Am I expecting too much?

[CorvusCorax]

Everyone has said because she is an only dog to try and mix her with as many other dogs as possible so that's what we have done and it's been great until yesterday.

Everyone is wrong, IMO. If you have a safe group of family and friends' dogs, stick with that.
We don't run up to all the strangers in the park wanting to make friends, it's as unnatural for dogs to be forced into interactions with strange dogs from outside their circles as it is for us IMO. Even from a disease control point of view. Plus there's too many plonkers out there.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

. Everyone has said because she is an only dog to try and mix her with as many other dogs as possible so that's what we have done and it's been great until yesterday.

Well I don't know who everyone is but I certainly wouldn't mix her with as many dogs as possible. For what purpose? If she has dogs that she is familiar with, she doesn't need to mix with random dogs.

We were thrilled last Sunday when we took our 2 and the 7 month old Lab that we look after during the week to a local country park. They all, pup included, totally ignored the spaniel-alike that came into the middle of them while they were playing. Thankfully, the spaniel-alike didn't manage to get a turn with the ball, or things might have been a bit different. The owner did eventually manage to call it back and gave it a treat as a reward. Then it left her again and came back to us!

 

[MurphysMinder]

I took my pup , well he’s 15 months but missed out on a lot of socialisation , round a farmers market today . He passed a couple of dogs with a polite greeting and sat quietly while I bought something. Whilst I took my eye off the ball some prat let their over the top dog come and hassle him . Ziggy told it off , just a little woof , and we got the “oh dear , that doggy isn’t friendly Fido “ response . Well yes my dog is fine , but he weighs just over 7 kg and when your hairy Labrador sized dog is all over him he’s entitled to tell it to sod off !

 

[Crugeran Celt]

I took my pup , well he’s 15 months but missed out on a lot of socialisation , round a farmers market today . He passed a couple of dogs with a polite greeting and sat quietly while I bought something. Whilst I took my eye off the ball some prat let their over the top dog come and hassle him . Ziggy told it off , just a little woof , and we got the “oh dear , that doggy isn’t friendly Fido “ response . Well yes my dog is fine , but he weighs just over 7 kg and when your hairy Labrador sized dog is all over him he’s entitled to tell it to sod off !

I would not allow her to run up to any dog and part of taking her to dog busy areas is to teach her that she cannot just run to any other dog and she is brilliant at staying to heel with other people and dogs around her. She is obviously used to horses and sheep and doesn't attempt to go near them but will sit quietly and watch them, even got her to sit and accept the pheasants in the garden. She is such a good little dog just wish all owners would train their dogs better!

 

[Amymay]

Everyone has said because she is an only dog to try and mix her with as many other dogs as possible so that's what we have done and it's been great until yesterday.

Going against the grain of what other posters have said - I would agree with ‘seeing’ other dogs, but the ‘mixing’ needs to be done with discretion. We have one little dog that comes to us who was a lockdown puppy and had real issues when she did start seeing other dogs - full on hysterics and nervous reactivity, despite living with another dog.

She’s much better having started coming to us, and when we’re out we take all opportunities for her to calmly and politely meet other dogs. Not to play, but to sit quietly at my side whilst chatting to another dogs owner. We want it to be normal to see other dogs, and not react. But that can only happen if they see other dogs (not just their mates who it’s ok to play with).

 

[Cinnamontoast]

Hello stranger! I hope you are well.

A cocker, 2 months older than mine, pinned mine a while back. I was raging, the owner kept telling me to ‘Calm down’. I was fuming, told him mine were too little for that kind of “play’ and hauled his dog off mine. I avoid other dogs unless I know them and I’ve been observing the dynamics for months. I want dog neutral dogs, they don’t need to interact with other dogs, I have a pack of 3.

Defend your dog, shout at the other owner if necessary, don't feel that you’re being OTT and PS, where are the pics?!

 

[MissTyc]

When we had our 45kg GSD x Rottie who was reactive and always on lead, I learned quickly how many puppies would gallop joyously into her lead space to initiate play only to scream and freak out when she flipped them over (although she was always more gentle with puppies - she just had this need to flip everything first, introductions after, hence the lead!). Had she been off lead she would definitely have chased a running puppy and possibly terrified it quite severely, whereas on lead the puppy would run away and not be chased and thereby hopefully learn that maybe you shouldn't run at unfamiliar large dogs (and maybe the owners learned, too?). For me, any dog that chases when not invited, be it "playing" or otherwise, needs to be recalled and put on lead when another dog turns up. It just isn't under control otherwise and there are many reasons an unfamiliar dog shouldn't be "chased" - from training to pain issues. That said, I too don't allow my dogs to interact with unfamiliar collies as they do seem to switch into stalk mode a bit too quickly and my terriers don't take kindly to that. The adult wants to ignore and be ignored. He can brush right by a dog that's ignoring him, but he doesn't like anything interacting with him. My puppy just needs to learn (SIGH!)

