Irresponsible Owners

I don’t let my dog Walker let the youngsters off lead and probably won’t even now their recall is pretty good. I’m way too paranoid! Bear is extremely reliable so he can go off, but I don't think I’d be happy to hear mine had been running riot.
 
Cinnamontoast said:
I don’t let my dog Walker let the youngsters off lead and probably won’t even now their recall is pretty good. I’m way too paranoid! Bear is extremely reliable so he can go off, but I don't think I’d be happy to hear mine had been running riot.
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I doubt that the owners have any idea of the chaos that their dog walking is! I do wonder how many people walk with the dog walker, prior to deciding to leave their dogs with her.
 
YorksG said:
I doubt that the owners have any idea of the chaos that their dog walking is! I do wonder how many people walk with the dog walker, prior to deciding to leave their dogs with her.
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I bet not many people really think of that. I was super lucky with mine, she’s all singing all dancing (dbs cleared, fully insured) Her Facebook page is very thorough! We see her out and about, she kept her distance the other day when the OH was working on recall, which I thought was sensible, although we quite like distractions, it’s all grist to the mill.
 
Absolutely does my nut in. I have 2 dogs, a huge black lab and a Belgian malinois cross GSD who is a rescue and very reactive to off leash dogs who just barge up. She was attacked by a bully breed in our local park who wasn’t off leash, but had pulled the leash out of her hand and sprinted over with the pure intention of attacking her. And when she starts barking and lunging so does my other dog. I can handle them both but it’s frustrating as hell. And so annoying to get the “oh she just wants to play” from the owner. Im not above telling them to leash up either. But they get so defensive. One guy told me it’s not his dogs fault my dog is out of control…..on a leash. ? My dogs get off leash every day in a secure field behind a forest we walk in. I never let them off leash in busy places. Although sometimes I feel like just letting her go and seeing how my dog feels about theirs wanting to play ?
 
YorksG said:
Took our two and the pup we dog sit for down into the local wood late morning. The path down runs alongside fields, which people use as dog walking area, although they may get a bit of a shock in the coming weeks when the cattle are turned out! Saw one of the "professional dog walkers" with about half a dozen varied sized dogs running wild, in the field. We sat ours down to let her get out of the way, we had just set off to follow at a distance, when a greyhound came bombing out of the field, after the walker. She appeared to be oblivious of the fact that she was one down. Then there was the golden who also got very left behind at the gate into the wood.
Having made sure of which way she was going, we went in another direction. Five minutes later a spaniel came up the path towards us, absolutely screaming, either chasing wildlife, or being chased by another dog, we called ours back and got hold of them. She turned and went another way, but was no where near the did she was "walking".
We think she's the same person who lost the doodle that we ended up finding the owner of late last year.
I am sure that the owners believe that they are doing the responsible thing by employing this woman, but she's a disaster waiting to happen! She was also on the phone most of the time that we could see her.
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Noooo! I've been thinking I need to stop being too precious and sort a dog walker for Ivy but I've read so many things like this, plus seen a couple in action when hacking share horse. Even on some of the websites it's like 'eek!' The good ones I felt comfortable to approach are all booked up.

I'm the irresponsible owner this week. Ivy came to work again and struggled to settle like she had before. She's had a rubbish couple of days and it's my fault. I should have just brought us both home but pushed through and it wasn't fair on her.
 
I had a very poor experience yesterday! I was in my garden with my dog who has really great recall and is polite with other dogs. A neighbour of mine was walking 3 dogs so I stopped for a chat. Red IT was hunting in the undergrowth so didn't pay any attention at that point. Neighbour was literally just telling me how fed up she was with off lead dogs, dogs with bad manners, owners that couldn't hold their dog etc when Red trundled out the gate to say hello. Off lead...He was very polite to the 3 dogs; 2 of which he knows well but not the third which was a strong collie/GSD type on a harness. I called Red to me as he had started to 'drift' down the lane a bit away from the neigbour and dogs. Neighbour's dog no 3 just went for him, pulling her almost over in the process. Red scarpered very sensibly without any attempt to get into a scrap and I turned on my heel to retreat also. Neighbour was apologising of course but clearly rather shame faced...I am glad however that dog was in a harness but he really hasn't got very nice manners!!
 
