Irresponsible Owners

[Cinnamontoast]

We had a wire haired vizla puppy come wiggling up to us today. Owner has no lead, not even a collar on the pup. It’s about 1.5x the height of my collie. Lovely dog, super friendly. But my dog is not. Mine is on a lead. My dog goes rigid, eyes wide. I tell the owner my dog will start something. ‘Don’t worry, it’s fine’. Puppy starts sniffing mine, who keeps his cool for about 6 seconds then decides that’s enough. Puppy decided my dog clearly wants to play and bounces straight back. My dog lunges at him again. Puppy thinks this is great and barrels back in for a wrestle. My dog pins him to the floor. I feel like crap for not having better control of him and giving the puppy a bad experience. And it makes me really cross at myself that I didn’t do more to help prevent my dog from being put in that position. But owner is so laid back he really wasn’t bothered. (I sort of know him, nice guy and the pup is to fill the void of an old dog he just lost which just free roamed the farm. Now my brain is wondering how this pup will respond to my dog in future when he’s fully grown and still roaming around free.)

Come on, none of that was your fault. Not even a collar on the puppy and clearly zero recall? All the owner’s fault, not yours. You told him, he made no effort to get him back. As I keep saying, it’s not your/my dog’s job to control an untrained dog, that’s the owner’s responsibility.

 

[hazelnut]

Yeah, I’m getting more

We had a wire haired vizla puppy come wiggling up to us today. Owner has no lead, not even a collar on the pup. It’s about 1.5x the height of my collie. Lovely dog, super friendly. But my dog is not. Mine is on a lead. My dog goes rigid, eyes wide. I tell the owner my dog will start something. ‘Don’t worry, it’s fine’. Puppy starts sniffing mine, who keeps his cool for about 6 seconds then decides that’s enough. Puppy decided my dog clearly wants to play and bounces straight back. My dog lunges at him again. Puppy thinks this is great and barrels back in for a wrestle. My dog pins him to the floor. I feel like crap for not having better control of him and giving the puppy a bad experience. And it makes me really cross at myself that I didn’t do more to help prevent my dog from being put in that position. But owner is so laid back he really wasn’t bothered. (I sort of know him, nice guy and the pup is to fill the void of an old dog he just lost which just free roamed the farm. Now my brain is wondering how this pup will respond to my dog in future when he’s fully grown and still roaming around free.)

Yeah, I feel for you, it’s terrifying and not your fault. I keep having this recently. Dogs bounding across the park to us when mine is on lead. It always seems to be teeny tiny dogs too. My dog is friendly enough but on lead gets nervous when his space is invaded at speed. He’s only 8 months old and when their world is one meter squared it’s understandable. It’s terrifying as yesterday it was what looked like a mini westie did this. My guy wouldn’t really have to ‘do’ anything but is a Mal so big and powerful so really it could result in the mini dog getting hurt when mine hasn’t been aggressive at all. I just really shorten the lead, ask him to down and give a treat afterwards. Am considering a vest cam as it’s so frequent now.

 

[SAujla]

I've had a brilliant week with Clover, topped off today by her recalling away from a dog she knew. I get such a good feeling when she comes when I call her, I'd been relying on her coming back on her own accord too much. However when she was on lead we did get approached by 2 dogs with the owner not bothered, an off leash dog approaching an on lead dog is just unacceptable

 

[CorvusCorax]

At the reservoir. Mine stalked and eyeballed by a big black thing the oblivious owner brought way too close, mine boiled over and I got given the dirty look ?

Anyhoo rest of it was fine, at the end some guy appeared with two tiny Yorkies, no leads, smallest one made a beeline for a bigger terrier on leash with a young family and wouldn't leave it alone, cue him calling NAME x33,000 and being ignored, had to go over, pick it up and go back to his car, two walks ruined, well done mate.

Plus there was dog poo EVERYWHERE. Not a good advert for dog owners.

 

[skinnydipper]

It was an eventful day for us too, you couldn't make it up.

I walked from home this afternoon, for what I hoped would be a pleasant walk.

