Protect your puppy !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was a little disturbed the other day while in a forum, a young lady was out walking her dog (small puppy) and this guy comes along with his dog (off leash) and all of a sudden the mans dog runs in an aggressive manner toward her puppy. Had she not picked it up in her arms, the other dog probably would have bitten it. She told the man he should have had his dog leashed up, especially it being aggressive like that. This is what upset me!! Someone else came into the forum and said that no one was going to tell him how to walk his dog, or when to put a leash on.

Well, here is a little video for that person. If people love their puppies as much as the man in the video does, (and most people do) they do not want to see their puppy hurt in any way. So, you can act as macho as you want, saying its your choice to leash your aggressive dog or not. But, lets hope you don't run into someone like the man in the video, because you will probably wish you HAD leashed the dog up. Especially after he warned you. Remember people...."PROTECT YOUR PUPPIES" They look to YOU for that.............

So....how does he recommend socialising dogs with other dogs if you never allow them to meet ones you don't know? And one attack isn't necessarily going to make your dog dog aggressive for life.

I agree with protecting your dog but isn't stopping them from meeting and socialising with other dogs a damn good way of creating a dog who's aggressive with strange dogs?

I don't think he is saying don't socialise your dog just that it should be done in a safe manner. When we got Mollie as a pup we selected which dogs she should meet and greet very carefully consequently she loves other dogs. Duncan hasn't been so lucky and came to us very DA.

Mollie was also attacked just the once by a German shepherd when she was about 10 months old and never forgot it she loves all dogs except German shepherds - she isn't DA with them just very scared and cowers and wets herself.

Having looked at the video I agree with just about everything the chap was saying and it is a good video. The only doubt I have was when he talked about being aggressive himself as a strategy to repel an approaching dog who might be aggressive. I would certainly stand between my pup and the other dog and say/do something, but I would try to be as calm as I could. I wonder if by immediately taking an aggressive stance himself he could be giving the puppy the wrong message. Also maybe the strange dog would accelerate its aggression if confronted by an aggressive person. I'm not sure about this and I think you have to judge each situation and act in what you believe to be the best way at the time. What do others think?

I could not agree more with what he said about dog parks and I hope they don't catch on and become the norm in this country. I don't want this sort of segregation and I don't want a dog park to be the only place that I can let my dog off lead.

I am sure most people agree that it is very important that puppies meet and socialise with all sorts of dogs, but as he says it does have to be done in a controlled way that increases the confidence of the pup, rather than overwhelming it and allowing it to be mobbed by rowdies. When you have a new puppy you have to get to know the people and their dogs in your neighbourhood - almost every knowledgeable dog owner will welcome a puppy and enjoy introducing it to their own friendly dog. Thats what I have experienced anyway.

I think dog parks have their place but I wouldn't use one as I have one who is aging and can't be knocked about too much and one who is DA. I would be a little worried about very small dogs and large bumptious ones mixing too freely off lead too.

I agree with aerolo there, I was very selective who I introduced my puppy to for this very reason, i..e. her being attacked. However, it turned out that she did get attacked, at puppy training class on numerous walks where people were letting their aggressive dogs come hurfing up to us, and as the guy said, she has now learned to fight back, and she won't back down, which is quite worrying in itself, it could escalate. If I could have my time all over again, I'm afraid I'd say "sod" the socialisation unless it's with dogs who are 100% friendly, and once I'd got that bit over, I'd keep her well away, so that there was no chance I could end up at the boat I now find myself in, i.e. with an "unpredictable" gsd, and that's the worst kind to have, you can deal with aggressive, you can deal with friendly, but that unpredictable out of the blue at that 1 in 100 dogs is scarey!

Hopefully my problem won't be for life like he says, and I will do my utmost to prove him wrong

I find this video disturbing.The man is agressive to the point of letting this get through to his dog,and someone else said- a puppy needs to be socialised every day with all the live things it will ever come into contact with. Does anyone know a few hundred people or dogs personally that they call on to introduce to thier dogs. Puppies need to learn what is appropriate behavior around people and animals and they wont learn like that.
There are some people who let the dogs off and then take no further notice,I saw a guy sat in a carpark last week reading a paper.I noticed a lurcher type dog running around the field on his own,somehow I realised what was happening ( his was the only car, big clue ) my boys were playing with it about 100 yards away from the car,he glanced up now and again .aftre about 10 mins the dog went back to the car and jumped in. Not a recommended way to walk a dog,unless you are disabled i would think. But if something had happened he would have been too far away to deal with it. Or am I being picky. Back to the video - I wouldnt want this guy training my dog as most off lead dogs are quite well behaved. My pup would have just walked around him to get a sniff of his pup. And HE WOULD BE PEPPER SPRAYED FOR THIS ?

I think people are a bit over-protective of their dogs now. I tend to let mine get on with it, and as a result they are almost bomb-proof as regards other dogs.
I think dogs learn dog language from other dogs, and they are not babies. If something kicked off, I would be happy to wade in.

MMMmm.... - I missed the last bit of the video about the pepper spray. I must say I think that this is a bit OTT and unless you actually do encounter an aggressive dog that is really determined to get at your puppy to do it harm a pepper spray is not necessary. As I said before I think if you have an aggressive attitude yourself it could affect your pup's responses and make it defensive. A pepper or mace spray should be a last resort I think and not used to ward off inquisitive off leash dogs. There are always exceptions, but often a dog is less aggressive when off the lead than on it. On reflection I now think he was being a bit too macho and authoritarian. Not every dog that approaches wants to eat your pup and I think most approaches by off leash dogs are because they are investigating and curious. Mind you the leash laws are a lot more strict in the USA and Americans often have more OTT attitudes to a lot of things (dare I say it especially the macho type men).

My video stopped at what I thought was the end? I didn't see anything about spraying other dogs with pepper spray either! I'm going back for a 2nd viewing now!I only heard him say about carrying a walking stick when I viewed it.