palo1 said:
I had a very poor experience yesterday! I was in my garden with my dog who has really great recall and is polite with other dogs. A neighbour of mine was walking 3 dogs so I stopped for a chat. Red IT was hunting in the undergrowth so didn't pay any attention at that point. Neighbour was literally just telling me how fed up she was with off lead dogs, dogs with bad manners, owners that couldn't hold their dog etc when Red trundled out the gate to say hello. Off lead...He was very polite to the 3 dogs; 2 of which he knows well but not the third which was a strong collie/GSD type on a harness. I called Red to me as he had started to 'drift' down the lane a bit away from the neigbour and dogs. Neighbour's dog no 3 just went for him, pulling her almost over in the process. Red scarpered very sensibly without any attempt to get into a scrap and I turned on my heel to retreat also. Neighbour was apologising of course but clearly rather shame faced...I am glad however that dog was in a harness but he really hasn't got very nice manners!!
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Personally I’m not sure what she had to be shamefaced about when it was Red who approached her? Unless I’m missing the point.
 
Not an owner, a guide dog puppy walker.

My dog was playing with a group of dogs the other day, the guide dog youngster was part of the group. It was jumping up at me unchecked which I didn't think was brilliant behaviour for a future guide dog but not my problem.

Today it left the walker and headed straight for my dog who was on her lead. I can only describe the pup's behaviour as pushy and obsequious - submissive but not really submissive, I'm not describing it very well but you guys will know what I mean. My dog could not move for it, it was all over her, and she was not happy and gave a quiet, low growl. The walker made no attempt to call it so I told OH to grab its collar before things escalated, when he let go it went back to her.

So we get into the parkland proper with the woman on our heels with the dog now on its lead and she asked me if I was going to let my dog off to play and I said no. I said your dog completely overwhelmed her and she doesn't want to play.

Silly woman told me to let her off and that my dog would put the pup in its place. I told her that was really not a good idea.

We headed off in another direction.

On our way back here it is again, racing across the parkland to harass the dogs of a couple with children. A small dog was rapidly picked up, it stole the ball off another and two of the couple's dogs were going nuts on their leads. So that was their walk ruined.

It then ran at us again. OH grabbed its collar and I kept walking with the big girl before she took matters into her own hands, so to speak.

The dog will be no good for anything by the time the silly woman has finished with it.
 
Honestly though, people wait a long time for a Guide Dog and can go through the pain of getting an unsuitable dog and having to let it go or worse, things go wrong - and there is a hell of a lot of money being spent on training, food and vet care, a lot of which comes from donations.

It's with the puppy walker to learn how to be a good dog and see the world, not run amok and do whatever it likes.
 
skinnydipper said:
Silly woman told me to let her off and that my dog would put the pup in its place. I told her that was really not a good idea.
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I really hate that attitude. I don’t want my pups scared by another dog. It’s not the adult’s dog’s job to discipline a puppy, it’s for me to train them. I’ve heard it so much over the years. Drives me nuts.

There must be a way to report her total lack of control?
 
We met 2 dogs today on our lunchtime walk, first one was a neighbour bringing his young collie home for lunch on his lead. Ours sat down while we all had a chat -good manners all round.

Then just coming out of the wood, as we were going in was a black Lab dog, about the same age as our adults. Our 3 were all on leads, other owner carrying a lead, as he climbed over the stile but he never spoke a word to his dog who came up to ours who were sitting at the side of the path to allow them to pass. Dog looked nervous, our pup growled at him, owner laughed and eventually moved his dog on. I was still trying to get my head around what had just happened, so didn't say anything (at all) to him. Wait 'til next time!
 
skinnydipper said:
Silly woman told me to let her off and that my dog would put the pup in its place.
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My absolute pet hate, and got me intro trouble once when I responded to a repeat offender that it wasn't my dog's job to teach theirs - the woman was absolutely apoplectic - apparently my saying that was the rudest thing she'd ever heard. ?
 
blackcob said:
My absolute pet hate, and got me intro trouble once when I responded to a repeat offender that it wasn't my dog's job to teach theirs - the woman was absolutely apoplectic - apparently my saying that was the rudest thing she'd ever heard. ?
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People are so weird. Why would someone be happy at having totally unknown dogs having a pop at their dog?!
 
