Has anyone tried putting their dog in “middle” and telling them to sit and wait til off lead dog pestering us goes away

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Struggling to manage off lead dogs who come over and jump all over my dog. She is getting ratty with them and other owners are so ineffectual. Would putting my dog in middle (she goes round the back and through my legs and sits there) work? I must try it. It’s just so hard in the heat of the moment when we get ambushed

I tend to call out to the other owner that my dog can be grumpy , then at least they have a heads up if he does get snappy .

Putting mine into a middle position would set up a resource guarding opportunity (mainly guarding of the expected treat, but also of me) and would guarantee to make things worse. Shouting would also make things worse - he'd pick up on it, decide there was a genuine threat, and defend me from the nearest thing.

If he starts looking uncomfortable, we walk away. It's helped him to learn walking away as a form of de-escalation (he used to escalate any minor disagreement), and I think he probably feels like I've got his back and will help him get out of uncomfortable situations.

On occasions he has snapped at other dogs who are being obnoxious. As far as I'm concerned, it's all a normal part of dog life - one setting a boundary, and another learning not to be so bloody rude as a result. Humans do the exact same thing with children! Occasionally he's been snapped at too - "well you deserved that" has been my reaction in 95% of cases (and in the other 5% of cases "well I see this wasn't a match made in heaven, let's move on")

Mine does have a breed he hates with a passion. If I spot one I pop him on lead, and if the other dog looks like it might approach, I call out something like "sorry, I'm afraid my dog really hates [breed]", and if they seem not to get the hint "so it would be great if you could keep yours away from mine" and occasionally "yes I'm sure yours is lovely, mine is a twat". Can't remember it ever failing. Clear communication is enormously helpful.

(Side note on the topic of dogs on leads; a few days ago my dog and another dog were both off lead and greeting each other perfectly politely. I saw a man with an on lead dog walking directly towards us - no attempt to slow down, detour or otherwise avoid us, which would have been easily achievable as we were on a path in a field. I assumed his dog just had shit recall and he was happy with a greeting. He got about a metre from mine, who was starting to approach for a polite bum sniff, then hauls his dog up by the neck and announces that his isn't good with other dogs... FFS! Context is everything, and if your dog is crap with other dogs then don't actively set up greetings with others!)

I think dogs are very misunderstood on MN.
Dogs are social animals and need to be socilied and that includes meeting and greeting bouncy young dogs.

By putting your dog in the "middle" position, you are telling your dog "the other dog is dangerous, I'll protect you"
Next time you meet a bouncy dog and just don't get yours into the correct position, your dog might feel the need to protect itself. Or worse the other dog still gets to close...
You are effectively training it to be reactive / aggressive.

You need to learn to read your dog and react accordingly. If your dog is fearful or the approaching dog is a lot bigger than yours, by all means send it packing. Best and safest is standing between the 2 dogs with a firm "go away" - like others said, it works.

Otherwise let your dog socialise and learn how to handle thouse young bouncy thugs. Your dog will help teaching them that their behaviour is wrong in plain, clear dog language. And yes this can include growling and showing teeth.
Please give your dog some credit and let it handle the meet & greet on its own terms (not yours). And if you really don't want your dog to learn doggy etiquette walk it where dogs need to be on a lead to avoid confrontation.

I do allow my dog to socialise .
She’s great with polite dogs but when the other dog has its nose up her bum and she really doesn’t want it there and she’s giving all the body language that she’s not happy, if I don’t step in she’s likely to snap at the other dog. This is not going to improve things at all.

Yes same as wherediditallgo my dogs likes meeting polite dogs. I feel with rude dogs the situation can escalate quite quickly, my dog is snapping at the dog and the other dog doesn’t even listen and carries on doing what it’s doing and my dog is getting more and more irate. the more often this happens the quicker she will be to snap next time. It’s not an easy situation to manage at all

I put myself firmly between dog I'm walking & other dog: I thought this gave message to (nervous dog I walk) "I will deal with this, you just carry on as usual." I carry on briskly walking if my dog is going to handle other dog poorly.

Don't understand another strategy to avoid unwanted interactions.

Lljkk I wish this worked for me, maybe I am just inexperienced. Doesn’t the other dog just go around you ? They are so fast and sometimes more than one dog. Or do you just manage to shoo the other dog away. You must have good practice with your body language

@Ylvamoon it’s all well and good saying that if you have small dogs but it’s not the same for big or scary looking dog owners.