A couple with a small terrier crossed the road to walk into us, remarking on big girl's size and asking what breed she is as they approached. I assumed their dog was friendly as they chose to walk into our path. Nope, the little b*stard kicked off at her when it got within launching distance. She barked a couple of times in retaliation and the woman said "it's nice to see that big dogs bark as well" I retorted that she is normally very good but she didn't like the attitude of her dog. As I was walking away the woman said should we try again? WTAF. I said "if you mean a repeat of that performance, no thank you".

We continued to make our way home when I could hear what sounded like a dog fight ahead. This is a street walk by the way. I crossed the road to keep out of the way and just round the corner of a side road opposite was an off lead French bulldog attacking an on lead border collie. The bulldog was going nuts. The elderly owner of the BC was doing nothing but hold the lead as her dog got attacked. There was also a man who had picked up and was carrying another dog, possibly staff. The woman with the FB took it by its hind legs and pulled it off the BC and then let it go again, it resumed its attack. It had no collar or harness that I could see. She managed to get it again and picked it up and carried it away, it was still rabid and shrieking. She appeared to be with the bloke with the staffy. They walked off together each carrying a dog. Where on earth were their leads?

The woman with the collie stood shell shocked for a moment and then followed them. I wondered if she was going to follow them to see where they lived.

The world has gone mad.

 

[SAujla]

It was an eventful day for us too, you couldn't make it up.

I walked from home this afternoon, for what I hoped would be a pleasant walk.

A couple with a small terrier crossed the road to walk into us, remarking on big girl's size and asking what breed she is as they approached. I assumed their dog was friendly as they chose to walk into our path. Nope, the little b*stard kicked off at her when it got within launching distance. She barked a couple of times in retaliation and the woman said "it's nice to see that big dogs bark as well" I retorted that she is normally very good but she didn't like the attitude of her dog. As I was walking away the woman said should we try again? WTAF. I said "if you mean a repeat of that performance, no thank you".

We continued to make our way home when I could hear what sounded like a dog fight ahead. This is a street walk by the way. I crossed the road to keep out of the way and just round the corner of a side road opposite was an off lead French bulldog attacking an on lead border collie. The bulldog was going nuts. The elderly owner of the BC was doing nothing but hold the lead as her dog got attacked. There was also a man who had picked up and was carrying another dog, possibly staff. The woman with the FB took it by its hind legs and pulled it off the BC and then let it go again, it resumed its attack. It had no collar or harness that I could see. She managed to get it again and picked it up and carried it away, it was still rabid and shrieking. She appeared to be with the bloke with the staffy. They walked off together each carrying a dog. Where on earth were their leads?

The woman with the collie stood shell shocked for a moment and then followed them. I wondered if she was going to follow them to see where they lived.

The world has gone mad.

There are so many levels of insanity there, first owner was bizarre and bad enough but the second situation is scary, especially if the dog came towards you after yours had already been stressed out by the first moron

 

[skinnydipper]

There are so many levels of insanity there, first owner was bizarre and bad enough but the second situation is scary, especially if the dog came towards you after yours had already been stressed out by the first moron

I'll let you into a secret. I'm fed up with all this crap.

We were enjoying a quiet walk one day when an aggressive large mongrel ran at big girl, as a team we saw it off and I told the owner in no uncertain terms that I would boot it if it came near her again. It made an impression and next time we saw her she hastily leashed her dog and headed in the opposite direction.

I am getting to the point now where if an aggressive dog made contact, like the Frenchie with the collie, I would not hold her, I would allow her to defend herself.

 

[SAujla]

I'll let you into a secret. I'm fed up with all this crap.

We were enjoying a quiet walk one day when an aggressive large mongrel ran at big girl, as a team we saw it off and I told the owner in no uncertain terms that I would boot it if it came near her again. It made an impression and next time we saw her she hastily leashed her dog and headed in the opposite direction.

I am getting to the point now where if an aggressive dog made contact, like the Frenchie with the collie, I would not hold her, I would allow her to defend herself.

At a certain point you are going to have to do so. Its alarming because that first owner who wanted to try meeting again is the type of owner you might encounter more often.

