Would you have reacted the same or can I do differently in future?

[Doggiemayhem]

So firstly I'm sat here thinking maybe I was wrong in this situation but at the same time fumming with peoples careless attitudes.

Long story short we have a large, bouncy 7 month old pup. He's been quite easy to train and walks well on a lead... And his general commands are fabulous. Until we see another dog, runner etc. we've got a lot better with bikes and joggers, pulling into the side and distracting etc as they pass. so lots of progress.
Today though someone randomly let their dog saunter over to our clearly wild, crazy, jumping up puppy who by the time he had realized the dog was approaching just couldn't be calmed. - we have a training sessions booked in new year for the this- Husband trying to walk off in other direction, but our dog had started to jump up in the air by this point and clearly not a great idea to let another dog approach. Got our 2 children out of the way and placed myself between the 2 dogs firmly saying 'enough'. Other owner comes over in no hurry 'oh stop bothering people (to his dog). Don't worry, he's only young and wants to play and ours is old girl'. I remained calm but firmly said 'yes I know, and that's why I've stepped in the middle, your dog will get hurt. He's absolutely bonkers at the moment and as you can see we are trying to move away so you're dog isn't hurt if he jumps on her'. Guy just walked off.
Id like to say this is the first time this has happened but it's not. I don't want to be rude to people and I do love people who appropriately interact and take the time to help our training, which we've had many and they luckily out way the negatives. (He's also a bit of a conversation starter with the way he looks! And people love to stop and ask what he is etc). But I've got to the point where it's setting us back a lot and I see no end to it. We've tried so many things and he is getting better if the other dogs that just walk past.
He's only been like this since an off lead dog rushed at him (friendly dog but it was chaos).
Any help would be appreciated in what we can do moving forward, I just want to enjoy a walk...

No real advice, just empathy; we are having the same issue with our massive, boisterous 8 month old girl. Most of the time she walks calmly and beautifully but there are times when it's a struggle - when she gets excited she jumps up and grabs the lead. Exactly as with your dog, because she's very striking, people keep wanting to stop and allow their dog or child to make friends. It is very difficult. I don't really know what the answer is, but just want to say you're not alone in finding this aspect of training increasingly frustrating.

Good luck with your training sessions, I hope you find it helpful.

It’s so annoying isn’t it! Lost count of the number of times an off-lead dog has been allowed to come bounding up to my young dog when he’s on the lead. Most of the time my dog is fine but sometimes this ends up in him reacting (barking or growling) and I somehow end up looking like the bad one!

@CoubousAndTourmalet thank you for your reply I'm just glad we're not alone in this. It's so very frustrating.
Thank you. 😀

It sounds like you did the right things - crazy dog was on the lead; your husband tried to distract him; you got between them.

If your dog is good on command, ask him to sit , ask him to wait, perhaps holding a treat initially if that motivates him, whenever you see another dog coming your way. Generally keep him in sit until the dog passes. Tell the other owner firmly that you are training and you do not want your dog approached. This worked well for my bitch who liked to stalk and ambush incoming dogs in her younger days🤦🏻‍♀️

That said, the other owner should not have let an off lead dog approach your dog, so it’s not something for you to feel bad about

@OneDayIWillLearn it is very annoying! Trying to do the right thing and keep your dog under control for it to look like everything is your fault 😔 And for some reason we always end up looking unreasonable and like I've ruined their dogs life for not letting mine jump all over them. 🙄thanks for you reply, I'm just glad others are having issues too. I started to think I was being unreasonable about the whole thing

@Dearg thank you 😊
Majority of the time he will do this and it's been working well. But I think in this instance it happened too quick for us to get him into paying attention and calming. Might have to speed up our reactions next time!
I think as you said I'll have to start being firmer and telling people not to let their dogs approach and not feel so bad about it. I'm grateful it's just a select few that seem to think their dog can just do whatever. And it's nice to know that it can work too.
Thank you for your advice.

I think you're overreacting, mostly because ime this will happen all the time, and if it gets to you too much you've got a lot of miserable walks ahead of you. The online training ideal is very different to what you find out in the world.

My dog was absolutely dog obsessed but at just turned 2 she's matured enough that she doesn't run up to other dogs so can now reliably be off lead. Also, I've realised being on lead made her reactions to other dogs much more extreme. I wish I had been more relaxed about training and trusted in her more as I came close to creating a lead reactive dog with all my anxiety and attempts at futile (for us) counter conditioning. I would personally trust that your puppy will mature and the occasional dog approaching isn't going to ruin that.

yes I hate it! I read other people describing what they say to other dog owners who haven’t got proper control of their dogs on here and I really admire their confidence but it is just NOT my personality to be confrontational or blunt with people I meet on the street. I’ll give them a Paddington Bear hard stare if it’s a particularly bad one but I haven’t been able to bring myself to ‘tell off’ anyone. Oh well….

Please don't approach, we are training and then keep walking.

@Unluckycat1 Good advice. Dogs are designed to interact and cooperate with each other, trying to go against thousands of years of inherent socialisation is always going to be a tough call!

Tbh you should let other dogs put manners on your dog.

There is nothing wrong with growling and standing their ground.

It is good socialising, your dog is going to end up a anxiety ridden mess

If you watch Dogs BehavingVer Badly on Channel 5 you can pick up loads of tips about training your dog to behave. Often if you tense up when other dogs are around you're setting your dog up to be tense too.

