My dog snapped at a dog who approached it

[postitpatty]

I'm annoyed. Was out today walking dog, he can be anxious, we always walk him on a short lead and we're working on his social skills. Busy woodland park type place. He's been good as gold, sniffed and been friendly with at least ten dogs that we've passed also on lead, I always tell the other owners he's anxious and may react before allowing an approach. He has no interest in humans and ignore people passing him. Anyway, almost at the end of the walk and this small white yapping fluffy dog come running over to him, off lead, barking, our dog backed into our legs but the suddenly snapped at the white dog . The owner then came running over screaming and picked her dog up. I said 'you need to have your dog on a lead' and we continued our walk. Our dog didn't actually bite the white dog but to be fair it may have done if she hadn't picked it up.
We continued walking, I turned round and she was taking photos of us! So now I'm probably on social media somewhere labelled as having an out of control dog, even though it was her dog off lead running up to on lead dogs uninvited.
Our dog is a mongrel about spaniel sized.

Why do people with small dogs seem to think it's fine to let their dogs run up to anything any everything? It's always bloody little dogs that seem to run up and approach uninvited.

I genuinely don't think we did anything wrong. How are we supposed to work on socialising him without taking him to places where he will see other dogs. I can control who he approaches but unfortunately I can't control other peoples off lead dogs.

He's a rescue but we've had him from being a very young puppy. He's now 2yrs.

You’ve done nothing wrong here.

I have a lab and she no longer likes cocker spaniels because twice whilst she’s been on lead she’s had one bouncing all around her and getting really in her space. They quite obviously wanted to play and they were very enthusiastic and hyper.

An off lead dog approaching an on lead dog is always in the wrong - or more to the point it’s owner is ( like this complete tool you had the misfortune to come across )

I'm sorry but you are in the wrong here.
You should not have him off lead unless you can recall him.

I do not want my dog to growl and bark at yours, let alone snap. It is really bad for my dog.
I can spend an hour and a half training my dog not to react to every dog we see at a distance, teaching him to relax when he sees dogs, and not panic. Then one off lead dog runs up to his face, he starts barking and growling completely wound up and all my training goes down the drain.

We know dogs are not perfect, even those with good recall are not 100% and have their moments, but if they run up to dogs or kids, you should be more careful off lead.

Owners like you drive me potty.

Why are you letting your dog off the lead to harass other dogs?

Keep small dog on a short line until the recall is bomb proof. You don’t want your little dog being frightened or worse by a bigger dog who is on lead for a reason. My retriever wants to bloody play with everything so he’s kept on a short lead until ‘playtime’ where he is in a private enclosed field with his doggy ‘friends’ he knows this is his time to play so having some yappy pup in his face will just annoy him. teach your pup that you are the high value treat he wants to stay close to and behave with so you can work on recall.
op you did nothing wrong, just pesky folk that think their dog can do what it likes

@caramac04

If your untrained off lead pup were to get bitten by approaching an on lead dog while not under your vocal control and off lead, it would be your fault.

It might also cause your dog to become reactive around other dogs, leading you to be in the situation that OP is in yourself in future. In which case, off lead, uncontrolled dogs running up to your dog will be a nightmare..... geddit?

@caramac04 I think you're getting a hard time here. Absolutely dogs have to learn and while training obviously there will be times when he doesn't listen. You said in your post that if your dog approached and didn't recall and got snapped at and but you understand that it's on you and not the dog on the lead that snapped.

The problem is the people who blame the on lead dog and are just allowing their dogs to approach on lead dogs making no attempt to recall.

The same thing happened to my dog today but with a better response from offending dog's owners. My senior staffy cross is fairly calm but now older, can't be bothered so much with other dogs. I had her on the lead as we were going to pass an off-lead Weimeraner-type large puppy and a smaller dog on the lead. As I half expected, the bouncy puppy rushed up and jumped about in my dog's face so she snapped and growled at him. He backed off and the two owners apologised to me (and her!). No problem.

Hmm, no, she's not getting a hard time. I actually think she's getting off quite easily compared to how I've seen previous comments like that get taken apart.

Her dog getting snapped at or bitten isn't the only risk. What if her dog retaliates to the snap and a fight breaks out? What if the owner gets bitten in the melée? It takes seconds for a snap to turn into a full-on fight.

Dogs can also be on-lead because their deaf, or blind, or injured - why should they have to tolerate an out-of-control dog charging over and potentially making things worse? It's hugely unfair on the on-lead dog to have resort to a snap to defend itself and it's space. The lead should be enough.

We had a small, fluffy, off-lead dog snarling and barking at our large, unneutered, on-lead dog the other day while his (bloody useless) owner assured us her dog wouldn’t hurt ours. I wanted to say no, because your dog wouldn’t make a
mouthful for ours if he snapped back! Fortunately he’s a lover not a fighter, but for goodness sake. She didn’t know that! The little fucker sounded really nasty as well, and our dog hadn’t so much as looked at it, never mind sniffed at it or anything.

I do have sympathy for unexpected recall failures because we can all have those, no dog is perfect and they all have their silly
moments. But you have to do your best to manage those as an owner and not just let your dog go around going apeshit at other dogs and getting in their faces.

OP, I could have written your post. Ddog is small and was a puppy during lockdown (not a lockdown pup though) and she got sick to death of bigger dogs, including massive puppies, jumping on her to play. She was tiny and hated it. A couple of times DP has had her off the lead and other big dogs chased her home. Possibly they wanted only to play but she’s intimidated by bigger dogs.