 

[Errin Paddywack]

My two collies couldn't be more different. The older one doesn't do the stalk and crouch and in fact ignores other dogs apart from her few friends and she adores them. Dogs in her face she will show her teeth at and maybe a little snap. She doesn't like 'rude'. The other loves everyone human or dog and if off lead will run up and crawl to the other dog. If on lead will go down on her stomach and drag me. Again if the other dog gets in her face she will growl and snap but neither will bite. Neither would dream of chasing after a horse and obviously being working sheep dogs they don't chase sheep but would never be loose among someone else's sheep.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

Going against the grain of what other posters have said - I would agree with ‘seeing’ other dogs, but the ‘mixing’ needs to be done with discretion. We have one little dog that comes to us who was a lockdown puppy and had real issues when she did start seeing other dogs - full on hysterics and nervous reactivity, despite living with another dog.

I agree, our Labs were about 6 months old when we first went into lockdown. Because we didn't get them until August, they weren't able to go to places such as agricultural shows, to get used to seeing other dogs and ignoring them and we didn't want to walk them much locally, as we were inundated with unfamiliar dog walkers taking advantage of being able to exercise while wfh. So they were exercised mainly on our own land. Prior to lockdown, they had become expert at going out for coffee/breakfast with us, with a bit of bacon sandwich as a reward for sitting quietly by the table.
So, even though the Rottweiler was completely dog neutral and did her best to teach the Labs, they struggled somewhat when things became rather more relaxed. Which is why were so pleased and proud of them at the country park.
Ideally, I would take a pup out and about to as many different places as possible, keeping it on a lead amongst other dogs and expecting it to either sit quietly at my side or walk past taking little notice of other dogs, with no interaction. With an 'only dog', though, I would certainly want to build in play time with familiar dogs.

 

[paisley]

A moment today, of total agreement with another dog owner, when they called me a "precious dog owner".
I explained his off- lead out of control FlufferPoo was not welcome to climb all over my on lead dog that has ongoing muscular skeletal issues.
His response was to tell me to "Be quiet" , which I always find to be the winning argument 🙄

 

[Cinnamontoast]

A moment today, of total agreement with another dog owner, when they called me a "precious dog owner".
I explained his off- lead out of control FlufferPoo was not welcome to climb all over my on lead dog that has ongoing muscular skeletal issues.
His response was to tell me to "Be quiet" , which I always find to be the winning argument 🙄

What a brainless fool he was! Could he not think of anything even vaguely intelligent? Idiot.

 

[Amymay]

A moment today, of total agreement with another dog owner, when they called me a "precious dog owner".
I explained his off- lead out of control FlufferPoo was not welcome to climb all over my on lead dog that has ongoing muscular skeletal issues.
His response was to tell me to "Be quiet" , which I always find to be the winning argument 🙄

😱😱😱

 

[maisie06]

Out walking my 7 month old springer/working cocker pup who it has to be said is very well behaved. Her recall is excellent and she walks off the lead to heel very well. We walked through a wooded area and there were two ladies infront of us with three dogs all lose, a large collie type, a small poodle and a terrier. we called our pup to heel and walked on. The collie realised we were about two hundred yards behind and stopped and laid down, his owners continued to walk on. As we got closer our pup trotted ahead and came nose to nose with the collie who immediately stood and starting chasing our pup back up into the woods, she was yelping very loudly and dropped to the ground whereby the collie got her on her back and was mouthing her neck, in all fairness he wasn't actually biting her. owners still did not turn although they must have been able to hear our dog. We called her, she wriggled to her feet and thankfully ran straight back to us with collie in pursuit. We put her on her lead and the collie ran after the owners. As we came out of the woods the two other dogs had run up to a couple having a picnic and were trying to steal their sandwiches. The owners immediately told us their collie was 'playing', i pointed out that it wasn't playing when it had frightened our pup. Lady immediately became very defensive and told me if i wasn't prepared for my pup to play with other dogs I should take it home and lock it up. I was furious and felt she had no control over any of her dogs. Was this acceptable and I was being too protective of the pup? Usually walk our dogs on the mountain by our home so only meet dogs we know so not really thought about it much but I would never allow my dogs that far away from me not knowing what they may be encountering.

I would have absolutley lost my sh!t with the stupid woman, I hate owners like her who have no idea about dog behaviour and think their dog is "playing"

 

[YorksG]

I think the take away lesson for the op is to never allow the pup to go up to dogs that the op doesn't know. In this instance the pup sounds to have initiated the contact.

 

[Moobli]

It just isn't under control otherwise and there are many reasons an unfamiliar dog shouldn't be "chased" - from training to pain issues.

