It sounds like such a simple thing to do, you put the lead on you take the dog, you throw a ball as you stomp round, of course nothing is ever as easy as you think sometimes.
We try and walk Max (the dog) a minimum of 2 times a day, its normally 3 and recently we have introduced a 4th walk, late at night on lead. Normally the other 3 are off the lead.
The field we walk him in is used a lot by dog walkers, but its huge and Max with all his issues towards other dogs won’t go near another dog, if they are close to him, its when he will go for them. On this basis its my responsibilty to make sure he stays away from other dogs, we have sussed out when the field is less used and we use that time to walk him off the lead and throw the ball for him, which he loves.
Having said that if we do see a dog, which seems to be walking towards us, he goes on the lead and we walk away. Just to add Max’s recall is amazing, we have worked hard on it, because we might have to call him at a moments notice.
Also I am usually with the toddler and Max on at least one of those walks so I have an eye on the dog and an eye on the toddler, those walks are usually the shortest, which is why we have introduced the fourth walk.
What happened today was when I was with both the toddler and Max. We walked to the park, and I noticed a golden retriver at one end. I took Max and my son to the opposite end, it was as we walking I noticed we had Gizmo following us, I think maybe you can see where that is going. But we were a football pitch (soccer) away from this dog, so I kept walking away. Turned my head to see the dog bounding up to Gizmo, I am not sure if he caught Giz or not, but Giz fled, and while I get this is going to happen, for a dog owner to stand, watch and laugh rather than call his damn dog back really pisses me off.
Its at that point I should of called it a day, but no, my stubborn streak sets in, I am now a good 3 football pitches away from this dog and his owner.
I manage to throw the ball a good few times, when I notice the dog and his owner had moved to maybe 2 football pitches away and even though I couldn’t make out his features I am fairly sure he was watching us, we move away again and by this point we are at the edge of the park.
Throw the ball a few more times, I think I have given you an idea of how big this park is and yet this damn owner keeps moving his dog closer.
I am still sure I can call Max back at this point since there is like a flimsy fence the dog would have to jump over for a direct line. Yep thats right, he jumps over the fence and comes closer, by this point I have had enough, the guy is calling the dog, I can hear him whistling. I get this retriever was only trying to be friendly but there is only so much I can do to let people know he is not friendly towards other dogs. The harness, which isn’t much good if you are going to stand so far away I can’t make out your face, then you are not going to make out his harness. Walking away, which ever way I took Max the dog would run that way and lie down and wag his tail.
But this dog had no recall, don’t take the dog off his lead if he is not going to come back.
And then we hit the snag, the terrior that has a thing for Max suddenly comes charging in to the park, guessing someone opened his front door, cause his owner was charging behind him yelling his name. So I am now blocked in, I was just debating if I could boot the terrier when the retriever suddenly decided that the white thing making a beeline for my dog looked much friendly and ran towards him. I don’t know what happened, as I hustled my little boy and max, and thankfully Giz jumped out of a tree out this park.
I was tempted to go back and confront the retrievers owner, but it would of involved me taking my son, which is not good. So I have left it.
If you got to the bottom of this well done
I got to the bottom of it! We had a dog when I was a boy, but I was pretty young at the time so I wasn’t the responsible for the dog when we walked it. In other words, I’m not very familiar with correct dog owner etiquette.
One thing that has happened to me several times over the years, though, is that while I’ve been outside somewhere, a dog has come racing up to me in a threatening manner but the owner has just laughed and said something about how friendly the dog was. I like dogs, but I’m pretty sure they’re not being friendly when they’re growling.
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I make sure my son does not approach other dogs and if they go near him that is when we have a problem. Dogs when being unfriendly do not growl they just go for it, you are luckly when a dog growls
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Really? In that case, I’ve been lucky several times. I’ve been bitten by dogs twice too, but both times when I was a boy (and by other people’s dogs, not by mine, which had already passed on by then).
The first time was my fault, but the second time really wasn’t. The dog just bit me for no obvious reason. I was scared of dogs for a long time after that, but as an adult I got to know a lot of nice dogs owned by other people and now my world and the dog world enjoy friendly relations again.
