Bloody dogs offlead!!!

Dovah_diva

Person_one wrote: »

That's the thing though, its about using your judgement, not about blanket statements that its always wrong to have a dog off lead.

Or on a lead for the whole walk. I have two dogs that are part Bassett - and there is nothing they love more than to chase scents. Even in a field the size of several football pitches, they will run and run and run when they catch an interesting scent.

We walk them exclusively on lead. The only time they are off lead is when they are in the garden or in a totally secure, enclosed area like a tennis court.

They are walked on extender leads and they fully understand when they are on a short lead they should heel (and they do) and when they are in a grassed area they can run. Works for us.

catkins

meritaten wrote: »

I cant believe this - in my area it IS an offence to walk dogs off lead! county bye-law I think.
but it IS an offence wherever you are, to not have your dog under control - and I think most courts would agree that is 'on lead'.

Every time I have phoned my council and the dog warden it is either because an offlead dog has been a nuisance to my on lead dog or because I have seen the dog dart into the road and nearly cause an accident.


My previous dog was attacked quite badly whilst on lead by an offlead dog (in the street) and then hated other dogs running up to him if he was on the lead. As I said, there seems to be loads of people who walk their dogs offlead where I live and most of them seem to have dogs that just don't behave or listen to their owners. I ended up having to muzzle my dog because I was scared he would attack a dog but it was the other owner's fault for letting their dogs run to mine and jump all around him.


The dog I have now is only 18th months and already has been attacked. Again he was on lead and we were walking along the pavement when an offlead dog ran up to us and starting biting him. Because of that I get scared when I see a dog running up to him.


My council say it is not an offence and are not interested. The dog warden says the same although they did go and speak to the owner of the dog who attacked my pup. I have spoken to the police but they are not interested either.

Person_one wrote: »

You actually think it's illegal to walk a dog off the lead? Lot of criminals out there then!

I lots of areas it is illegal to walk a dog off lead along a street but in my area it is not. Not surprising really as my council are useless

hgotsparkle

I get this with my dog - hes a GSD and a very nervous one but will bark and growl if he sees a dog being walked thats not even close to us, yet people think its ok for their dog to just come up and say hi to him, and I have to say bluntly 'he doesn't like meeting other dogs'.

Another thing is if someone walking their dog on a lead is heading towards us (whilst GSD is on a lead as he always is unless I'm 100% certain theres no one else around and then he always walks with his shoulder touching my leg anyway) and I go to the side of the path and crouch over GSD, covering his eyes so he doesn't start off barking and swinging me around while hes standing on his hind legs, and that other person just walks on buy likes its nothing or tries to stop and chat to me - Like, seriously? I'm struggling to keep my dog back from yours, JOG ON!!!!!

Person_one

Not being funny, but what are you doing to try and socialise your dog and improve his reactions/behaviour around other dogs?

One of my rescues was a bit reactive when he arrived, I didn't just decide that was that and give up on the idea!

catkins

Person_one wrote: »

Not being funny, but what are you doing to try and socialise your dog and improve his reactions/behaviour around other dogs?

One of my rescues was a bit reactive when he arrived, I didn't just decide that was that and give up on the idea!

Who is this post aimed at? I am thinking it's not at me as my dog is socialised and loves other dogs although does get a bit too excited and bouncy when he sees one.


I don't want other dogs running up to him when he is onlead and jumping around him or biting him

Dovah_diva

catkins wrote: »

Who is this post aimed at?

I would wager it is hgotsparkle. Her post was directly above and she engages in frankly weird behaviour to prevent her dog going loopy when faced with other dogs.

zaxdog

We have a lurcher (3/4 whippet & 1/4 bedington terrier) who has excellent recall, partly due to the fact that he was a puppy on Lewis where the sheep aren't fenced in so he had to be very firmly taught as a puppy not to chase unless we gave a command to do so in case he chased the sheep.

He now walks to heel (worships the OH ) and won't chase unless we give the command "rabbits"

That said we did have a problem once when we were walking on a deserted beach when a woman ran down onto the beach screamed "I hate dogs" and actually ran towards us shouting. At which point I called Rax, put his lead on, handed it to my OH and calmly tried to tell her he was fine, that he was trained and was moving away from her when she started causing havoc etc. I then got a mouthful of abuse about how she had kids and they might one day want to play on the beach without dangerous animals on it. I am afraid I told her she was more likely to be savaged by a seal
:mad:

Dog walkers who have their dogs off lead and under control are in the vast majority IMO

Lieja

Person_one wrote: »

Not being funny, but what are you doing to try and socialise your dog and improve his reactions/behaviour around other dogs?

One of my rescues was a bit reactive when he arrived, I didn't just decide that was that and give up on the idea!

I totally agree that we should try our hardest to modify out dog's negative behaviours, although I know first hand that this isn't always possible. Not in relation to my current dog (who is a nightmare but I'm still confident he'll improve!), but my OH's old girl who passed away this year. Her behaviour was totally unmanagable in certain circumstances, to the point where no trainer/behaviourist would go near her and we had to resort to similarly odd behaviour to stop her munching on other dogs! I would never have crouched down mind - that would probably have cost me an eye! - but there was a lot of dragging away into bushes etc to avoid a confrontation. Off lead dogs running up to her were a nightmare. Part of me thought 'it's the irresponsible owners fault if their dog gets hurt', but another part of me knew that the dog wasn't at fault and was just wanting to say hello. I think moral of the story is - don't own a dog that's too big to handle when it needs removing from a situation quick-sharp, as we certainly can't rely on other dog owners being either responsible, or vigilant at all times. Or that's my moral anyway, as my upper arm muscles keep telling me!