 

[skinnydipper]

At a certain point you are going to have to do so. Its alarming because that first owner who wanted to try meeting again is the type of owner you might encounter more often.

We can deal with the likes of the terrier, it's a frequent occurrence, I ask her to walk on.

If she were attacked, another dog making contact with teeth, that's a different matter entirely.

 

[Cinnamontoast]

It was an eventful day for us too, you couldn't make it up.

I walked from home this afternoon, for what I hoped would be a pleasant walk.

A couple with a small terrier crossed the road to walk into us, remarking on big girl's size and asking what breed she is as they approached. I assumed their dog was friendly as they chose to walk into our path. Nope, the little b*stard kicked off at her when it got within launching distance. She barked a couple of times in retaliation and the woman said "it's nice to see that big dogs bark as well" I retorted that she is normally very good but she didn't like the attitude of her dog. As I was walking away the woman said should we try again? WTAF. I said "if you mean a repeat of that performance, no thank you".

We continued to make our way home when I could hear what sounded like a dog fight ahead. This is a street walk by the way. I crossed the road to keep out of the way and just round the corner of a side road opposite was an off lead French bulldog attacking an on lead border collie. The bulldog was going nuts. The elderly owner of the BC was doing nothing but hold the lead as her dog got attacked. There was also a man who had picked up and was carrying another dog, possibly staff. The woman with the FB took it by its hind legs and pulled it off the BC and then let it go again, it resumed its attack. It had no collar or harness that I could see. She managed to get it again and picked it up and carried it away, it was still rabid and shrieking. She appeared to be with the bloke with the staffy. They walked off together each carrying a dog. Where on earth were their leads?

The woman with the collie stood shell shocked for a moment and then followed them. I wondered if she was going to follow them to see where they lived.

The world has gone mad.

That's just insane ?

 

[Smitty]

Well, I had a lovely walk yesterday with my Meetup group. We walked along the canal side which was very busy, but every single dog we encountered was on a lead and well behaved. The only blight was the number of discarded poo bags in this beauty spot. If you choose to have a dog it can come as no surprise that you are required to clean up after it and dispose responsibly of the stuff that comes out of its rear end.

 

[SaddlePsych'D]

Saw the runner thing in action today. Did the Lab get put on lead after completely blowing off the recall to chase (and actually caught up to) the running person? Of course not. Did we give the dog and owner a massive swerve across the park because it would absolutely have come our way? Yes, yes we did.

On space giving - it so annoys me when, like in the example above, I give as much space as physically possible when I pass other dogs whether they are on or off lead. But people then just move closer anyway. Like in the example above, by meandering across a huge playing field directly at back at us with the Lab and about four other dogs with little to no control. Or a young Visla (I think) on lead (at least!) already more than able to pull the owner wherever it liked 'saying hello' to another dog. I'm not into random saying hello to other dogs generally, so again moved right over to make that clear. It pulls over to us with owner going 'ooh look another one to say hello to'. Nooo! One group of about 8 off-lead dogs I just turned around and walked the other way. They saw us and then stopped which was kind of good but in a way that I would still have to have got close enough to pass that I am 99% sure would have set them all off in our direction. This is the price paid for the mistake of walking in our local green space at lunch time!

 

[misst]

Well todays walk was a disaster. I usually have lovely walks on our common and almost everyone has well socialised dogs. If someone is on a lead then other owners (including myself) clip a lead on their dog. I know most of the local dogs and people anyway. Not had problems for ages.

Today I was out with Moti (rehomed stray terrier mix quite unsociable ie does not want to play so ignores other dogs whenever possible but reactive if they get in his face), and Ruby (small 2yo super social but well behaved JRT). We see ahead of us a lady walking a large heavy "doodle" of some sort. It was brown so likely choc lab x poodle. It was a big one. He did a big "play bow" and crouched down a good distance away. Owner (60 something lady same as me) shouted he's friendly..... he likes to play. Clipped Ruby on a lead as I don't like her playing with big heavy dogs - she is 5.5kg. and has no self preservation! Moti walked next to me ignoring big dog.
As I approached I said to the lady she's friendly but too small to play as the lady looked as if she wanted my dogs to play with hers. Big dog bounds over and rolls Ruby over even though she is on a lead. He then starts nosing Moti who crouched down tail tucked in and growled. Big dog then starts racing round me like a lunatic. Moti now on a lead too and I asked the lady to stop her dog as mine were not up for playing....