I hear you - it's really frustrating when you're doing the right things, but another dog owner isn't. Don't beat yourself up about it.

I have a reactive dog, so a different issue, but at this stage I've had to accept that other dogs will run up to her while she's on the lead (always is) and all I can do is get between them and protect her, while she goes nuts. It sounds like you did the same.

I wish all dog owners were given a manual on how to manage their dogs. It's lovely when two friendly dogs can meet and play, but this isn't always possible and it just teaches friendly dogs to constantly approach others. I've not seen many off lead dogs with owners who are in control in a city/suburb environment, sadly.

Unfortunately, this is just something you'll have to get used to.

My dog is selectively reactive after he was attacked twice on the lead in a short space of time - I do all the right things and still get people making snotty comments or giving me dirty looks. It's so frustrating. I also get comments when I ask them to recall their bloody dogs, lol.

@Unluckycat1
Thanks for your reply,
I'm pretty chilled with most passing dogs and he is pretty good in most cases now. But my frustration is with others that have no care even after I say hes very bouncy they say it's alright. I have no doubt he'll just play if let off as he does with my brothers dog of similar size but my fear is he hurts another dog and in today's case he would have done and that would have made me feel absolutely awful and made him look horrible as he is just all legs and jumpy. But he is only young and I do hope with time he'll calm. I'm just a little unsure whether I look like the bad guy if I give them a heads up and say he's very bouncy and my unintentionally hurt your dog. I don't know if this will make it worse. And usually people respect it and still stop and talk but respect his space until he's calmer. Which is great. I'm thinking it's probably just time, but today upset me a bit because the owner could see his dog was about to be jumped all over and I did it more to protect his dog. Unfortunately our dog would be one of those dogs that bound over to everyone excitedly and although his recall is ok everywhere else I don't trust he'll come back with a busy walking area. I just hope in time he calms. Thanks for your advice, I'm thinking as long as I warn people first they can make the choice then.

@Eyesopenwideawake

I'm trying to socialize him appropriately and to make sure he's not a nuisance to anybody else. I don't know how tolerable people will be with a big 22kg puppy jumping all over them and their dog? I just thinking that his bounding style of hello is a little too much which I'm hoping will calm with age. :)

@ForgottenPasswordNewAccount

This ending incredible badly and is what created this whole thing in the first place and made him extremely anxious. We have just resolved the anxiety. I do allow him to play and interact appropriately and my brothers dog will put him in his place and he listens. What I don't want is for my dog or another dog to be hurt, because I've had owners going it's ok and it's not. His behaviour with being too over the top is not ok and im trying to think of ways to introduce dog interacts where nobody gets jumped on or squashed.

@MyrtleStrumpet ah yes! I have seen that. We've got some great tips from there with his barking with excitement when he was younger, which helped a lot!

and im trying to think of ways to introduce dog interacts where nobody gets jumped on or squashed.

I would recommend regular group classes for training with a trainer who doesn’t allow any free for all type interactions between the dogs. That way everyone is onboard and helping each other with space and calmness because they are all working towards the same goal

@Doggiemayhem You underestimate the ability of other dogs to size up and deal appropriately with your dig! Unless the other dog was very old/ill or fragile - in which case the owner should have warned you - it would have been fine! Dog communication is direct and unambiguous, unlike ours 😉

@IKnowAPlace thank you.
Ah, it's a shame. Usually if somebody blocks their dog with their body I do apologize as he's jumping past because I know that my dog is probably one that is too keen to try meet everyone, but incredibly inappropriately.
It would be lovely if everybody could understand, in an ideal world all would get along but it's unfortunate that it isn't the case.

@biscuitsandbooks

Oh sorry to hear that. Unfortunately I think your right, it's something I've got to just brush off I think. I'm an overthinker and I hate to think people have thought badly about how I've dealt with things and I've offended them. But at the same time I'm trying to protect their dog from my bouncy dog. Ill just brush it off from now on and just give people a heads up beforehand if they look like theyre coming a bit too close.

@Doggiemayhem you do get used to it and it doesn't upset me as much as it did at the beginning. Luckily (or unluckily) most people "know" us now and will either avoid us or keep a distance while I work with my dog. He's absolutely fine with dogs he's introduced to properly, luckily.

@Undisclosedlocation we've got some lined up for new year to hopefully address this with a dog trainer my husband knows. so fingers crossed we can get somewhere. I think it's probably going to be time that calms him down though. Thanks :)

You sound like you did exactly the right thing.

Things I found that helped included-

• speaking up, saying my dog was in training, so please don’t let your dog come over
• holding a treat infront of their nose as you walk past the other dog (and infirm other owner of training)
• if you see a dog approaching, then turn around and backtrack your steps

-

@Eyesopenwideawake unfortunately in today's case the dog was old and fragile and very sweet little dog. So I think that's why I was a bit angry that the owner had let her approach us with a jumping big puppy. Otherwise I think husband would have just let him jump at that point because older dog wasn't getting the hint. Coming between them was to protect the older dog, I'd have been guilty ridden if she was hurt. :(

@biscuitsandbooks aww that's good! And nice that your space is respected. We've got a few that we see regularly that leash their dog when they see us coming and always smile and say the usual still bouncing away! So I know some people are kind about it

It's really annoying!
Is there anywhere you can walk where dogs have to be on leads?

There is a park local to us where they have to be on leads so it's good for training to pass people /digs calmly. Or round the streets (I know it's a bit more boring but hopefully other dogs would be under control while yours is learning.