Just Having A Moan...

I was out walking before with just the boys, and since Rory has decided he's in his naughty teenager selective-hearing phase, he was on his extendo-lead.

We crossed the bridge over the pond to get to the park, and see a little jack russell tootling towards us. It wasn't on a lead, but I reeled my Rory in, just in case.
The owner smiled at me and made no attempt to get his dog, then either said "it's alright" or "y'alright", so I'm expecting his dog now to either be friendly or just ignore us.
Rory is still on his short-ish lead only a couple of foot in front of me and the dog comes over to us. As soon as Rory went to give a polite sniff, it went for him!!

Being the softy he is, Rory just rolled over. I reeled him in close and tried to keep myself between this dog and my boys while it kept circling us trying to get to them!
Nobody got hurt, but it grabbed Rory three times (and kept coming back for more) before the owner chased it away from us - no attempt to hold it or put it on a lead... and no hint of an apology either. I wouldn't have minded that bit, but he gave me a look as if to say I owed him an apology!!

We headed off in a different direction to our usual route to avoid meeting up again. From the park we then heard plenty of snarling and the man shouting at his dog


Definitely not a good socialising experience for little Frodo (or Rory for that matter), but we met a boxer and a schnauzer on the way back that said hello very nicely, so at least we ended on a good experience

Bluddy 'ell! My poor little blackface!

I've had experiences like this one and you could just SMACK those owners for their sheer stupidity and ignorance couldn't you?

I recall walking in the woods in Devon one day with my little (totally non aggressive) Cavvy. Dog coming towards us off lead - I call out - is he OK? 'OH YEAH' shouts the owner and I relax. It went barmy at my Cavvy! I railed at him 'you DID say it was OK?' Bloke calmly replies 'he is OK with everyone - he just doesn't like other dogs'.

Did he think I was asking on behalf of myself - and not bothered if it ATE MY LITTLE DOG?

They must consider their dogs can 'look after themselves' to be like this with them and not be concerned that any other dogs they meet might end up with theirs coming off worse?

It's hateful BJ when your lovely walk turns out that way
Pity for that JR really,chances are it'll come across a less accepting dog some day .Owners fault of course

ugh.. people. I've learnt never to believe anyone who says they're dog is 'ok' or 'just wants to play'. It's usually the precursor of some kind of madness and it's the owners knowing what's coming and trying to make excuses..

I've oft said the same sort of thing about that old chestnut 'oh he just wants to play' but not put it quite as well as you did there. You've made me laugh! 'some kind of madness' lol!

Actually it might be a good socialization experience.
In my case with a 9 month old Lab it's been helpful for him to learn that not all dogs want to play and that some may be snappy.
After bumping into a few dogs like this, Barney has slowed his approach and often shows submission rather than diving straight in.
Obviously its a fine line though and the owner you met was an inconsiderate ****, but that's life.

Of course I'd have nothing to say if any of mine had gone barrelling up being a bit rowdy, it was that this dog approached us and my boys were both being very calm... and it kept coming back even though Rory was trying his best to be submissive

That is life though - always something to throw a spanner in the works lol

I had a similar experience when out on the field with Bailiie the other day. She was off lead, minding her own business when we met a border terrier, also off lead. They had a sniff and I called Bailiie back to me and we continued on our way. The border terrier and its owner overtook us and did manage to get quite a way ahead, with the owner being even further ahead and not actually watching what his dog was up to. Bailiie and I were practising our recalls and I'd just given her a treat for coming back to me when the terrier looked up and from a distance I guess he thought he too could have a treat
It suddenly made a high speed dash towards Bailiie who was still minding her own business just enjoying her stroll with me. She sniffed it but he was getting a little pushy and a bit in your face and I could see from her body language that she wasn't happy
I called her to me and thankfully she came running, but so did the damn terrier It wandered off a little then came running back, chasing Bailiie again, so again I called her to me and she came, with the annoying dog following her. By this time she was really fed up so in her defence she snarled at him, warning him to back off - he didn't and things got a little heated so I quickly got in there and probably wrongly scooped my Bailiie up and told the terrier to leave her. At this point I was about to shout to the owner who by now was almost on the other side of the field but he actually turned round; he must have heard me shouting at his dog and then he shouted for him to return - it didn't! I more or less had to shoo it away with my foot to get rid of it I wasn't happy. It did eventually go and I heard him shouting at it and telling it off but if he'd have been watching it in the first place this fuss would never have happened, and he didn't apologise
Some people.... Thankfully Bailiie was ok and I put her back on her lead and we carried on, holding our heads high
Thank goodness for her excellent recall

Ugh..........why?! Surely they must have had some idea this might be what their dog was going to do?

I know sometimes it can genuinely be the first time a dog reacts in that way...and dogs are dogs, but an apology and then being popped on lead goes a long way! Bearing in mind that it should have been kept away from you anyway as your lad was on lead!

Having had Duke who didn't like other dogs and who we socialised to overcome this it was always a pain when people allowed their dogs to get in his face. Duke's fav toy was one of those rubber balls on a string and I recall one occasion where we had a little dog hanging off the end of the string. There was no way Duke was going to relinquish his toy so at least I knew Duke wasn't going to bite the annoying little dog!