Awwww poor Duncan

I only ever let Jas off lead if no-one is around. AS soon as we see another dog I put him on-leash cos I just don't know what the other dog is capable of and knowing that if anything should happen Jas would get the blame purely cos he's a Staffordshire Bull Terrier

poor duncan! i only put max on the lead if people have their dogs on the lead max always waits now to see if i say go and play and if a dog is on the lead i always get hold of him but we have met some unfriendly dogs off the lead! if i had a dog i didnt trust i would muzzle it

That is quite different.My 2 dogs that are allowed off lead never approach another dog.The one who will is not allowed off lead so that he cannot get into trouble.He is not aggressive but does like to 'say hello'.
The place I walk my dogs off lead is very popular with dog walkers...I go at 9am and meet at least 8 people every morning with off lead dogs.If I were to put leads on every time I met another dog it wouldn't be worth taking them off in the first place.

for those of u who dont put their dogs back on lead when u see another dog on lead, wot wud u do if ur dog went up to the dog on lead and got attacked? unfortunetly it wouldnt be the other owners fault, but urs.

I agree totally that u shudnt have to put ur dog back on lead if there is another dog offlead coming, as if someones dog is not 100% with other dogs it shouldnt be off lead in the first place, unless it has a 99% recall?

I don't put Kingsley on a lead in the park, unless we are near the road.
He doesn't normally say hello to dogs, but he does like to 'tag along' with other people! lol
He generally ignores everyone and everything!

But if your dog is on lead it is defenseless....if an idiot has an aggressive dog off lead and it wants to attack it will...regardless of wether your dog is on a lead or not.

The thing with this is though it sewms the majority of people with aggresive dogs - don't seem to care - it seems a "heshe can look after themselves situation"

Karen

Exactly Lel...and if its that kind of dog it won't matter if your dogs on or off lead.

Thats why,as I said,I have 2 off lead who won't approach another dog and one on since he will.

I always try to be considerate on walks. I don't always leash mine if we see other people and dogs but I read the situation, if the people approaching appear ancy or they put their dog on the lead then I put mine on if they are calm and relaxed I leave it.

The trouble is if you put yours on everytime you see someone with another dog they think there is something wrong with yours. When we were out for a walk today we were on a narrow bridleway and a woman was walking towards us so I got Keena to sit and wait and gave her a treat as sometimes she can lunge without warning to greet people and so just incase, this is what I do and the lady asked if she was ok, was she nervous etc, I did explain that she was quite the opposite but that I was teaching her to have manners! which she though was comendable and rightly so. But I think that if I put my dog on the lead EVERY time we came across others and didn't get the chance to explain it was just us being thoughtfull etc then they would go off thinking we were either not wanting Keena to play and being unsociable or that there was something wrong with her and then perhaps they would avoid us.

I recalled Keena some months back when a lady in the park and a couple small dogs and I put her on the lead because I knew she would be over exhubarant in meeting them and some people don't like that kind of greeting and when she got close she asked if she was aggressive and I hate people thinking that because she is so friendly.

My prefernce is to leave her off lead and let dogs be dogs I know I can trust mine 100% but I also know that people with aggressive dogs would blame me if their dog got nasty because she approached them...I just wish that all dogs were as friendly as mine and their owners as friendly as me when we are out on walks but sometimes that isn't the case You meet such a different mixture of people out on walks that sometimes you never know what to do!

We were walking in the feilds today where lots of people walk their dogs and this couple with what appeared to be their grandchild had a dog also but when we approached they swiped up that kid so fast and lifted her up high and was saying it's ok I've got you it wont hurt you, about my Keena and the woman who was there made a beeline to the other side of the track looking at Keena like she was going to savage the whole family. Their dog came on over to say hi to Keena and they shouted at it, get back here, what are you doing, come here, etc, like it was something allien to have the dogs greet each other. I just didn't get it. If I had of known they were like that I would have changed direction much let alone put her on the lead!

But I know if I leashed Keena all the time when we saw another dog approaching then she would miss out on so much fun and games with other dogs because not everyone stops to talk once you put them on the lead to eventually find out that they can indeed play because alot of people think that by putting your dog on the lead you just don't want contact with them and their dog.

Anyway I think for me it's best to just judge what the situation is and let my instinct tell me what I need to do and most of all I trust that if a person has a dog that is very aggressive and would bite mine for going to greet it then really they should have a muzzle on it so it can't bite and if it did bite her badly actually I wouldn't consider it all my fault because she went up to them, I would wonder first why the dog was so aggressive and second why the owner hadn't taken precautions to stop it being able to bite.