When off lead dogs come up to Ddog I let her snap at them. Some even follow as we carry on walking and the owners end up chasing after us (they always seem to be a long distance away from their dog). I could stop and give them a chance to catch up but I figure they are such aresholes who haven’t bothered to have either taught proper recall or shouldn’t have their dog off the lead so I just let them struggle on.

If my dog is only off lead when there are no other dogs about how does he learn to ignore them? He’s a puppy, very well socialised, not aggressive and I almost always get either his attention and put him on lead/grab his slip collar (very short lead )/ or enthusiastically take him off in a different direction.
Frankly for every dog who is anxious/old/deaf and needs to be left alone for those reasons I see lots who are never off lead because their owners have done zero training and dare not let them off lead so the poor dogs get inadequate exercise.

@caramac04 but it's not your call to judge whether they're on lead for a reason that you deem to be appropriate, whatever the reason they are leashed for a walk, it's bad manners to let your dog approach an on lead dog.

How do you deal with it? You train a rock solid recall, so your dog will stop and do a 180 back towards you on command. You train your dog to ignore other dogs while it's on the lead, before letting it off.

We are all responsible for our own dog's training, and the people who haven't trained their dogs adequately and have the decency to keep them on the lead are far less annoying to others than the other way around.

You use a long-line attached to his harness, and stamp on it so that he can't bolt off and pester other people.

It doesn't matter if you think other dogs are on-leads for good reason or not - at least those dogs are under control and not running around being a pain in the arse.

Honestly, all dogs should be on bloody leads. Stop anthropomorphising animals. They’re dogs, not people. They don’t have the same feelings or thought processes as we do. If they get accustomed to walkies on leads that’s what they know and love.

Ah I just wouldn't worry, you know you were right. Totally get why you need a moan though, ack, it's so annoying isn't it!

@Quveas I'm intrigued why you refer to your dog as a service dog? Are you not UK?

@postitpatty you are being very unreasonable for not posting a picture of your doggy!

You need to make yourself much more valuable so if you see an onlead dog you can get yours under control to move past on or off lead.

I’ve got a 5 month old puppy. We let her off the lead as if I see a dog on the lead I can call her to me and put her on lead until we pass. I allow her to approach off lead dogs but again will call her away if I feel she’s being inappropriate or the other dog doesn’t want to interact.

The more she approaches dogs the more she will. It’s very reinforcing.

Shit happens. You apologise and move on. But shit shouldn’t happen repeatedly and if you don’t have sufficient vocal control than you need a long line. We always carry one in case we feel pup is in a deaf mood (she’s not needed it thus far).

It’s not a dogs job to train your puppy. It’s yours.

No dog has 100% perfect recall because they are animals with instincts. So all the suggestions of putting them back on lead or using long lines are correct. But I think it's how you deal with one off situations that count.

My pet hate is arrogant owners who think their dogs are so well trained they don't need to lead them walking next to busy roads. I knew a dog that died that way because it misunderstood its owners command and ran into the road.

a situation that happened to me both dogs off the leads in a wood with a stream. We are one side on the opposite side is a Great Dane type dog who is chasing/playing with a spaniel who seems to be ignoring him playing in the water.

Owner of the Great Dane (GD) a little way off with another on the lead. GD spots my dog (cavapoo) comes running over trying to play my dog runs scared squeals and then turns and stands her ground and barks. (she normally rolls over on her back for everyone and then try’s to sneak away).

as the other dog approached her and had no recall whatsoever (had slipped her lead and owner couldn’t get her back. Met them further along in the walk still chasing other dogs). Would my dog be at fault if something had happened? Or if she had bitten the other dog?

The women has no control over her dog. When I see any dog approaching that isn't on a lead I put my hand 🤚🏻 out and shout stop and sit. It's shocks most dogs and they either run off or sit and it gives the owner time to get there dog on a lead

I will not allow any dog to get close to my dog, it's not fair on my dog. I don't know the strange dog or what might happen.

My dog was attacked twice in a week but off lead out of control labs. I will protect my dog from now on the best I can.

He is good with dog but I don't allow him to mix with strange ones.

I've had almost 100% success with the hand out and shout stop at the dog.

I think they don't expect it so it takes focus off your dog onto you.

Do not allow off lead dogs to approach yours , give it a try . Hopefully it works for you too

@toomanyhobbies had your dog bitten in the situation you describe, both dogs would be considered equally at fault as both were off the lead at the time of the incident.

im often walking places where distant vision is blocked by trees. My dog is not a nuisance but tbh there are far too many owners who never dare to let their poor dogs off a lead. Perhaps they should stick to street walks until they have socialised their dog and let other dogs enjoy being off lead and playing together.
Honestly I’ve never felt sorrier for dogs than now, such a high proportion always on a lead, poor things.

We stick to more open places with our pup for that reason.

I have no idea why a dog is on the lead and neither do you. My last dog was fantastically well trained, socialised and behaved but she picked up an injury so was on the lead for a month while she healed. How terrible of me to want to walk my dog in interesting sniffy places but not want an out of control off lead dog jump all over her.

I have not said that I allow my dog to jump over other dogs. His recall is very good but not perfect. He doesn’t jump up people or on dogs. He is very calm and gentle but obviously needs a lot of exercise which I make sure he gets.
Why should I not take my dog in the woods off lead because your dog is on lead in the woods?
I also take him to open spaces where he can run freely, chase his ball and enjoy life. Where I live, both these types of places are visited daily on the same walk.