Irresponsible Owners

[SaddlePsych'D]

Fully expect to turn up on the local town Facebook page as the dog-abusing harridan.

I feel like this is going to happen to me sooner or later!

It's been a while since I've done it as I lost my nerve when we moved house but I pulled out my 'stop hand' and shouted no at a dog yesterday in a way I think might have made two completely unrelated people sit up and listen , they were just chilling out in the field no dogs with them. I'd tried the 'ignore and just walk on' while calling out 'no thank you' to this dog and another dogs owner as they both came over uninvited. Saw the one owner again in another field on my way back to the car so made my very clear manoeuvre to the other hedge line to put as much space between us as possible and guess what...bloke meanders into the middle of the space and his dog runs over to us again. So it got shouted at. I did also swear a bit 'I said no the first fecking time!' because I am just so fed up right now of struggling to find easy walks in green spaces where we can just enjoy each others' company, being in nature, decompression for us both, and not have various uninvited/unwanted interactions.

 

[BBP]

Just watched a man forced to walk his tiny little fluffy white dog out into a busy high street road to avoid it getting its head ripped off by a massive raging Akita that was barely being contained by two grown humans. I was genuinely terrified for small dog either being hit by a car or if the Akita broke loose from its collar and grabbed it.

My dog is also reactive so I feel for the owners, but I would have taken steps to get my dog away from small fluffy.

 

[Karran]

English Setter followed mine for 15 minutes tonight, taking turns to try and hump both mine until Mrs Collie showed him her teeth and then just zoned in on Mrs Spaniel who is far too shy to do anything other than close eyes and ears and hope it goes away.
I shooed it away a couple of times but it followed us and even tried to get in the car with us.
I mistakenly thought it belonged to two teenagers who appeared 5 minutes later but they were just lost and a bit gormless in general.
Dog had no tag and I wasn't sure what to do with him. (We don't have a dog warden locally). Didn't particularly want him in my car to drop off at vets to microchip either as no way of separating him from my two in transport.
Was going to just hang out with him and a ball/treats for a bit longer in case an owner came panting up the hill when he turned sharply and disappeared through bushes.
I'm a bit Deaf after covid so assumed he had heard his owner and went back to find her.
I was just about to get back in my car when a woman with a cockerpoo asked me if I'd seen it.
It wasn't hers but a woman nowhere near us had lost it.
I walked up to her, told her where it has been
"Impossible he was with me at X point"
"Well yes but he met me at Y point and I lost him at Z point so I suggest you retrace your steps as he will be and loop back around both points."
"Oh my this is ridiculous. I wish you'd just done the responsible thing and held on to him for me."
I was pretty annoyed at this point, told her it wasn't my responsibility to teach it recall and walked off, I retraced my steps along the path where it met us and then back to where it left us where I bumped into Cockerpoo owner again.
I asked her if it had been spotted and she said no.
I feel really guilty that the dog is now lost and that I should have held its collar and waited(?) For nearly 20 minutes for an owner to appear.
I looped around again, meeting Cockerpoo owner who still hadn't seen it and gave up and went home.
Setter owner was still where I saw her last (another 15/20 minutes later) calling for him.
I wound down my window, suggested again she goes back to where she last saw him and that I'd looked for him.
"Well this is all your fault, for losing him. (Yes really!) You should be helping me look for Setter."

I really do feel guilty and responsible and hope he blunders out of a Bush to her and if she hadn't been rude I'd have stayed and helped her find him but I was so annoyed I just left.

 

[CorvusCorax]

Don't feel guilty, it's not your problem and I would have put my boot up it's backside if it had tried to hump my dogs, never mind babysit it.
Cheeky cow.

 

[SaddlePsych'D]