Big dog continues to run away and race back to us almost knocking me over twice and rolling Ruby over again. He then was very frustrated and began frantic loud barking. I again asked woman to stop her dog and put him on a lead. She STILL said he's playing even though he sounds fierce! When he ran back again I fended him off with my leg/foot but was actually afraid he would knock me flying as he was heavy and fast and I am not very big. I growled and shouted at her dog saying ENOUGH NO! several times and she was quite shocked I think. We couldn't walk away as he was racing around us. By this time Moti was shaking (he's never done that before) and Ruby was actually leaping at his throat snapping!

Somehow we walked away and I heard her shouting for her dog and shouting "sorry" to me. I am tough and quite self contained but I was so upset I just kept my two on the lead and took them home. Luckily no one was injured but if I see that lady again I will avoid her and hopefully I will have the presence of mind to give a good kick to the dog next time.

Rant over

 

[maisie06]

Beach walk this morning - quite nice , passed a lady with 2 well behaved labs, and some other nice dogs and owners all pleasant and polite - great! Then a few minutes from home the prat with the schnauzer appears, he's a plonker always wanting to shove his dog in other dogs faces - I cross the road, so does he, I cross back so does he .... "whatever it's name was wants to say hello" he annouces, I said " I crossed TWICE to avoid you doesn't that say enough?" He muttered something about me being a miserable cow so I replied well now you know Bloody wellleave us alone!!! I don't think he'll be trying that again!!

 

[misst]

Beach walk this morning - quite nice , passed a lady with 2 well behaved labs, and some other nice dogs and owners all pleasant and polite - great! Then a few minutes from home the prat with the schnauzer appears, he's a plonker always wanting to shove his dog in other dogs faces - I cross the road, so does he, I cross back so does he .... "whatever it's name was wants to say hello" he annouces, I said " I crossed TWICE to avoid you doesn't that say enough?" He muttered something about me being a miserable cow so I replied well now you know Bloody wellleave us alone!!! I don't think he'll be trying that again!!

Why ?? just Why ?? One of my dogs is friendly and likes to play with other similar terrier types but I am super careful and only with dogs we know and have good understanding with, owners and the dogs. I would never force my dogs onto anyone. I just don't get it. Why would you go out of your way to do this? I was really upset today and cannot understand why I wasn't more like you Maise06 - I think she just took me by suprise.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

Why ?? just Why ?? One of my dogs is friendly and likes to play with other similar terrier types but I am super careful and only with dogs we know and have good understanding with, owners and the dogs. I would never force my dogs onto anyone. I just don't get it. Why would you go out of your way to do this? I was really upset today and cannot understand why I wasn't more like you Maise06 - I think she just took me by suprise.

I can recommend carrying a walking stick when walking your dogs. Other owners seem to understand that you mean business when you wave it in their dog's direction, with a very firm 'No!'

 

[misst]

I can recommend carrying a walking stick when walking your dogs. Other owners seem to understand that you mean business when you wave it in their dog's direction, with a very firm 'No!'

I am seriously considering this as I trip over a lot anyway and acutally fell a few months ago!!! I have every excuse to carry one. I am not usually such a woose so I think I was more shaken than I realised.

 

[Cinnamontoast]

Well todays walk was a disaster. I usually have lovely walks on our common and almost everyone has well socialised dogs. If someone is on a lead then other owners (including myself) clip a lead on their dog. I know most of the local dogs and people anyway. Not had problems for ages.