Precisely, and I know two people whose dogs were minding their own business when an out of control dog ran up (in one instance it was a "professional" dog walker with half a dozen off lead, out of control dogs) causing their dogs to run in fright, quite some distance in one case, and on to a road where they were killed

 

[paisley]

What a brainless fool he was! Could he not think of anything even vaguely intelligent? Idiot.

Apparently, it was my fault, as I'd seen him, and could have moved onto the very muddy path one metre away. I did mention that FlufferPoo had made the full speed bomb towards us over 10 metres away, but hey, can't fix stupid eh?

 

[Moobli]

I think the take away lesson for the op is to never allow the pup to go up to dogs that the op doesn't know. In this instance the pup sounds to have initiated the contact.

I don't think it is fair to put any of the blame on the OP tbh. Of course it isn't always wise to assume a loose dog, and an oblivious owner, is friendly and won't cause a problem, but actually in many instances a puppy on lead accosted by an adult dog will distress the puppy more as it isn't able to get away. Dogs meeting off lead is in many cases better for all concerned and in the situation the OP describes I would have either done the same or shouted loudly to the collie owner to get her dog.
In an ideal world everyone would have control of their own dogs and wouldn't allow them to approach others unless invited.

 

[YorksG]

I don't think it is fair to put any of the blame on the OP tbh. Of course it isn't always wise to assume a loose dog, and an oblivious owner, is friendly and won't cause a problem, but actually in many instances a puppy on lead accosted by an adult dog will distress the puppy more as it isn't able to get away. Dogs meeting off lead is in many cases better for all concerned and in the situation the OP describes I would have either done the same or shouted loudly to the collie owner to get her dog.
In an ideal world everyone would have control of their own dogs and wouldn't allow them to approach others unless invited.

Then we shall have to agree to disagree. I always make the assumption that other owners will not take responsibility for their dog, so make the best efforts possible to control mine, which for me includes not allowing my dog to approach dogs I don't know.

 

[twiggy2]

I don't think it is fair to put any of the blame on the OP tbh. Of course it isn't always wise to assume a loose dog, and an oblivious owner, is friendly and won't cause a problem, but actually in many instances a puppy on lead accosted by an adult dog will distress the puppy more as it isn't able to get away. Dogs meeting off lead is in many cases better for all concerned and in the situation the OP describes I would have either done the same or shouted loudly to the collie owner to get her dog.
In an ideal world everyone would have control of their own dogs and wouldn't allow them to approach others unless invited.

Its a tricky one, often dogs don't like to be followed, with a young dog and an unknown dog lying in front of me I would have probably just turned and gone the other way to put distance between us and avoided contact.
This is not aimed at you but I wanted to say I don't think the other owner behaved in the correct way and they should have had their dog under control and been aware of what was going on, I dont think the other dog played nice and a more confident response from the pup may have diffused the situation and the outcome been different.

 

[Clodagh]

I don't think it is fair to put any of the blame on the OP tbh. Of course it isn't always wise to assume a loose dog, and an oblivious owner, is friendly and won't cause a problem, but actually in many instances a puppy on lead accosted by an adult dog will distress the puppy more as it isn't able to get away. Dogs meeting off lead is in many cases better for all concerned and in the situation the OP describes I would have either done the same or shouted loudly to the collie owner to get her dog.
In an ideal world everyone would have control of their own dogs and wouldn't allow them to approach others unless invited.

I agree with this. I rarely walk with other dogs but when we were at the beach with Clover last week our dogs interacted with other dogs, it was all very relaxed.

 

[Tizzy01]

A moment today, of total agreement with another dog owner, when they called me a "precious dog owner".
I explained his off- lead out of control FlufferPoo was not welcome to climb all over my on lead dog that has ongoing muscular skeletal issues.
His response was to tell me to "Be quiet" , which I always find to be the winning argument 🙄

Very similar happened to me a month or so ago. My puppy was 4 months old and on lead (as we were in a nature reserve and he will chase the birds- part of his recall we are working on). A poodle came crashing up to him and began barking and snapping at him. I asked the owner to please either call her dog or put it on a lead. She asked why? I told her. She replied ‘puppies need to be socialised’ 😡😡 and asked in a really patronising way if I had ever had a dog before. I was quite shaken as she was quite aggressive and I was pretty peed off.

 

[paisley]

Very similar happened to me a month or so ago. My puppy was 4 months old and on lead (as we were in a nature reserve and he will chase the birds- part of his recall we are working on). A poodle came crashing up to him and began barking and snapping at him. I asked the owner to please either call her dog or put it on a lead. She asked why? I told her. She replied ‘puppies need to be socialised’ 😡😡 and asked in a really patronising way if I had ever had a dog before. I was quite shaken as she was quite aggressive and I was pretty peed off.

Imagine if I started a new job and on my first day ran up to new colleagues, gave them a massive hug, quick snog and then shoved them to the floor and yelled "HELLO!, I'M IN CHARGE ROUND HERE!"
Hope pup and you are okay though.