English Setter followed mine for 15 minutes tonight, taking turns to try and hump both mine until Mrs Collie showed him her teeth and then just zoned in on Mrs Spaniel who is far too shy to do anything other than close eyes and ears and hope it goes away.
I shooed it away a couple of times but it followed us and even tried to get in the car with us.
I mistakenly thought it belonged to two teenagers who appeared 5 minutes later but they were just lost and a bit gormless in general.
Dog had no tag and I wasn't sure what to do with him. (We don't have a dog warden locally). Didn't particularly want him in my car to drop off at vets to microchip either as no way of separating him from my two in transport.
Was going to just hang out with him and a ball/treats for a bit longer in case an owner came panting up the hill when he turned sharply and disappeared through bushes.
I'm a bit Deaf after covid so assumed he had heard his owner and went back to find her.
I was just about to get back in my car when a woman with a cockerpoo asked me if I'd seen it.
It wasn't hers but a woman nowhere near us had lost it.
I walked up to her, told her where it has been
"Impossible he was with me at X point"
"Well yes but he met me at Y point and I lost him at Z point so I suggest you retrace your steps as he will be and loop back around both points."
"Oh my this is ridiculous. I wish you'd just done the responsible thing and held on to him for me."
I was pretty annoyed at this point, told her it wasn't my responsibility to teach it recall and walked off, I retraced my steps along the path where it met us and then back to where it left us where I bumped into Cockerpoo owner again.
I asked her if it had been spotted and she said no.
I feel really guilty that the dog is now lost and that I should have held its collar and waited(?) For nearly 20 minutes for an owner to appear.
I looped around again, meeting Cockerpoo owner who still hadn't seen it and gave up and went home.
Setter owner was still where I saw her last (another 15/20 minutes later) calling for him.
I wound down my window, suggested again she goes back to where she last saw him and that I'd looked for him.
"Well this is all your fault, for losing him. (Yes really!) You should be helping me look for Setter."

I really do feel guilty and responsible and hope he blunders out of a Bush to her and if she hadn't been rude I'd have stayed and helped her find him but I was so annoyed I just left.

What on earth?!

Definitely no guilt on your part. Her dog, her responsibility. Projection much?!

 

[Karran]

What on earth?!

Definitely no guilt on your part. Her dog, her responsibility. Projection much?!

Cockerpoo owner said as much on our 3rd meeting. She was elderly and walking slowly so said if she met it on that loop she'd return it. Her little dog was an absolute darling and completely Well behaved and attentive to make sure he didn't outstride her. If only others could be as responsible!

 

[blackcob]

Apart from anything else how does she know you were in a position to hang on to the bloody thing if you had wanted to? Having been followed and humped my dog would be frothing at it, and who among us carries a spare lead unless you're near enough to the car.

 

[Cinnamontoast]

Just considering Zak’s reaction if I caught and held onto a loose dog ? I love English setters ?

 

[GSD Woman]

Is it that the poo things are innately difficult to train, or that their owners are more likely to be numpties, does anyone know?

Owners are more likely to be numpties. Seems to be the way of the "designer" dog owners.

 

[Smitty]

Perhaps if the stupid owner had put a tag on the collar, which is a legal requirement, you could have rung her and told her where her effing dog was. Alternatively, you could have just driven off with it, sold it and been in pocket instead of instead of having to deal with her selfish dimness.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

Must be something about English setters, or their owners! Last week when we took our Labs to a country park, we had 2 separate pairs of ES come up to us and take no notice whatsoever of their owners trying to call them back. The 2nd pair were fat, too!

 

[Clodagh]

Oh I want an English setter, my mum used to work them on the moors. If someone can grab me a bitch I’ll give them a fiver?

 

[skinnydipper]

Owners who can't see that their dog is asking for space.

People who can't see that someone else's dog is asking for space

Owners of lame, grossly obese dogs who think they don't need to lose any weight.

 

[ArklePig]

A friend of mine was walking her dachshund on the beach on lead (you know, being responsible as beach busy and recall not great) and they were approached and harassed by 3 GSPs. She said 'sorry you couldn't call your dog please?' and apparently the owner just kept saying 'come here, come here' in monotone and was unable to catch them until they lost interest. Honestly if you've one dog with bad recall keep it away from distractions, but 3! Christ alive.

 

[Cinnamontoast]

Must be something about English setters, or their owners! Last week when we took our Labs to a country park, we had 2 separate pairs of ES come up to us and take no notice whatsoever of their owners trying to call them back. The 2nd pair were fat, too!

Few and far between when I looked for a litter-two based in Ireland.

Oh I want an English setter, my mum used to work them on the moors. If someone can grab me a bitch I’ll give them a fiver?

Ha, you’ll be lucky! My OH refused to contemplate one when I showed him a litter. He said ‘they look funny’. I think he meant they don’t look like springers ?

 

[Cinnamontoast]

A friend of mine was walking her dachshund on the beach on lead (you know, being responsible as beach busy and recall not great) and they were approached and harassed by 3 GSPs. She said 'sorry you couldn't call your dog please?' and apparently the owner just kept saying 'come here, come here' in monotone and was unable to catch them until they lost interest. Honestly if you've one dog with bad recall keep it away from distractions, but 3! Christ alive.

