Another walk ends in anger!

are you serious · 20-04-2011 10:25pm #1

First and foremost I want to say I am aware this will probably be a hot topic and I'm not looking for any arguement of any kind I just want to blow off a little steam and put this out there for everyone to comment on!!

Today I was walking my dog/puppy (he's a 7mth old rottie) in the local park and for the fourth time now he has been nipped at by passing dogs, all different dogs all different owners all different ages, last week it was two jack russels, earlier this week a lab mix and today a spaniel mix... I must also add none of which actually hurt my little(big) fella but it happened and it shouldnt!

I know whats coming now in most replies(its not the dog its the owner)

SO read on... What gets to me is that the owners without even batting an eye kept walking on not an apology, meanwhile they have this crazy mess of a dog on the end of a leash trying their hardest to get back at my fella who at this point is as calm as you would want walking away looking back and i know he's thinking whats your problem(about the dog of course). I will add here that my fella has not and will never be allowed snap back in any way shape or form.

Then whats even worse is... not a word :mad: not an apology not a look of oops i wont let it happen again NOTHING!! Whats left to do after this I hear you say? Nothing.. and they just drag their dog away..

Now I'm not the type for confrontation or to start any kinds of arguement with someone on how they should be able to control their dog but if someone has a dog and they know it is snappy surely they should have a better grip on their leash, and or a halti head collar or at best a muzzle of some shape or form. I'll add that the spaniel mix had some type of head collar on, but whats the point using this if your dog is on a leash so long that when he decides to snap its already too late to do anything!!

To add to this i can also put a light note on my message I have walked in the same park and met a girl walking a staff mix of some sort and she had a muzzle on her bitch and when I first met her she told me straight away that her dog wears the muzzle because she is snappy but and I say BUT, when the dogs first met her dog did snap at first, then on doing a loop of the park and meeting again her dog was fine! NICE OWNER

just a little notice is great and is it really that hard???

So to cut a long story short:rolleyes: why oh why dont people with snappy dogs cop on and use shorter leads and or a head collar of some description!!!:mad:

noodler · 20-04-2011 10:28pm

I honestly thinkj you have overreacted like crazy here.

There is regularly a little to and fro from between my dog and passing dogs.

Sometimes there it is affection, sometimes a little bit of roughhousing and sometimes it is a bit of nipping as you say. Also, my dog is not always innocent.

Fairly common I would have thought.

are you serious · 20-04-2011 10:33pm

noodler wrote: »

I honestly thinkj you have overreacted like crazy here.

There is regularly a little to and fro from between my dog and passing dogs.

Sometimes there it is affection, sometimes a little bit of roughhousing and sometimes it is a bit of nipping as you say. Also, my dog is not always innocent.

Fairly common I would have thought.

No overreaction at all.. I stop every time I pass a dog for the usual few seconds of sniffing and smelling, but once a nip or a snap, thats it done. If I stop and the dogs get along normally I would let my fella off the lead for a minute or so then for a bit of play. If it happened only once I would have never bothered posting.

andreac · 20-04-2011 10:47pm

Def not an over reaction at all.

Tell me this Noodler, if it was the OP's dog that was doing the attacking and nipping, believe me, there would be war and the restricted breeds haters would be out in force and telling him his dog is vicous etc etc.

I hate meeting off leash dogs that arent kept under control, as walking my 2 is hard enough without having loose, out of control aggressive dogs annoying them.

Garkane, the day will come with your fella when he wont tolerate an aggressive dog coming up to him and he will react and retaliate, its only a matter of time. At the moment hes just a pup and all dogs to him are fun and new friends, but once he matures and hits around 2, that will all change and the last thing you want is a stupid off lead dog annoying your dog.

If im out walking my 2 and i meet an off lead dog and its coming up to mine, i usually stop, get my 2 to sit and wait for the owner to out them back on the lead or call them back. I usually warn people they should out them back on the lead as i have an entire male who doesnt take too kindly to strange dogs coming up to him;)

are you serious · 20-04-2011 10:57pm

Thanks Andrea, I specifically didnt mention if my dog done the same thing because I knew if it was in my original comment I would have got a tirade of comments back abusing not only me but all the other RB owners out there and not to mention our innocent dogs!

Shanao · 20-04-2011 11:25pm

I feel for you!! I have a six month old RB and today in the park an offlead lab came running straight for us, head down and everything. I spotted the body language straight away and got in front of my fella, and the dog still tried to get past me and lunged for him, and gave my pup a bloody fright too. And the plonker who owned the dog just wandered on without even glancing at us.

