Reactive dog and beach... people are ar$eh0les!!

[PlinkPlonkFizz]

What do you do with off lead dogs who are harassing on lead dogs?

I'm fostering a sweet lab mix, sweet - until she meets another dog 😤. We're working together on trust using sit, look and treat if no reaction. It's going well and I think it helps that if there's a chance to cross the road and avoid a face to face, I'll do it. I feel a bit sad for her that she's not socialising but it stresses her so much at the moment, it's not fair. Maybe in time we can get to the point she's more confident, or future owners will get her to that place.

At the beach early morning and a Scotty comes charging up, yipping and snarling. Of course Mrs. Sweetie who had been sitting and minding her own business, goes full alert, barking and jumping. The owners totally ignore the situation unfolding as the Scotty races back for two more loops of frenzied barking. Mrs S goes mad but owners keep walking towards me, ignoring their dog! I call over to ask can they put their dog on a lead but they pretend they can't hear - exaggerated hand to ear gestures even though it was obvious what the problem is. Eventually my older DS shouted it really loud and the man squared up at a distance and kept staring back as the Scotty's ran all around.

I'm at a loss about it - it was obvious we were taking steps to avoid them just as it was obvious that their dog was upsetting Mrs S. What way do you manage these kind of situations?

https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/training/how-to-avoid-trigger-stacking-in-dogs/#:~:text=Trigger%20stacking%20refers%20to%20a,to%20an%20otherwise%20minor%20stressor.

It’s more likely to be trigger stacking than actual reverting... if they’ve had something stressful happen I’d usually do a couple of days without walks to let them decompress, it takes about that long for stress hormones to go down.

Thanks @tabulahrasa I'm jumping to the worst possible conclusions I know. Think I was just so disheartened to see her revert so badly but fingers crossed a few days decompressing will get her back to where she was.

Better than my last experience. My dd and I went super super early to breakfast on a doggy friendly beach with my carry and German shepherd.

My two were playing football and saw another big dog on the beach - being a friendly couple they went to run up to it .

The man started waving his hands and kicking out before they got within a 100 yards so I called mine back and obediently they about turned and came back

He went NUTS at my dd ! I had them both in a lead by then - but when he became aggressive with dd my shepherd got barky - he was shouting and screaming at a 24 year old for absolutely no reason- my dogs didn't even get up to
His before I recalled them and got them on leads - his reaction was so ott - it was about 5.20 am - my shepherd was barking because he was telling a her - I should
Have just let him off really - mine had some absolutely nothing wrong - his mastiff was off lead too - I've jonisea what he was telling other than he was calling police ! My poor dd tried to reason with him and his wife just put her head down - like she was embarrassed. We packed our brekky up and fled .

The. We got Stuck k in a traffic jam home and a 2 hour journey ended up a 5 hour journey .
Never again .

It’s rubbish when you’re working with a dog and something sets them back like that, especially when it’s something someone else has caused.

I’m on my second reactive dog in a row, it’s hard going sometimes.

But fingers crossed it’s likely she’s just a bit overwhelmed and she’ll be better again after she’s had time to chill out a bit.

That's great you've got a big garden and are able to work with her there.
I'd concentrate on training, winning her trust so that when you see a dog when you're out she knows she doesn't have to panic as mum is here, rather than wearing her out with games and playing frisbee. Become her true leader (in the Victoria Stilwell way, not any alpha nonsense).
Does that make sense? You sound like you're doing a great job, it's just hard when you're seeing your dog so distressed and all you want is for them to be happy.
I'd also think about not walking her for weeks rather than days. She sounds like she's had a really unsettling time and I'm guessing you haven't had her for long.
When you do take her out, try taking her to a park where there's a barrier between her and the dogs and just let her watch. I mean drive to a park that has railings around it ideally, stay on the other side of the road and just let her watch the other dogs. Loads of praise and treats obviously for non reactions. Use peoples driveways, cross the road, do whatever you have to do to keep her a good distance from other dogs. I really think you have to take it that slowly.
See if you can get things that smell of other dogs. If you know people who have dogs, rub an old towel on them and take it home for your dog to smell in a safe place.
I'm having a think now what I can do with my dog and the two we see who cause her to react. She's usually pretty good with other dogs but not all. It's a never ending learning, adjusting, trying to stay out of trouble this dog-owning malarkey!

Any dog should only be off lead if under control. That means coming back when called. Not doing what it likes. Now it might be that they didn’t even try to recall the dog which is an owner issue but my dog will not be off lead until I know he has a bulletproof recall! Even in areas where they are allowed off lead ( which it doesn’t sound like this was)

A dogs manner is usually an accurate reflection of the owners. There is zero point yelling at a dog owner to get their out of control dog on a lead. I just focus on the dog and will yell at that, maybe throw something at it to get it away.

