Rant. Dogs chasing on walks.

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Vicki1986

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My little chap is of quite a nervous disposition with large dogs and people/dogs he has never met before. He is just generally stand off ish. Now i don't generally baby him, he is hairless so yes he wears clothes (otherwise he would freeze!!) but he rough and tumbles up the yard which he enjoys and we go for great walks and he comes jogging with me etc. Even though he is a toy dog i take my dog owner ship quite seriously and have put great thought into training him as a puppy to be well behaved on and off the lead etc, some people do ask me if he walks on walks or if i carry him
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he out runs me!!

Now the evenings are lighter, I have started walking him in after work rather than at lunchtime so I am coming across a different crowd on my walks... firstly we passed a massive rottie (biggest i'd ever seen!) it was muzzled and on a lead, the people saw us coming up behind (we were jogging) and they pulled right off the path and waited for us to pass which we did no problem and Rocky was quite confident as he has lots of room to do so (he was off lead) i thanked the people for their courtesy and quickly carried on so not to disrupt their walk any further.

later on i passed a big weirmerner (sp) it was off lead but muzzled, i called rocky to heel and walked passed, the dog was distracted so i didn't see any reason to be alarmed, as i passed the owner i said hello - but as the dog got level it lunged at my dog who obviously ran a mile which ended up in him being chased, thankfully for a little dog he is bloody fast. and eventually the woman managed to call her dog off. my dog wouldnt come back to me because i was between him and the other dog as they had run infront of me, so he waited for me to catch him up. he was a little shaken for a few seconds, the lady shouted back an apology and said her dog probably thought he was a cat (he is very cat like i spose) so fine i went on my way and within a few minutes all was well and rocky was running around the fields again like nothing had happened.

However on the way home we passed the same Rottie we had only 45 minutes earlier, Rock was on the lead by now, he laid down on the path, shaking and was very reluctant to walk despite the fact the rottie had gone right off the path about 8 or so metres away.

This about the third or fourth "large" dog to chase him, one lab did actually sit on him once, and its really not helping his confidence at all and i'm really worried its going to effect him permanently.
He was brought up with a rottie and really enjoyed playing with my friends shar pei so it really is such a shame that its got like this but he just keeps having bad experiences and he is so nervous anyway, every time he gets confident he get knocked 5 steps back again.

I think half the problem is he runs and if he didnt they wouldnt chase probably. But try telling him that!! Huff
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Sorry i know i have drivvelled on well done if you got to the end!
 
The trouble is that you will always meet badly trained dogs - especially if, like me, you walk in a park.

I have a sort of similar problem - although my dog is a black lab - but he is quite often bullied out on walks by dominant male dogs. I've spoken to a trainer and she says the key is how I react to the situation. I mustn't make a fuss or pay him any attention for being scared - because that makes it worse - just call him away and walk on. If the dog goes for him - then take a spare slip lead and put a lead on the other dog (no idea how I would actually manage this!). I have seen her do it once tho when a very bullying flat coated retriever started having a go at him. She just quietly handed the owner back her dog!

I can see how the chasing would be a problem - Loki's favourite game is to be chased by another dog... so alot of dogs might see the chasing as a game
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Does he not tell thenm off at all? I guess he is still very young. But he should learn to communicate with the other dogs and tell them to back off as he gets older... loki is getting a bit better.

My issue is not quite like yours though - Loki is always very keen to play with other dogs - is just sometimes they don't like him - is awfulo when they come over - then stalk us around the park with the owner saying 'he just wants to play' err yeah right... look at how much dog has his tail between his legs - he's not playing
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I don't think it is a size thing at all - I have EXACTLY the same problem with my Rottie! when he was younger he was attacked badly by a weimeraner - it had him pinned to the floor and was biting at his neck, snarling and hackles up. My poor lad was screaming in fear.
Ever since then if a dog runs up to him he stands stock still, then starts to shake and growl....now, because he is a rottie, the second he growls everyone assumes he is some kind of mad killer. He is actualy just reacting to the fact that he is frightened and given the option will go 100s of yards out of his way to avoid another dog! However on the lead he can't do that obviously. As soon as he is introduced to a friendly dog he is fine - our dog walker now walks him with 2 of her other clients and they are fine.
However when people let their dogs charge up to him, it drives me MAD! I always always put him on the lead as soon as I see another dog, if I see a walker with no dog, a bike or a horse I call him to heel. Why can people not have the same courtesy eh? I have in the past had to all but kick a dog off him (lhasa apso that time!!) and regularly put myself between him and other dogs to prevent them from getting to him. The owners always say 'oh he's just being friendly' whilst I am quietly fuming 'can you not see that my dog does NOT want his backside investigated by your dog?!?!?!'
Gah. Honestly some owners.....
Totally symapthise with you both!
 
oh glad its not a siziest thing then !!

Widget yes his breeder said the same as your trainer i must not fuss him for his shy behaviour, i try to ignore him or just call him away and briskly walk off ad he does tend to follow.

I agree Emma C, i always call my dog to heel or put him on a lead when i see another dog - not because i'm worried about theirs being vicous but because i know what its like to have a shy dog who likes their own space!!
 
I don't let my dog run up to others - until I say he can, he waits for the command - but I wouldn't put him on a lead.

