Dogs on lead, dogs off lead - rant

Gemmy_2

Same situation as you. We have a stubbon little rescue dog. He HATES other dogs.. we've tried all sorts to change this and even had training.

He stays on his lead unless we're in this big field where he plays with his ball and we've never seen another dog there.

Yesterday we were walking through another feild - dog on lead.. three large dogs come racing up to him - the owner ages away. I shouted across our dogs not friendly the owner looked at me, shrugged his shoulders and carried on walking. The dogs ran up - my dog growled got his teeth out etc and attempted to bite him. Eventually the dogs ran away... i'm pretty sure the owner would of been pretty annoyed if my dog had done damage though

We'd love to let him off the lead all the time and see him have doggy friends.. but atm it doesn't seem likley. We worry about children running up to him as well. Enless he knows you - he will bite you if you try to touch him.

Gosh he sounds awful - he really is the most loving dog when he knows you lol

EDIT: We're pretty relaxed when dogs come up to us. We know our tenseness carries down the lead.

Caroline_a

Gemmy wrote: »

Same situation as you. We have a stubbon little rescue dog. He HATES other dogs.. we've tried all sorts to change this and even had training.

He stays on his lead unless we're in this big field where he plays with his ball and we've never seen another dog there.

Yesterday we were walking through another feild - dog on lead.. three large dogs come racing up to him - the owner ages away. I shouted across our dogs not friendly the owner looked at me, shrugged his shoulders and carried on walking. The dogs ran up - my dog growled got his teeth out etc and attempted to bite him. Eventually the dogs ran away... i'm pretty sure the owner would of been pretty annoyed if my dog had done damage though

We'd love to let him off the lead all the time and see him have doggy friends.. but atm it doesn't seem likley. We worry about children running up to him as well. Enless he knows you - he will bite you if you try to touch him.

Gosh he sounds awful - he really is the most loving dog when he knows you lol

EDIT: We're pretty relaxed when dogs come up to us. We know our tenseness carries down the lead.

Have you tried him off the lead with a soft muzzle on? he might be better off-lead than on it, some dogs are!

tizerbelle

Caroline_a wrote: »

Have you tried him off the lead with a soft muzzle on? he might be better off-lead than on it, some dogs are!

It's worth a try - there's a little terrier near us that when he is on the lead he hates other dogs on sight with a passion. Off-lead he is absolutely fine with other dogs. Owners believe he may have been attacked while on a lead previously . He was a rescue so they don't know for sure but it seems a fairly logical conclusion.

Idiophreak

I'm all in favour of making dogs on leads compulsory in public. Over the years I've had so many dogs scratch / bite at me while out and about..walking, cycling, running, kiting...you name it. All dog owners have exactly the same attitude "I'm an amazing dog owner, little Lucifer is a saint and would never hurt anyone". The only difference is whether they're actually right or not...Sadly, it's like everything else - the minority ruin it for the rest...There are plenty of owners who just call their dog once and it sits obediently beside them while you pass...but the ones that trip you up, jump at you, lash out at you etc are the ones that tend to stick in your mind...

You'll be shocked to hear that I'm not what you'd call a "pet person", but I don't see that I should need to be in order to enjoy this country's public spaces...

tizerbelle

Big dog is rarely walked on lead these days. She has never been one for just going over to people in fact she'd be perfectly happy if anyone she doesn't know just ignored her completely - saves her having to ignore them - although if we are walking down the ginnel and someone is coming the other way, I do have to tell her to move onto the grass verge otherwise she will just carry on her line of travel and sees no reason why she should move out of a person's way!

With other dogs, these days she's not really interested in meeting them (a few exceptions for dogs she has known for years and adores) so doesn't go over to other dogs and if they come to us (whether with owners or not) she just tries to ignore them. Only if they are persistently nagging at her (more than 3 sniffs of bottom or 2 licks of her muzzle are apparently the limit) will she grump at them - usually just consistents of growling, occassional snarl and snap of teeth but she never connects with the dog. She's just an old girl (14) who wants a quiet life and can't be bothered with bouncy/excited/over-interested dogs.

If I stop to talk to someone, she just walks about 6 feet away, sits down with her back to us and starts huffing and sighing - apparently as she doesn't want to be social, I'm not supposed to either!

Person_one

Idiophreak wrote: »

I'm all in favour of making dogs on leads compulsory in public. Over the years I've had so many dogs scratch / bite at me while out and about..walking, cycling, running, kiting...you name it. All dog owners have exactly the same attitude "I'm an amazing dog owner, little Lucifer is a saint and would never hurt anyone". The only difference is whether they're actually right or not...Sadly, it's like everything else - the minority ruin it for the rest...There are plenty of owners who just call their dog once and it sits obediently beside them while you pass...but the ones that trip you up, jump at you, lash out at you etc are the ones that tend to stick in your mind...

