Scariest day yesterday

[xxxJess123xxx]

Hi all, the worst day happened yesterday and I need to know where to go from here.
Back in June, my tiny 5kg dog was chased in an open field by an out of control doberman. The doberman was with a dog walker who had 5 dogs by herself. My dog ran terrified and thankfully stopped running when the doberman eventually stopped.
My girl has very good recall, but this time, she was terrified and I dont blame her.
Fast forward to July and I broke my ankle so she has been with my dog walker (regularly once a week) who has a secure field and she has a group of dogs she sees every week. I have also took her on short walks, all on lead.

Yesterday, I see the same dog walker in the woods. Again, she had 5 dogs by herself and a smaller dog can running over to my girl and she bolted. I could not find her for over 2 and a half hours. I walked and walked and shouted her name, my husband put the drone up and my neighbours all come up to the woods. Finally found her in an abandoned caravan across the road nearly 3 hours later.

Where do I go from here in regards to her being frightened and bolting. She never was scared of other dogs until she was chased and now it looks like she has to always be on a lead due to other peoples negligence.

How do I build up her confidence and become happier around dogs coming up to her and eventually go off lead or will she always need to be on lead now she's been frightened.

Long line? I hate flexi leads

Thanks everyone

Does she bolt from all dogs or only ones with this particular dog walker?

A few of my friends have trackers attached to their dogs' collars. That would help you find her if she goes missing again.

she has never bolted from other dogs until this one dog walker with a doberman chased her and she was terrified.

She’ll have to go on a lead, not much else you can do … maybe hire a secure field for an hour to let her of now and again.

Long line lead. Only way to be safe.

I have no advice other than what's been said, or maybe consult a doggy therapist who could offer some advice.

She is a very beautiful dog though. x

Long line on at all times. The more opportunity she has to practice the bolting behaviour, the more ingrained it becomes. Take her to a dog trainer who is very likely to have neutral dogs so she can be around calm stable dogs. They can also show you how to advocate for her in future. She will then learn to trust you have her back and she doesn’t need to run off.

Gorgeous girl! Yeah, long lead until her confidence is back. Keep her safe.

Oh bless her. I would walk her on long lead and somewhere else as she is seeing this area as somewhere she’s not safe

Long lead but gps tracker also.

And she’s gorgeous, bless her.

One of my dogs is deaf. She is only ever on lead, on a longline(get a wipe clean one) or off lead in an enclosed area. She is perfectly happy and thriving. For her own safety and your sanity you are going to need to keep her secure at all times. It’s up to you to be in control of her by law. This applies to the dog walker too so i would be annoyed about that.

Put her on a lead. This will stop her from bolting or attacking anyone, or running upto other dogs. All dogs should be on a lead. I don't know why people are so against this safe method of walking their dogs and keeping them protected from situations like this. We have a duty as their owners to protect them, regardless of whether they have good recall. I've raised very many dogs and currently have two, large breed dogs They have fantastic behaviour, good recall, chilled out, calm etc but I would never ever not put them on a lead - Even a long-line lead and harness are useful! I would never risk putting them in a situation where they could react or turn at any moment, because god help if they did hurt someone it would be on me...yet they are the ones who would be put to sleep.

I think you need to lead her on her walk get an extendy lead and maybe book a field if you want her off lead. There isn't really any safer solutions unless you know when this dog walker is going to be out.

Can you go a different route/walk so she doesn't associate where she is.

Personally I don't think dog walkers should have 5 dogs in a public place off lead, but thats my issue.

I saw an advert recently for Tracker collars maybe get her something like that

I totally agree with you.

You've had some good advice here, so this is just to say that you'll wear yourself out to no good effect waiting for other people to behave responsibly - especially people who think it's OK to walk five dogs off the lead at the same time and with no other human for back-up.

Also, what a sweet little lady🩷 I am on Team Cat, but if I ever got a dog, I'd want one like her.

Oh she's beautiful, OP. What breed is she? I'm terrible with most breeds outside of gundogs...

I agree with others, long-line. Try walking in different places as well to build her confidence back up around other dogs in a new setting. Best of luck!

Thank you for your replies! I really appreciate it
Shes a chihuahua x toy poodle and my absolute world (as well as the kids lol)
I just want to keep her safe and happy
I agree with posts saying 5 dogs with one dog walker is not appropriate. She can’t control them quite clearly x

I have ordered a long line x

I use a Pitpat tracker with mine, but other makes are about. At least then you’ll be able to find her. But keep her on a lead. & find a good behaviourist.
mines in training with a behaviourist at the moment & currently only allowed on an extendy lead as due to being attacked previously he doesn’t run away but runs towards other dogs barking trying to scare them off.
she’s been amazing & after 3 sessions we are making good progress.
I personally use an extendy lead over a longline only because mine had an accident with the longline on a couple of years ago (recall training) in a flat park & ended up breaking his leg 😬 The thought of a lead trailing now terrifies me.
She is lovely though & hopefully will get her confidence back soon.

@xxxJess123xxx you need to re-frame your thinking to dog thinking. What we think of as confidence is slightly different for them. Confidence for a dog is the certainty over the outcome of a prediction. Thus, she is actually really confident, but about the wrong thing. When she sees another dog she is now certain that it will chase her and she needs to run away, i.e. she is highly confident that all dogs will chase her. You need to change that prediction to be back where it was before she got chased.

Definitely long line to start with, and work on giving her a different experience of other dogs. It is too long to go into here, but a decent trainer will know how to do this.