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...

@Snowmanscarf oo turning round and backtracking is a good option. I might try this, and hopefully can get his attention back too at that point. And I'll try the treat whilst continuing to walk, usually we have to stop if paths are narrow but on the wider paths I'll give this a go thank you!

I have a leggy bouncy dog too so I understand the fear but most dogs won't get hurt. It's amazing how even young dogs adjust their play style. Admittedly I wouldn't let my dog jump on an old dog either, the owner should have been more protective of their dog.

We do the treat in front of her when we see another dog approaching on a pavement walk and it does work.

A lot of smaller dogs seem to respond very aggressively towards my girl even though she is always on the lead and she backs off from confrontation, so I think, as others have said, it is unlikely she would get to the point of hurting another dog because they would put her in her place.

I have to admit that most of my fears centre around her unintentionally injuring a human, not a dog; she's 43kg and still growing and I'm terrified of her knocking someone over in her enthusiasm to greet their dog or child.

@Newuser75 we've got a business park near us that people walk their dogs mainly on leads because there are cars and roads so I could try that. Only downside is he needs a lot of exercise and it's not a massive place. But it would be ideal for training and hope we can try get him to ignore from a distance better at least. Our usual walk is supposed to be all dogs on leads but people ignore it and usually we don't see many people but I think with it being boxing day everyone was out for a stroll!
Thanks, I'll try the business park and hopefully it will help.

Maybe he’d be better off doing brisk, active walks with just one adult, you or your DH, to give him 100% attention, until his reactions improve. If you’re both out, and you’ve kids and the dog to wrangle, is it possible your DH’s response today was a bit late, and he could have seen what was about to unfold?

@Unluckycat1 I'm usually not so worried about stuff like this but he's bounded on a couple of dogs in the past when the owners have shouted it's ok and the dog has squealed and I've felt so awful. The owners were great and apologized that they didn't listen when I warned them. But today upset me a bit because the dog was older and would have been knocked over and it was as though the owner didn't care when I said. I'm not sure if he was trying to make me feel better, but I think it was the worry of what could have happened. And I saw how although he's not horrendous, our dogs behaviour can be a problem in the future if someone else doesn't listen like today.

@CoubousAndTourmalet oh wow that's big! Here me fretting about 23kg! Haha!
Yes I think it's just the thought of what could happen. Ours is jumping to play, but he gets so over excited that he just ends up stepping on everyone and everything. If a dog growls at him he backs off, so he does understand. He's just overly excited to be involved in life. I do worry about kids too, his great with our 2 and respects not jumping at them but if a random child squeals or is excited he's gets excited too and I have no doubt hed jump. I'll try the treat in front of nose and keep walking instead of stopping. I think he may respond to that well. Thanks!

@SleepPrettyDarling

We usually do 1-1 walks with him because the children usually complain they're tired after 30 minutes! 😂 I think it's just the shear volume of people on the walk today that did it. Most were great and recalled their dogs and had a little chat or just walked by. The incident was at the end of the walk and husband had just pulled up to the side to let people past and I was a little behind with the children. I don't think husband expected the people to just let the dog walk over because they could see ours was bouncing around by that point and as he tried to move away and carry on the dog kept following and the owners weren't recalling. So when I caught up I just stood between and said enough. That's when the owner came got his dog. But we have agreed from now on we'll stick to quiet areas for a family walk (which this walk usually is). And to burn off his energy we'll do 1-1. Once he's old enough I'm going to start jogging longer distances with him anyway. We've done very short distances and he really engages with the faster pace so I think this might help too.

You have a young bouncy dog, you will never tire him out by giving him lots of exercise, you will just make him fitter.

Find a training course for teenage dogs, an in person group training place. Him learning how to say hello and goodbye to other dogs, on cue, will exhaust his brain.

What breed is he? If he is something like HPR, you may be working on this for a while.

@AdventFridgeOfShame he's a standard poodle.
We give him about 1-1.5hrs a day at the moment and around 1 hr of mental stimulation I'm home too.
We've got a teenage training course lined up for new year (he did puppy classes with same lady which helped a lot and helped us find ways to mentally tire him out!) I think she covers a lot of social interaction appropriately and I know she's put him in a class with similar sized dogs. He's a very clever dog so we've had to stay on top of his training but it's just this over the top excitement that I'm hoping we can calm down!

I don't believe a "big bouncy puppy" is likely to accidentally hurt another dog. If yours is a bit clumsy, and the other dog gets tumbled over (which is unlikely unless the other dog is also bounding around) that's very unlikely to cause actual injury (a dog is not the same as a toddler) and it wouldn't be your fault anyway if your dog was on lead.

