The Anti Maddy Brigade.

Hi guys,
I just need a rant really so bear with me!

As most of you will know Maddy has fear aggression. She is fine with dogs she has gotten to know, it's just the unknown that she is afraid of.

Aside from this she is (and always has been) a very vocal dog. She will bark when she is excited/bored/hungry/wanting attention/wanting a pee, it's just Maddy and how she communicates.

Anyway when we go out for a walk every morning we usually see the same people each day walking their dogs at around the same time every morning. Maddy now knows most of these dogs and is fine offlead with them, but there is one owner who refuses to let her dog near Maddy for fear of Maddy 'attacking' her. She is small and slight mongrel bitch, but is quite timid. As soon as we get near her Maddy is put onlead anyway.

This wee dog is fine with all the other dogs and they all run around quite happily chasing each other, and you can imagine now with Maddy onlead and all these dogs running about her she gets very frustrated with herself that she's not allowed to join in. I have no doubts that given JUST ONE DAY with this little dog, I could introduce her and Maddy in a safe manner and they would be fine with each other for life after that. No doubts at all. But this particular dog's owner will not allow any of it, and obviously if she won't allow it I have to keep Maddy onlead when we are near her dog.

I have tried explaining and talking and i'm blue in the face, but she is adamant Maddy will EAT her dog for supper, and they will never be able to get on and play together. If Maddy does bark (usually out of frustration of being put onlead), said dog is very timid as I said and will usually just back off and play with the other dogs, but sometimes (if she's came up really close to Maddy and Maddy has barked) she will assume the submissive position of laying on her back. She does this every time a dog comes to meet her anyway (even those she knows) and they sniff her, she gets up and they play as normal.

Now EVERY TIME WITHOUT FAIL, that Maddy barks, regardless of the little dog's reaction, her owner will call her over in a baby voice and stroke her and reassure her saying over and over "it's ok, it's ok it's ok", until Maddy stops barking. In my opinion this is not how I would go about things as I feel it just makes the dog worse, she then feels there IS something to worry about after all. But it saddens me as most of the time you can see the dog isn't really bothered at all by Maddy's barking anymore (albeit she was at first) and usually just ignores her and wants to get on and play.

Now don't get me wrong this lady is nice enough, and I respect her choice if she thinks Maddy is a threat then that's her descision not to allow her own dog to make friends with her. We've got on for long enough now this way, and even so I can still notice Maddy is getting used to the dog, but at a pace 100x slower than if they were allowed to 'meet' properly and have a sniff of each other in a controlled way, e.t.c.

So bearing all this in mind, a recent event happened that has kicked off this 'anti Maddy brigade'. The lady whom I have just told you about usually walks with another lady who has a bull terrier cross. Maddy is ok with him, she will give a quick bark as they haven't really been able to make friends either (as she walks with the other lady Maddy is usually onlead), so that makes 2 of them who refuse to walk with us because of Maddy. Then recently we know a lady with a whippet, who Maddy is FINE with, but she will usually bark OUT OF EXCITEMENT, because she can't catch her (she is a whippet after all!), and she has been like this the whole time we've known them (about 6 months) and everyone has been fine. But just yesterday the lady with the timid dog and the lady with the whippet were out walking together before we got to the field. Now the whippet has NO RECALL WHAT SO EVER. So me and my father were walking with 4 dogs at the top of the field, and the whippet's owner and the timid dog and her owner were all a good 100ft away at least, but the whippet was closer to us than her owner. Maddy was offlead and went to chase the whippet and barked as per usual, and then all of a sudden the whippet's owner was yelling her dog's name, and yelling at Maddy she was a bad bad girl! Then making out her whippet wouldn't come back because she was afraid of Maddy, and saying "IT'S OK YOU CAN COME BACK, IT'S OK".

Now my inkling is the reason for her total attitude change is because she was walking with the timid dog's owner and was trying to make some kind of a scene (god only knows why).

Today's walk just goes to prove my point as there was a few of us walking together, we were down the field and the whippet, timid dog and bull terrier x and owners were all walking up the field. The whippet however was a good distance away from their group down the bottom of the field. As they continuted up the field the whippet didn't follow them or even listen to her owners calls and hre owner didn't stop or come back for her, but kept on walking! In the end the whippet was with us and her owner was a good 300 meters away at least! OUR GROUP actually had to call the dog back from running near the road a few times!

