How To Tell Tell Off Other Peoples Dogs

[LoveMyLabEva]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to having dogs and am loving my 14week old Labrador and like her, I'm learning too.

I was wondering if there is a unwritten code on how other peoples dogs are allowed to interact around my puppy. Heres the scernario..... My OH and I took our pup Eva to a off leash dog beach yesterday for the first time. We kept her on her lead as we know she will be way too distracted to listen to us with all the people and dogs around but we were still having a great time down by the water. Ofcourse we had to stop at every dog to say hello and sniff everyones bums to be polite, but while on the beach another dog came to say hello. This dog was what looked to be a border collie approx 6months old and not on a leash. The collie came over a few time and Eva was fine and happy to say Hello but after about the 4th time of the owner coming over and not being able to catch it, the collie started growling at her and jumping on her back. Eva was trying to get away but not able to outrun it due to being on a lead. The owner then tried to grabbed their dog again and managed to get it go away, however within minutes it was back and jumped on Eva again but this time was trying to bite her back and wasnt letting her get away.

I understand this dog wasnt trying to be vicious but definately wasnt playing nicely or socially! so my question is....at what point do I intervene?? do i tell the dog off or the owner or both?? I'm all for the socially of puppies at a young (but fully vaccinated) age but how can i teach her to behave if other dogs are not behaving themselves.

any help would be appreciated

[♥Baxter♥]

The other dog was trying to tell her he was the boss..

I don't know if I would want my puppy in an offleash area?

I would have asked the owner to keep his dog under control, even though off leash its still need to be kept under control.

[W Sibs]

The first time, I would be polite about and take my pup away but the second time, I would grab the other dog and wait till the owner comes and get the dog, and tell the owner to keep her dog on the leash if she can't control her dog

[mita]

Friends' little tibbie girl, Ping, took matters in her own paws. She was at a session of dog training where some free socialisation was allowed. Ping was standing around innocently, when a border collie came up behind her & did the same....'Hello, I'm the boss!' thing, by putting the weight of his paws on her back. Little Ping bit the dust, winded....& the border collie, having made his point, trotted off.

One whole week later, at the same dog training.... little Ping went searching around all the dogs at free socialisation time, to find that border collie.

When she did, she stood in front of him & told him off at top note. The BC was totally puzzled why this little madwoman was screaming at him.

She remembered, he didn't.

[poodlefan]

Don't tell the dog off, tell the OWNER.

I think that an offlead dog beach is probably not the place I'd be taking a young pup. As you've found out, some other owners either can't control their dogs or don't see the need to.

[Whippetsmum]

Ofcourse we had to stop at every dog to say hello and sniff everyones bums to be polite,

Just to clarify (as you're new to having dogs) it's only the dog that has to do this.....

If a dog approches me when I'm walking, and I'm at all worried that it won't play nice, I tell the dog firmly "No", as I step between my dog and the approaching dog. At an off leash park, you could try asking the owner's name when they do grab their dog, and then call their name when if you need them. Using the dog's name when telling it "No" can also make you feel and seem more in control. If your not comfortable telling people off, getting upset with the owner can make it awkward if you want to make the dog park a regular outing. If the owner says the usual, "It's OK mine's friendly" I usually respond with, "That's great, but mine's quite protective of me." ( He does stand all puffed up looking very macho for a Whippet...) If the owner apologises and leashes their dog or holds their dog, I always offer a positive reward, it works well with people too, so I usually say "Thanks for helping me out."

There was a useful thread about how to respond if you're approached by a dog that you think could be aggressive towards your dog, without escalating the situation, so it may be useful to look that up in the DOL history.

[Erny]

... the collie started growling at her and jumping on her back. Eva was trying to get away but not able to outrun it due to being on a lead. The owner then tried to grabbed their dog again and managed to get it go away, however within minutes it was back and jumped on Eva again but this time was trying to bite her back and wasn't letting her get away.

I don't know how old you are, nor your background ...... but if another child was behaving in such an inappropriate manner to your own child (assuming you had one), would you be asking the question that you have?

Not writing this to be in any way smart or judgemental - but the point is that you should not have to cope with any dog coming up to yours no matter where you are, if you don't want to. And would you hesitate if this was related to children instead of dogs? I'd expect you'd probably stand in and up, and say something.

So the short answer to what you've written, especially given the inappropriateness of the other dog's behaviour and the fact that the owner was showing no control whatsoever over their own dog, is that you ask the other dog's owner to call their dog away and if they don't or can't successfully do so, then you do whatever you feel you need to do to protect your pup/dog and ward the other dog off.

The owner of the other dog might not like this and might think you wrong (you'll get the "this is an off lead area" as this is a really popular excuse that seems to make people feel much better about the fact they don't have effective control over their own dog - it's a way of trying to put you on the back foot, rather than they feeling any form of responsibility or inadequacy - to be sure ) but ................... tough to them, is my attitude.

