[quote=Apache;2761829]I wouldn't have let my dog off the lead and I would have immediately shouted for the woman to come get her dog.... NOW. You should not have been put in this position as the daft woman should have had her dog on lead .... simples.

I seem to come across these situations a lot, eg .. My dog is on his lead on way back to car, 2 labradoodles come running up, one starts barking, the other joins in. Woman eventually gets hold of them and, with one of them still growling, insists her dogs are friendly ...Huh?

Last night, walked out of my house up a narrow dark path and noticed a couple of dog walkers coming down hill from opposite direction. They stopped and so did I, told my dog to sit and stood in front of him, said "come on through".

The first one past was a man with a young husky which immediately started barking as it went by, my dog still quiet. Then his companion, a girl of about 18, came through with a Dogue de Bordeaux, who also then started barking, but worse still, lunged towards my GSD who had by this time started to bark back.
The girl could not hold on to her dog, he was just too strong for her, she shouted "so sorry" as she struggled with him. Somehow we all managed to get by. But I was left thinking that it could have turned very nasty.
My dog looked at me as if to say "what the heck was all that about"?
I am coming to the conclusion, after several incidents like this, that two or more dogs together mean trouble. What do you think?[/quote]


I disagree totally tbh, well I would I guess seeing as I manage to walk 6 was 7 until fairly recently and have never caused anyone a minutes grief. I have full control of my dogs whether they are on or off lead, they are mostly off. I fully understand others may be intimidated by either the breeds or the numbers involved and have taken responsibility and trained my dogs so they never bother anyone, it's not that difficult but I firmly believe "my dogs, my responsibility". I don't get offended if people try to avoid us, it's not necessary but it's up to them to do as they see fit.
An irresponsible owner is an irresponsible owner regardless of the number of dog they walk Imo.

Must say I wonder that sometimes too, we work opposing shifts and suffer financially because at least one of us has to be part time earning so we can be around for the dogs. There comfort and health is our priority and we make do.

We love and enjoy them both very much and it puzzles me when people don't seem to want to make room in their lives for their dogs when they chose to get them

I have dogs, when I first got them I didn't have any problems holding them, I used to have 6 without any problems and many times I have taken 10 horses and ponies to and from the field without any problems but things change. I am not as strong as I was and have arthritis in my hip and knee so only take 2 at a time with the mobility scooter. I can hold 2 unless a dog decides to have 2 goes not 1 as happened in July. The first I was off balance , my balance isn't as good now either, the second go this dog had tipped me over.

No matter which forum you go onto you see complaints of dogs that the owners can't control either on or off the lead but nobody does anything about it, that is what the Dog Wardens are for. I now report any incident as I did with this dog that had the scooter on top of me, the Dog Warden went to see them and told them they couldn't let the dog out on her own, it was against the law. No I never see the dog and it is much safer. I have had problems with this dog before but wasn't in my scooter, I was putting 2 dogs into the car to take them walkies and told the owner then not to let the dog run free in the road.

Things won't change with these people unless we do something about them, we may not know who they are but the Dog Warden may already know them, you won't know until you report them.

Catrin knows her dogs very well, she knows how they react and what they will do in given situations, by keeping Remus on the lead will have cause more problems, even fighting amongst the dogs she had, even the calmest dog can do that when under stress. As she knew how Remus would react if loose she let him go and defused the situation between the dogs she had. Remus just did what Lurchers do, be an idiot and race round.

[QUOTE=Trouble;2761861] It wasn't so much the owner I was referring to, it has more to do with the pack instinct of multiple dogs. Maybe I am just going through a bad phase but i have had several "incidents" in the forest where my dog has been on his lead and we come across 2 or more dogs coming towards us. I always take my dog to one side to give them room to pass, often the first dog says hello and moves away, only for the second one to start the trouble. The first one then returns and joins in, leaving my dog trying to defend himself on two fronts.

Today I met a lady with 2 collies and a Doberman, all off lead. I saw them first and as usual waited, she saw me at the last minute, grabbed the Doberman by the collar and walked him and the 2 Collie's past me, with of one of the Collie's barking all the time. She said, "oh he is all noise" and fortunately there was no trouble, but I was still left thinking, what if the Doberman had made contact with us before she got to him?The Collies would probably have joined in too. The pack instinct prevails. And I am sure this lady is a responsible owner.