When we got back up to the top of the field her owner was just stood there waiting, when the whippet decided to start rolling in a dead bird. Her owner SCREAMED at her at the top of her voice (the dog didn't listen at all!), but didn't bother to walk over and get her, just carried on screming her name! And I mean absolutely SHRIEKING!

So all in all she can't have been SO WORRIED Maddy was going to 'attack' her dog as she practically left the dog in our care whilst she was halfway up the field taking no notice only to stop every five mins to shout "COME ON", which not once did the dog respond to.

And I'M the one they now all look down on with the badly behaved dog!

Sorry it's so long and probably confusing, i've had a stressful morning!

You know what...all I can do is offer a big hug.
So...have a big hug.
Some people are just idiots and ain't worth it. Cuddle Maddy and ignore them.
Hugs

Oh no Kel!! I know just how you feel. There are a couple of "anti-Max" walkers near us, who don't like Max bouncing up to their dogs, and in fact some who won't even let Max near their dogs on lead.

We have a similar problem with a little staffy cross, Lola. Her owner is sure that Max will "have her for breakfast" and won't let her offlead near him. I always put Max's lead on when we see her.

Max would love to play with Lola, but her owner won't let that happen.

The other day, we were on our way back down the footpath home, when Lola came shooting up to us, off lead!

I could hear her owner calling her back, but she wanted to play with Max. I held her collar until her owner got close and then let her run back to him.
He then made a big show of checking her over and picked her up saying "It's ok, it's ok".

She'd run up to Max (who was on lead) and she'd tried to instigate play! Never mind seeing if she was ok!

My advice would be to ignore the people who can't see past Maddy's barking, and also trying to get the other owners on their own and maybe explaining Maddy's "problem" so they don't think she is aggressive.

Thanx Ramble, I could really do with one!

Thanx IsoChick, all the owners concerned are aware that Maddy was attacked and this is why she is very apprehensive with other dogs. To be honest I think it actually makes them think worse of her.

You mentioning that type of behaviour, there was a moman with a Weimaraner at the club the other night, fear barking at a lot of dogs and snapping at some, she also backed away from a couple of people, not in any great manner though. There were a few raised eyebrows when she mentioned she wanted to breed from it!! She was told in no uncertain terms by experienced judges and exhibitors not to entertain mating any dog with a noticable temperament fault, she wasnt happy but I think she got the message!

Dont worry about other people Random, if I were you Id go elsewhere to walk with your friends that do know Maddy, stress free!
Dawn.

Oh dear we've all met these over protective owners ,its a shame as you say ,as maddys frustration must make her appear like the monster this silly women already thinks she is wish i could offer a solution but im afraid i dont have one .

I have the same problem as Percy can be fear aggressive. I tend to pick him up, other owners think it's because I have problems with their dogs (I don't and the other three are off lead with their dogs) it's just to stop Percy doing a runner!
Ignore the ignorant ones, they seem to have done more harm to their dogs than good.
Becky

I know exactly how you feel. It seems like the majority of people walking their dogs are like this - that's how it feels to me anyway! But there are a small number of sane people amongst us and I for one would not think anything of Maddy doing what she does and certainly wouldn't think bad of her - she is lovely.

Kody does the same on lead by the way but wouldn't harm a thing off lead and would run from the tinest of dogs if they challenged him lol - try telling some people that though - it's hard finding the poor lil man any play mates at all, which course doesn't help the situation.

People just need to chill and give you some credit. These are people that see you walking the dogs alot after all - they should know by now that everything is fine - but some people just like stress I think.

If Maddy is fine playing off lead than I would not put her on lead, if that Lady does not want Maddy near her Dog than she has the choice to remove her Dog from the group.

Hope things improve

Absolutely spot on... seems that it's her that has a problem.. probably made worse by her reinforcing the dogs fear by picking it up and/or fussing about it. If Maddy is ok off lead then no way should she miss out on playing. Don't feel so down about it though, think we all have a few idiots on our dog walks

Chin up