Why Can't owners keep their dogs under control?

Well here comes the rant. I was in Pets at home yesterday buying Tedde some bits and bobs and in the end came out with more but there you go Anyway I was stroking a lovely little Cavalier (she was gorg :smt049 ) and in comes this German Shepard who came in barking, dragging it's owners in who obviously couldn't train it to heel or control it and the Cavalier jumped and hide behind it's owner cowering! The GS got put in the grooming salon and taken in a different room as it set off every other dog in there.
This post is not aimed at GS owners as I have nothing against them as they are lovely when trained etc but this one was totally out of control.

Rant Over! Sorry......

Its easy to jump to conclusions when you see a dog behaving like this and you may well be completely right, but my Rottie x GSD would have acted in the same way as that GSD because she is fear aggresive of other dogs since being attacked. But away from other dogs she does some fantastic obedience work and will heel, come, sit, down etc etc immeadiatly on command.
So my dog is not an untrained deliquent but her fear overides anything she knows if she sees another dog, and it comes across this way.
Mean't to add that because of her fear aggression she is walked on a Halti so I do have her under full control if another dog should appear, so apart from the noise she can do no harm unless the owner of the other dog refuses to keep thiers away too.

Yes it could also be that they have only just got the dog and haven't quite worked out what all it's issues are, of course we could be wrong but I wouldn't jump to conclusions. Percy my Dachshund would bark at other dogs due to fear aggression as he has been attacked so many times, but I suppose he is easier to control as I can simply pick him up if need be.
Becky

The dog just came in though with a muzzle that was falling off and he was barking the whole time. It wasen't just at the one dog

Sorry but if it came in with a muzzle on then I'd commend them - maybe they were trying to socialise a problem dog ?
Its not easy when you've got a big dog with 'issues' ..no one wants to be the guinea pig

Quite agree with that, a big dog barking and pulling on the end of a lead is taken far worse by people than a little dog and yet its all the same behaviour. Had this been a chihuahau (sp) then people would have probaly just looked and laughed

Oh how I know that feeling!! Sadly I know that Max would react like this if I ever took him in PAH and there was another dog in there.

If the dog was muzzled I would take it that either they had rehomed the dog and were trying to sort it's issues out, or it could be that they never socialised it as a pup and have now realised they need to act before it is too late. I agree it is not nice for other people and dogs to have to witness this sort of behaviour but at least they were responsible and muzzled the dog.

Yes, it's easy to say 'Control your dog' but a big dog with a 'built in' problem is not so easy to fix.
I personly wouldn't use a muzzle. I can just about control our dog when she's growling and trying to get at other dogs (She hardly ever barks in these situations) she has a well fitting collar and it's often the other dog who 'taunts' her, even if it's much smaller.

It could be that the owners are careless, it could be they put the muzzle on as a form of 'cop out' but let's not be too quick too judge them. GSD's a re truly wonderful dogs and perhaps a few have had an unhappy early life. We just don't know do we.

My dobie wears a muzzle when in Pets at Home or indeed wherever there might be the risk of stupid people trying to pet her.

She has fear agression and it's not because she wasn't socialised as a pup or has an unhappy life but because she unfortunately inherited a bad trait from her mother. Once she gets to know someone or another animal she's fine. But I'm not prepared to take any chances of something going wrong - the muzzle is there for her protection as much as anything else as I couldn't live with myself if she did something to hurt someone out of fear - it's my responsibility to keep her safe at all times.

She also tends to bark and get all excited in PAH - but she is under control at all times and I suspect so was the GSD and a muzzle is certainly not a 'cop-out'.

I use a muzzle on Rupert if I have to take him out at a time we're likely to meet other dogs. He's horribly unpredictable with them and you can't tell until the other dog reaches you how he's going to react. His body language is exactly the same with dogs he knows approaching on the street as it is with strange dogs approaching. It's only when they reach us that it changes. He's been to pets at home to get fitted for a different type of muzzle. I used the soft muzzle he hates so much while in there though. I wouldn't take him unless I had to though, it's not fair on people with friendly dogs to have an aggressive one lunging at theirs and our trip was as short as possible.