Today I was out with Moti (rehomed stray terrier mix quite unsociable ie does not want to play so ignores other dogs whenever possible but reactive if they get in his face), and Ruby (small 2yo super social but well behaved JRT). We see ahead of us a lady walking a large heavy "doodle" of some sort. It was brown so likely choc lab x poodle. It was a big one. He did a big "play bow" and crouched down a good distance away. Owner (60 something lady same as me) shouted he's friendly..... he likes to play. Clipped Ruby on a lead as I don't like her playing with big heavy dogs - she is 5.5kg. and has no self preservation! Moti walked next to me ignoring big dog.
As I approached I said to the lady she's friendly but too small to play as the lady looked as if she wanted my dogs to play with hers. Big dog bounds over and rolls Ruby over even though she is on a lead. He then starts nosing Moti who crouched down tail tucked in and growled. Big dog then starts racing round me like a lunatic. Moti now on a lead too and I asked the lady to stop her dog as mine were not up for playing....

Big dog continues to run away and race back to us almost knocking me over twice and rolling Ruby over again. He then was very frustrated and began frantic loud barking. I again asked woman to stop her dog and put him on a lead. She STILL said he's playing even though he sounds fierce! When he ran back again I fended him off with my leg/foot but was actually afraid he would knock me flying as he was heavy and fast and I am not very big. I growled and shouted at her dog saying ENOUGH NO! several times and she was quite shocked I think. We couldn't walk away as he was racing around us. By this time Moti was shaking (he's never done that before) and Ruby was actually leaping at his throat snapping!

Somehow we walked away and I heard her shouting for her dog and shouting "sorry" to me. I am tough and quite self contained but I was so upset I just kept my two on the lead and took them home. Luckily no one was injured but if I see that lady again I will avoid her and hopefully I will have the presence of mind to give a good kick to the dog next time.

Rant over

You sound like you were very restrained. I would have been very vocal and extremely annoyed. If I'd had Zak, there would have been hell.

 

[misst]

CT I'm not sure why I was so polite. I am surprised at how upset I was. I am usually quite an outspoken assertive person but I was so surprised by this woman's casual attitude and quite scared of being taken out by her dog , I was at a bit of a loss. Next time....

 

[SaddlePsych'D]

It's genuinely a bit disturbing how unwilling people are to hear the word 'No!' Dogs aside, crossing the road multiple times to interact with a total stranger clearly avoiding you is creepy af. Adding dogs into the mix does not make that okay!

Uneventful today, just a terrier of some sort snuck up behind us and was sniffing Ivy. She was completely oblivious and it was annoying but not really rude so we just kept walking and gave her lots of praise for ignoring it and focusing on us. Pick them battles well I think.

On a lighter note, first outing of Ivy's new raincoat yesterday had me in stitches laughing (E.T. anyone?!) and wondering how to square my grumpy 'keep-away-from-me-and-my-dog' lady (or miserable cow?) persona with walking my dog dressed like this...?

 

[Tiddlypom]

We went for a half day walk at Delamere Forest yesterday.

Lots of dogs, most of whom were on leads.

Saw a man with the lurcher and a mali type thing from a long way off, on a wide main path near a viewpoint. The dogs were on leads which were too long. He was walking by a field of young cattle, which was fenced off from the path just by electric wire. The mali thing kept hurling itself to the end of its lead towards the cattle, whereon the bloke would shout at it and yank it back. Rinse and repeat. We kept over to our side of the path as far as we could and kept walking. When we drew level, quelle surprise the mali thing crossed the path to hurl itself at us, but the lead stopped it short, so bloke yanked it back yet again. He was a burly chap, but was in danger of being pulled off his feet every time it yanked the lead.

Then later a woman behind us with a young off lead lab. It was constantly running ahead of and behind for 100 m at a time and out of her sight, and she was ineffectually calling it back. It kept disappearing down side tracks and doing its own thing. When it became clear that she seemed to be coming her way and catching us up, I politely asked her if she wanted to overtake us. I told her that the JRT can be nervous of labs after previously being bitten by one (that incident needed two vet visits). She looked completely gobsmacked at the concept of a lab biting anything, or needing to have it under some sort of control in a busy forest. Left her trying to recall the lab which was barrelling up and down past other parties of walkers whilst ignoring her, and luckily she took a different route.

