I hate walking Benjie! He's alright when he's on his own, he's manageable I suppose, but he can still twist the lead around my hand, finger and everything else - still puts up a fuss and still embarrasses himself (I'm not embarrassed, not me with the problem ) It does help to roll him on his side - not mean't to be an alpha roll but it seems to calm him down considerably (we don't hold him down, we tell him down and over). He is better with the little dogs in the house and has done very well with the training. He'll now listen rather than seeing red and ignoring everyone. Even Leanne will tell you, I'm constantly on the look out for other dogs - I did it Sunday and I didn't even have Benjie with me it's become second nature to me now.

When we have him and Louie (Sadie isn't a bother at all - she's an angel) it's a bigger problem, Louie wants to say hello, Benjie wants to have a go at them - it's a nightmare when there's just one of us. We want to socialise both of them but it's difficult to control both of them on your own.

We're getting him enrolled into the training class Louie is now attending - just for socialisation alongside other dogs. We might be pushing it a little but from what I've seen they do deal with quite a few DA dogs (even if they consider them not to be)

I would enjoy him if he was lovely - if he ignored other dogs - just ignored him, not bothered if he wants to play or just walk past them but I do not like the ear splitting barking, lunging etc..that's what ruin's it all.

Same with our alf, he was a very nervous pup but then was attacked in a training class, of all places! And that just made things worse.

I do enjoy it when it's quiet, a lot of the places we walk are open so you can see what's coming and avoid it accordingly. But then I've got so used to keeping an eye out for dogs and stressing about it it's weird to think that other people don't have to!

I hate parks, and I hate Sunday afternoons. Especially sunny ones.

Same here, poor Zena has been launched at by the same terrier twice as a puppy, it honed in on her from a long way off and just charged her and flew at her mouth first time coz she had a ball in it Then there's that collie, he's bitten other dogs, bitten the owners, and yet they STILL walk it offlead with all the others they own that's had her twice, not to mention the gsd after Zena had just been speyed still had her stitches in I should have done all this the other way around, kept her out of the way of dogs and socialise her later, if only!

If a friendly dog approaches my dog, then my dog is more than friendly, but if they want aggro, boy are they gonna get it from her now! There's only so much a girl can put up with, so she probably thinks all dogs are out to get her now, so steps in before they have a chance! We're fine with dogs she already knows though, so I can walk with friends, it's just the unknown, it's a real worry.

I once owned a real da gsd, but that I could deal with, we picked our walks carefully, picked the times and places and we never got into trouble, but do I really want to go through that again? No, I'm enlisting the help of a behaviourist coz Zena is still young and we could turn her around ....... maybe! Trouble with that is, how will you know, until the next punch up???!! You just won't will you!!!

I'm lucky with Zena from what I'm reading here, coz I never get any lungeing, or barking at any other dogs when she's being walked, she's happy to just sit quietly and let them pass no matter how aggressive they are towards her, maybe she feels safe when she's on her lead with me I don't know? It's when she's offlead that the trouble starts when another dog comes over to her, but that's all by the by now, coz she is having to be put onlead with ANY dogs approaching, except her friends.

The phrase ''There but for the grace of God go I'' comes to mind.

I don't particularly enjoy walk Cain. I try and generally walk at quiet times and in quiet places - which makes walking him in summer very tricky as he's dog and person aggressive and even if there are no dogs around, there's always people sunbathing! It's a shame really as with Moon I'd take him out for loads of extra walks in the good weather, but Cain doesn't get that as we have to walk when everyone else has gone away and avoid them.

I do have some nice walks with Cain, generally when we are left well alone and can play. I also have some god awful stressful walks! I know that feeling thatr you need eyes in the back of your head - try walking a dog in London for busy!!

he's getting progressively better and we did have a really nice walk today, so I'm hoping that I will feel better and enoy walks again in the future. Walking my dog used to be my way to unwind, now its another source of stress which is sad, I miss relaxing strolls with my dog

Jamie said to me today that he would NEVER have another dog-aggressive dog again. This upset me at the time and I pointed out that Cherry is not aggressive just reactive to large dogs because of fear, and also she is so much better than she used to be.

