"You've got a very vicious dog there sunshine"

..Was what I was told by a rather rude chap in the park today, I was walking my two minding our own business tottering along..Ronnie stays on lead as he isn't brilliant with recall in wide space, Florrie totters along by my side occasionally doing her terrier thing of wandering off for a sniff of a million blades of grass on the offchance a varmant has been there Anyway I saw this chap walking behind, and he a GSD puppy looked about four months ish, had a right flea up the bum but was pretty sweet, offlead and totally clueless...as every pup is, but he wasn't giving pup any direction at all..just strolling on with pup all over the place, now pup comes bounding over..Ronnie just looks at me doing his stuck up thing of "do i have to be a dog?" thing, but Flo was alright really, she takes everything in her stride. Anyway pup was getting very full on with her, Florrie's only a terrier cross so quite small but I know she can hold her own, anyway owner comes over and is talking, says pup was his kids but they dont bother (their 4 n 7 ) so he has to walk "it", I mentioned could he call pup back as Florrie wouldn';t take much more..jumping all over, nipping her neck and underjaw, climbing over etc, he laughed in my face and said something about ankle biters, anyway the inevitable happened and madam had too much and gave a right old growl and snap at pup after about fifteen minutes of being pestered, I kept trying to walk kindly off but they'd follow us. Anyway friendly GSD man changed then "Bloody little things a menace, you've got a very vicious dog there sunshine, totally out of line".
One managed to give a very dignified response considering it was half seven in the morning, of "Well she did take being climbed all over n nipped for a long time, she was the same with my pup, and I DID tell you to call your dog back" n proceeded on.
I confess I did feel a bit bad, its only a pup, but Florrie's neck does look a bit sore from all the nipping and she was definitely in a stomp afterwards, but can't help but feel that pup will grow into a very boisterous pest of a dog as already the owner gives no guidelines of acceptable behaviour, ah nowt queerer than folk!

Poor pup, and poor Florrie. It's definitely the guys fault, not being in control and expecting young kids to be responsible, I dread to think how the pup will turn out. Glad no serious injuries.

Ah. Very same happened to me a few months ago with an oversized springer pup. Bounced and humped and wouldn't take no for an answer. Shiloh got fed up first and told him, but this oversized pup proceeded to attack Shiloh, had him on his back and round the neck and I had to remove this 'pup' and hand it back to owner.

I think more people should teach their dogs a command like 'enough' so that they can control them better

Mine have always been taught "easy" from little little, to chill if they get a bit too full on playing with us, other dogs, etc etc I too feel it's quite important. Just makes me sad when you can see a perfectly normal pup going to turn out awol

Couldn't agree more

See we have so different people, Louie is full on with Sadie but she will tell him and I believe in letting dogs teach each other. Anyway I'd never met Kia and Phil before (rottie and her owner) and when I did I kept telling Louie to be nice cos he was pestering her but Phil said to me "Let them teach each other" now obviously I was like "I normally do but I dont have him insured and Kia could do some dmaage if she wanted to" But Phil says that if she growls she gets told because of her breed and the fact that if she growls at the wrong persons dog - she could get put down.

Fair enough.

Poor Florrie - I dont ever let Louie jump around little dogs - I know that most can hold their own but he doesnt know his own strength and is pretty full on with them.

like you said, will end up being a BIG pest of a dog.

Any one that says a GSD pup or any pup is 'their 4 n7 year old kids, but they don't bother' sounds like bit of a plank really. If he has that attitude doesn't bode well for his kids either,jmo. Think there's a distinct lack of respect, good manners, thought for others and consideration across society as a whole nowadays, man or beast. Bit too much 'yeh but, no but'. Would any one let their young toddler for example run across to complete strangers without paying attention.

Couldn't agree more. My oldest GSD, Zane (will be 3 soon) stands taller than most 4 year olds and although at 6 years old Oscar can control him (sometimes better than I can ) there's no way 2 young children would be able to handle him properly. Without the proper guidance the kids won't be able to deal with the dog, the adults in the household will be out of their depth with a breed they clearly know nothing about and I expect the pup will end up in rescue through no fault of it's own.

Aside fromt hat I'd be horrified if my dogs jumped all over other dogs and wouldn't give them a minutes peace. yes OK dogs like to play with each other but it's not difficult to see when one of them has had enough. And if it was my dog causing the problem, he/she would be controlled and called away before things like this happen.

Flo had every right to growl, snap and do whatever she felt was necessary. After all, the GSD pup clearly wasn't taking no for an answer and with an owner who couldn't care less about his own dog or anyone else's, did he really expect his pup to be able to continue without any correction?

Hopefully you won't meet him again. But it's a shame that he pup won't be taught any manners or how to behave in public. It will no doubt get to a point where nobody will want to walk with him.

Well you were certainly more patient and dignified than I would have been Luke.
Unfortunately the future does not look that good for the GSD pup