Now riddle me this anyone who thinks this is fine. How am i supposed to socialise my dog properly (he is always walked on a lead and muzzled btw), when the other dogs seem to have every right to come right up and lunge at him!? I'm doing my damn best to make sure he isn't dog aggressive when he grows up, but its getting harder and harder by the day to ensure that.

frankie101 · 21-04-2011 1:05am

its a rottweiler for f**k sake, toughen it up a bit and when it happens again let your dog off his lead

pitbull_fanatic · 21-04-2011 1:56am

frankie101 wrote: »

its a rottweiler for f**k sake, toughen it up a bit and when it happens again let your dog off his lead

ya ur clearly an asshole.

op f**k um. jus keep on walkin. its gonna happen. bichon friese are my bullies. non-rb owners couldnt care less. especially bout our rb dogs. i think they are jus jealous of them and us! head up n keep truckin!

jimbob86 · 21-04-2011 2:06am

Why dont you just stop walking your dog?

puppetmaster · 21-04-2011 2:16am

Gotta Agree with ya, Alot of owners Dont see a problem with this, but if it turns out badly for them they will have something to say about it. Ive a rotty myself, And he is actually quiet clownish and playfull. But i dont let him off the lead in public at all simply because of his strength his playfulness can be seen as different.

Met a woman once while walking my fella she had two G.shepards who didnt take kindly to my lad. He paid no attention for a bit, till the got agressive one of them going for him. They didnt come off the best of it. They ran for him , No lead no muzzle. My fella was on a pretty short lead. (so i was in the middle of it) they were agressive he wasnt. They came off the worst, Woman proceedes to blame me and tells me she's going to call the dog warden.... Go figure.

pitbull_fanatic · 21-04-2011 2:24am

exactly. and den we got another rb attack case goin on. pity really. me n my friends were down river one day. 16 rb we had alltogether. den a man wit a retriever came along. attacked my pitbull and him and his friends started screamin pitbull pitbull. just to let ya no my pitbull didnt retaliate. he gave a screech and a growl. but retriever was on him. he wouldnt even come to take his dog away in case him or his 5 friends got eaten by a year old pitbull. 7 month old puppy u got....u'l get used to it. i get looks, comments and abuse every time i walk them. but u gotta jus learn to ignore them and enjoy ur walk

tallus · 21-04-2011 8:06am

This is the problem with some dog owners OP, last week I was walking around to a post box to post a letter in Naas and a small dog being walked literally went for my foot, all growling and snarling, and the owner just tugged on the lead and pulled the dog away and walked on as it nothing had happened. Not a word of apology etc. Luckily for me there was no damage done.
I should have taken her to task on it but I was so shocked that I just walked on. Next time I won't let it go.

Hellrazer · 21-04-2011 8:46am

pitbull_fanatic wrote: »

ya ur clearly an asshole.

op f**k um. jus keep on walkin. its gonna happen. bichon friese are my bullies. non-rb owners couldnt care less. especially bout our rb dogs. i think they are jus jealous of them and us! head up n keep truckin!

For a comment like that you can have a red card.

Devi · 21-04-2011 4:09pm

ah stop it got to the stage for me that I couldn’t get end of my street without incident. There are 3 off leash dogs on my road alone, about 10 in total in my estate, Their mostly small dogs but there are some large ones, labs, collies, boxers, staff’s and a pit bull. Their let out at about 10am to whenever it gets dark. Tried talking to a few of the owners but there all have some excuse. Tried ringing the warden but he doesn’t want to know.

I’ll be totally honest with you, now when an off leash dog lunges at my dog it gets a kick, not a hard one but it feels my foot and they usually don’t come near us after it. I know this sounds cruel but there is just too many of them around here to go through the same sh*t every day. At the end of the day I have to look after my dogs first. Ye kinda have to gauge to situation, if it’s just a one off sometimes body-blocking the dog is enough or let out a shout and it will just run away.

are you serious · 21-04-2011 4:27pm

frankie101 wrote: »

its a rottweiler for f**k sake, toughen it up a bit and when it happens again let your dog off his lead

Yes clearly as I stated he is a rottie, but as I also said he is still a puppy and to add to this again as is also stated above by someone else how is anyone not only me supposed to get their dog to be dog friendly when a lot of the time he meets dog aggressive dogs who have not been socialised properly.
All falling back into a viscious circle of... dog aggressive dogs meeting young pups out walking who then think when they meet another dog it is supposed to dog snap at them then it wont be corrected by the owner... and so on and so on

In addition to this frankie forget the fact for a minute he is a rottwieler puppy, if I posted here saying I have a yorkie or any other dog and this happened would your reply be the same?? I think not. The point I was making was more about the owners not the dogs, and also about the fact he is only 6 1/2 months old still a pup. Plus please dont forget that I have in my original post also backed up people who do correct their dogs even if they do manage to snap but are muzzled.

jimbob86 wrote: »

Why dont you just stop walking your dog?

