Reactive Dogs - Sh*t people say

[MargoylesofBeelzebub]

A bit of a light hearted one - anyone with a reactive dog familiar with these phrases? The first was said to me yesterday as someone's off-lead dog came over and started barking at my boy, who was fine but let out a little growl to tell said dog to back off, I've been ruminating it since (it's been said before!) so thought I'd start a thread to see if there are other owners of reactive dogs out there who get weird things said to them.

FWIW my dog is reactive in very specific circumstances, but I always err on the side of caution and hold him close when we're going past dogs, which is usually when these things get said! We're also working on his reactiveness and have employed a one-to-one trainer, which has massively helped, but it's a long process!

• "If he was off lead, it would have been OK!" - Er, no.
• (As I'm holding him closer using the handle of his harness) - "Aww don't worry, my (tiny dog) is friendly!" - yes, but my large dog isn't 😂

My dog isn't reactive but I had her on lead yesterday, as we were walking by a busy play park. An off lead lab came over, quick sniff then promptly started mounting her. My dog started panicking and yelping. Owner said "he's only doing it because...." then didn't finish her sentence. I'm still intrigued as to what was the reason... seemed a bit like the start of victim blaming 🙈😂 Then she said "I could catch him if you could keep yours still" - wasn't particularly easy at this point as I was caught up in the lead and my little boy had already got taken out in the kerfuffle 😫

That was actually the 5th off lead dog that day that had approached my leashed dog. I don't generally mind as bar that one, they were all lovely but nobody apologised and none of them had any idea why my dog was on lead. I can imagine this must be very frustrating having a reactive dog. I always leash mine if I see a leashed dog approaching.

My dog isn't really reactive, but he sometimes is if he's on his lead. Many dogs are reactive on-lead to dogs who are off-lead, and one of my local bugbears (I am possibly being a bit unreasonable here) is people who smugly walk around the village with their off-lead dogs thinking 'aha! look at these losers whose dogs are not as well-trained as my dog, and have to be on their leads', all the while causing havoc as the on-lead dogs lunge and bark at them. I also 100% think these are the same bastards who don't pick up their dogs' shit because they're not watching when the dogs do it.

OMG, this! It’s so irritating. And almost always men, again. (Actually now I think if it, it’s only ever men I see doing this.)

I worked so bloody hard with my reactive dog over the years I’ve had her. What’s so infuriating about it is months and months of work can be undone in seconds by ignorant other owners who let their off lead dogs run amok.
It got to the point that I got so frustrated by it all that I have now almost completely stopped walking my dogs in public. We use secure fields and then walk round industrial estates and other quiet places where if we do meet another dog they will be on a lead.
I haven’t taken my dogs to the local park in over 2 years now. Both me and my reactive girl are so much happier for it. But it’s so sad that we have had to exclude ourselves from going on lots of lovely walks and adventures because the risk of coming across badly managed dogs is just too great.

Yes! Was out with my child having a little picnic.

Cute but yapping dog comes over to investigate.

Fine. But then the owner shouts at me to help catch the dog, or else she’ll never get it back on the lead. Um, I don’t want to touch your dog! She eventually caught it, I just said sorry but I know nothing about dogs. I have no affinity with animals.

This is completely fine to be awkward about, and your sorry was kind!

The dogs that annoy dog haters (not saying your a hater!) Are equally annoying to other dog owners, if not more.

Yappy dogs in cafes, off lead dogs greeting everything that moves, dogs that wee indoors and are off lead in a pub etc all make life for other dog owners really hard.

My dogs are pretty perfect in a pub type situation but settling them whilst dogs bark, and are wondering about is a nightmare. Equally a nice picnic with your dog is a recipie for some terrible guarding incidents if another owner lets their dog rifle through your picnic

When I politely decline for a stranger to stroke my dog and they reply with “oh it’s fine, dogs love me.”

Not mine! He was beaten by a man when he was a puppy, so unfortunately, Male Stranger, he is not going to ‘love you’ because he is absolutely petrified of you.

I walk my dogs off-lead around the village.... and I'm not a man.

But I do avoid any dogs who don't seem keen on my dogs, and pick up their shit.

Yeah, it’s annoying.

On another note I also know several dogs who’ve been killed this way – a cat or something has caught their eye and they’ve run into the road.

So it's annoying even though my dogs are under control and don't bother other dogs? Annoying even though I keep them away from on-lead dogs?

They're on-lead where traffic is likely - along the main road and the lanes, but not the tracks. They have a solid stop, do not chase hares, leave poultry alone, ignore sheep (and would be on-lead if going through a field with livestock in it anyway).

Does that still count as annoying?