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I can imagine that would scare you. I have a real thing for small dogs, since they seem to be the main ones that attack us
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Actually, both of the dogs that bit me were small ones, so maybe there’s something about them that tends to make them a little aggressive at times. I know I’m generalizing a bit here, though. I’m sure there must be some very nice small dogs too. 🙂
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One of the things that I find, is that “people” think a little dog growling at a big dog is cute, I however find that its aggresive behaviour and should be corrected. One of my friends owns a mastiff and he has been bitten twice by smaller dogs and the owners have laughed it off, but it the mastiff bit the smaller dog all hell would break loose. (I am generalising as well)
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Actually, it reminds me a bit of parents who let their children run wild, kicking other people in the shins, jumping over train seats or whatever and then just laugh it off as high spirits. I get irritated with the child, but really it’s the mother or father’s fault.
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It is basically that. When I am leader of the world to own either dog or child you will need a license. I have found that raising a child and a dog are very similar in a lot of ways and if your child is wild then the dog is going to be as well.
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A training course would be good too.
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For having a dog or having a child?
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Perhaps both.
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I sometimes wonder if maybe demolition man got it right 😉
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Well, a society free of crime would be nice.
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yes but with everything there would be a price to pay
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That’s true too. Well, I’ll settle for a lot of personal freedoms, a certain amount of crime, and people controlling their dogs and their children. 🙂
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sounds like a win win situation 🙂
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Off lead dogs with no recall piss me off so much. I cannot say how much I despise this. There are dozens of reasons why dogs (or the owners) don’t want strange dogs greeting their dog…reactivity, fear, health issues, age, just to name a few. Whenever someone’s dog bounces over and I ask them to get their dog they always reply “oh it’s okay, s/he’s friendly!”…that is so not the point. It is rude and it’s not okay.
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I thought of you and your story when I wrote this, but I was really pissed off and I have tried to calm down down but I am unsure whether that dog was commanded to do what he did and I am sure to be taking my phone out next time
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I used to have a Greyhound and a Lab and I wanted to take them to the dog park which I did many times but I felt like way too stressed while we were there. I ended up deciding that I don’t care for dog parks because I can’t control what might happen.
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In this park there is a place you can stand where you can see all 3 entrances, added to this during the week it is dead. So it is useful for giving Max a really good run
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I’m sure he loves it!
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First thing I did when we got our dog was teach her recall – I agree, if a dog doesn’t respond to recall, it shouldn’t be let loose. I encountered a staffy who “rolled” my little dog, she was terrified, the owner said the dog was “only playing” but couldn’t get her dog to stop.
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Irresponsible owners really annoy me. I do think you should have to have a license to own a dog and have children, but that is a different conversation
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Agree wholeheartedly!
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It always makes me mad when other dog owners are not courteous. If I go to the park I take Daisy sometimes to walk with me so I am not walking alone. We never walk in the same place other people are we walk to the right-hand side in the grassy area. That is to keep her from surprising someone with boxer kisses or tripping someone. I do this just to be courteous to others. Most of the time when we go to the vet we are the first ones there since I like early appointments well yesterday I had to take her by there for a weigh in because her monthly medicine Trifexis needs to be accurate and she looked like she had gained a few pounds. When we got there a Schnauzer was there it surprised her so she went into barking mode the schnauzer went into growling mode and after about 1 minute they were fine lol.
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Thank you for your comment, it drives me nuts about dog owners, I do think we should introduce licenses to own animals
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That might not be a bad idea.
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I have a whole thing about it if I ever rule the world, including things like breeding animals as well and having to pay to breed your own pet, because I bet that would stop a large amount of accicidents happening and encourage people to get their animals done
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I dog sit sometimes for a friend who’s dog is not good with other dogs. I’ve crossed the street to avoid another dog and had the owner *follow me* insisting that her dog was friendly!! I had to point out that the snarling, growling dog beside me was NOT. She’s great with people — even kids — and she’s amazing with my cats, but she’s been attacked twice by other dogs and now believes “the best defense is a good offense”. Her owner is constantly amazed by how many people think *all* dogs should be friends.
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Thanks for the comment, I haven’t had it happen to me, but my partner has had it happen to him ,where owners have insisted that their dog is friendly, and he always turns around and goes yep but mine isn’t
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