Utter nightmare. I’m delighted to say that Mitch now just walks away from other dogs. Goose doesn’t care, Bear is too busy crashing through cover to care.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

Few and far between when I looked for a litter-two based in Ireland.



Ha, you’ll be lucky! My OH refused to contemplate one when I showed him a litter. He said ‘they look funny’. I think he meant they don’t look like springers ?

I was surprised to see them tbh. We sometimes see a group of people with a number of all 3 breeds of Setters, which are well-behaved and mannerly, all playing together but these 2 pairs appeared to be completely separate from each other and both had irresponsible owners. When I was growing up there used to be an ES which lived about a mile from the centre of the village, regularly escaped from home and came to visit our house. I was told later that ES were easier to train than IS!

 

[Cinnamontoast]

I was surprised to see them tbh. We sometimes see a group of people with a number of all 3 breeds of Setters, which are well-behaved and mannerly, all playing together but these 2 pairs appeared to be completely separate from each other and both had irresponsible owners. When I was growing up there used to be an ES which lived about a mile from the centre of the village, regularly escaped from home and came to visit our house. I was told later that ES were easier to train than IS!

Lots of breeders on Champdogs-been down a mini internet wormhole-but no puppies available.

 

[GSD Woman]

Give me an Irish red and white or a Gordon over the other 2 any day! Though friends of my family have always had nice IS and theirs have always been nice dogs.

 

[Caol Ila]

Oh I want an English setter, my mum used to work them on the moors. If someone can grab me a bitch I’ll give them a fiver?

I could have got you one the other week. No idea what sex it was, though. A setter, all on its lonesome, charged past my horse in the park. Running flat-out. Luckily it paid no attention whatsoever to me. About five minutes later, a woman asked me if I had seen a brown English setter. Yes, legging it in the opposite direction at a rate of knots. Good luck catching that.

 

[GSD Woman]

Oh I want an English setter, my mum used to work them on the moors. If someone can grab me a bitch I’ll give them a fiver?

You missed a great deal in my local paper. A hunter crossed his field English and Gordon. His aim was good dogs for shooting. I bet I could have grabbed one for you. How it would get to you would have been your problem. ;-)

 

[Cinnamontoast]

Ireland is your go to for an English setter.

 

[CorvusCorax]

There is/was an excellent breeder in Shopshire but I don't think they really advertise.

 

[Clodagh]

Thank you but I wouldn’t really get one. I don’t do enough on moors to justify it.

 

[fiwen30]

Partner’s parent’s 13ish year old golden continues to make me sad.

He came home after visiting them on Sunday afternoon, all sad himself - his mum had told him how the golden hadn’t eaten all day, hadn’t got out of his bed, and had generally been down all day. When partner came in, the golden perked up and was very visibly pleased to see him.

I said that sounds very sad, and that I had some thoughts about that, if he wanted to hear them. He agreed. I very carefully said that it sounds like the golden is in pain, and that his parents could really do with covering the vast swathes of slippy laminate floors that the dog slides around on, on his increasingly unsteady back end. I said that it’s a shame that the golden is uncomfortable, when it could be managed better than it is currently - not just head shaking over ‘how sad’ it is.

Partner didn’t like to hear it, which I expected. I don’t think he believes that it’s untrue, more the fact that it’s his ‘family dog’, but that he’s not able to have any decision in its care or treatments, as it lives with his parents.

I think he’s starting to more clearly see the differences in how I insist that my senior dog is managed, compared to his parents. It’s a shame, all round.

 

[Clodagh]

@fiwen30 . It’s scarily common though. Relatives of mine are very proud of how long lived their dogs are. They are also very anti vets and repeat medications. So their elderly dogs are visibly suffering, they have one now that lies in its own mess as it can barely stand. But they love him so much that it’s ok.

 

[AShetlandBitMeOnce]

Partner’s parent’s 13ish year old golden continues to make me sad.

He came home after visiting them on Sunday afternoon, all sad himself - his mum had told him how the golden hadn’t eaten all day, hadn’t got out of his bed, and had generally been down all day. When partner came in, the golden perked up and was very visibly pleased to see him.

