Alison03

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Those retractable leads are being used to simulate a dog being off leash which is fine in a big area but not for walking the streets. As usual it's a tool being used for a purpose it wasn't designed for. All dogs on street walks should be on a short leash preferably at heel. I've met dogs of all sizes who don't seem to know how to walk in a straight line and apparently neither do the owners. ????Which makes them hard to avoid. ????

I haven't got a reactive dog, she is fairly bomb proof on leash and off leash she is respectful with other dogs, in an off leash area she will stop a good 4 meters from a new dog, so she can gauge the other dogs reaction, if it charges her she comes straight back to me. I've had to step in many times to stop charging dogs in off leash areas. Most owners are cooperative. I have had the "he's friendly" thing shouted at me when he obviously isn't it, stiff upright tail, top lip drawn up. My dog is small (6 kgs) I don't take any chances with large dogs because she's been attacked in the past. When walking her I come across many large dog owners doing what I call "dog skiing" which is being dragged in a zig zag fashion behind their dogs, that's when I cross the road. I know the owner can only slow them down but not stop them. This method of dog walking can not be enjoyable at all and it must be embarrassing. My dog completely ignores excitable behavior, just keeps on walking at heel, this doesn't seem to stop these reactive dogs coming after her. I've seen dogs writhing on the floor in an effort to get away from their owners, I even had one dog snap it's collar caused by its violent lunging, fortunately it's owner tackled it to the ground before it got to us. I can't imagine how mortifying that must have been. I'm a fairly fit middle aged women, it's the older people with large dogs whose eyes just about spin around like pinballs when they see us, they do not have a chance in controlling them and tackling them to the ground isn't going to happen for them. I just wish people would chose their dogs to fit their physical abilities.

These people with reactive dogs are doing the RESPONSIBLE thing by not walking their dogs OFF-lead. Yes, and you only have to read the reactive dog thread to see the enormous amount of training put in by owners of reactive dogs, only to have it all go pear shaped because of an off lead dog. Whether it's off lead in an on lead area or wandering about in an unfenced front yard, the attitude of 'my dog never goes anywhere' seems to be quite common. Until one day the dog does go somewhere, like underneath a car. I think it's a huge over reaction to suggest that all the people with reactive dogs are wanting everyone else's dogs locked up so they can go wherever they want. Most reactive dog owners just want to be able to walk their dogs in areas where all dogs are required by law to be on a leash, and have owners abide by those laws. It's not about making off leash areas in to on leash areas but being able to safely and without incident, walk in your local neighbourhood or along paths, trails and in parks that are currently on leash only by law, and not be fearful of off leash dogs rushing them. Kayla is right about the amount of work a lot of reactive dog owners put in to their dogs and I'm one of them. I don't want to restrict others any more than the law currently requires and if I'm in an empty designated off leash area with my dog and someone else turns up with their dog, I leash my dog and leave. On many occasions I've had the other person say that it's okay and they'll come back later but I always insist that they stay and that they shouldn't be unable to use an area just because my dog is reactive. I am very lucky by the sound of things in that it is very rare for us to encounter an off leash dog when walking in our local area but I do get sick of going to reserves and trails that are supposed to be on leash only and people have their dogs running off leash with no recall who just do the "oh but they're friendly" thing when you ask them to call their dog back and slowly start wandering over, if they even move at all. It's amazing how fast they can suddenly move to collect their dogs though if I can't keep Justice under threshold and he starts with one of his barking and snarling displays.

I'm new to this forum and I'm hoping I've picked the right way to post to this thread. ???? Last year I walked onto the nature strip of my house preparing to take my small non reactive dog for a walk, we were charged by two large off leash dogs that had just escaped from their garden when their owner opened the gates to drive in. One of the dogs picked up my little dog and started to shake her, I had an open umbrella ( it was raining lightly) which I clobbered the large dog with to make it drop her. My dog being covered in rain and dog saliva slipped her collar and ran back into my garden, I had no idea how badly hurt she was, whether she was lying in my garden injured, so I had to stop the large dogs following her, they were absolutely focussed on doing that, I was knocked to the ground as they tried to follow her, my large open umbrella was a big help as it confused them. Some neighbors ran out in answer to my screams and took charge of the large dogs, so I could check on my little girl, she'd run back in the house through her pet door, she was in shock and pain. I took her to the vets immediately. I also rang the police, this is the crucial part of the story, don't ring council ring the local police station, and not triple 0 unless there are bad injuries of course, tell them you've been menaced, knocked over, bitten whatever has happened, the first thing they ask is "Where are the dogs now" they ring Animal Control for you, all councils are hopeless, they are all on tight budgets, they get no help from the state government to help them cope with the increasing dog attacks. The police turned up at my door and animal control were there the next day, the owners of the large dogs were fined over a $1000 and had to replace their garden fences as they were deemed inadequate and provide a fenced off area so their dogs couldn't get out of the front gates if they were left open. I'm not really popular with them but I don't give a flying whats it about that. If you can't walk the streets with your leashed dog something has gone very wrong in Australia. If you get attacked don't think for a minute that your neighbors won't like you ring the police, I'm a middle aged woman that got knocked to the ground, what if I'd been elderly or very young. If I hadn't rung the cops those dogs would still be wandering.