Our walk this morning

I just had to share my story about a brilliant walk we had this morning.I got up at about 7:30 and was out in Stanmer park with Ossie by 08:10 it was tipping it down with rain,typical bank holiday weather.Anyway we did our usual circuit up through the woods and back down into the park which takes about an hour and a half,when around the corner came a man with two English Bull terriers.These dogs were stunning,one was absolutely massive and the other much smaller.Ossie was straining on his lead to go and play with them.They looked up and the big Bully came running up to Ossie and just adopted a playful pose with tail wagging like crazy.The owner called him back but he wouldn't come.eventually i walked Os closely followed by the Bull terrier to the owner who couldn't apologise enough and he said he didn't realise that my dog was onlead,otherwise he would have put his on too.He then asked why i had Os on a lead.To which i said about the nature of Staffies and i was just trying to be responsible.To cut a long story a little shorter,he pointed out that Os sie and George (the large Bully) were getting on fine and as there was no one else in the part of the park we were in,maybe with close supervision from us both they could maybe play for a bit.Well i thought why not as by this time they were both getting all tangled in Ossie's extendable lead.It was brilliant to see these two dogs were loving it.They were chasing each other for a good half an hour.The smaller bully Rita as i found out,was Georges daughter and although wasn't in anyway aggressive just didn't like playing with other dogs.One of the nicest things though was the Bullies owner said Thank you so much for letting your dog play with mine,most people see my two and drag their dogs the other way" It was a pleasure and i don't think Ossie has ever had as much fun.We arrived home with one very tired,very muddy but very happy boy.I will always continue to have Ossie on a lead while out in public.But do hope opportunities like this come along more often as he had so much fun.Also i hope some of these daft breed prejudice people get educated sooner rather than later,those EBT's had no aggression in them whatsoever.

aww stamford that is excellent news you must be feeling so happy inside and aww bless ossie finally being able to have a run around with another dog without any worries of anyone saying anything i hope that ossie gets more opportunities of being able to be let of lead to play till his hearts content

It is nice when other dog owners are nice. Would you believe that we've had other dog owners and non-dog owners deliberately go out of their way to avoid our wee Dobe pup. I intend to keep her on the lead at all times but I agree it would be nice to watch her run about with no worries - might have to buy a field to make that happen though

Every cloud has a silver lining........

Thats so nice,I really don't see a problem if the dogs seem to get on and they are supervised as yours were.
We met a Doberman puppy last year and we allowed Zanta to play with him,she was worn out first mind,but that owner was grateful because people avoid him because of the breed.

That is fantstic of there were only more like you!!

Maybe pedigree could sponsor and advert of you two instead of dogs just eating then people might get the idea about the responsibility that comes with a dog rather than letting them run "as nature intended"!!

What a lovely morning you had,I really hope you get more chances like that to let Ossie have a good run and play with other dogs.

other dog owners always avoid my two aswell so they hardly get to play with any other dogs anymore I agree it is great when you meet a like minded person with dogs that get on great with yours and they can have a really nice play

Ooh Stamford, that's great!
I can completely identify with how lovely it must have been to see them play! Unfortunately Gadget hasn't actually had a chance to play with any other dogs properly yet, but I was equally proud when he was being courteous (though disinterested) with other dogs the other week! One step at a time I suppose?!

One thing I would like to say to the members above that mentioned people avoiding their dogs... don't necessarily take it as a criticism against your dog! I myself keep Gadget away from 'harder' looking dogs, but only because I don't trust HIM with them!!

Thanks for all the replies.it was great to see Ossie playing and we do hope to see the same man and his beautiful English Bull Terriers again.