I don't think I can ever have a dog - but would welcome help

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sky1000

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I would like to have a dog, but what I hate, when I am walking, is dogs running towards me and or jumping up on me and their owners not seeing anything wrong with it. I have walked a dog with a friend, and that is much worse. More dogs are attracted to her dog, who is as good as you could want with other dogs ie friendly but not that interested, and it is obvious that that would happen if I ever had a dog. But even though her dog is so well adapted we have had problems with some dogs that were very aggressive to her and not called off effectively. We had a lovely lab when I was growing up, and a poodle later, and I would love a dog, but I just don't think I can cope with the dog walking. You don't need to tell me this sounds weak! Any help welcome please.
 
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Where on earth do you live OP, that has all these random dogs out of control? We all occasionally come across a duff owner who should know better, but in my experience the majority of owners keep their dogs under control.
Perhaps you could research places to dog walk that are less troublesome even if you had to go a little way in the car first.
 
OP, sounds like you live in my area! Nightmare walking my dog on the village green & woodland when am at work at lunchtimes on occasions.
If I'm at the yard, its got lovely walking (and hacking) on the door step tho, but I still have to pick the right times of day to avoid occasional muppetry - early morning is good as there are decent dog walkers out then :) Weekend afternoons we have families out walking with errant dogs which can be a ruddy nuisance on occasions.

All you need to do is go a bit further, usually where the parking is limited as you will get less dogs about. Worth you trying out different places on foot 1st :)

Hope you can work something out :)
 
Such a shame you don't enjoy dog walking. For me it is my no.1 pleasure in life. A chance to blow away cobwebs, destress and be with my "girls"
Dog walkers are always available
 
satinbaze said:
Such a shame you don't enjoy dog walking. For me it is my no.1 pleasure in life. A chance to blow away cobwebs, destress and be with my "girls"
Dog walkers are always available
Click to expand...

I totally agree with you. Cannot imagine not walking the dog twice a day.
OP, you seem to have set this up as a major hurdle, and would need to take your anxieties into account. You will end up like my mum who gets so uptight when she sees another dog she manages to start a fight far more often than anyone else I have ever met!
 
How much contact are you having with dogs apart from walking with your friend at the moment? It might help your confidence if you volunteered your help at your nearest rescue centre and spent time regularly around all kinds of dogs. You would realise that being upbeat around dogs is the prerequisite to enjoy dog ownership. Yes, some owners do not have good control over their dogs and some dogs have appalling manners but we have all learnt coping strategies and experimented until we found walks suitable for our individual dogs' quirks. I have three dogs to walk daily, two of them are lead reactive given a chance. I walk in open country where I can see a long way off so I can keep them a comfortable distance from other dogs and train them to try and improve their behaviour. If we get charged by another dog, we just deal with it, it is really not the end of the world (waterproof trousers are useful if you end up sitting in the mud!)
 
OP, what is it exactly that you are worried about? We all hate ill-mannered dogs (and their owners sometimes!) but most of us do develop coping strategies as planete has said. Are you frightened that you will get hurt or that your dog will be injured? If you could break it down to understand exactly what you fear it might help people to advise you :)
 
Thank you very much everyone for your thoughts. SC I think I am very wary of dogs I don't know but I will try to work out exactly what it is I am worried about!
 
Unfortunately OP, judging from my own experience your fears are probably justified. I love walking with my dog, and I have a particular 4 mile loop that I like to do every morning, but I'm getting increasingly worried about loose dogs. Last week a lab rushed out of its garden and attached itself to my dog's neck as we walked by. Luckily my dog is non reactive and OH was with me and managed to get it off, but it meant business.The owner was very apologetic and promised it wouldn't happen again, but it's spoiled my regular walk as I'm wary now. Its not the first time something like this has happened either.
Now whats really spooked me is some people have moved in locally with two akitas and on Sunday, driving through the village, I saw one out walking along the main street with no lead and the owner some way off texting. It may be the most lovely obedient dog in the world, but it scares the life out of me to think I could come across it with my dog and find out otherwise.
I love my dog walks but its becoming such a worry.
 
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