Are you worried that the interaction is going to get out of hand and that your dog will end up turning nasty? If there's any question in your mind that your dog could bite in the wrong situation, then you should put a muzzle on them in public. This will also encourage other owners to give you a wider berth.

@DeffoNeedANameChange
He's very clumsy and all legs at the moment. We've had a couple of dogs being knocked over and jumped on whilst he's tried to run about a play and they've squealed. So I just worry that people will see him as the 'naughty dog'.
I never say never with dogs. But no his interactions aren't aggressive they're just way way over the top and overly friendly. I do worry he'll be bit though, which is why I keep him on a lead and use a long line when we go to an open field so he can run.
I bought a reflector jacket for the dark nights which most people think is a I need space jacket, which we think is why people are recalling their dogs now. But I don't put it on in the daytime.

Clever dogs are the best Some of them just grow up very slowly.

If you want to run with him, you can teach him left and right, faster, slower and stop. He'll be about 15 months before you can do serious attached by a harness running.

Do you have any acquaintances with reasonably sized, mature dogs who can help him learn manners. He will likely get the odd scold from an older dog, which is some much more acceptable if the owners know each other.

He will grow up but it may take a year or so.

You can get sleeves that slip onto on the lead saying 'nervous' 'reactive' etc. I got one that says 'emotional support dog' but they definitely have options that state 'in training'. You could try one of those on his lead and see if it makes any difference to people approaching.

@AdventFridgeOfShame I think we may have one of those on our hands 😂
Ok thank you! I wasn't too sure on the age lots of sites say different things, I was looking at 18 months so hopefully wouldn't be too young. I know they can end up with lots of joint problems. He's got the slow and stop down to a tee, he prefers the left hand side so we're working on switching sides if needs. I just hope he calms down enough so I don't go flying if we pass another dog 😂
My brothers dog is similar size at the moment and he has been great at correcting behaviour but he too is a bit full on so their play is quite similar.
I think it's a time thing after doing this thread (thank you everyone! You've all helped a lot). So well just keep on with the training and hope the classes in new year help. But got some great suggestions for the meantime :)

@CoubousAndTourmalet hmm... Might look into that. I mean I guess jumping up as we pass dogs and owners is reactive or needing space (just not in an aggressive way) so it might just deter people who are more of a hindrance to his training. The little on training harness we had as a tiny puppy did nothing and people complete ignored it, but he's bigger now and I think people won't see it as cute anymore with a big bear jumping all over the place. Thanks, I'd not really thought about the sleeves for the leads

I wouldn't lose any sleep about other dogs squealing over an interaction that they started. And I definitely wouldn't concern myself about what the other owners might think, if they've let their dog come bounding over to your on-lead puppy.

There's always going to members of the public out in public. You do what you can to minimise your dog's behaviour, and they have to take responsibility if they haven't done the same.

I think on 26/12 you are going to have the amblers, the strollers, the hungover, the visiting relatives minding hyper kids, the new-puppy owners, kids on new bikes, … just put it behind you

We bought a sleeve for the lead that says “in training IGNORE “ didn’t stop it completely but reduced people trying to engage.

also if you see a dog approaching you don’t want to engage, a firm “let’s go” to you dog and 180 degree pivot to walk in the opposite direction may work well. Especially if you can do this before your dog gets to the super excited state.

good luck!

Completely understand where you are coming from @Doggiemayhem
Our current DDog is a collie/spaniel rescue who from his age was a previous owners ‘lockdown’ pup. He was certainly poorly socialised.
He has improved so much since in the year and a half we have had him. However, I have come across so many people with the ‘it’s OK my dog is friendly’ attitude, or seem to have named their dog (rapidly running towards my dog) ‘Come back!’ or suchlike.
My DDog loathes strange dogs running towards him. He is fine as long as he is introduced to another dog and has enjoyed walking and playing with two friends dogs and my stepson’s dog.
What completely hacks me off is after Mr/Mrs ‘my dog is friendly’ or ‘my dog has no bloody recall’ have let their dog charge up into my dog’s face, despite a very firm ‘Please, NO’ bordering sometimes on ‘Look, just f**k right off!’ from me and the fact that they totally ignore the sleeve on his lead that like @Wigtopia we purchased asking for space, when my DDog’s stress bucket overflows they look horrified and glower at me and my lad….or worse.
He is building up his tolerance and the proximity with which he can engage with strangers dogs, but in the short space of time that such encounters last I can’t pour out my dog’s life history as I know it and the huge effort that it has taken to get him to a point where he can even walk past even three different dogs on a wide path. We are simply judged by strangers for THEIR inconsiderate actions.

