Dangerous dogs

[treebranch011]

I have just took my dog for a walk (1 year old spreagle), he's a really good boy. Not dangerous, we walked in a wood where it's looped,so you go in and out of the same place? (Hope that makes sense). When we were walking on one of the paths I could here commotion behind us and could here people shouting a dog, it was off its lead and clearly wasn't going back. So I walked fast with my dog to get to the other path and didn't hear anymore.
Got to the path where you walk up to get out and they were there, 2 men with 3 dogs, all were on leads so put mine on a lead. We were walking up and one of the men with the 2 dogs came past walking back down to the woods, the dogs tried to lunge at my dog but I pulled him away. We carried on walking cos I'm not feeling safe at this point for me or my dog and we get to the man with the one dog, as he walked past again he lunged for my dog and the man had to held it back and said for me to hurry up and walk past. I was doing this as I didn't feel safe at that point.
The dogs were all Staffies, (I have nothing against staffies) I have seen some very cute staffies who are so lovely.
The men clearly didn't have control of them, what can I do? I do believe if they had been off lead my dog would not have stood a chance

The dogs were on a lead, and so the owners were in control of them, and nothing happened. There is nothing to do other than choose a different place to walk if you would rather avoid them in future.

They were on lead and by law, which would be deemed as under control as nothing awful happened. Fortunately, nothing did this time.
You can take precaution and let the local authorities know, but I'm not sure they can do much at this stage, I'm sorry to say. However, you will at least have logged it. Also, if you have an app like Nextdoor, you can warn other locals x

If very worried maybe don't walk there. I know you probably like it, but sometimes it is better safe than sorry.

They were on a lead and so we're legally in control of their dogs.
Are you suggesting reactive dogs should never be walked outside?

Dogs can use lunging as a way to INCREASE the distance between them and the other dog/object. It's a norml part of canine behaviour and is foten used to AVOID confrontation.

Plus, how a dog behaves on lead can be totally different to how it will behave off lead (for good and for bad).

The lunging alone does not tell you anything at all really about how dangerous the dog is.

Also, if on lead then they were under control?

Thank goodness they were leashed as per the law.

Dog experts often label dogs who lunge and bark during walks as “leash reactive.” A reactive dog is one who becomes overly aroused by normal situations, and a leash reactive dog is one who behaves that way on leash. But what causes this behavior? There are three possible motivations for lunging. The least likely is aggression. Although rare, some dogs truly want to do harm. Fear is a far more common motivator. Using the “I’ll get it before it gets me” strategy, dogs lunge to try to make the feared person, dog, or other object go away. Finally, your dog might be excited to approach the person, dog, or object, but because the leash is preventing that, they become frustrated and lose emotional control”

Don't think I ever said reactive dogs shouldn't be taken for a walk, every dog needs to go for a walk so not sure where you get that from

A bit of leash reactivity/barrier frustration does not mean a dog is dangerous.
This sounds like a daft overreaction.

At least all dogs were on leads.

I don't believe my reaction is daft, these dogs were not just lunging at mine but there were very aggressive with it, I believe if they had been able to be near enough to my dog they would have attacked him and he wouldn't be here now.
I totally get reactive dogs on leashes, I take my dog out everyday so do see this and this was something completely different.

So what are you saying then?
I can't see what anyone could have done differently. Their dogs were leashed, nobody/no animals got hurt. Nothing happened.

My dog would bark and lunge at yours if we met whilst she was on lead. She would look and sound quite aggressive but in reality she would be terrified!
If we met whisker she was off lead she would be anxious but incredibly submissive until she's figured your dog out and then she'd be all up for a jolly good play!
He had control of his dog! Your dog was not at risk nor were you.

I regularly meet the same man with a dog that lunges barks and growls at my dogs. As soon as I see him coming I put mine on their leads and give it a wide a birth as I can and quickly hurry past, as does the man who owns the dog. The dog is under control and there is no problem.

I'll leave this here

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=895314087944546

Would you have classed the same reactions from a smaller dog aggressive and out of control.

I have a reactive dog. He’s fine if he’s around a metre from another dog and if they don’t bark at him. He’s not a barker at all. When small dogs bark at him (he’s fairly big) the owners laugh at them. If my dog did the same people would start threads on here about it.

I totally get reactive dogs on leashes, I take my dog out everyday so do see this and this was something completely different.

How was it different?

The dogs were on lead,
The owners had control and held them back.
They advocated for their dogs and asked you move past quickly to minimise stress.

They did everything right and absolutely nothing wrong.

I keep hearing this sort of thing from dog owners. It's a dog behaviour! Dogs will be curious towards other dogs, and when on leads will, seemingly 'lunge'
I'm not sure if it's because lots of people became first time dog owners during the pandemic, and have no idea how dogs react to other dogs or what.