 

[Tizzy01]

Imagine if I started a new job and on my first day ran up to new colleagues, gave them a massive hug, quick snog and then shoved them to the floor and yelled "HELLO!, I'M IN CHARGE ROUND HERE!"
Hope pup and you are okay though.

Ha good example! Yeah Henry is grand, he is fairly dog neutral- much prefers birds and chasing the odd leaf😂

 

[misst]

I live in a very doggy area and walk a similar walk most days at a similar time. Therefore we meet the same dogs most of the time. The other day Ruby met her mate (same age BT) Betsie and they have always played well together in the open area.

A new little Patterdale also similar age and weight came on lead and was obviously keen to say hello. We all went on lead and stood speaking to each other. When calm the patterdales owner allowed some contact - sniffing, with the other two. They then were allowed off lead and happily socialised with no problems - but everyone was polite initially. Throughout this my boy terrier cross took himself to the side of the path out of the way and ignored everyone. If the patterdale had come running up to him he would have growled and if it got in his face airsnapped at it.

Because the owner was sensible and time was given to the dogs to calm and sniff and see who was sending lets play signals and who was sending aloof signals there was no trouble. After a few minutes everyone went back on lead to walk away. It can be done! We have mainly polite nice dog people round here and most of them put dogs on leads to approach a strange dog or if they see that another dog is already on a lead.

 

[Crugeran Celt]

Then we shall have to agree to disagree. I always make the assumption that other owners will not take responsibility for their dog, so make the best efforts possible to control mine, which for me includes not allowing my dog to approach dogs I don't know.

I can see your point but in my defence I don't usually walk in this type of environment and as the collie was laying across the path out of the woods there was no avoiding him and from experience a dog that is lose is usually less reactive to another lose dog than one on lead. Lessons learned though and it will not happen again. Very naive of me to think an owner with a large dog would not leave it lose if it didn't have manners.

 

[YorksG]

Very naive of me to think an owner with a large dog would not leave it lose if it didn't have manners.

Sadly idiots own dogs of all sizes! We had two ridgebacks locally, with no manners, who took themselves for walks whenever they felt like it!

 

[Clodagh]

We meets lots of free range collies on our walks and tbh I’d have done the same as you, except if it was lying down/ staring i would have tried to keep mine away, but if you can’t (it was on path) then hoping for the best would probably have been my default.

 

[Crugeran Celt]

I live in a very doggy area and walk a similar walk most days at a similar time. Therefore we meet the same dogs most of the time. The other day Ruby met her mate (same age BT) Betsie and they have always played well together in the open area.

A new little Patterdale also similar age and weight came on lead and was obviously keen to say hello. We all went on lead and stood speaking to each other. When calm the patterdales owner allowed some contact - sniffing, with the other two. They then were allowed off lead and happily socialised with no problems - but everyone was polite initially. Throughout this my boy terrier cross took himself to the side of the path out of the way and ignored everyone. If the patterdale had come running up to him he would have growled and if it got in his face airsnapped at it.

Because the owner was sensible and time was given to the dogs to calm and sniff and see who was sending lets play signals and who was sending aloof signals there was no trouble. After a few minutes everyone went back on lead to walk away. It can be done! We have mainly polite nice dog people round here and most of them put dogs on leads to approach a strange dog or if they see that another dog is already on a lead.

We always put pup on a lead to greet other dogs that are on leads and always have her to heel. I really messed up with this one and only left her off because I had a x collie myself and she was brilliant greeting other lose dogs but she didn't like dogs on leads. Won't happen again that's for sure.

 

[Mrs Jingle]

We always put pup on a lead to greet other dogs that are on leads and always have her to heel. I really messed up with this one and only left her off because I had a x collie myself and she was brilliant greeting other lose dogs but she didn't like dogs on leads. Won't happen again that's for sure.

I think you are being far too hard on yourself. Yes with reflection it wasn't perhaps the wisest thing to let your pup run up to the collie. But, the main fault is definitely with the pig ignorant collie's owner for allowing the dog to just do what the heck it wanted without even bothering to check on any possible developing situation going on behind them as she and her equally ignorant pal chatted away and walked on.

At least you were watching your pup and well aware of what it was doing and seeing the situation escalate was enough of a lesson for you IMO. It was only a minor misjudgement on your part and certainly a learning curve, but isn't dog and horse ownership a constant learning curve for all of us, even the experts?

 

[Clodagh]

We always put pup on a lead to greet other dogs that are on leads and always have her to heel. I really messed up with this one and only left her off because I had a x collie myself and she was brilliant greeting other lose dogs but she didn't like dogs on leads. Won't happen again that's for sure.

Don’t beat yourself up, he who never made a mistake never made anything and hindsight is never wrong!