You'll be shocked to hear that I'm not what you'd call a "pet person", but I don't see that I should need to be in order to enjoy this country's public spaces...

If it becomes impossible to walk a dog off lead in public then there will probably be far fewer responsible dog owners, and maybe far more dogs in rescues. I personally wouldn't get a dog knowing that I would never be able to (legally) let it have a good stretch off lead unless I was lucky enough to know someone who owned a decent expanse of secure land.

Breeds like springers, border collies, the bigger terriers, other working breeds, some sighthounds as previously mentioned, really do need that kind of exercise to be happy and healthy and I for one will not take on a dog knowing I can't give it a happy and healthy life.

The people who won't care about the law will continue to let their dogs off lead regardless as it would be very difficult to enforce. Just like the people who don't clean up after their dogs don't care about the signs warning the of the £500 fine!


(Edit, I'm a big believer that many owners need to relax a bit. Dogs aren't people and they relate to each other differently, 99 times out of 100 two off lead dogs will figure each other out within seconds and act accordingly.)

lazer

Person_one wrote: »

If it becomes impossible to walk a dog off lead in public then there will probably be far fewer responsible dog owners, and maybe far more dogs in rescues. I personally wouldn't get a dog knowing that I would never be able to (legally) let it have a good stretch off lead unless I was lucky enough to know someone who owned a decent expanse of secure land.

Breeds like springers, border collies, the bigger terriers, other working breeds, some sighthounds as previously mentioned, really do need that kind of exercise to be happy and healthy and I for one will not take on a dog knowing I can't give it a happy and healthy life.

The people who won't care about the law will continue to let their dogs off lead regardless as it would be very difficult to enforce. Just like the people who don't clean up after their dogs don't care about the signs warning the of the £500 fine!


(Edit, I'm a big believer that many owners need to relax a bit. Dogs aren't people and they relate to each other differently, 99 times out of 100 two off lead dogs will figure each other out within seconds and act accordingly.)

That is why there should be certain parks dedicated as dog parks, the remainder either dogs on leads or not at all!
I was walking along the beach the other day in my white trousers and a dog jumped on me and my trousers have paw prints on them, so i couldn't wear them again until washed - this was very inconvienent as i was away on holidays for a week and only limited clothing with me!

What did the owner say - predictably - Don't worry, she won't hurt you!

If your dog is going to run at people or jump at people it should definately be on a lead!

Person_one

lazer wrote: »

That is why there should be certain parks dedicated as dog parks, the remainder either dogs on leads or not at all!
I was walking along the beach the other day in my white trousers and a dog jumped on me and my trousers have paw prints on them, so i couldn't wear them again until washed - this was very inconvienent as i was away on holidays for a week and only limited clothing with me!

What did the owner say - predictably - Don't worry, she won't hurt you!

If your dog is going to run at people or jump at people it should definately be on a lead!

Oh no! Not your trousers! That's definitely reason enough to curtail the lives of thousands of dogs!

If those specific dog friendly secure parks existed, or were ever likely to exist, in decent numbers spread fairly evenly throughout the country I could possibly agree with your suggestion, but I don't see that happening.

catkins

I have a large sight hound and even at 11 years old he still needs to run off lead. I could walk him on lead all day and he would not be tired at all.

I think all dogs should get a run off lead some of the time but most big dogs definitely need it

He is not very good with other dogs - he was attacked whilst on the lead by a labrador. He is however very good at recall so I take him somewhere not many other dog owners go but as soon as I see a dog I call him and put him back on the lead.

The problem I have is when he is on the lead and other dogs run up to him. He hates it (never was happy about it but after being attacked it really bothers him). He will growl and maybe snap but if the other dog persists then mine really starts to get funny. He has never bitten another dog but that is probably more luck than anything else!! I have the problem where I am that lots of owners walk their dogs on the pavement without a lead even though most of them have no control whatsoever on the dog and seem just let the dog trail behind them so have no idea what the dog is doing. The pavements near me are quite narrow anyway so meeting another dog on them is bad enough when the other dog is on a lead.

Mupette

tango wrote: »

It seems to me that a high percentage of dogs would be fine if their owners relaxed a bit ?

But if my dog on a lead bit a dog not on a lead, even after warning the owner.. would you think i was still uptight?

People think they know their dog, but at the end of the day a dog will go for another if he is not happy.. it's all very well people saying oh but my dog is friendly, but if mine is on a lead and muzzled because he is not a friendly dog i shout out the warning....