We are very near a small shore & fields. The latter you just dont meet other dogs & in winter rarely if ever meet anyone on the shore. Summer is different, then you get the 'anti dog' holiday makers with / or without children who make rude comments about dogs being on the sand so to avoid people - NOT dogs we tend to go onto the shore (tide permitting) very early before anyone is up. Occasionally we have met the odd working collie who lives nearby but he does his own thing as do ours. Couple of greyhounds but they are always leashed, ours are too busy playing to take heed. They might look up out of curiosity briefly but go back to what they are doing. Think its a lovely sight to see dogs running full out on sand.

Even when we meet up with friends & their Collies, we find the dogs all do their own thing.

I find the same here too, most people just let them be and sort it out themselves... provided it doesnt get too much etc.

We meet dogs frequently. In our neighborhood many people walk the circuit around the pond and so we come across a fair amount of dogs there. I walk Dahlia off leash but always put her on if I see someone coming with dogs on leash. But frequently other people's dogs are off leash too and they'll call out to ask if your dog is friendly and if they both are, we let them meet.

Dahlia sometimes just greets, sniffs, and we move on. But more and more she's engaging in games of play. She's especially happy chasing other dogs and so if one runs at her and runs past her or play bows and runs away, she gives chase. It's fun watching her with them!

She's beginning to wrestle with some dogs, but those are ones she knows better (like the dogs in our agility class).

I tend to walk with the same group of friends & their dogs so the dogs all know each other very well. Sometimes there's 5-6 of us with up to 12 dogs between us so I appreciate we can be a scary looking gang for the lone dog & it's owner! But the 2 dogs that can be dog aggressive are always put on lead & taken out of the way while the rest of the dogs are allowed to meet & greet, provided the owner of the other dog is ok about it.

I'm lucky in that my dogs are pretty sociable so I don't have any worries about meeting other dogs & people. Barney sometimes has a bark at young over-friendly male dogs but it's only one bark, then a sheepish look at me & he turns back immediately. Most people just laugh at his "bravado" as it's not in the least bit scary

I walk in all sorts of places depending on who I'm with & what their dogs are like & how much time we've got. I can do 20 min park walks where they meet loads of dogs & we usually run into someone we know. Or we do 2-3 hour walks in more rural areas where we might not see a soul. I love these walks as I just love being out in the coutryside, watching the wild life & changing seasons, & seeing the dogs charging around in the woods or across the fields. My only restrictions are cows as Barney's a bit scared of them & I always worry about how the cows are going to react, so I tend to avoid fields with cows in.

There's a really nasty undertone about people who dare walk their dogs in a park. I'm sorry I'm not good enough, or "fair weather" (hardly - although I will wait till the rain stops going horizontally before going out because I wear glasses and like to be able to SEE where I'm walking) but I shockingly live in the middle of a city and have no transport at all during the week at the moment.

It's just a really nasty "you're a crud person if you don't have a couple of acres of woodland on your doorstep" thing going on... sorry but no, I don't - lots of people don't and surprisingly - they go for the nearest bit of greenspace because THEY HAVE NO CHOICE! Our park has lots of older people who don't drive - should they have no dogs or be marked down as "fair weather owners" when you can set your clock by them being out come rain or shine with their dogs... or people like me who just happen to be without transport during the day since my husband got a promotion to a different work site and needs the car to get there instead of public transport and I'm waiting for a second car from my parents but since we've had a family bereavement it's thrown everything off kilter and the wait is longer than we expected.

Seriously - slamming the people who ARE out walking their dogs isn't nice - try slamming the ones who don't even MAKE it to the park.

I think that would be a really sad way to go and ultimately believe it would cause more problems than it cures as dogs are likely to become even less social. I'd hate the thought of mine never going off lead for a good run and would certanly never own another border collie if that became law (unless I had access to plenty of private land).

Same here, on the whole. I do think there is a difference between 'country' and 'town' people as to what is accepted in terms of 'arguing' between dogs...IMO country people are more likely to just let the dogs get on with it.

Fair point, but I don't think anyone meant it quite how it may have come across to you.

'Fair weather walker' doesn't mean someone like you who presumably will take their dog out every day (even if you do wait for the best of the weather - which just seems sensible to me!). The 'fair weather' walkers' they are talking about are the ones who don't walk their dogs regularly - only once in a blue moon (or when the sun is shining, which is pretty much the same thing up here ).

And I think those of us for whom a park doesn't appeal - well that's probably because due to our existing life styles we have selected dogs (amount of dogs and breeds) who like the wide open spaces of the countryside, so yes, a park wouldn't be our idea of fun because we don't really have the dogs to go with that lifestyle. If I lived in town, I almost certainly wouldn't have two border collies and maybe not even one (though I do know of people who have and do very well, it wouldn't be my choice).

But I'm sure that no-one here thinks you are a bad person because a local park is the only place you have regular access to.

I also think breed has a lot to do with it.

An Akita gets into a snarling match with your dog - evil dog, a poodle (sorry to stereotype) gets into a scrap with your dog - Whoops!

I'm sooooo obsessed with the reputation of my breed that I know it makes me far too over cautious when meeting other dogs (my poor dogs!).

I wonder if this is because "town" parks are more crowded & used by more dogs & space is at a premuim with stress pheromones flying all over the place & this is why squabbles are more likely to break out?

There's a dog-walking service that uses one of our local parks around midday Mon-Fri. Far too many dogs, all off lead, creating mayhem & the 2 dog walkers clearly can't watch them all. A lot of other locals now avoid the park at these times, especially those that need to avoid other dogs.

We live in the centre of Birmingham so we'd be hard pushed not to meet loads of dogs on our walks

Ours are off lead mainly whether its the local parks or further out nature centre or the wider field of the Lickey,Sutton Park, Clent Hills etc.,

Having a group I find a lone dog approaching can have a owner attached thinking that thier dog is going to be Mob Handled and we sometimes get a reaction by them shouting to us ''are they nasty'' but typical BC's ours actually are not interested in other dogs.

Reah and Tess are probably the only ones to stop and greet with a sniff but little else. Bruce is a snob with a capital S and would much rather stay well away from any dog bitch or male infact when another dog looks like they are making a B line for him, he does a half circle and spin in the opposite direction, Skye is very similar

I feel mine being in thier own 'pack' don't really need or pay any attention to other dogs due to being a group
Funnily enough we commented on this the other day as we have notuiced Mojo is becoming a simliar pattern to them, I think thats just following what the elders do