What would you have done?

On my walk today I had Remus, a collie (she's lovely but a bit bossy and noisy soemtimes), a very sedate cocker spaniel, and 18 week old springer x poodle (who gambles around the place and runs back to me each time any of the older dogs are running near her). As I had four we went to local fields which are usually free of other dogs but if there are any you can see them coming a long way off and decide if you're going to say hello or not.

It was a lovely walk, incident free than as we were walkign back to the gate I saw a lady also going back to her car. I had all four on the lead by then so moved back giving her a clear 25-30 ft between us and the gate. Mine were just standing still watching her and her dog calmly.

I then noticed she was on her phone and didn't notice her soft coated wheaten running straight up to us. He stopped about ten foot off and she noticed he was gone and started calling him but he wasn't paying any attention. Remus decided he looked like fun and started jumping up and down. The woman was still calling but unsuccessfully. Her dog was charging about round us, and I could feel the collie getting wound up...so I did the only thing I could think of doing to calm the situation.......which was let go of Remus' very short lead. When he gets that excitement/nervousness going on he just wants to run. The lead only just reaches past his shoulder so he can't trip on it. The collie calmed down as soon as Remus was gone and .....and Remus just sprinted a few times between me and the women, who still hadn't moved to get her dog!

I was beginning to get a little peeved now.....but her dog said hello to all of mine on lead....no incident. Remus carried on running with the woman flinching each time he came near her....and then glaring at me.

Once Remus had got rid of that little spurt (the excitement not to dog) I called him over and clipped him back on....and then she came and got her dog, all the while glaring at me!

I bit my tongue and said nothing the whole time because if she'd accused me of having too many dogs or being irresponsible for letting Remus go I would have said that I was perfectly in control and aware of what was happening before she came along on her phone, not paying attention and let her unrestrained dog run up to four on lead dogs and if I'd kept Remus on lead he would have continued jumping up and down, annoyed collie who would have told him off making him jump up and down more ....which would have scared the other two and probably would have ended in one big mass of tangled leads.

I'm half expecting a phone call from mrs angry because she was also glaring at my sign written car as dragged her 'bubbles' off and dumped him in the boot.

Six of one and half a dozen of the other in my view I wouldn't have let one dog off though, and I'd probably have wandered off well out of the way of stupid woman on the phone with loose dog just in case it set off all the dogs I had onlead around me, but that's my take on it, and you asked. You didn't HAVE to stand there and wait, something awful could have happened, and it's always best imo to err on the side of caution and always think the worst, so I would have taken evasive action and turned back. 5 mins of your time is a lot better than the worst case scenario isn't it afterall.

Bubbles? lol!

Oh I know what I'd have said - same thing I used to say to anyone who had a dog off lead who wasn't under their control when I was out with my GSD.

'PUT YOUR DOG ON THE LEAD OR I LET MINE OFF'. Worked like magic every time. They ain't that bothered about theirs bothering yours when they see yours are all on lead. They quickly change their mind if you let them off. My GSD did NOT like other dogs jumping round her when she was on the lead. Her mum was so well trained she honestly could have been off lead all the time. She totally ignored other dogs unless they sniffed her rear end and then she'd snap and growl at them. (I didn't train her by the way!)

Of course in your case if would have been 'PUT YOUR DOG ON THE LEAD OR I LET ALL THESE OFF'

Why should you risk your dogs pulling you over because she is ignoring what hers is doing.

Anyway - wasn't that the ideal time to bring out the old chestnut as you let Remus go .... HE ONLY WANTS TO PLAY!

Haha tang. Yeah I should have tried that one....it is the truth after all. Lol.

I'm really rubbish at measurements Helena but the distance I moved back was half the with of the foot ball pitch which we were standing on...and then there's the road to the gate, so it's quite a long away back. I suppose I presumed that was sufficient distance away to avoid any incidents. The collie is the only one who can be funny...by that I mean noisy and bossy so I always put her on lead when I see other dogs coming. Maybe next time, and I'm certain there will be a next time lol, I'll keep moving backwards and hope we don't end up in a tangle. : )

I really should try saying things like thwart tang but I think by the time I get to that point I don't trust myself to not punctuate it with expletives!

LOL, that's far enough in my book! When you said almost 30ft I just imagined 5 Dave's lying on the ground (cos he's over 6ft!) to give me an idea and that wasn't far at all, not far enough for me to be away from a loose dog with a numpty owner anyway!

Haha...it's one of the joys of being dyslexic....and why I fail when using sat navs as I just can't imagine how far the distance is they are saying so it always takes me by surprise and I panic and turn down the first road I see, and then go back again and go down every road until I find the one I was looking for.

Of course what I used to do WORKED EVERY TIME.

You however have to bear in mind that it is 'other people's' dogs, not just your own. So just in case one of these random other dogs turns out to be vicious - I suppose evasive action is best every time.

You will be wanting all the good publicity and word of mouth you can get. And no one moaning or bitching about you and your dog walking services. Even if it's only to their pals.

I used to give dog walker people a very wide berth. Just because I knew all the dogs were not their own and therefore likely to be a bit more unpredictable.

You should really have shouted to her to get hold of her dog as 'you are not too sure about the collie' or waddever! Just so it makes it immediately seem that it is HER dog you are concerned about and all that

I hate people on the phone when their dog is charging about - it's just a recipe for disaster. I've also seen people chatting in small groups whilst I'm being spun around like a lunatic because their dog is circling mine who kicks off. I think you did the right thing - and if I ever met you I know I'd trust your judgement every time.

We have an outbreak of kennel cough in Somerset - so owners are shouting out "KEEP YOUR DOG AWAY, MINE'S GOT KENNEL COUGH" that seems to do the trick - it seems to work better than shouting out "MINE'S NOT GOOD WITH DOGS" which people just ignore and say something stupid like "mine needs telling off ha ha" or "don't worry about mind he doesn't fight".

I have had a dog ruined by off lead dogs running up to us, you did the right thing, your responsibility is to the dogs you have, it is her responsibility to her own dog. You felt it safer "For your dogs" to let Remus go, nobody knows your dogs better than you do or how to handle them.

I would have shouted to her to get off the phone and get her dog or she would be paying my vet bills as well as her own, that usually works.

I don't suffer this idiots very well, they have done too much damage to my dogs so are told straight but no bad language is used, it has more effect without it.