I had a rescue Labrador a few years ago - he was very reactive with other dogs but he was half of my heart and his death nearly broke me (old age, bless him). So, when I got a lab puppy a few years ago, I was determined to make sure he was socialised early and hit the training hard. He was amazing - really great with other dogs and just a joy to have. He was then attacked by an off lead pit bull and nearly killed. It has totally changed my poor boy; he is nervous around other dogs, reactive if a dog touches his wound sites and just generally a shell of what he was. He can only tolerate one or two dogs that he was friends pre-attack.

It’s been nearly 3 years since the attack and, with therapy, he is much better than he was, but I miss his old self. I never anticipated my dog would be attacked by another dog, and the repercussions of that.

You can't control what other people do, and you'll find that most of them have little to no control over their own dogs, and don't recall because they can't. Don't bother correcting them as they may become defensive and unpleasant.
What you can do is set yourself up for success by going out early, to quiet places where you can scan around and anticipate any trouble coming. Don't bring your kids if possible, as you will be distracted.
Avoid 4.30 to 6.30pm when all the dogs who were shut in all day are going for a walk. Avoid beaches on weekends.
You will get to know the usual animals on your routes/ times and know who to interact with and who to avoid.
In an ideal world you would practice a lot of sitting and observing with your young dog. Find a park bench or spot on the shore and have him sit with you on a long line and just watch the world go by. It's good for him to learn that he doesn't need to hurtle into everything and can just relax and disengage a bit.

Good luck and don't despair

It is tricky to own a large breed as most people have small dogs and if there is an altercation the bigger dog always looks like the bad guy!

I have a deerhound lurcher (a 40kg dog) and he is bigger than almost all other dogs and therefore has never been put in his place, and whilst he is laid back 95% off the time, 5% of the time he can be a menace, he reacts badly dogs that run up to him and start yapping in his face, he also swipes at them with his front paw which looks like he's punching them

You cannot control other dogs and dog owners behaviour.

If I think there is going to be an issue (bouncy dog approaching my big dog (on lead) I just say to the owner "my dog is not friendly"

It is not entirely true, but it has the same effect as saying "look my dog is usually fine but I cannot be sure and if your dog starts yapping in his face he may swipe at him and it will look bad and your dog will squeak and squeal and you will be annoyed with me and my dog but really this could all have been prevented if you would not let your "friendly" of-lead-dog approach my large on-lead dog."

It saves lengthy explanations

Everyone runs to get their dogs back after saying
"He's only playing"
And I respond
"My dog is not friendly"

It is a clear message imo

It’s frustrating isn’t it? There is an infuriating dog walker in our local park who always has her dog off the lead and I overheard her complaining that another dog attacked hers. It transpired that her dog was off lead and had run up to a dog on a lead who had a lead sleeve that said something like “nervous/reactive”. The one I find infuriating was complaining that her dog was attacked by the on lead dog because although it was on a lead it wasn’t a short enough lead???!!! 🫣🫣

I feel your pain there. Spence’s lead sleeve is yellow and asks for space as he reacts to certain things. He has improved so much, he is a lovely, intelligent dog. I guess I’m going to talk about him as if he is my child and he is being picked on now.
I used to walk him along a pathway that became more and more popular for dog walking, cycling etc. The walk up the hill by our old house and through a forest to this park was ‘our’ walk.
Two events ruined it Mrs ‘come back’ and her bloody dog running straight into me and DDog and knocking me over and freaking out DDog.
Then three separate dog walkers gathered and stood pointing at us. They waited until they knew we were headed into the forest and not turning round before moving off.
There was also the pocket dog (husband’s term for her, sorry it made me smile, not much did on walks at the time if we met other dogs) lady who scooped her dog up when she saw us heading her way and veered off to the far edge of the path.
With both of our previous dogs there were incidents when off leash dogs caused injuries that needed veterinary treatment. Even when he is surprised by another dog my DDog has never behaved like this but because he communicates as aby dog does he is judged by humans for…well, being a dog.
I’m not really a ‘hugs’ person, I suppose if I shouted ‘Oi! Get out of my personal space!’ People might point and stare. But they would understand the language I was expressing myself in. I might be assumed to be cold or stand offish, but hardly aggressive.
We have seen trainers and behaviourists, he has been on trazadone and had a pain panel. In the end I basically went cold turkey with the lot of them and exercise, train and provide enrichment to exhaust the bonkers out of him.
I wish I could invite all the people who criticised us to our new home to play with him in the garden and see what a super dog he is. They could even bring their dogs and introduce them.
Yeah like that would happen.