Vent - 2 Unleashed Dogs On Our Walk Tonight

[mokhahouse]

I did something today that I never do and went for a walk with no dogs with me, dont worry they both had nice long walks already by my husband and daughter. Well I am glad I did not have them with me, Good Friday must be a free for all ,for off leash dogs in on lead areas. In a 100 metre section of the creek walk 3 off lead dogs. Now they were all well behaved nice looking dogs but the area is clearly marked on lead and it is only a short walk to the other side of the creek to the off lead area. You can bet if I was down there with mine off lead I would probably get caught. It is frustrating.

[giraffez]

How do you deal with this kind of think? I walk my dog all the time on a leash and once in a while there are owners with unleashed dogs who rushes over. My poor dog is cautious of new dogs he hasn't seen before and gets quite nervous. I'm sure some of the dogs are quite friendly and offer no harm but because my dog is sensitive, i'm not sure how the unleashed dogs will react to a nervous dog.

What do i do if one day there is an unleash dog that rushes over and attacks? I can only pull my dog so far but the unleash dog may come chasing.

[Scully]

Obviously, how we deal with the owner varies, have a talk, educate them report them etc, we deal with that later. How should you deal with the dogs at the time? I am interested to know what the correct thing to do is with a dog barrelling towards you? Should you bring your dog closer, pick it up etc? Should you stand still or keep on with where you were going? If the dog circles, do you turn to keep it in fornt of you? Does it change if it's more than one dog, it always seems much more threatening from a human perspective? Any ideas about what is least likely to cause the situation to worsen, is waving a stick actually going to help? Telling the oncoming dog "No", or "Stay" hasn't worked in my experience, which surprises me when all the owners claim their dog is an obedience genius......."It's OK, he's friendly, he's done obedience"

Seriously, any tips on handling these situations from a dog behaviour point of view?

Firstly I would like to relay my recent experince. We were walking our two Rotties quietly two evenings ago along a new development high density residential area on a river front. This particular local council leash laws seem to just be "effective control" as from what I can work out they have not provided real off leash dog parks persay!. in this residential area many people seem to have their dogs off leash, but do seem vigilent although some just let their dog(s) roam unsupervised and don't bother cleaning up after them!

as we walked past a particlar villa a big dog exploded from the top front step, charged across the pavement and reared itself up and onto our younger dog (who is a sweet but insecure soul). My partner was forced to kick at the dog to defend ours, making the dog yelp, and at the same time our boy (desexed) tried to defend himself too purely by jumping on the dog that had now fallen on his side on the ground.

Finally, because his dog was yelping, the owner rushes over to get his dog muttering abuse at us for having a "viscous" dog, of course this all happened in a manner of 30 seconds or less. We tried to explain to the other dog owner that his dog had just attacked ours, to which he was very dismissive. I then said I know about dog behaviour, it's what I do, and reaffirmed his dog was indeed the aggressor in this instance. Again he was dismissive. I can only assume three things A) he did not see what his dog did (not likely as it was right in front of him), B) he felt his dog was "just being friendly" (my experience with K9 body language told me there was nothing friendly about the charge), and C) since his dog is a Labrador the owner has just jumped to judge my dog purely because he's a Rotty.

Now I would like to answer the question about what to do. Firstly no matter how much people like to say"It's alright he is just being friendly" and it genuinally may well be - in doggie language a charging dog is at the very least being very rude and obnoxious. Dogs that are well versed in their own language know the correct approach is in an arch and allow time for the other dog to acknowledge and accept or ignore the contact requested.

People need to look at it from this point of view - how would they like it if a perfect stranger came running over to them, flinging their arms up at them. With no means of escape (the leash) you would feel very intimidated, insecure and frightened. most people would wish to defend themselves against a percieved attack they felt was coming. And we are capable of rational thought our dogs are not - yet many people seem to expect that of them.

If you have a big dog, a useful thing to do is to get your dog to sit. this actually changes your dogs posture and sends a signal to an oncoming dog it wishes no harm. Generally, as a rule, most dogs will see this change in posture, suddenly stop in their tracts and very often start sniffing something they have suddenly discovered on the ground. The sitting manages to avert the confrontation, the sniffing from the other dog is an acknowledgement of the "message" sent. I have applied this technique many times and it works very well by utilising the canine body language code of ettique. (I wasn't walking the dog who got attacked the other night, my partner was, who is not versed in doggie ettique as I am - actually he is not really a doggie person but loves his dog and is very sensitive about him)

I understand there is an Ultra sonic gadget available from some electronics stores that omits an inaudible (to us anyway) ultra sonic noise that dogs can hear. I have seen it demonstrated - it may be useful to keep in your pocket for just such occassions. Sometimes when a dog is in that "prey" mode our yelling at them does not get through to their brain but this Ultra sonic thing gets through on a frequency they can and do acknowledge, enough at least to slow things down and you can then manage the situation.