Ive always had GSD. They are very well socialised and polite but other peoples dogs generally are not. GSD won’t tolerate rude (usually pugs or poodles) shoving their faces up their arse and will tell them off. It always looks unpleasant.

Then who gets the blame? Always the shep. It’s all well and good saying let them sort themselves out but it’s hardly an even match for any of my dogs (GSD or 80kg leonberger that could crush even a Labrador if he wanted to) to tell off someone’s out of control rude cockerpoo is it. Plus they are sensitive souls and it causes them lots of stress.

Its not my job or my dogs job to teach other people’s animals manners.

Yes agree leonberger my dog is a dog that tend to get the blame and the finger pointed too unfortunately

I find the idea of rude dogs who sniff bums hilarious . It's what dogs do. My dog doesn't always like it, she snaps and the other dog backs off.

Such a good point @Leonberger and pre-lockdown I was a lot more chill about them just sorting stuff out themselves. But there are SO MANY UNTRAINED COCKERPOOS around our walks just now, all bleating on facebook about how the big bad dog snarled at them. Well, the dogs aren't their owners are. I live in a small community and it's honestly easier to leash and release, leash and release. And I only have a little lab!

Such a lot of common sense in this post! It only common sense was actually common…

Dogs need to be allowed to be dogs and wanting to interact with each other isn’t rude!

But isn’t it rude if the other dog snaps at you to go away and they keep coming back, nose semi permanently attached to the other dogs bum . It’s very different from a polite sniff. I actually got one by the collar delivered it back to owner to descalate the situation and they still didnt put it on the lead and 5 seconds later reappeared to do the same thing

Dogs need to be allowed to be dogs and wanting to interact with each other isn’t rude!

But there's a huge difference between a polite dog that wants to interact but understands when another dog isn't interested, and a poorly socialised dog that jumps in your dogs face and refuses to leave them alone.

The former is fine but many dogs fall into the latter category.

I also don't particularly care if your dog is friendly and "just wants to say hello" - mine doesn't - he's lead reactive after a "friendly" dog pinned him to the floor and bit him multiple times on the stomach and legs.

Your dog doesn't "need" to say hello to every dog he meets at all. He may want to but not all dogs want to be greeted, sniffed or played with and other owners need to start respecting that.

You're correct, it is very rude, but lots of owners don't care about that as long as their "friendly" dog can stay off lead and "say hello".

Please give your dog some credit and let it handle the meet & greet on its own terms (not yours). And if you really don't want your dog to learn doggy etiquette walk it where dogs need to be on a lead to avoid confrontation.

I'm sorry, but this is all kinds of wrong.

I don't want my dog to have to handle strange dogs on his own because lots of dogs aren't friendly and strangely enough, I don't want him to get bitten or hurt.

In my experience, the vast majority of owners can't be trusted to keep their reactive dogs on the lead and I don't want to risk those dogs getting in my dogs' face and attacking him.

A woman near us had her dog killed on a walk not long ago because a so-called friendly group of offlead dogs approached it and tore it apart in front of the owners' eyes.

If we lived in a utopia where all dogs were friendly and fights never happened. It would be a very different story, but we don't.

Of course I know it’s normal behaviour. It’s the ones who sniff and won’t stop that’s the problem, especially when my dog is giving clear signals that she doesn’t like it. She gets distressed by it but that’s ok?

I have a perfectly young and healthy looking frail and elderly dog who has also always been afraid of other dogs. When i see an exuberant dog I start by getting mine back on lead and making eye contact with owner of exuberent dog. That should activate any responsible owner, but if it hasn't then I put myself between mine and the exuberant dog and say firm "no" to exuberant dog on repeat. If owner still hasn't responded i then explain my dog is ill. That makes them think it's contagious and they almost always act on that final point. Basically though I'm prepared to get physical and have held other people's dogs by the collars and made them sit until owner collects them.

I guess it depends how persistent the visitor dog is. Usually I can keep me wedged between 2 dogs. Nervous lurcher dog facilitates this distancing from any dog she doesn't like look of. However, one time the little terrier I walk (who seems sweet & lovely to other dogs right up until the moment when she tries to bite their face off) -- a boisterous puppy ran up to us & all around us. It was all I could do to try to keep pulling the wanna-be killer terrier back from the visitor. Visitor puppy eventually got the message.