Quite clearly jimbo you must not be a dog owner!

texasgal · 21-04-2011 4:35pm

Wow. I understand your frustration - completely. Dogs can learn, and NEED, manners.

And for those that think "it happens" :

Would you feel the same if you were walking in the park with your child holding your hand and someone elses child reached out and smacked the crap out of your child??

Boundaries. Your dog is an extension of you - on a leash. BEHAVE.. both of you!

imo .. of course.

are you serious · 21-04-2011 4:43pm

texasgal wrote: »

Wow. I understand your frustration - completely. Dogs can learn, and NEED, manners.

And for those that think "it happens" :

Would you feel the same if you were walking in the park with your child holding your hand and someone elses child reached out and smacked the crap out of your child??

Boundaries. Your dog is an extension of you - on a leash. BEHAVE.. both of you!

imo .. of course.

That reply actually made me laugh but it is the truth

I laughed because nobody else would see it like that, well those who dont have dogs that is.

frankie101 · 21-04-2011 4:58pm

garkane are you sure its a dog and not a fairy you have

Hellrazer · 21-04-2011 6:15pm

frankie101 wrote: »

garkane are you sure its a dog and not a fairy you have

its a rottweiler for f**k sake, toughen it up a bit and when it happens again let your dog off his lead

Right red carded for these comments.

Take this as your one and only warning.

Knine · 21-04-2011 8:18pm

andreac wrote: »

Def not an over reaction at all.

Garkane, the day will come with your fella when he wont tolerate an aggressive dog coming up to him and he will react and retaliate, its only a matter of time. At the moment hes just a pup and all dogs to him are fun and new friends, but once he matures and hits around 2, that will all change and the last thing you want is a stupid off lead dog annoying your dog.

If im out walking my 2 and i meet an off lead dog and its coming up to mine, i usually stop, get my 2 to sit and wait for the owner to out them back on the lead or call them back. I usually warn people they should out them back on the lead as i have an entire male who doesnt take too kindly to strange dogs coming up to him;)

Agree with this. When your dog matures he will react. I used to walk two entire males who were larger than the average rottie and this would happen all the time and if my dogs both on headcollars reacted I would get abuse from the owners of the loose dogs.

I personally would ask the offending owners to keep their dog under control and if being polite does not work, I will be very direct. I'm a woman myself but I do find other women are the worse offenders of walking their little fluffies and not giving a shoite who the dogs are harrassing.

Of course there will always be interactions between dogs that are not positive but it takes 2 seconds to apologize.

Chris_Heilong · 21-04-2011 9:02pm

"I personally would ask the offending owners to keep their dog under control and if being polite does not work, I will be very direct. I'm a woman myself but I do find other women are the worse offenders of walking their little fluffies and not giving a shoite who the dogs are harrassing."

Glad you said this and not me;)

My Malamute pup has being bitten a few times now by Jack Russels(we now totally avoid them) last one just ran ahead of its owner off lead and started bitting at my dogs neck, I had to push it away with my foot, at least the owner apoligised. When walking in the park I have to be careful now, I passed a woman with 5 dogs the other day, all diffrent breeds, all off lead and she walks on ahead and calls their names without looking back, well I tell you these where the most unrully buch I had ever come accross, everyone that walked past my guy growled and showed fangs, they only moved away when I stood over them and growled back, I ran into them later and they where guarding a path past the river, when I say guarding I mean they where telling us not to approuch barking like mad and the little one running at us snarling and the owner watching like its perfectly normal. I was going to give her a peice of my mind that day but figure whats the point. If the owner dosent see anything wrong with what her dogs are doing then I dont think she will be enlightened by a stranger.

kennyw · 17-05-2011 1:27pm

garkane wrote: »

So to cut a long story short:rolleyes: why oh why dont people with snappy dogs cop on and use shorter leads and or a head collar of some description!!!:mad:

Heya all, im new to the forum, been following this thread,
Garkane your dog is amazing. Lovely absoulty stunning. seen pic of him on previous posts on the site.

First off i have to say that i totally feel for exactly what you are saying and feeling towards these incidents.

Im not wanting to get into arguments an tiffs about wat breed shud b on wat list, but more importantly what owners need what training.