I said that sounds very sad, and that I had some thoughts about that, if he wanted to hear them. He agreed. I very carefully said that it sounds like the golden is in pain, and that his parents could really do with covering the vast swathes of slippy laminate floors that the dog slides around in on his increasingly unsteady back end. I said that it’s a shame that the golden is uncomfortable, when it could be managed better than it is currently - not just head shaking over ‘how sad’ it is.

Partner didn’t like to hear it, which I expected. I don’t think he believes that it’s untrue, more the fact that it’s his ‘family dog’, but that he’s not able to have any decision in its care or treatments, as it lives with his parents.

I think he’s starting to more clearly see the differences in how I insist that my senior dog is managed, compared to his parents. It’s a shame, all round.

I know just how hard this is, I had a similar problem with mum and our 23yo cat in that she would do everything to help like steps up to the sofa, carry her feed to her and various medication etc but the cat was visibly in significant pain and mum would say 'oh she's just old and stiff' or 'she still eats and drinks'. I had to do a couple of tough love speeches like 'do you really want the 'x' to be in such pain that she stops eating' and things like that, and then gently but persistently ask for her to be taken to a vet at least to assess; as it's an impartial and professional opinion - plus I think the fact our other 23yo cat is in perfect health wasn't helping as "therefore 'x' must be okay if her sister still is". She was PTS a few weeks ago once mum had thought it through and the vet had supported that it was the right thing to do here. Sometimes people aren't willing to see, sometimes people 'love them too much', and sometimes people get used to a behaviour over time and don't see how bad it is. It;s a really tough place to be in and I don't envy you, but sometimes you have to be the bad guy as you have found out!

 

[fiwen30]

@fiwen30 . It’s scarily common though. Relatives of mine are very proud of how long lived their dogs are. They are also very anti vets and repeat medications. So their elderly dogs are visibly suffering, they have one now that lies in its own mess as it can barely stand. But they love him so much that it’s ok.

It’s such a shame, and really upsetting. Active ageing seems so rarely discussed in some circles, especially in owners who have always brought up animals in a certain way.

I know I can’t force his parents to do anything, and I know that, deep down, partner knows as well as I do - he’s learnt alongside me, while we care for and manage our senior boy. He’s powerless to do anything about it too, or at least not able to bring up the subject with them, in a constructive manner.

It’s just such a shame that the dog isn’t getting the adaptions and support that it needs in it’s old age. And it would be so simple - his parents aren’t hard off. They could afford to medicate the golden to keep it comfortable for these last years, they could cover the slippy floors, they could teach the dog how to use the ramp we lent them (and replaced out of pocket) so it could get in and out of the car, they could manage the dog’s exercise better and not run it ragged so it can’t move for the rest of the day. Say nothing for them also being retired and time-rich for things like massage, heat therapy, and hydro sessions.

I’d go to the moon for my dog, and will never understand why others would could, won’t.

 

[CorvusCorax]

I mean we've had the conversation on here about management on multiple occasions, I recall a poster getting very irate when I suggested running young dogs ragged even though they LOVE IT would store up problems in later life.
Having my older dogs with me is a privilege and I owe it to them to try and keep them sound, fit and as pain free as possible.
The day I have to heavily medicate them to keep them mobile is the day I have to have a word with myself about the future and I think I've made my feelings clear on dogs that cannot toilet themselves or get up without assistance.

I consider my dogs athletes but I do think a lot of pet dogs seem to have a heavier 'workload'.
It boggles my mind that on a forum where people painstakingly observe their horse's fitness and weight, the same consideration is sometimes sadly not afforded to dogs.

ETA: being slightly more charitable
On the flipside I do find people from horsey backgrounds that move into dog sports are more into developing fitness and are aware of the importance of warm up and cool down etc.

 

[blackcob]

You've reminded me that the 'Christmas clear out' - an uptick in elective euthanasia around Christmas time - used to get to me a bit. I know there's debate in veterinary circles as to whether it is a real phenomenon, or if it's just looking for patterns around that time of year to reinforce belief in it as a thing. It did seem to be a thing that relatives coming home for Christmas who hadn't seen the animal in months would be the ones to point out just how much the dog had deteriorated, the pre-emptive shame of 'what will son/daughter think' forced owners into taking action, or the realisation dawned that the dog was now too poorly to travel or go into kennels.

Often went hand in hand with some weekend warrior stuff as well, demanding NSAIDs that the dog hadn't received in the previous 12 months because visiting relatives wanted to go out for a lengthy walk and repetitive ball-chuck and the dog can't move the following day.