Meanwhile we are loving the strict 'dogs on leads' rule at Cholmondeley, where we've got an annual pass. It is the most lovely setting. The roads are all private estate roads, and it's very quiet mid week, so she can be allowed to have long lead for long periods. The daily entrance fee per adult is £8.50, which IMHO is rather steep for what is effectively just a half day, but an annual pass is £45. Worth it for us.

The JRT was well socialised before we got her at age nearly 3 on Black Friday 2019, she was a town dog from Bolton. We tease her about being a town dog. She used to mince around muddy patches or puddles, but she's got used to them now.

 

[Moobli]

That looks a beautiful place to walk Tiddlypom.

 

[misst]

Well a walk on Wednesday with my good friend and her 3 - everyone we met was sensible and polite (and so were we). Today a lovely walk just me and my two. A lady with a large standard poodle and 2 large doodle types appeared on the woodland path coming towards us. I snapped leads on looked up and wondered where she had gone. As I got nearer I realised she had all 3 sitting to attention facing her away from the path in the trees to allow me to pass. I thanked her and she just said "they're a bit playful and a bit big for your two". She waited for us to pass and we all continued happily. Why is it not always like this, it was a lovely day, in a lovely setting with excellent people around .

 

[BallyRoanBaubles]

Met a completely irresponsible owner today we were walking along the canal with my dog on lead at heel when a woman with a black lab and a golden retriever (both off lead), comes along makes no attempt to recall her dogs, the black lab is sniffing mines bum so he spins round and I say 'come on lets go' when the black lab goes for mine getting him on the top of his neck!

I shout at it and it gets off, then comes back again! No apology from the owner and I was to shocked to say anything. It wouldve got a boot if it hadnt got off when I shouted at it. Luckily no damage to my dog (also a lab) but couldve been different with a smaller dog.

 

[misst]

Met a completely irresponsible owner today we were walking along the canal with my dog on lead at heel when a woman with a black lab and a golden retriever (both off lead), comes along makes no attempt to recall her dogs, the black lab is sniffing mines bum so he spins round and I say 'come on lets go' when the black lab goes for mine getting him on the top of his neck!

I shout at it and it gets off, then comes back again! No apology from the owner and I was to shocked to say anything. It wouldve got a boot if it hadnt got off when I shouted at it. Luckily no damage to my dog (also a lab) but couldve been different with a smaller dog.

Honestly what is wrong with people! Why can they not see how unruly their dogs are?

I did meet an adorable silky haired (??) dachshund today in the woods with a lovely older couple. He was super friendly and went to sniff Ruby. As they were same size and friendly I just watched and said to the owners that Ruby will probably play if that is ok. They said he didn't ever play. I called her away and he followed, playbowed, sniffed and barked so they had a little run back and forth. The old couple were amazed. After a couple of minutes I called Ruby and we carried on our way with Moti who does not socialise. After about 100 yards I heard a dog behind us and it was him. No sign of the old couple, no calling for him. He was very keen on Ruby (she is spayed) and following us so I stopped and turned round. Found the old couple sort of waiting for him on the path where I had left him. Set off again - he followed again. I took him back and suggested a lead. They didn't have one "because we never need one!" bless them. I suggested they hold his collar until we were out of range.
They were so lovely and he was a super little chap but I did think there is fair amount of "dog knapping" around here and he is ripe for the picking! I think they must drive to the woods and then let him out of the car directly but why would you not have a lead!

 

[cauda equina]

Lack of imagination?

 

[Cinnamontoast]

I don't understand these people who meander round with no lead. I don’t need one with Bear, but he’s not allowed to be near a road unless on the lead, even though he’d just amble alongside me. Coming out of the park at the weekend, I met a huge Rottweiler, the dog had no collar, let alone a lead!

 

[Sandstone1]

A dog walking group appears to being set up in my local area according to facebook....The joy of lots of out of control dogs.

 

[Cinnamontoast]

Was poopicking the garden, filling up the bird feeders etc and next door’s happy thing barked the whole time. Apparently it just wants to play. It can‘t see ours. If mine bark (very rare), they come in. I refuse to let them be a noise nuisance. Would you take the dog indoors?

 

[AmyMay]

Would you take the dog indoors?

Nope, I wouldn’t. But I would tell her to pack it in.