Just a small question - as you both say you sometimes put them on the lead - would this not make your dog more anxious about the situation? I can understand calling to heel would work... but you make them more vulnerable by putting them on the lead - couldn't that lead to defence agression from your dogs? Am prepared to be corrected tho!
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the only time i put him on a lead is when his mindless running could be dangerous i.e. when near a road or river - as he probably is blonde enough to run out under a car or into the river!! he goes into a blind panic, he has fallen down a big bank before and grazed all his knee's (quite sore when you have no hair!!) so i only put him on a lead when neccessary.
 
I have the opposite prob.

My goldie pup (almost a year old and hitting the Kevin stage) has decided that when she sees another dog, when off lead, she'll bog off to say hello. I choose very carefully where and when I let her off lead, plus when and where I'll put her back on the lead.

Recall goes out of the window completely when she is in her meet and greet state of mind. So I go and retrieve her and put her on the lead.

If the other dog does not want to play back, she'll come back.

On Monday night, she bogged off the meet a group of dogs, which were thugs basically. The owners were chatting in the middle of the park whilst the dogs exercised themelves, basically chasing anything and everything.

My dog got chased and herded out of the park. I panicked. Anyways, long story short I got her back and all was ok.

If I see another dog, I try to avoid it by walking elsewhere or putting her on the lead. If I see another dog on a lead, I think that its on a lead for a reason and get my dog back to me.

If I see a jogger, kids, cyclist, same here.

I am now in the process of getting some prof help with her recall. Without other dogs she is brill. She also likes to chase bunnies, squirrels and birds, so I no longer let her off in the woods. I have tried various tips and training methods but for some reason we aren't getting the desired result, so I am changing tactics.

I hate rude dogs and I hate it when my dog sods off to meet another dog before I tell her she can do so!!!

Watch this space!
 
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the only time i put him on a lead is when his mindless running could be dangerous i.e. when near a road or river - as he probably is blonde enough to run out under a car or into the river!! he goes into a blind panic, he has fallen down a big bank before and grazed all his knee's (quite sore when you have no hair!!) so i only put him on a lead when neccessary.

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that makes sense
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Sunshinetallulah - you are not alone with that one!

I had the same problem - but Loki is nearly 16 months and he just stopped doing it at about a year old. I have had help though... But basically it's about anticipating it and getting the 'leave' command in before they have a chance to run off. Then give them another command like 'this way' and start a game or something - you have to be more exciting than the dogs she wants to see...

Loki's had enough bad experiences to put him off ever running up to strange dogs now! So am now having the opposite problem...

I think labs and goldies seem particularly prone to wanting to greet every dog in the park
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I think labs and goldies seem particularly prone to wanting to greet every dog in the park
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And 10stone Ridgebacks!!!
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Like you say though if you can get the 'leave' 'no' 'wait' command in before they leg it then alls well and good!!
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If I see another dog, I try to avoid it by walking elsewhere or putting her on the lead. If I see another dog on a lead, I think that its on a lead for a reason and get my dog back to me.


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This is my reasoning behind putting him on the lead when I see any other dogs...that anyone sensible will see that he is on a lead and call their dog away!!

In response to query above about why I put him on a lead when I see other dogs, yes, it does put him in a more vulnerable position
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Sadly because he is a Rottie, although I know he will never hurt another dog and is only standing up for himself in anticipation of being attacked....unfortunatly he will growl and smetimes bark, and that is enough for the owners who have let their dogs charge up and be totally 'in his face' to assume that Kaiber is about to kill their dog and start having a go at me!! So by putting him on the lead I then am able to point out that my dog is completely under control, and they are the ones who have let their dog run up to mine! It also means that I can put myself between him and another dog....he hides behind my legs!
With dogs he know and owners who believe me when I say that his growling is all a smokescreen, he is absolutely fine....he plays for hours with all the other dogs up at the yard including several JRs, a Weimeraner, a lab and a boxer puppy. He always growls to start with then starts playing....problem is it is also a rottie trait to 'grumble' whilst playing, which again makes others think he is growling.
Poor lad!
 
unfortunately all his doggie pals who he love sdearly are all of the small variety (JRT's etc) ... however his breeder has a huge rottie who is a darling, and Rocky as a puppy even only a few weeks old would sleep on her belly etc, perhaps i will ask if we can pay a few visits to remind him big does not equal bad as it would be such a shame. He really likes to play once he has sussed people/dogs out so i dont want him regressing into his shell any further!
 
I think our two would just run away from each other!! Plus yours isn't scared of rotters is he?
I'm sure he will get a bit more confident as time goes on, he's still a baby.
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I will pinch Oscar again and that should help a little but Lester should be around soonish so he can meet Lester as a little baby and just watch him grow and grow and grow and still be 'big' uncle Rocky
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My dog is scared of little dogs coz they chase him!
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When Andy was younger he had to stay on the lead all the time as he would just run off to see another dog - nothing would stop him. He grew out of that luckily and will walk to heel and ignore other dogs unless they say hello first.
Now I have to keep him on a lead all the time because he has been attacked so many times by people who can't control their dogs that he growls when he feels threatened. If I keep him on the lead other dog owners think he's aggressive and keep their dogs away from him
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