Any tips of how to stop my dog from running upto children on bikes and barking

My Golden Retriever is nearly two, she has always been a well behaved dog in the home and has never shown any aggression in any way. My only problem is that she has a tendency to be unpredictable when we are out on our walks and if I do not manage to get her on her lead in time she will sometimes go charging over to people with children that have bikes or are pushing kids prams and bark very excitedly and jump around and she will not respond to my calling/screaming/ etc. Naturally and understandably the parents and children especially those unfamiliar with or wary of dogs get quite upset and concerned as they do not know that my soft dog with a big bark is not going to rip their heads off, I in turn get very stressed and find it very difficult to relax and enjoy our walks. I try whenever possible to walk her in places that are likely to have few children/people around so as to avoid the problem but it is not always easy to avoid all the time and as said wherever possible if Ican see a potential problem or situation I will grab her and put her on her lead but again sometimes its not always easy. I wondered if anyone else has experienced similar problems with their dog/s and can make any suggestions
many thanks:

KEEP her on a lead! Before someone reports her and you lose her!.. and work on her recall somwhere private.. on a long line

Hi Micky

I hate to have either of my boys on a lead, and love to let them off lead as much as possible. They are both 2 years old.

I am sorry to say but your dog is getting away with this behaviour, because you are allowing it (Sorry)

The only way you will stop this is to put the lead back on or a flexi, but I would suggest a short lead and then progress to longer leads when you are happy with the behaviour.

Maybe do some town walks, near school's for a while so you can train that way.

I wish you good luck, however I know it can be heart breaking having to revert back to basics.

Without sounding harsh you need to get control of the situation. The only way to do this is to work really hard on her recall, using a longline, do not let her off in the middle of a busy park. If she gets reported , you will lose her, so for her own safety,keep practising on her recall with the aid of a longline.

Start by doing recall on her line in quiet places, building up to busy parks,it is a behaviour that can be helped, it just takes a lot of work, no easy fix IMO.

I have a young goldie who loves everybody, but not everybody loves big bouncy dogs and she will bark if over excited. Sorry I can't suggest much else, build up slowly to more distractions while on a longline and in time she will get there.

Do you use toys or whistles to try and regain her attention,food, what is her thing, my goldies is toys, wave her squeaky pheasant in the air, guaranteed to get her attention. basically you have got to make yourself more interesting than what she is running off to see

Good luck, I hope this helps

I have to agree with what has been said, if you put her back on a lead and work on her recall and distraction techniques, she will be able to be back off her lead in no time....but you have to be appealing to her. Don't call her in an angry manner, just make it sound like you're the most fantastic thing in the word, treats, toys, kisses, cuddles when she comes back whatever takes your fancy! And she'll soon learn that if she watches you instead of chasing people/bikes, then she gets something nice

Hope that helps! x

Thanks for your reply.
I have worked on her recall, the problem is that whilst she responds most of the time, there are occassions when she decides that the distraction is too great to take any notice and they are the times that are incredibly stressful,wherever I see a potential problem I put her on the lead straightaway and try to only let her off lead in the least populated areas ( pretty difficult in parts of the uk these days)I consider myself to be a very responsible dog owner and as my dog is my only company I would be devasted to lose her/have her taken away. I guess people couild say never let her off the lead but she is a lively 2 year old retriever that needs a run.
I will just have to continue to try to do my best to avoid certain situations, I was just hoping that maybe if there was a dog expert/behaviourist on this site they could relate/identify to this problem and understand the reason why she has this habit and I could maybe work on rectifying it in some way.

Micky, all dogs will have their BIG distraction that tests their recall skills. The methods are just the same. The perfect recall is what we all strive to achieve.

I think you have been given some great advice. No-one is disputing your responsibilty as a dog owner and we can all relate to how much you love her.

Any dog who has a distraction that hinders recall needs further training. Training is in fact something that never stops, just moves in stages as the dog grows. I have a two year old very lively collie cross and footballs/ squirrels are her thing.

On every walk we do I do recall as we go round, giving lots of treats and praise and affection every time she comes back. This encourages her to come back even when distracted .

I really hope you are successfulll in developing this with her as there is no greater pleasure in my opinion in watching your dog running free.Good luck, please keep us informed?

Thanks again for all your replies and helpful suggestions

This is my first and only dog and its all still a learning curve
after 2 years of having her. I get quite upset and disheartened when we have an incident like yesterday when I could not get her on the lead in time before she went running over barking at a couple with a young child on a bike,its upsetting for everyone.
I am going to take my girl out somewhere quiet ( hopefully) this morning and do some more recall work.
Wish me luck

Good luck with your training - just one thing, though: I always train where there are distractions. I know my dogs will do what I want when it`s quiet - I want them to begave when there are dogs / kids / ice-cream vans / picnics around. It sounds like your dog will recall somewhere quiet - have a go at training in the Park - just 10 minutes a day. (One good recall tip - never allow the dog a chance not to do what you want when training - start off on a long lead or line - and bags of praise)

good luck Micky. It sounds like you have the determination to succeed.