blackcob said:
My absolute pet hate, and got me intro trouble once when I responded to a repeat offender that it wasn't my dog's job to teach theirs - the woman was absolutely apoplectic - apparently my saying that was the rudest thing she'd ever heard. ?
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"Let the dogs sort it out" is something else that anyone with a functioning brain cell would not say
 
Witnessed a bit of a weird one on saturday. Took smol dog to a local meadow, paths through it and very popular dog walking spot in that particular village. Shortly after we got there, a guy come in with a Pointer of some kind, and he proceeded to powerwalk around the meadow with his mobile phone glued to his ear, dog off lead and wandering all over the place.
In the far corner, on a path that splits off the main as a kind of lump and rejoins, there was a guy sat on the bench, throwing a ball for his dog, some sort of staffy terrier cross thingy.
I stuck to the main path, but as I went by, Phone guy powerwalked his way towards Bench Guy, followed by Pointer. Bench Guy calls Terrier to him and grabs his collar. Pointer starts to move over towards Terrier, Terrier loses his mind. Bench Guy is yelling Stay Back! Away! to Pointer whilst Terrier snarls and thrashes around. Phone Guy gives a short whistle (which doesn't do much) and continues striding post on the phone. Pointer get closer then loses interest and waders vaguely after his owner.

Found out from another walker that both are regulars, Bench Guy's dog is apparently a rescue and dog aggressive.

I've been mulling it over since then, as to who was 'in the wrong' so to speak. Having a dog aggressive dog off lead in a popular dog walking field does seem a bit silly, but then he did tuck himself away off the main path and the dog was fine until the Pointer started approaching them. Phone Guy was definitely a moron, he should have stopped, recalled his dog and gone around once it became obvious there was going to be an issue, not continue past almost oblivious.

I had enough braincells to understand that Bench Guy was off to the side for a reason and give him space, I wonder if Phone Guy would have done the same if he weren't on his phone and actually paying attention to his dog?
 
Nasicus said:
Witnessed a bit of a weird one on saturday. Took smol dog to a local meadow, paths through it and very popular dog walking spot in that particular village. Shortly after we got there, a guy come in with a Pointer of some kind, and he proceeded to powerwalk around the meadow with his mobile phone glued to his ear, dog off lead and wandering all over the place.
In the far corner, on a path that splits off the main as a kind of lump and rejoins, there was a guy sat on the bench, throwing a ball for his dog, some sort of staffy terrier cross thingy.
I stuck to the main path, but as I went by, Phone guy powerwalked his way towards Bench Guy, followed by Pointer. Bench Guy calls Terrier to him and grabs his collar. Pointer starts to move over towards Terrier, Terrier loses his mind. Bench Guy is yelling Stay Back! Away! to Pointer whilst Terrier snarls and thrashes around. Phone Guy gives a short whistle (which doesn't do much) and continues striding post on the phone. Pointer get closer then loses interest and waders vaguely after his owner.

Found out from another walker that both are regulars, Bench Guy's dog is apparently a rescue and dog aggressive.

I've been mulling it over since then, as to who was 'in the wrong' so to speak. Having a dog aggressive dog off lead in a popular dog walking field does seem a bit silly, but then he did tuck himself away off the main path and the dog was fine until the Pointer started approaching them. Phone Guy was definitely a moron, he should have stopped, recalled his dog and gone around once it became obvious there was going to be an issue, not continue past almost oblivious.

I had enough braincells to understand that Bench Guy was off to the side for a reason and give him space, I wonder if Phone Guy would have done the same if he weren't on his phone and actually paying attention to his dog?
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Having had a very fear/dog aggressive dog, I’d say both owners were at fault. Pointer should have better recall, rescue owner could maybe be in a less populated area.

Zak would never go up to other dogs, but if one got in his face, there’d be bother, so I avoided peak times/areas. A bulldog came over one day, both mine were by then on leads, owner didn’t even try to recall. It went under Zak and of course Bear defended him. The owner said I shouldn’t have Zak off lead (training, doing retrieves, needed a job) and thought he was ok to unleash his dog as mine were free. He had the dog on a lead originally so I thought we were safe.
 
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