I can walk her past large dogs and she won't "kick off" unless the owners let them come up to her. I usually ask the owner of a large dog to keep it away from Cherry.
Parker is helpful as he's very sociable and will do the "meet and greet" bit with the other dog whilst I walk Cherry past.

The problem occurs when owners let their large dog charge across the field to Cherry and I stop it by using my pet corrector spray and then the owner has a go at me. Am developing a thick skin though as my priority is keeping Cherry calm and safe and not allowing her to get to that state where she feels threatened and goes into "head-butt" mode. If they don't like it then don't stand at the other end of the field and let your dogs charge at mine when she is clearly on a lead!

I was really proud of her today though as I saw someone nearby with 2 Dachschunds off-lead and thought good-Cherry likes little dogs but they were not friendly and were yapping like crazy at her and Parker. However, she just ignored them and looked at me for a treat.

Cherry has choice of walks if I don't use the car and we usually end up doing the same one where we don't meet many other dogs. Shame on Parker though with him being so sociable so we try to balance it during the week. I don't have the time or energy to walk them separately.

I do agree with my husband though in that I would never knowingly take on a aggressive or reacive dog, whether that's to people or other dogs.

I beg to disagree with the person who said they would rather have a people-aggressive dog though. Cherry is bomb-proof with children and adults and I would much rather she be this way around than I couldn't trust her with people. We have been backwards and forwards to Newmarket Animal Health Trust over the past year and the staff always comment on how Cherry is happy to see them and how good she is at all the pulling about they have to do.

Personally I believe its nature v nurture, it can be one or the other or a bit of both!

Something ALL dogs owners would do well to remember.

The attitude one gets from some dog owners who take the stance "it would never happen to me" and it MUST be the owners fault, really gets me going.

I have to say, I find some of the most dedicated dog owners are those who own dogs with issues!!

Someone at work said this to me with Cherry-very helpful comment! However, I have since found out that both her dogs are overweight and she is extra-fat which does seem to have a link but I would not be rude or unkind enough to suggest this to her!

Rupert's been nervous of other dogs since I got him but at one point he'd be all submissive and happy to be friends. Then we started running into the off leash, dog aggressive staffies and chow mix. 2nd time the 2 staffies attacked him was the straw that broke the camels back I think. He started attacking before they got a chance to for the most part.

He does like some dogs but there's no rhyme or reason to the dogs he'll attack and the dogs he'll make friends with. He's attacked an in season bitch (he was intact at the time), made friends with intact males, neutered males, intact bitches, spayed bitches and also attacked dogs of both sexes, intact or not. He absolutely LOVED a dog aggressive collie who wanted to tear his throat out and yet wanted to kill another dog aggressive collie. He made friends with an overly friendly and rude Westie but hated a politely friendly rough collie from the moment he laid eyes on him.

9 times out of 10 he lies down if he sees a dog coming towards him. Not only does that make it difficult to get a safe distance away it makes it extremely hard to convince other dog owners that he is far from friendly.

Ooooh, yeah, this one REALLY annoys me. They know nothing of you or your dog yet feel they have the right to preach about how you've messed up and should have done this that or the other and about how perfect their dogs are.

Well i took one on & broke my heart when he died of heart disease at nearly 14. Walking him was never fun. I had him as good as he would ever be & yes i did avoid places where others went. In the house he was the most loving obedient dog you could wish to own. Outside with other dogs he was a different character. He didnt discriminate either - hated them all - dogs & bitches alike except for the two he lived with.

I got up & was out at 5.45am each day to walk him 3 miles & then later in evenings for another 3 miles & inbetween that the other dogs were taken out & exercised plus held down F/T job - no wonder one of my knees is worn out