I think (could just be me though) we see a pack coming towards us as more intimidating, I know the other day two collies, a terrier type, and a large hound all came at us at speed, I had no idea if they were friendly or not but wasn't willing to take a chance so managed to dash up someone's garden path slamming the gate behind us so keeping mine and these other dogs apart. Turned out they were lovely and very friendly but shear numbers freaked me out. And friendly or not scared my dogs.

Oh don't get me started I agree with you Apache, wholeheartedly agree, the pack theory shows its face even with 2 dogs, I've seen it many a time. Scout75 on here, I walked with her one day, her youngster adored Zena as she did him, but her other one (can't remember his name, but they are both gsd's) was trying to have a pop at Zena the entire walk, but she was smart enough to give him a wide berth when she wanted to catch up with the friendly one. They all raced into the dew pond, but the aggressive one was too much of a wuz to go in, so he must have got really annoyed by the fact that Zena was with his friend playing in the water. When they came out, he was waiting the other side of the fence, and as she crawled underneath it, he went for her, the friendly one came racing back to have a pop at her too So I was stood there with 3 shepherds having a punch up, so I grabbed the friendly dog's collar and shouted at the other one to go away and all quietened down.

The neighbour with her aggressive labradoodle walks with her dad with his lab and collie. Zena is fine with this lab and collie, they're very friendly together, BUT, the day the labradoodle charged down to us at a rate of knots to have a go at Zena who was ONlead at the time, the other two came with it, so I was spun around in circles as Zena tried to fight her corner against 3 other dogs instead of the usual one!!!!

I have learned over the years with this particular dog, to avoid any situation that is avoidable. We do what you do Apache, we go onlead and we sit out of the way for them to come past, most of them growling and snarling, which makes me think, jeesus Christ, what if you hadn't seen me when your dogs were charging around ahead of me

This morning it was just the ONE staffie, who came charging down a hill at great speed, straight at me, but thankfully, I was in the next field, so I moved away from the gateway, further down along the fenceline where there is sheep fencing, and legged it away, knowing that the fencing would stop it from getting to us before I had the chance. The hooded guy was oblivious he just ignored me as I shouted out my obscenities at him Afterall, would they like it if I let MY dog charge up to THEM like that I couldn't give a monkeys if it was friendly, but I sure wasn't gonna stick around to find that bit out

Trouble is, if I'd have approached the guy, I'd probably have got knifed or summat, along with Zena, so the best option for me is always to leg it in any given situation no matter how many dogs, even just the one dog who is lacking in the manners department.

Makes my blood boil

I think I must be very lucky because I have only come across one really aggressive dog since I've had Tonks...well one who was allowed to get as far as an attack...and that was a rough collie. It broke Tonks' skin 20 plus places! Thankfully, due to her sheer bulk of muscle it didn't do any real damage...and she didn't react. Now she's older I think she might.

I'm not sure if it's by luck or judgment. It I've never had a dog aggressive dog and all mine have rathered walk (or in Remus' case sprint) away than get into an altercation. I don't feel intimidated by lots of dogs, I don't go by what the owner is saying I go by the dogs body language.....you usually get a far more honest account of their personality that way!

I have had dog aggressive dogs however mine have never approached another dog any trouble has come to us in the shape of friendly dogs who won't take no for an answer. TBH I am not sure any dog that will not return on first call should be off lead in public.

Mine are on lead and should be able to walk unmolested by other whether the dogs are friendly or dog aggressive. Should make no difference IMO

Funny how different we all are. I love meeting dogs we don't know, as long as they aren't approaching me with lots of dogs on lead. I really enjoy watching dog body language and the different ways they choose to meet each other and suss each other out.

If I'm walking with a lot of dogs, and there's someone coming with a dog on lead and there's not a lot of room to pass, I just head off into the undergrowth calling excitedly and all of my charges come with me partly because of the novelty of it and party because they know I'll be scattering tasty bits on the floor as soon as we get a little way in. Tonks is the only one that sometimes doesn't keep up because she busy sniffing something, but in a rural walk situation she has absolutely no interested in greeting on lead dogs. .....she's not that fussed a both off lead ones to be honest, she sees enough of them daily. Lol.

Mine love meeting dogs too and are allowed to do so, have some nice chats with owners too. I just like it to be done carefully and know mine are going to be safe before allowing it. Mollie cannot be jumped on these days and Betty could get killed so I want some control over who they meet and say hello to.

I don't get why that seems to be a problem to some walkers, when their dogs get old I would like to think they would care enough to want them to be protected too.