A relative of mine lives slap bang in the centre of London and goes jogging in her local (LARGE I should say - this place is huge) park. I know that hoodies with aggressive/out of control Staffies, Rottweilers, etc., have been a huge problem for her to the point where she and others have complained to the council. She has been snapped and chased by these dogs and only jogs very early in the morning now. Although this also happens when she is out on the street, and any request to put the dog on a lead usually ends in a barrage of abuse.

I have to say that we have never had those kind of problems here. We get the odd aggressive dog, but they are the minority...

AAAAAAArgh Joggers! I`ve had to specifically train my (very protective) dogs to understand that people running at me are NOT about to attack us. It took a while but they`ve cottoned on now. And the odd thankyou when I move to the side of the pavement and put my dogs in a sit so they can pass wouldn`t go amiss.
I think it`s part of the whole problem though - that because people aren`t around animals much now they don`t understand how animals work. A running person is a source of excitement / supicion / prey to a dog. They don`t know it`s OK if you wear trainers. And yes you probably should be able to run, skateboard, cycle, do morris dancing or whatever on a footpath but consideration works both ways. Some day I`ll want my dogs to react when a guy comes running at me, so it would help if joggers coming up behind signalled their presence and those coming at me give us a bit of room or slowed down a bit if I haven`t had time to call my dogs to heel.

I agree with Dani's posts.

I too own a dog aggressive bitch,thanks to a numpty owner who had an out of control off lead dog that attacked Meg.

She is fine with onlead / offlead dogs who walk on past and ignore her but I am wary of offlead dogs dogs coming our way.I walk where dogs are supposed to be onlead.

I too end up shouting to the owner to call their dogs back the usual answer I get is it's ok they are friendly as it's charging towards us,Meg hates dogs charging at her and is on the defensive straight away.In the last six months she has bitten two dogs that charged her and jumped all over her.

As Dani has said,the owner knows that their dogs will not bother with other dogs but us other owners of onlead dog aggressive dogs don't.
We let Tyler offlead and he is perfect,he has excellent recall and doesn't bother with other dogs,he never has,(despite been bitten 3 times)but if we see an onlead dog coming our way we always put him back onlead out of respect for the other owner and dog.

Sadly I think alot of respect for other dog owners who have onlead dogs is lacking.

I totally agree Loki's mum. Z puts her hackles up sometimes, but it's only because she's unsure. She's never even growled at another dog.

Bryan is a growler - he likes to put a toy down in front of another dog, growl, then run away with the toy to get the other dog to chase him. But he is no way aggressive. My friend's springer barks when he chases Bryan, and that's not aggressive either - he's just happy!

I explained all the doggy body language to my brother when he adopted Tilly and he's really good at reading it now. It is amazing how many people don't understand dogs and haven't bothered to do any research about them before getting one.

I'm so luckyto live where I do and have so many doggy friends for my two. Sometimes in the field on a morning there are up to 8 dogs all running around having a lovely time together. They range in size from a JRT/Yorkie to an Irish wolfhound/Airedale terrier

In general, yes I think they are - their owners generally allow dogs to mingle more and do accept that there will be the odd scuffle...which in turn actually means that there are less confrontations because the dogs are more relaxed and more used to meeting other dogs.

From my dogs' point of view, it isn't the number, but the approach - dogs that run up to us full pelt (whether singly or in a pack) do worry mine.

But I think that for multiple dogs there is a slight concern of the pack sticking up for each other....e.g. I'd be interested to hear from those with more than one dog what the reactions of the others would be if one of their pack got into a fight...I'd bet that a large number of them would join in.
this can therefore make a group of dogs slightly more intimidating because if there is a falling out between the single dog and one of the pack, it could end up as a free-for-all and much more difficult to break up (+ potential for damage to the single dog could be greater).

i've lived in both urban and rural areas and i dont find any difference between the two.

you still get the numpties and the savvie owners wherever.

i'm rural atm and round here there is a lot of unsocialised dogs that i am VERY aware of and avoid.


what i have found is the people who do have the aggressive dogs are the first to tell me to control my dogs even tho mine are on leads and theirs are not.

now that gets my goat more than anything

In a busy London park, you'd be signalling your presence every 5 steps. In that situation if you have a dog that has issues with joggers or people running, it shouldn't be off lead. Elsewhere, yeah...I live in a country-ish area and have been taken by surprise by joggers and cyclists. Luckily my dog is more interested in sniffing and eating poo than chasing a jogger.

THE classic 'my dog is out of control, but I'll cover that fact by saying he is friendly!' line.

Tilly was very protective of Bryan - over protective really. She would warn off any dog who growled at him, although we worked on that and she became more relaxed.

Now Bryan is quite protective of Z. I wonder if it's an age thing? Tilly was older than Bryan and Z is younger than him.

This is a very interesting thread, and it is enlightening to read different people's points of view. Here is what I do with Cox, and entire male gsd.

Although Cox is usually fine with other dogs, I cannot guarantee that he will be friendly with every dog, especially other entire males. Having been attacked a couple of times by local dogs rushing up to him while he is minding his own business, he has become a little more fiery of late, but that could also coincidentally be the testosterone.

Since I cannot guarantee his good behaviour without proper introductions, and also cannot always know how other dogs will be, I call Cox to heal whenever I meet a dog on a walk, off lead or on lead. He happily comes back knowing he might get his ball if he behaves and ignores the other dog. Partly this is because I want to avoid fights (which incidentally can be pretty difficult to break up as Cox bites for real if he feels he has to defend himself), and partly because I want to teach him that he cannot just approach other dogs without my ok.

So on everyday walks no he is not allowed to approach other dogs, and I don't like other dogs approaching him. But I am not teaching him to be unsocial because, he does get to interact with other dogs by me walking regularly with dog savvy friends and their dogs, with whom I am confident he will be fine, and because I am a dog walker and he accompanies me on walks with dogs I know he will get on with. So he gets the interaction with doggy friends, but knows not to approach random dogs. I feel this is a good balance, and is also a safe one.

I should say the only fights Cox has been in (about 3 or 4) have been when out of control dogs rush up to him, while he is at heal (off lead) intent on trouble, giving him the eye, growling and snarling. Cox is not one to back down and at this point I let him defend himself, as it is obvious the other dog is going to attack, and I am not in a position to ward him off, which I will if I can.