Id lik to introduce myself, Im a owner,of 2 RB dogs. Both are Rotties.

I have had large breed dogs all my life since a kid. I was raised with GSD's, Boxers, Lab's and mix breeds. I got my first rottie going on 3 years now. An got my second only 14 months ago.

When walking these 2 friendly outgoing bubbly animals every day in a city like waterford, where im living, i get starred and avoided by all walks of life. Not all been ill mannered mind you but the high precentage of them been nervous, cautious or just plain ignorant people. I dont blame their dogs been the problem, they are just acting the way they have been accustomed too over years or months of been molly coddgled an pampered and incorrectly trainned if trainned at all. (i.e on recall off the lead, or on the lead in general).

for example, my fiancé and I were walking with our 2 girls, Leads and head collors(halti's), we came across a women walkin her small breed towards us. She spotted us about 15 ft ahead and bent down with immediate reaction and picked up her dog an literally walked onto the road and around us, while speaking to her dog sayin "they wont harm you huni", i dont think the dog in her arms was any way pleased she could not get to greet my girls with there waggin mudflaps as tails.

this is only one example of people who dont understand dogs or dog ethic.

anuter example was jus 2 days ago, while walking the younger pup, as the eldest female had just gtten netured. we walked past a woman walking 2 poms on double lead, and these 2 poms were on a mission to make as much growling snarling mouthing an barking at our placid laid back rottie. and if they had of been off lead they wud of definitly attcked. my rottie on the other hand jus point blank ignorned the nappers attempts but the owner of the 2 poms didnt even luk at us or acknoledge anythin wrong with her 2 pride an joys. but in the case of tables turned.. if my rottie had been acting anyway similiar to the poms, i am fairly sure, there wud of been a lot more upset from that owner to me about my dogs behaviour.

I had to learn fast an hard to just ignore and bite my tounge..

Sorry for the rant..

Ps Hope ur lil fella cumin on well

slashygoodness · 17-05-2011 5:16pm

We always keep our 2 on leads as we are still training them (only 7.5 months) and normally they are fantastic with other dogs, but Sam does have a dislike for yippie dogs who come up close to her face. I would say 90% of doggie encounters are fine, but everynow and then she will bark at them and growl if they don't back off..she has never initiated agression..I have had to tell off a few people about their unleashed dogs behaviour, and as you can guess, the response is usually of the f u kind.....

peasant · 17-05-2011 8:01pm

Can I just throw in a remark from another angle here:

Yes, there are idiotic dog owners who let their dogs away with murder (almost) because they haven't a clue and because they don't care.

But please, for the sake of your dog, avoid confronting the owners about their behaviour while your dog is around.
Why? Because with those kind of owners it will most likely end up in a shouting match (there's no arguing with these people anyway), you will get all heated and flustered and angry and this will rub off on your dog.

Soon you will end up with a self fulfilling prophecy at the end of your lead, a dog that will be all apprehensive and waiting to pounce as soon as it sees other dogs coming ...preparing for the next argument, so to speak.

As long as it is only a bit of noise and bad behavior from the other dog, ignore it, walk on and praise your dog for remaining calm.

Whispered · 17-05-2011 8:16pm

kennyw wrote: »

for example, my fiancé and I were walking with our 2 girls, Leads and head collors(halti's), we came across a women walkin her small breed towards us. She spotted us about 15 ft ahead and bent down with immediate reaction and picked up her dog an literally walked onto the road and around us, while speaking to her dog sayin "they wont harm you huni", i dont think the dog in her arms was any way pleased she could not get to greet my girls with there waggin mudflaps as tails.

I was in a vet once waiting to pick up a dog and there was an older lady with 2 smallies, one of whom was called Katie (pronounced by the lady as Kashy). A guy walked through with a rottie, "kashy" attacked. Poor rottie stood there dumbfounded. The old lady picked up her dog shouting "oh jaysus, oh lord, Kashy he nearly ATE you!!!":D:D

tk123 · 17-05-2011 8:22pm

slashygoodness wrote: »

We always keep our 2 on leads as we are still training them (only 7.5 months) and normally they are fantastic with other dogs, but Sam does have a dislike for yippie dogs who come up close to her face. I would say 90% of doggie encounters are fine, but everynow and then she will bark at them and growl if they don't back off..she has never initiated agression..I have had to tell off a few people about their unleashed dogs behaviour, and as you can guess, the response is usually of the f u kind.....

