I have to laugh at the dogs who want to sniff and sniff... and Layton does a quick nose-bum-seeya driveby! They look almost insulted at him getting it done with and off!

It doesn't bother me (unless they get mardy at their dog starting the sniffing off and my dog daring to sniff back like one daft bad did), but I know I've got a very very calm, tolerant dog who will even stand there and let 7 beagles all sniff him and say hello, one after the other - this shaggy lump of dog in a cloud of beagle and he didn't bat an eyelid at all of them descending en-masse (debate the wisdom of walking seven beagles and a set of shopping bags filling all your hands and weighing you down off-lead on a canal towpath at your own leisure).

I put him on the lead if he's not recalling, or if I'm passing known pain in the butt dogs (there are a couple of utterly uncontrollable Jack Russels you can thankfully hear for about 2 miles away if they're out and about), or if he's passing a dog that's on-lead and I can't just move him to one side because it's a narrow path. Other than that it's just for traffic or other hazards... mainly his complete inability to understand that dogs can't fly, climb trees or walk on water.

I suppose im guilty of popping kunu on the lead when we see another dog.. if thats a crime then apologies, but i want him to greet other dogs under a controlled enviroment, i dont know the other dog or owner so id rather keep hold of kunu while they have a sniff and say hello. we have on a number of occasions had other owners look on in fear with kunu bounding over to say hello, thinking "that wolf is going to eat my dog!" i normally find other owners more of an issue than the dogs, kunu just wants to run and play, yes hes can get a bit over zealous at times, and hes a big strong boy but he loves to run and play with all types of dog and at 16months hes still learning.

I think some owners are guilty of themselves being nervous and inadvertently passing this onto their dogs.

Oh - and that lady I was on about with the GSD? Sid and I passed her house last night as she was walking up her path towards her front door. As she got her keys out of her pocket she must have let the lead go slack - next second the dog lunged at Sid just missing him (no warning or provocation)

All we were doing was walking on the pavement straight past the house He turned and said to her you need to keep that dog under control,she never even apologized, just bent her head looking embarrassed.