over. There is no excuse to have a reactive, aggression-prone dog off a lead.

Op i don't think you are unreasonable at all.

I think the husky owners were very irresponsible, but I do feel given you know your dog is reactive you should also have had your dog on a lead.

While walking my very submissive friendly dog he always goes back on the lead if we approach another dog on a lead - he knows he is not allowed to greet a dog on a lead without permission, however he will greet a dog not on a lead - I would be extremely cross if someone had a reactive dog off a lead.

OP, in my humble opinion it seems perfectly reasonable to let you're non-aggressive dog off it's lead when you think it is safe to do so.

But her dog IS aggressive. She says herself it will snap and react when scared.

My dog is not reactive but will defend himself if he’s scared (part of the PTSD).

Your dog is reactive. You’re all as bad as each other in this tale.

Have to say I work very hard not to think this way. I am so tired of dogs behaving badly, owners being generally useless.

I come from a doggy family but I have lost patience!

Im gonna be kind.
If your dog is nervous you cant have him off lead where there might be other dogs. Its a risk you run and then you end up with a worse consequence.
So you have to advocate for your dog.
Yes other owners are assholes but you cannot control them.
You should not have a ball as a distraction- its a high resource item so dogs will protect it. Train your dog to heel on lead and look to you every time a dog appears. New dog equals loads of treats. I dont live in UK, where I live dogs are not allowed off lead.

😂

Your dog is reactive. It should always be on a lead.

There’s was out by accident.
Yours was on purpose … in a public place.

Keep it on a leash.

I foster dogs and many are aggressive to other dogs due to things that have happened to them. I NEVER let them off lead due to this. We have a long line to use if they like to run but keep a close eye and can stop them/pull back if needed. Sorry but YABU and irresponsible here.

I don't think a dog that snaps when scared and wears a big yellow "NERVOUS" collar qualifies as non-reactive and should be let off a lead......

I am a dog owner! (a husky owner actually. She has great recall and will not go more than a few metres ahead of me at a time. But even still there are only 3 places I let her off the lead, and at each place I can see for a huge distance if someone is coming so can be 100% sure coast is clear and there's no opportunity for people or animals to appear out of nowhere. YABU: Keep your dog on a lead. The other dog owners (don't think the need to repeat it was a husky is actually relevant) should also keep a better eye on their dog. Mistakes happen and dogs can break free but not really good enough for them to not notice the dog loose!

This sounds horribly stressful @Wibbli

I do think you need a new behaviourist though - your dog is reactive, reactive means they react if trapped by the lead and feel threatened. A non-reactive dog would not feel threatened simply by being on lead near another dog.

Avoiding other dogs and simply using the ball to distract is not behaviour modification, simply avoidance of the issue and whilst that has a useful part to play (reducing stress hormones so you reach a point where your dog can actually learn), it's only part of the process.

If your behaviourist has not explained how to change your dogs emotional response to seeing dogs when on the lead, at a safe distance via counter conditioning, then they've not done the full job (in fact, if they've simply told you to avoid and distract they're not really a behaviourist, as they're not helping you modify behaviour at all!).

The situation you describe however, wouldn't have been improved by your dog being on a lead, your dog would have felt trapped, the other dog is unlikely to have just sauntered past and ignored him, an incident between the two dogs was just as likely.

There are no fool proof ways to deal with off lead dogs without owners approaching your dog, whether it is with friendly intentions or otherwise.You can try treat-bombing (lob a handful of high value treats in the right direction so you and your dog can make a get away in another direction), keeping your dog behind you so you can physically block the oncoming dog...

All other options carry a pretty high risk of making matters worse really.

They were 100pc in the wrong, their dog ran up to yours. A reactive dog doesn't need to be on a lead if it's not running up to other dogs. No dog should run up to another dog.

Totally agre

But you can't control the actions of other people - only yourself.

OP chose to let her fear-reactive dog off the lead in public and chose to let it have a high value toy (the ball) to play with - it's not surprising a fight broke out when the husky approached.

Now, I'm not saying the husky owner wasn't in the wrong but you always run the risk of meeting off lead dogs in public so as an owner, you need to do whatever you can to protect your dog - if that means it unfortunately has to be on a lead, well, so be it.

If OP had her dog safely on lead, the outcome would likely have been very different as a) there would have been no ball to entice the husky over and b) OP could have pulled her dog away and potentially prevented the fight from occurring in the first place.

Nah, neither is the woman who's off lead reactive dog did this to my bf...

Mine is never off the lead as he is super nervous and would bolt. He's terrified but never reacts (just reverses or bolts). It sounds like the husky here was aggressive though.
I'm just so weary of off lead dogs running up. Mine will never be ok with this so we are careful where we walk.