oo-er! There are some very aggressive owners it seems - never mind the dogs! All I said was my dogs aren`t aggressive to other dogs but would react badly to people being aggressive to them.
Fact, not opinion.
We are approached by other people`s dogs all the time. I`ve just learned to walk fast. In the opposite direction.

I carry a can of Spray Shield (it's a citronella spray) in case a dog goes after us. I haven't had to use it yet, though I would in a heartbeat if it meant protecting myself and Dahlia.

If she ever got loose and attacked, then I couldn't blame someone at ALL for doing something like that to stop her. Granted, this dog is so non-aggressive and soft that it would never happen and I'd be peeved if someone used it on her when she was just coming over to say hi (again, not going to happen as she's either on lead or under voice control).

[QUOTE=ClaireandDaisy;1926149] oo-er! There are some very aggressive owners it seems - never mind the dogs! QUOTE]

hahaha rather random personality judgement! Please don't ever get a job as a phychologist! was it the bold and red? I'm not aggressive in the slightest, quite the opposite Sorry, just making my text stand out from yours in the quote

You said my decision was 'foolhardy', so I was just explaining myself, and why I think it wasn't

I have 2 Kerry Blue terriers and one of them (the female) has been attacked by a Rottweiller and is now very defensive with other dogs so we keep her on a lead when we walk her. She is obedience trained with 2 trophies and I have spent a lot of time and effort in retraining her to be calm round other dogs, ignore them and sniff politely with the calm friendly dogs we see regularly. All of this can be undone in 5 minutes by some numpty letting their out-of-control dog roar up from the other side of the field/park/heath and try and jump all over Cherry or have a go at her. She will head-butt dogs that she doesn't know that get into her "personal space". I carry a pet corrector spray and will use it if a dog that I don't know comes charging over in this way. Two similar incidents that happened in the last month show opposite responses from owners-

1) A large Staffy came charging up to Cherry from the other side of the field-I used my pet spray as we have had a few Staffy attacks here recently-the blasted thing then ran out (good timing!) and the owner was asking me to spray her dog! This made me think she knew it was dog aggressive and didn't want a vet bill to pay for it biting Cherry. It took this owner ten minutes to get her dog back (fortunately I had a rape alarm as well as the pet corrector but it was very hard to get the dog away from Cherry) and the owner was very apologetic.

2) Exactly the same situation but large Staffy walked by two rough-looking lads. Took 6 sprays of pet corrector with the dog continually charging after Cherry before it got the message. owners very narky about their dog being sprayed. Explained Cherry was very scared about being charged up to by an out of control dog (owners again a long way away)
and they said that in that case I should not bring her out!
I kept quiet but was thinking no you shouldn't bring your out of control dog out.

Totally unacceptable to let your dog behave like this and then not expect other owners not to react when their dog is on a lead. Parker is the most sociable terrier you could meet but out of courtesy I always recall him when I see another dog being walked on a lead. If they are on a lead it is for a reason. I will not allow Cherry to have large lump taken out of her again.

Hi,

I think I'd be unhappy about it but would understand why someone did it if it was my fault. Having said that, I wouldn't allow my dogs off lead if they were dog aggressive. Even so, I carry what Oscar calls my "doggy bag" with extra leads etc inside so if a lead snapped or broke for some reason, I'd still ahve a method of controlling my dog.

Of course, there's also the issue of recall. If you have a dog aggressive dog that has good recall and the lead breaks, they shouldn't go anywhere other than back to their owner. I knwo it's probably wishful thinking though if they've already focussed on another dog.

I used to carry a small water spray with me that I have used once on someone else's dog. It was an EBT, chocolate colour (never seen one that colour before - he was to die for). He was off lead and I had Ellie on lead as her recall had gone a bit off. The EBT came over, they had a sniff of each other - no problem. Then he decided to hump Ellie. She wasn't having any of it and turned round. He persisted so Ellie turned and snapped at him, just catching his face. By this time the owner was with us and stated the bitch he had on lead was the one who was problematic. He went on to say that my dog must have been in season (she'd been speyed about 6 months before this). He still didn't get his dog off her and when the dopey dog tried it on with Ellie again, I sprayed him in the face. It was either that or have Ellie bite him properly.

For those who don't know Ellie, those who do will tell you it wouldn't be just one bite. She would have killed him. The owner shouted, ranted and raved at me but as far as I'm concerned, I prevented an all out dog fight and stopped both dogs getting badly hurt.

Sprayignsomeone else's dog though with anything IMO shouldn't be taken lightly. After all, you never know how another dog will react to something like that.

Laura xx

"I used to carry a small water spray with me that I have used once on someone else's dog."

I know what you mean-Parker got humped by an overweight Boxer and the owner thought it was acceptable as he was just a dog! I was concerned that the dog could hurt Parker owing to the size difference and Parker was not enjoying the experience! Next time I saw it and it came over for a second go (owner was in the next field-completely not with her dog!) and I got a large water pistol out and sprayed it in the face-it came back for another try then got the message after a 2nd watering. Strangely enough it never tried humping Parker again after that!

Gave Parker a dislike of Boxers unfortunately though-I recall him and leash him if we see any as he thinks they are all going to try and hump him I think!

Fortunately most of the dog walkers and owners we see are nice, responsible people. I try and concentrate on them and not let the numpties spoil it.

We saw someone with a male Golden Retriever who wouldn't leave Cherry's backside alone and she was being very good and trying her best to ignore him whilst the owner was wasting his breath calling his dog to no avail. He then blamed me and said I suppose your bitch is in season? Actually she was spayed 6 years ago-your dog is just being naughty I calmly replied!

If Zara was being a nuisance and deserved to be 'pet corrected' then, although I wouldn't be too pleased, I would also accept the situation. Having said that, I wouldn't put her into a situation where she could get 'corrected' as I only let her near dogs/owners we know well and understand Zara.

I wonder, Akitagirl, if the owner of the aggressive dog reacted negatively because he didn't know what you sprayed? Perhaps he thought you sprayed an aerosol can of something like hairspray? I know, without this forum I wouldn't have heard of pet correcter, so if I saw it being sprayed at my dog, without knowing what it was, then I would be pretty angry. Not trying to make excuses for him, he shouldn't have put his dog in that situation in the first place.

good point,there are a lot of dodgy peeps out there,that would mean to do harm

Yeah, glad you said this, good point, initially she didn't know what it was and I now I do wonder if this is why she got so angry, flaring up in the first place? She glared at it sticking out my pocket and I saw her doing this so I briefly told her what it was as she stormed off, she still wasn't impressed..

not read the replies - sorry it's late! But I wouldn't let a dog I knew to be aggressive off the lead. I keep Dan on when there are people about and he isn't aggressive, just noisy, but it's still my responsibility to keep him safe by protecting other people that may be afraid of him.