How do I protect my small dog from irresponsible dog owners who can’t control their dogs

[Rinoachicken]

I have a small dog. She’s a chug. She is usually on the lead for walks - mainly because her recall is not 100% so she has to stay on a long lead, or the extending lead, depending on where we are walking. But increasingly I keep her on the lead as it’s the best way to keep her safe from out of control off lead dogs.

She’s well socialised, not afraid of other dogs, and is not dog reactive.

But because she is small herself she prefers to socialise and play with dogs her own size or similar. We have got to know a few local ones and if it’s safe to do so we let them off lead and they have a great time playing safely.

Dogs much larger she will hang back from and avoid, but if they approach (because they are off lead and the owner isn’t around or is clueless) she will sniff greet but then she wants to just move on and I can tell by her body language that she is wary. She ‘freezes’, her tail is down her ears back, super submissive ‘please just sniff me and then go!’

Even if she’s keen I don’t always allow her to play if the size difference is too great - it’s just common sense - she’s at risk of being hurt accidentally. Spaniel size is the limit unless I know the dog well.

But I am SO SO fed up of the increasing number of irresponsible dog owners who let their dogs run around off the lead WITH NO RECALL. Their dogs come charging up to me and my dog and are straight in her face.

The owner is half way across the field either not even looking or powerless and not even bothered to do anything.

We had an incident like this yesterday where I was walking her on lead, minding our own business. Saw an off lead lab up ahead. Labs are too big to be safe playmates for my dog. Lab sees us and comes charging over and is immediately on top of my dog. I could see it was young, and it was in ‘play’ mode - but my dog did not want to play, and was trying to get away.

Owner called her dog when it first set off towards us and of course it completely ignored her. I expected her to then come and get it - but no! She just turns around and starts watching her kid in the park instead.

Mine is now tying herself up in knots between my legs trying to get away from the dog that seems to want to pick her up in it’s mouth. I yell at the woman to get control of her dog - she looks at me all dumbfounded ‘what?’.

Then my dog yelped so I’m afraid I lost my temper and yelled louder ‘come and get your fucking dog!’

She then scuttled over and put her dog on the lead. I said to her ‘if your dog doesn’t come back when you call them it shouldn’t be off the lead’ and started to walk off. She didn’t even apologise or ask if my dog was ok. I then hear her say TO HER DOG ‘see X, what have I told you’

I turned back and said it’s not the dogs fault - it’s your fault! You’re the owner!

It’s just so irresponsible. Why do some dog owners seem to think they have the right to put my dog in danger? It would only take one bite and she’d be dead. It should be up to me to decide which dogs she will be around and when - not for other owners who aren’t even physically there half the time and probably have no idea of her size before they let their much larger dog barrel into her. It’s the equivalent of letting a 16yr old have a wrestling match with a 4yr old.

I don’t care if you think your dog is friendly and it ‘just wants to say hello’. If it doesn’t come back when you call it then it is NOT under your control. You need to train it better or keep it on a lead. End of. I’m DONE with feeble excuses and apologies, entitlement and faux hurt feelings because I’ve dared to call them out on their lax and irresponsible attitude to dog ownership.

Im just so fed up with it. It’s happening more and more. I’ve now ordered a dog deterrent spray so I have some additional defence for me and my dog. And of course there’s always my boot (I have big heavy toe capped boots for dog walking).

I wish I had the answers to this. I'm fed up of bouncy dogs running up to my reactive dog. She's making so much progress, but owners like theirs undo so much of it.

Annoyingly the owners who have beautifully behaved dogs that ignore my girl are the ones who pop theirs on the lead without any fuss. It's the out of control dogs whose owners don't care. Yet they give you dirty looks when your poor reactive dog has been wound up and gets upset.

Use your dogs lead (he’s off lead right?) to keep random, nuisance dog tethered and call to its owner, “I’ve managed to stop your dog jumping over me and my dog. Would you mind coming to get him?”

Other peoples off lead dogs are a PITA!

Dog owners… If you haven’t taught your dog a solid recall and social norms don’t let it off lead around people or other dogs. Nobody appreciates a random dog appearing from nowhere, especially when it bothers another dog or jumps on other dogs owner.

Im so glad I live in a rural location and have various mountain trails to walk my dogs. I couldn’t stand to have to deal with untrained dogs day in, day out. There are times I have to walk my dogs in local, well known, dog walking areas for very short periods, when I’m short on time. Experience has taught me to walk them at 5am, when there’s no ineffectual dog owners about.