I have had many requests to write an introductory guide on this topic and am currently in the process of writing a book aimed at the everyday dog owner regarding canine body language - I am a veterinary nurse for over 18 years and have a special interest in this topic, as well as environemental enrichment. I write for our clinic newsletter and have a book published on environmental enrichment.

Edited April 7, 2010 by Scully

[MsKatie]

Update on my particular incident - I have not seen the dogs or their owner since and I have received an email from my local council

Thank you for your email dated 1/4/2010 regarding unleashed dogs in your area.

If you could possibly supply some further information including when and where this occurred we will then assign an inspector to this to look into this further.

If you have any information regarding the dogs / dog owner would also be much appreciated.

Please feel free to either email or phone this information through to our office.

I fully intend to give them these details and if there are any other incidents with these particular dogs they will also be receiving details of them.

Thanks everyone for your support and sharing - scully - your info was very informative - I feel a bit better prepared now if it happens again

[Dame Aussie]

How do you deal with this kind of think? I walk my dog all the time on a leash and once in a while there are owners with unleashed dogs who rushes over. My poor dog is cautious of new dogs he hasn't seen before and gets quite nervous. I'm sure some of the dogs are quite friendly and offer no harm but because my dog is sensitive, i'm not sure how the unleashed dogs will react to a nervous dog.

What do i do if one day there is an unleash dog that rushes over and attacks? I can only pull my dog so far but the unleash dog may come chasing.

Kick it, if there is no owner in sight and a dog was attacking one of mine I would kick it until it backed off. This is why you see people walking their dogs carrying sticks or poles, sad, but unfortunately if people don't keep their dogs on lead, necessary.

[Dame Aussie]

Update on my particular incident - I have not seen the dogs or their owner since and I have received an email from my local council

Thank you for your email dated 1/4/2010 regarding unleashed dogs in your area.

If you could possibly supply some further information including when and where this occurred we will then assign an inspector to this to look into this further.

If you have any information regarding the dogs / dog owner would also be much appreciated.

Please feel free to either email or phone this information through to our office.

I fully intend to give them these details and if there are any other incidents with these particular dogs they will also be receiving details of them.

Thanks everyone for your support and sharing - scully - your info was very informative - I feel a bit better prepared now if it happens again

Excellent Hopefully your information will keep this idiot off the street

[Jetty]

I walk three dogs and try to stay away from other people.

Yesterday Im walking them and a women sees me and comes towards me to go to the park with her dog.

I stop and wait till she goes into the park.

She sees me waiting and walks straight towards me, so i turn around and go back more.

Obviously she cant hear me when i say dont come too close.

Because she walks straight at me with her bloody dog.

She laughs and says, Ive changed my mind, I want to go this way.

There is another bloke who walks a Stafford and an Amstaff, along the creek were i go, my dogs are always on leeds, his are never on leeds.

It gets to me.

what an idiot? that lady is just asking for trouble.

Jet is fear aggressive to certain dogs normally larger ones. So if I am walking him I will usually try to avoid the path of any other dogs. I use the footpaths but sometimes I will have to not use it when I see another dog coming from the other direction.

[Burkes]

I often encounter dogs off lead on my walks. I have been lucky so far not to have any major problems but as a foster carer to big breeds I do have to be very careful, especially when walking all three - and my cat comes too... offlead

My problem lies in my back neighbours kids. Three boys aged between 3 and 6. They climb up onto the colourbond fence separating our houses and shout and throw things at the dogs. I have told them not to do it but the parents don't seem to care. Luckily my Lab couldn't be bothered to do anything, my Rotty is too old. But many of my foster dogs have issues which means I can't guarantee what might happen. Oh and I am sure that if the kid fell into my yard it would still be my fault if any of the dogs did anything, despite the torment that occurs.

If the parents don't care, what can I do. Thinking about chilli powder on the fence

[Pepper and Jax]

If the parents don't care, what can I do. Thinking about chilli powder on the fence

I immediately thought of those fences with the rollers on them that are meant to stop cats leaving your yard. I'd like to see the kids stay up on the top of the fence with those on there. But probably not as cheap as chilli powder

[giraffez]

Kick it, if there is no owner in sight and a dog was attacking one of mine I would kick it until it backed off. This is why you see people walking their dogs carrying sticks or poles, sad, but unfortunately if people don't keep their dogs on lead, necessary.

I don't want to resort to force, i may hurt the other dog or aggravate it even more. And if the owner is in sight, then kicking may make the issue worst. Is it illegal to walk the dog without a leash on the street?

[MsKatie]

As far as I know it is illegal to have a dog off leash unless it is a designated off leash area

Here are some topics re. off leash walking and also dog parks

http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?show...mp;hl=off+leash

http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?show...mp;hl=off+leash

http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?show...34&hl=parks

http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?show...71&hl=parks