2 totally different encounters dog walking...

Vicki1986

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I have a nervous dog around strangers & dogs that he doesnt know....This is not other peoples problem i acknowledge before i carry on.

Walking saturday round a lake, a couple come towards me my dog is off lead but to heel so we move off the path to give way to them. Out of know where bounds there dog, taking my dog - and me actually, totally by surprise, my dog yelps loudly as the much larger dogs over bears him (he was however friendly and just saying hello) ... My dog turns and runs back towards the way we came...I stand calmy and give him a few seconds to chill his brain then recall him and he comes - giving these people a wide berth and luckily there dog has got bored and run off.

Whilst its MY dog with the problem i competely understand, i really feel these people could have called their dog away - they totally ignored me, my dog, their dog and carried on walking and talking. Christmas cheer indeed.

As we were going round the corner i could hear a dog barking and see some running, so for safety put mine on the lead - and took a deep breath so my dog knew i was calm. As i saw a staff and collie type approaching at speed. i stopped and waited quietly, petting them (well actually the staff jumped up all over me!) my dog coward between my legs so i ignored him. The owner stopped and chatted for ages whilst his staff was going bonkers having a fight with a tree and playing ball, and his older dog quitely mooched around and my dog then got his confidence and started crouching down in a 'play' pose and wagging his tail. I was so relieved that hopefully the previous bad experience was now replaced by meeting a very similar looking dog and it all being handled well.

So i came away from our walk feeling good that he had a good experience today with a strange dog. Otherwise i wouldve felt he only had a bad memory of the walk? Not sure dogs really think like that.
I was just so pleased to meet an owner who didnt mind stopping and chatting and obviously knew a bit about dogs as he didnt try to pet him or crowd him when i said he is very shy, as many people just ignore me when i say let him come to you and force themselves on him which makes him very anxious indeed.

Later on i walked round the corner and we met a St Bernard!!! It was on the lead thankfully !! dont think we are quite ready for that just yet!!!
Then just before we got in the car he ran round in circles with a sausage dog! talk about a mixed bag at this park!!!

Just thought i'd share my walk story! Hopefully next time we go to this busy one we will just have a positive time and no silly yelping and running off!
 
It's nice that you had 2 potentially scary but ultimately 'good' encounters ie no one got hurt. I've said this on here before and got into trouble but I really believe that dogs will eventually sort it out amongst themselves with no interference from the owners. I am not of course including dogs that attack from nowhere with the owners powerless or unwilling to restrain or control their dog, just nervous dog v bouncy dog encounters
 
Thats why i sort of left it as the first dog was not particularly large or fast of movement - i think just took him by surprise a little. I do have a bit of an 'eyes rolling' attitude now with him as if he just took his time and chilled out he would be fine so i dont pander to him at all unless i feel he has a reason to be frightened then i would pull another dog away etc.
I agree its mostly the owners that cause the problems. I keep assessing myself hoping im not making it worse etc!
 
It's all about the vibes, I think!

I am the person with the 'other' dog...I have no idea how my humungous male GSD will react with other dogs, so I keep him on the lead, his behaviour is not aggressive, very positive, but he lunges and he squeals and I don't want to take a chance with anyone else's dog and I couldn't forgive myself if he hurt another dog, even in play, which he is capable of, he knocks his sister over with one paw.

However it is something I am working on and we are getting help from a police trainer at our club. I know my body language and my reactions aren't perfect, but I really hate it when people let their off-lead dogs bounce up to me off lead and when I have asked them to keep their distance, as I would get the blame if something happened.

We are also working on our recall!
 
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