The growing number of untrained dogs at the moment is scary. The number of dog owners who think an off lead dog means their dog can approach is mind blowing. At least ask the other owner if their dog would like to “play”. Most don’t - especially when they have been trained to ignore random dogs.

Most dogs have their own pack to run around with. They don’t appreciate being relentlessly badgered by some rude, uncontrolled mutt!

The general etiquette is that if your dogs are off lead and you see an on lead dog approaching, you recall your dogs and lead them (if necessary, mine follow the “on me” command and walk to heel apart from one who is young and still learning, so he goes straight on the lead!)
It’s basic manners, I always assume a dog is on lead for a reason and would never allow any of mine to approach on on lead dog.
having said that, you do sound a bit over anxious about this. I have lots of dogs, ranging in size from 5lbs to almost 7 stone and have had for years. They all play together very nicely and we’ve never had any injuries, either from my own dogs or from others (and yes we get all sorts of dogs come piling in when on walks) If you are anxious then your dog picks up on it and it makes the situation much worse.
At the beach last weekend a woman started yelling and jumping up and down, waving her arms, from about 200 yards away. I couldn’t hear what she was saying but assumed there was some kind of hazard, so put all mine in a down and went to speak to her. It turns out her off lead dogs apparently hate all other dogs and she didn’t wants us to come near her???? Fortunately my lot are well trained and stayed where I’d put them, but actually her freaking out would attract the attention of a lot of dogs and frankly was scaring her own dogs to death….which is probably why they aren’t dog friendly!

It's quite sad that there are so many irresponsible dog owners. Our working Cocker has great recall (99.9% of the time - will ignore if there is bird!) and while walking her off lead, we always put her back on depending on what other dog walkers are doing, if their dog is off, assume ok to socialise, if on a lead then no but to be honest she ignores other dogs completely unless they approach her.

The growing number of untrained dogs at the moment is scary. The number of dog owners who think an off lead dog means their dog can approach is mind blowing. At least ask the other owner if their dog would like to “play”. Most don’t - especially when they have been trained to ignore random dogs.

Surely unfriendly dogs should be on a lead, or recalled when there are other dogs around? I have had an unfriendly dog, our Staffie got quite unpleasant to other dogs when she got old and deaf, I think they scared her running up and there is no way I would have had her loose with other dogs in the area!

Do you think off lead dogs, strolling with its owner, but not wanting to play with random dogs are not friendly? Or could it be some dogs are taught not to be a PITA to other dogs and their owner so stay close rather than bound around with some uncontrolled dog?

In your mind do you think all on lead dogs are on lead because they are not friendly? Or do you think some are kept on lead because they haven’t been taught a solid recall and the owner is being a responsible owner by not allowing his/her dog to be a nuisance to others…

I'm a new dog owner to a 4 month old lab and we are just learning the ropes when it comes to dog walking, etiquette etc. Up until a week or so ago my pup was doing really well on his lead walks. Watching other dogs from a distance and if comfortable stopping for a sniff (with owners permission) but not for too long etc. However twice in the last week we have had incidents which have completely upset the balance. In two different parks, off -lead smallish dogs at a distance have spotted pup and come racing over yapping intensely and jumping in my lab's face before we have had a chance to walk away. At the first park the owner was very apologetic and did come straight over however the second time the owner just ambled over calling her dog (who seemed to have no recall). I found the whole thing really stressful and my pup has been noticeably more anxious and barky with other dogs the last few days. I'm really trying to train him and socialise him well so he can be a sensible, calm dog however it's not easy. I think what I'm trying to say is that its not just large breeds that can be problematic - owners of small breeds need to also ensure that they and their dogs are behaving appropriately

I now pick my dog up (lucky as only small) when on tight paths and out of control dogs come charging. Happened too many times and he's scared now. Fine if off lead and can run away. It's caused some lead reactivity for him.

Obviously I was talking about unfriendly dogs - as in those who may bite, some dogs are a massive PITA as are some owners but as you are NEVER going to get everyone being responsible with their dogs, you just need to look after your own properly!

And of course some dogs are kept on leads because they haven't been taught recall (and I applaud those owners who do so as they are aware they need to). My dog has solid recall BTW.