Lol well I can’t pre-empt what you might say next can I. If you keep them far away from other dogs then of course, that’s less annoying! ‘I walk them round the village off-lead’ didn’t really convey that.

God this drives me batty. We have a sometimes reactive golden and always err on the side of caution. So many times I’ve told people he’s not good with other dogs and to give him space and they literally won’t believe me because he’s a golden and “golden’s shouldn’t be like that”. But he is. He was attacked as a pup and now gets iffy with other dogs defensively, but the number of times we’ve been close to an issue because people don’t take me seriously is unreal 😫

Agree with this

@EdithStourton

Having a dog that struggles has also made me seriously doubt everyone's control of their dogs and if they are telling the truth. I certainly wouldn't trust you if I saw you pass me and it would make me a bit worried

Everytime someone's dog does something annoying the owner always says they've never done it before, always have perfect recall etc. Equally dogs with terrible habits, terrible body language are accompanied often with an oblivious owner

I do know there are some people with perfectly behaved dogs but I've learnt to expect the worst.

I'd said, But I do avoid any dogs who don't seem keen on my dogs, and pick up their shit.
Which is why I was puzzled.

I suppose getting close enough to know the other dogs aren’t keen on your dogs doesn’t sound like a very wide berth.

But thanks for clarifying.

I think the thing as well is that the other dog might be perfectly trained, etc. But others in the street don’t know you from Adam, and it makes people uncomfortable and on edge. Including lots of people who don’t even have dogs themselves.

Does "reactive" mean "aggressive"?

Yes and no
It covers a range of reactions. My dog for example is actually really over excited which makes her really barky. A previous foster would get really overstimulated by certain things. Others might be fearful and not like dogs because of that

Not necessarily meaning that they'd maul a dog

I'm assuming the dog was on a lead??!!

@8dateslater if I'm passing a dog that looks worried, or whose owner is distracting it with food, I'll put my two on-lead (I use slip leads so it's very quick).

If they're passing me, I'll sit my two up. The older one can be trusted without a lead, the younger one not so much, so I'm either ready to block her or she's put on lead, depending on how much space we have - if we're close to the path, she'll be put on lead.

The people who annoy me are the ones who don't make any effort to train their dogs and let them race over to interrupt when I'm obviously in the middle of training mine - so probably the same people who annoy you.

@Newmumhere40 of course she was. Shame the child wasn’t similarly restrained.

Me shouting at off lead dog owners whose dogs come barrelling towards mine - can you please recall your dog, mine is reactive. The number of times they shout back 'is your dog on a lead?' and I shout back that she's on two leads. She has been known to escape her harness to get to other dogs, so she has one lead on her harness and one on her collar.

We have a nervous dachsund. He walks on lead.
The amount of people who feel the need to come towards him and want to touch him is amazing. Sometimes they're rewarded with a lick and a grumble, 95 per cent of the time he will bark in the way only a dachsund can.
I feel I should have a card printed that says he's friendly but nervous, he won't bite but if he barks like a bastard he's not interested thank you.
Strangely enough I've learnt if I let his lead out a bit when approached by off lead dogs he'll sniff and ignore as he can control the distance.

I walk over the same fields and woodlands local to me, with my reactive and abused rescue dog. I never let him off the lead. I have had dogs all my life and was a dog walker for many years, the rule of thumb in my mind has always been that if you see a dog on the lead you should automatically place yours back on the lease until safe to let back off but the amount of people who don't bother with this when they see us is astounding and most of these dogs also have shit recall.

Last year a small black lab came out of the woods with no owner in sight. She made a beeline for my poor dog who quivered like a jelly. She ran straight up to him and pinned him to the floor. The owner appeared and I shouted at her to to remove her dog as it was attacking mine, she responded with 'She is absolutely not attacking him, she is female and simply displaying her dominance'. All said whilst my dog was shrieking in fear and her dog was 'simply' sinking its teeth into my poor dog's back.

A month later the same thing happened again and she tried the 'dominance' spiel again ffs!

We've had a reactive dog for 11 years. Fear aggressive to other dogs but fine with people. So many people have tried to give us stupid 'advice' and I've had a lot of shouting matches with idiots. Perhaps I'm a bit aggressive too.

The worst ones are those who believe all dogs love each other. They are amazed when I say to them ' How would you feel if I came up to you and started rummaging around in your nethers?'. Usual response is ' but my dog is friendly'. Well, mine fucking isn't and if your dog gets too close it will be attacked.

Having said that, she's never actually physically hurt another dog. Once time, we were out, her lead broke and she chased another dog and pinned it down, but no bites.

For those of you who may not know, there is a really good Facebook group called Reactive Dogs UK. Lots of support and advice on there.