When my reactive dog has had a bad day, I always give him a day or so off walks afterwards to decompress and it really helps.

We had a really bad day recently - an off-lead collie approached us and just circled, growled and barked - no owner in sight. Mine was so stressed but I couldn't walk off as this dog was just circling us constantly. Eventually the owner turned up (and got a mouthful from me) - my dog then reacted to every single dog he met for the rest of that walk - including another off-lead dog who had bolted from his owner and decided to follow us despite my dogs' clear signals for him to back off.

It's so frustrating - and other people just don't seem to realise (or care) about the impact their dogs can have.

Poor Mrs S, you sound wonderful and she’s lucky to have you. I would ditch the walks for now. I do that with my retriever if he’s had a bad experience gives him time to decompress and reset whilst playing and training at home and in the garden.

he is also lead walked as he just is too jumpy and unpredictable to be off lead and has zero recall so gets a run at local run free fields. He won’t take food out and about but has made some strides recently which is good to see however it just takes that one person or dog to set things back, hard to take when you’re doing your best with your own dog and others just don’t give a shit and let their dogs run about and up to your dog with no recall.

My dog shouldn’t have to be lead walked just on pavements he needs to go places and experience parks and other dogs etc but they don’t need to ‘say hello’ thankfully he’s not aggressive or anything just scared however a scared dog with another dog in his face might react aggressively out of fear so having off lead dog you must be able to recall them, for their own safety really not having them running about annoying people and other dogs! Such an antisocial view that a dog can run about and do what it likes because it’s at a park or the beach your dog isn’t the only animal allowed to enjoy different environments! Thankfully Alfie just sits down and is fine with other dogs coming up, i just roll my eyes and walk on once he gets off his backside

😀😀😀

I have a 12 week old puppy we visited the beach on Saturday evening to get her our and begin socialising own she's allowed to walk. All was going fine until some dick head owners of an out of control Cockapoo appeared and it made a beeline for my puppy and cornered it (pup is a very small breed) puppy was terrified, Cockapoo complete ignored its owners half hearted attempts to call it back.

I picked my puppy up who was shaking so badly and dick head cockapoo owners said "he just wanted to look at the puppy" it then proceeded to jump up at me and try to get to my puppy and was getting under foot so I couldn't move away, I was hoping the owner would assist but nope they just said "oh yes he's wet but it's only seawater" as my clothes were getting soaked from their dog.

It was only when I said "for God's sake I've had enough now" that they made an effort ti grab their collarless dog and get it away from me with a vague sorry. Today my pup who had been happy to meet other dogs cried and started yelping when another friendly dog approached

Agreed, my dog is half border collie, half deerhound, the deerhound half makes her go absolutely nuts over dogs that look like her (whippets, greyhounds, other lurchers, even dachshunds, and border collies) if she’s got a ball or frisbee she’s as focused on that toy as any border collie, and won’t care a wick if you try to distract her from it with anything at all, so on the beach, we take her chuckit frisbee and she won’t pay any mind to anything else, we don’t let her off lead unless we have a toy, because the hound half of her just bloody loves other dogs and most border collies are thoroughly uninterested in being hassled by a random lurcher, (as are most well trained dogs, honestly, but again, she only really goes ham for dogs she sees herself in.)

I used to have the sweetest little dog-reactive dog (got attacked several times as a puppy and never emotionally recovered his fear of other dogs), never off lead. It would infuriate me when other dog owners let their dogs run over, but it's not like it;s unexpected, but what angered me the most was when they had zero control over their animals, "Come here Ralphy! Raaaaalphy! Here!" and little Ralphy would of course completely ignore them. My dog would be so stressed by it.

I was always a push over, but one day I snapped after I had to snatch up my dog to stop him getting snapped at and bitten and I asked the woman to call off her dog, and she proceeded to lecture me about dog-human behaviour blah blah blah, her dog was only playing (as it was snarling and snapping), so I said "would you just piss off with it!!!!", she then turned to my dh and lectured HIM over controlling his wife, how he needs to teach me manners blah blah blah. I was shaking and angry and had never in my life ever even raised my voice, it just came out of me.

I never got a dog again after he died, it;s just too much stress having to deal with other dogs and their idiot irresponsible owners.

Update 2: Mrs S has recovered ok. She is back to doing sit / watch / treat with nearby dogs. Fingers crossed there'll be no more off lead wankers but we're avoiding the beach for now.

That's a shame OP, sorry those people were completely inconsiderate and didn't seem to mind if their own dog gets attacked! Not saying your lovely foster would but those idiots don't know that.
I can't let mine off anywhere at the moment and I hate it when dogs come up to him because he's at that grumpy still got his balls teenage phase and if other dogs sniff that area too much he might well turn abit snappy!