Your pup. You're his/her leader. Your responsibility to protect.

:D

Edited October 5, 2010 by Erny

[DerRottweiler]

Also, don't forget that not all dogs will respond to being told off.

My dog doesn't listen/respect anyone besides myself or family members.

[dandybrush]

i agree with erny, if this was another dog coming at my boy while he was on leash i would be body blocking and physically removing the dog off mines back, i dont know if i would be brave enough to say anything to the owner, but if the owner didnt get the hint i would move to a differnt part of the beach, or go home

[poodlefan]

Also, don't forget that not all dogs will respond to being told off.

My dog doesn't listen/respect anyone besides myself or family members.

Not all dogs will respond nicely to being grabbed by the collar either.

[DerRottweiler]

Also, don't forget that not all dogs will respond to being told off.

My dog doesn't listen/respect anyone besides myself or family members.

Not all dogs will respond nicely to being grabbed by the collar either.

Yep mine would not like that either.

[LoveMyLabEva]

thanks everyone

by the last time the Collie came I did end up picking my puppy up just to get her away from the other one, but I wasnt sure if this was teaching my puppy to be afraid of other dogs. We left very soon after anyways as she was getting tired and I'm very aware of not over exercising her.

[LoveMyLabEva]

Ofcourse we had to stop at every dog to say hello and sniff everyones bums to be polite,

Just to clarify (as you're new to having dogs) it's only the dog that has to do this.....

hehe im currently at work and that made me laugh enough for people to look over!

thanku for the clarify

[stormie]

I think many people genuinely have no idea when a puppy is no longer 'playing nice' and is a bit over the top. I've seen puppies 'play' like that in some puppy preschools with the teacher saying its ok and just play, so possibly the owners of the BC had no idea their dog's behaviour wasn't great.

In those situations, rather than telling people off straight away, I try to start up a general conversation about their dog, something like 'He's a very boisterous one, is like that with most dogs?" and then go on to suggest that it's not the most appropriate behaviour and may get him in to trouble with another less tolerant dog, so possibly something they should be trying to stop.

Of course if they're total tools about it then by all means, let rip

[SkySoaringMagpie]

I don't bother with places where I know there is a high likelihood that someone I care about is going to get hurt, and that includes puppies in leash free public spaces.

Protecting your dog is about making good decisions about where you go, just as you would not suggest a 10 year old walk down a king's cross alleyway at 3am on a Saturday morning.

Still, even if you make good decisions you may still find yourself in a situation where your dog is being monstered by another dog. Body blocking, pulling yourself up to full height and yelling gruffly "GO HOME!" has worked for me before. You could say "Red Frogs!" it's more the tone and presence you're after that says "do not f*** with me".

I would not touch another person's dog unless I felt I really, really had to, and I would be very careful. As others have mentioned, some dogs will react to being grabbed by the collar and dogs are faster than humans. Also, it's like disciplining someone else's child - risky when it comes to interacting with feral humans too.

[Max#1]

It seems to me, and I could quite likely be wrong(!), but there appears to be an unwritten rule regarding dogs and off-leash areas. Basically, if a dog is offleash, then it is assumed that it is socialised and recall-able. If a dog enters on lead, then it should not be approached, and off-lead dogs are to be called back. Look, I know you can never assume anything, but is that the idea?

[lovemesideways]

If you don't like it. Stop it.

Feel free to step in whenever you want! It's your dog, you do not need someones permission.

[poodlefan]

It seems to me, and I could quite likely be wrong(!), but there appears to be an unwritten rule regarding dogs and off-leash areas. Basically, if a dog is offleash, then it is assumed that it is socialised and recall-able. If a dog enters on lead, then it should not be approached, and off-lead dogs are to be called back. Look, I know you can never assume anything, but is that the idea?

Not by me it isn't. More than a few dogs in offleash areas are there because they're a pain to walk on lead and their owners have minimal control over them. This is particularly the case for fenced off leash areas.

[megan_]

The first time, I would be polite about and take my pup away but the second time, I would grab the other dog and wait till the owner comes and get the dog, and tell the owner to keep her dog on the leash if she can't control her dog

I would never grab another dog - you have no idea how it is going to react. Some perfectly friendly looking dogs react very badly when they are grabbed by the collar.

I wouldn't take my pup to an off leash park when there are lots of dogs around. I would go at the crack of dawn and give them time to play.

If a dog does something I don't like, I tell the owner to fetch their dog in a very stern, no nonsense way (not screaming, polite but firm). I have found that if I try to be super nice, my request is ignored. The line "she's a rescue that has been abused and doesn't like other dogs" works very well, it makes people feel guilty for letting their out-of-control dog harrass yours. It is partly true in my case (she is a rescue, but likes other dogs as long as they give her a bit of space), but I wouldn't hesitate to use the line even if it wasn't true.