Shaken up by off lead dogs.

[itsmellslikepopcarn]

More of a moan than anything but WHY do people let their dogs off lead when they have no recall?

Thought we’d take 13 week old puppy on his first trip to a local country park to do some training and a nice walk, along with 4 year old dog.

Older dog has fantastic recall (too anxious to go too far from me!) but is reactive so doesn’t go off lead unless there is no-one around. The second I spot people he immediately goes back on, which happened today.

Two large chocolate labs off in the distance so back on the lead he goes. They’re easily 50 feet away if not more, but start to mosey on over, owners call them back but don’t put them on a lead. Again, they start coming over, bounding over at this point.

Ive got my dog as tight as possible at this point while he’s snapping and snarling at these two who will not respond to their owners. They eventually wander over, not quickly, and get them to come away. My partner says “they shouldn’t be off lead if you can’t control them” at which point the male owner shouts “shut the fuck up!” and turns back towards us, shouting that our dog should be muzzled. There would have been zero issue if his dogs weren’t off lead, my dog was walking along fine ages away until they bounded over, which I explained and he said they were puppies - again no excuse, our puppy isn’t off lead yet because he won’t come back! Also they looked pretty full grown to me.

I wish people would realise the impact things like this can have on anxious dogs. He’s generally pretty good at ignoring on lead dogs (I put him into a sit with chicken until they pass) but there’s nothing he or I can do in that situation. He’s been getting so much better with his reactivity in general and I fear this has set him back down 😔

Yes, I particularly like how he smacked one of his dogs in the face when it tried to get too far in front.. he’s not keeping them calm.. he’s keeping them in check.

the method of hitting them to get them to do what you want will work.. but for most people that sort of training is a bit too extreme.

He doesn't hit the dog. He tugs it's lead.

He hits the German shepherd, it’s not in a lead.

Yes have to say I agree with this. The pup will take his lead from the older dog.

Did you even watch the video? He hits the sable German Shepherd across the head at about 38 seconds in.

Nope he doesn't hit the dog. He taps it back. He barely makes contact.

No - he hits the dog.

I don't know why the behaviour by that man in the video is anything to aspire to - those dogs are terrified of him.

The dog sees it coming and moves so it doesn’t make full contact, it also reacts to the threat of him doing it again right afterwards.

It’s not like it’s subtle or anything...

That video looked like he was kicking back at them too right near the beginning…….

He kicked one dog, smacked another on its muzzle, tugged another's lead (possibly tied around the muzzle?) and his hand goes out to another but it's off camera so you can't see if he hit the dog or just threatened it.

I feel sorry for your dogs if you think that's an example of exemplary dog training @Leopardchange

What an awful video. That sort of dog handling is absolutely not an example anyone should follow.

Didn’t want to start a new thread on the same issue so will post here, more for a vent.

If your dog has no or poor recall, don’t let it off the bloody lead! I’ve just come back from the park and feel really pissed off that our walked ended the way it has. My lab was trotting along side of me, minding her own business when another lab and a ridgeback come straight over to her and are in her face. I turn around the and owners are on different sides of the park.

My lab is timid around other dogs. She’s worse on the lead and her recall is fantastic so I have no issue with her being off the lead. She will just lay at my feet waiting for me to get the other dogs away. Today, nothing would stop the dogs and they wouldn’t leave her alone. I sent her off in the end and they ran after her. At this point, they were close to the other lab’s owner but she couldn’t catch her dog. So I called mine back and put her on the lead with the other two on her heels. The ridges owner (young boy) apologised and said the dog was too boisterous. The lab owner finally caught up with us and said her dog played a bit too rough. FFS! Keep your dog on a lead. Why should my dog suffer because you can’t be bothered to do the basics of training. It’s really easy to do.

As we walked out the park I could hear frantic shouting behind us and saw the lab was on his way back to us. We were at the road this time so I had to walk my dog back to the owner and she had the cheek to ask if my dog was in season! (She’s spayed but when she wasn’t I would never have walked around such a public park). The park is local to u me and usually most dogs have well behaved owners but I’m honestly tempted to carry and use K9 spray next time something like this happens.