Ok, here goes....

1. I only ever posted this for advise - read the title, not for blame. I wanted suggestions as to what to do. I never once said Lorna shouldn't have told me about it.

2. I did say sorry at the door, of course I did, Inca bit and it was wrong even if scared, or defensive, which again is why I came on here for advise.

3. No one in my family knows anything about a previous problem with Lorna's other dog. Lottie mentions Inca was offlead at the time of the first 'attack'..." Inca has attacked her other dalmatian who is not bouncy while both dogs were offlead and Tara (the other dalmatian) didn't go up to Inca that time." Lorna even says Inca was on her lead.
Inca is never offlead anywhere near here, never, purely because she isn't 100% on her recall as many NI's are, and because there is the railway line at the other side of the field where dogs have died. She does use a super-length flexi sometimes.
My OH has no idea about the 'attack' on the other dally either, and he hasn't walked Inca in those fields regularly for months.

4. I had been warned by other dog owners about the huskies, but as I said Inca has never had a problem with them or any dog at all. Never. I take dogs as I find them, judging them myself so wouldn't imply they were agressive.

5. Lottie also said "She (Lorna) understands that dogs will be dogs but does her best to prevent her elderly and grumpy dog from upsetting any other dog", then why have her offleash outside as well, especially again as the small green is next to the main through road?

6. I have an escape artist of my own, a JRT and I would have to say if it was him getting bitten by a dog on the lead it would be my fault for him escaping, as difficult as that is sometimes (though at least we live in a small close). If the dog doing the biting had a history of being dog aggressive, its one thing, but Inca didn't.

6. Inca and my Son did puppy & socialisation classes together. She is not a large NI at all, in fact at the NI show I was amazed how small and 'pretty' she is compared to other NI's (not saying other aren't pretty she's just daintier!).

6. I will be walking Inca from now on. I have already thought about getting some one to one for my Son and her and also have ordered a dogmatic, but this is more about the fact that he is now getting abuse from other dog owners that he doesn't even know when he took her out today. Also a child said 'doggie' when they saw Inca and its Mum said 'keep away, thats the dog that attacked Blue'. In less than 24 hours everyone he met had been warned she was aggressive. That makes me sad more than anything, as Inca usually loves children to say hello and have a cuddle, she has shown many a dog-scared child that dogs can be friendly and been thanked for it too.
It is confusing dog/human aggression and dog/dog aggression and is as much a knee jerk reaction as the tabloids have done recently over aggressive dogs.

As I said, all I wanted was advise from others, no slanging (or slinging) match.

and finally... for those who don't know NI's here is my son in his junior handling class at the show with Inca (red t-shirt) so you can see she is quite a small NI, and also with their prizes afterwards. They are best buddies.









If anyone else has any more advise as to what I can do please add to this thread.

Aww Becky.

Hey we will have to bring my two to your part of suffolk soon so they can meet (we could find a quiet part of your beach and let them run together or something)

What a shame that your son will not be walking Inca for a while, he obviously loves her not many teenage boys would spend their time training and competing. Tell him to keep up the good work and maybe we will see him at a dog show sometime soon showing us his tricks Did he walk her everyday? Its just so suprising to me that a lad of his age would be so focused, god at his age I was probably causing havoc

I agree Zuba and he looks so focused in those pics...It will be a great shame if he were to loose his confidence with Inca over this...Have him walk her still, just with you guys for a while He looks like he will do a great job and be fine in time

Becky, I will pm you wrt my quotes as I don't want to add to the thread as you only want advice but do feel it necessary to explain the quotes and misunderstandings.

Thanks.

Yes he walks her as soon as he gets home from school, and as soon as he gets up at the weekend, its that before anything.... and yes he loved the show, he begged me to let him enter even though he didn't know what to do in junior handler so he kept telling her to sit, which she did

That would be great

Noooooooooo !!

Telling offs will simply create more dislike of other dogs as the assocation will be other dogs = being told off. Thats a very risky approach. Far better to go to training and *reward* for good behaviour ie ignoring another dog or being polite to another dog even if just for a second then distracting to praise / reward.
That is what creates a positive association toward other dogs rather than create negatives which could blow sooner or later in to an all out fight.

Timing is imperitive, to reward at the right moments so a good trainer and owner who thoroughly understand motivation and positive reinforcement for this is essential.

Some dogs do have breed specific dislikes, and for some of those the most which can be achieved [ worst case scenario ] is a tolerance of them but telling a dog off is not going to improve a situation at its deepest level, it will only work on the surface which means a risky management at best because trust between dog and handler will never be there 100%

i agree with zuba, you son obviously loves Inca a great deal, she does look petite for an iniut (i do know two NI's personally, so can compare). I don't want to add any more to all whats been said, other than i hope this dosn't knock his confidence and spoil his commitment to her and the great bond they have.

Gosh.

Ummm.
I've read pretty much all of this and I am a bit torn.
First..the pup shouldn't be offlead...it's the pup who was 'out of control' in this scenario. For that reason I don't think Becky needs to offer any payment.
Becky has apologised. Has Lorna? Lorna's off lead dog ran at her onlead dog...i'm afraid I would feel the need to apologise in that scenario.
Becky's son walking the dog on his own...
tough call.
I know some wise 16 year olds and some not so wise...same with 14 year olds...I dont know if he should be walking the dog as I don't know him, the dog or the area.

I think you 2 need to kiss, make up and move on from this...it would be a shame for the bad feeling to continue...you were sort of both at fault here...the rest is just bickering...big breath and shake hands ladys...