Really horrible walk yesterday

worst walk ive ever been on

took millie to a park near mine - it has a massive lake and walks for miles - anyhow - as it was quite hot i wasnt planning to walk far - got on the park, this boxer - on a lead - came towards us (millies on the lead too) and it was pulling and snapped off

millie obviously terrified, squealed etc like she was being attacked - it was a horrible sound, i can still hear it now - so i picked her up and gave her a cuddle - the lady appologised which was fine - but tbh millies only little and i have her halti and a collar clilpped on because she is strong - a boxer on a collar much be stronger - ?

anyhow - so i thought - ok get over it for millies sake and carry on - so i did - got no further than 25 yards - and this staffy came running over to us - i mean running - so i picked her up straight away (if oyu saw how millie reacted to both dogs you will understnad why i picked her up as i knw its not the best thing to do)

the dog then tried jumping up at us both - millie still scared - i was just about to yell at this dog when it got fed up and ran off - no owner about btw -

nothing against any of these breeds - at all - it could have been a chihuahua, a spaniel or anything else and i still would have been annoyed

i know that accidents happen and the boxer could ahve been a one off - but the staffy on its own - bugs me when any dog is on its own

im still annoyed today as its ruined our walk there as i will not be going back again

i can appreciate why you were worried but by picking your dog up every time a dog approaches then she will become fearsome of all dogs approaching.

also by picking your dog up it probably encouraes dogs to jump up etc.

how old is millie?

no sorry i should have said

i have NEVER picked her up before

this is the only time she has felt so threatened she screamed

I agree with Brundog, if you stiffen evertime a dog runs up to her or lift her up, she is going to develop a fear of other approaching dogs. Much better for her if you mentally relax and remember to breathe, she'll learn that it's no problem to have another dog approach for a meet and greet.

Lifting her up can crate even more problems, getting the other dog excited and jumping up round you both.

It's a shame you don't want to go back there again. It's important for your dog's sake that you ger her out and socialised as much as possible, otherwise you are creating problems for yourself and your dog in the future.

Good luck.

i agreee about when you tense up the dog senses it etc - but she really was frigtened - and screaming i felt i ahd no choice - if this dog had gone for her it woudl ahve been worse

at our normal walk she always meets new dogs and its never a problem - all responsible owners so i have no problem with her being socialised

i wont go back there again - its not worth it

i agree with the whole - not picing her up but like i said - my reasons imo were a good enough reason to help her

But you can't avoid bad owners, they are everywhere, you just need to learn to cope with it, you can't keep going to different places because of someone elses actions, eventually you're going to run out of walks!
Becky

hiya

when you say she screamed - did the other dogs actually do anything to her -
what kind of scream was it - could she have just been really excited ???
sorry for the questions but is she just a puppy??

yeah shes 9 months

ishe was terrifed - kinda like a look of horror in her face - she wanted to run away - trying to pull back on her lead - back to where we came from

tbh i think i woudl if i wa her - a flipping bigish dog running at me!!

i know there are irrisponsible owners everywhere but 2 dogs in a matter of 5 minutes !!!???

Hi Suze - I notice you're a Dogsey senior and so probably pretty clued-up about dog behaviour and if you felt it was the best thing to do I'm sure you were right.

OH encountered similar behaviour when out with two of ours yesterday. An apparently unattended Staffy (a breed I'm very fond of BTW) appeared out of the long grass and launched itself at the terrier bitch repeatedly and with great ferocity. She is well able to take care of herself and has confidence you couldn't dent with a pickaxe but was getting pretty wound up. By the third time OH could tell she was about to go into 'attack' rather than 'defend' mode and was getting himself into the 'swift kick up the jaxie' stance when owner finally saunters up, calmly puts the lead on his snarling, snapping beast and strolls off without a word. Unbelievable.

OH says the sound effects alone were horrific and a slower, smaller or less assertive dog would have stood no chance of avoiding serious injury. Sometimes you just have to go on instinct.