Is it ok for an off lead dog to bound up to another off lead dog?

[Nosepeas]

On a walk today my dog ran quite far ahead to catch up with a small group of dogs. Her recall is great and she would have come straight back if I'd called, but I let her go on the basis that the other dogs were all off lead. She tends to bound up, sniff them, run away, repeat and then wander off. She grew up with other dogs and loves their company. She did that today and the owners (who were walking a group of 5 dogs) looked really annoyed.

Of course I always recall and leash her if we're passing or near a dog on a lead, but these were running around happily and she just wanted to join in.

Did I do something wrong? Am relatively new to dog owning and she's very good but appreciate that there seem to be lots of unspoken rules here.

Almost all friendly dogs where I live, and quite a lot of field space, however we've had new estates built resulting in an influx of unknowns. My strategy would be to be very observant of the owners and dogs. With on lead dogs mine will be on a lead too, and if the owner or dog is looking nervous I ask them if they'd like me to give them more space.

A large group of off lead dogs running around with owners not paying attention would have me keeping clear of them if I could.

I treat it a bit like driving. Never assume that other people are paying attention, will do what you expect or what they are signalling, and be prepared to deal with the consequences of their stupidity.

I'm really lucky that we have a couple of pretty nice walks that aren't as popular, maybe not even known, to some walkers, as there is a very obvious favourite walkies/toiletting route.

The stories we could tell!

I don’t think it needs to be a minefield. Just wait until you’re close enough to speak to the other owners. A quick “are they ok to say hello?” is all it needs.

It depends. My little dog is generally allowed to go and greet any off lead dog, unless I’ve looked and decided that I don’t trust that the other off lead dog is actually sociable (for example, some v old dogs near me potter along off lead but absolutely don’t have any interest in meeting others). I can trust her to make a polite introduction and she generally has excellent social skills.

When I had a giant dog, then by default he wasn’t allowed to greet any off lead dog without the owners’ express permission because he was huge, bouncy and could be overbearing.

Basically, everything’s a judgement call and there’s no absolute rules.

Well exactly, it’s a judgement call. Like most human / animal interactions.

Personally if the other dogs are off lead and look friendly I try to make eye contact with the humans - I find mostly they are also doing the same to "check each other out" and make sure we are fine with the dogs sniffing etc. I did this yesterday however, mum with girls seemed more than happy and we semi-waved, but her dog suddenly did a weird submissive "oh no I'm being attacked" whimper and side drop and mine had a growl and woof (didn't touch other dog and is very unlike her) but both moved on with a call so no harm done. Really you can't tell and technically every off lead meet could turn bad. Eye contact and brief hand raise with the owners helps to check-in.

That’s the accepted etiquette around here. Off lead dogs are fair game, on lead obviously not, if the dog is recalled and put on lead, you do the same.

I’ve taught my dog to “ask” if he’s allowed to go and play and he’s taught himself to lie down and wait for the other dog to approach him (he learned this from a collie friend). He also wears a “friendly” collar so people know it’s fine for their dogs to approach him. If possible, I call out to the owner to ask if it’s ok to play before I tell him to “go on”.

Agree. And I frequently walk my dogs in London and, even there, I don't recognise the world of constant angst that I see on MN.

I tend to keep mine on the lead in London, even in parks where they are allowed off, because one of them is very fast and I'm worried about roads (good recall, but I never trust 100%). But most encounters with fellow dog-owners are fine.

It’s not always about aggression. I have a rescue who was never socialised (locked in a shed, never walked). He’s petrified of dogs approaching him. He just wants to be left to sniff and play with us. We make progress with consistent training and hard work, he gets calmer when he sees dogs. Stops shaking, whimpering and wanting to run away as he see other dogs just walking past and ignoring him. Then we get the ones that run over and set us back to square one.

@KnittedVera I think you've misunderstood my comment. Perhaps I should have said 'play' instead of socialise. I'm not indicating they are bad owners or can't train their dog. It's completely understandable that not all dogs can interact with others and there's nothing wrong with that, especially some rescue dogs who have terrible pasts and naturally protective or reactive - hence assuming the owner with a dog on a leash can't 'socialise' their dog with mine on that occasion.