Completely OT but I got to pet Sam and Dean today at DTI - normally they're both asleep or being groomed when I see them :pac::pac:

We get avoided all the time too - and my GR is small for a GR! Last week we were in the park and somebody told their kid to come away from him and not to pet him because he was an over excitable bigger dog :rolleyes: they had an unsociable smaller dog but I bit my tongue and walked on. The kid had come towards him with their palm facing out - his 'touch' signal - so sat down and sniffed/licked her hand as she put it on his nose. :rolleyes:

sambuka41 · 17-05-2011 8:51pm

garkane wrote: »

Today I was walking my dog/puppy (he's a 7mth old rottie) in the local park and for the fourth time now he has been nipped at by passing dogs, all different dogs all different owners all different ages, last week it was two jack russels, earlier this week a lab mix and today a spaniel mix... I must also add none of which actually hurt my little(big) fella but it happened and it shouldnt!

Not to be bad OP but do you not think there may be something going on here with your dog? Im not an expert but I've had dogs for years and can count on one hand the amount of dogs that have snapped at any of mine. My male westie had a few run ins but he was not a social dog and even on lead other dogs sensed that about him.

My little one at the moment gets walked every day in a park full of dogs and had never had another dog nip at her, possible once or twice in play.

Could it be something that your dog is doing?

slashygoodness · 17-05-2011 9:02pm

tk123 wrote: »

Completely OT but I got to pet Sam and Dean today at DTI - normally they're both asleep or being groomed when I see them :pac::pac:

Well they do spend most of their days sleeping!!!Or getting really DIRTY and hence the grooming

...

Now I will have to figure out who your doggie companion is....although the hubbie drops them in more often than I do....

slashygoodness · 17-05-2011 9:05pm

peasant wrote: »

Can I just throw in a remark from another angle here:

Yes, there are idiotic dog owners who let their dogs away with murder (almost) because they haven't a clue and because they don't care.

But please, for the sake of your dog, avoid confronting the owners about their behaviour while your dog is around.
Why? Because with those kind of owners it will most likely end up in a shouting match (there's no arguing with these people anyway), you will get all heated and flustered and angry and this will rub off on your dog.

Soon you will end up with a self fulfilling prophecy at the end of your lead, a dog that will be all apprehensive and waiting to pounce as soon as it sees other dogs coming ...preparing for the next argument, so to speak.

As long as it is only a bit of noise and bad behavior from the other dog, ignore it, walk on and praise your dog for remaining calm.

I do understand what you mean, but it is possible to correct someone without getting angry... I merely comment as I walk away that they really should exercise more caution with their dogs off lead as whilst mine won't chew their beloved into pieces, some day they will meet a dog/owner combo not so restrained...I usually get the response to my 'back'....

belongtojazz · 17-05-2011 9:16pm

sambuka41 wrote: »

Not to be bad OP but do you not think there may be something going on here with your dog? Im not an expert but I've had dogs for years and can count on one hand the amount of dogs that have snapped at any of mine. My male westie had a few run ins but he was not a social dog and even on lead other dogs sensed that about him.

My little one at the moment gets walked every day in a park full of dogs and had never had another dog nip at her, possible once or twice in play.

Could it be something that your dog is doing?

Maybe you're just very lucky? My guys are regularly snapped at mainly by off lead dogs. It is very very frustrating. My little jack is the friendliest dog on the planet but she will defend herself against a snappy snarly dog which then adds to the small snappy stereotype as other owners never seem to accept their dog could have started it, she is now very wary of golden labs as these seem to be the worst offenders in my area (I should add she is less than 6kg so no match for most of what goes for her)

My other guy used to have real issues with all dogs due to no socialisation he is now comfortable around small dogs but is nervous of bigger dogs again. Also golden labs especially. He is quite a large springer and is now only allowed off lead around other dogs after he has been properly introduced. He gets very excited and barks at bigger dogs but if they are aggressive toward him he just hides behind me

Shanao · 18-05-2011 12:44am

On a walk today and had to stop and ask another walker to either call her dog away or put it on a lead. Golden lab that just kept following us and running at the big fella. My guy's wary of labs now as well after a few run ins, so was trying his best to keep an eye on the other dog who kept running up behind him then running off, then coming back again, which meant that we were getting nowhere. It was pretty obvious that we couldn't get away from him so I really dont understand why she wouldn't even call the dog away from us?

On the other hand, met a lovely four month old jack pup who ran straight towards my guy, then literally flipped herself onto her back in front of him with her tail wagging like mad. Owner got all worried seeing the big bear standing over her sniffing at her, but was fine once i told him he was a pup as well. Now if only i could meet someone with a well-trained, genial lab things might work out fine, but for some reason that's been difficult so far.

Another walk ends in anger!

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