What Is With All The Out Of Control Dogs?

[ruthjones]

Ok, was walking my boy Socks (3 year old cocker spaniel) now he isn't perfect on a lead, but most definitely not aggressive (in fact he is a bit of a wimp, hides behind me if anything remotely scary happens lol) I had my two eldest boys, 9 and 6 with me, walking up the bush track, lady walking a smallish greyhound (didn't look close enough to tell if it was young or maybe a similar breed but smaller sorry lol) walks past in opposit direction, I automatically shorten my boys lead (I.e. remove any slack whatsoever but maintaining him in correct walking position) she however let's her dog all over the path, right up in my boys face (who by now is cowering behind me) then continues past like she owns the path, grrrr. I meanwhile, reinforce to my kids that you never talk or touch anyone else's dog without the owner there and asking permission first (they are used to this and can recite the rules by heart lol)

Continue down the path, in about 50 meters another woman approaches, with a very scary looking dog, this dog is snarling, pulling hard on the lead, all over the place, everything the woman can do to hold onto the ruddy lead, and this is before they get anywhere near us! I take my boys and Socks off the path entirely, placing us about 5 meters out of the pathway, figure avoid the encounter, well, no, this dog (size of a lab but very solidly built and black) lunges so hard tht he is actually standing over my boy (yep, hiding behind me) as he drags his supposed handler (using the term very loosely) closer, this dog is terrifying me, let alone my boys (ok, so my boys are not incredibly brave either, but still) its biting thin air in its apparent desire to consume something, so the woman eventually drags the dog away and gaily calls back "don't worry, he wouldn't hurt anything, he is a teddy bear" I mean yeah right, who do you think you are fooling, certainly not me!

Continue walking up the path and this giant white cloud is coming towards us very quickly, this one however clearly only wanted to play! So the beautiful Samoyeds owner then appears, and poor guy I think was expecting an ear bashing, I resisted though! Besides he had a second Samoyed with him, they were very beautiful, I was amazed how fantastic the coats were on them, I can see lots of maintenance wold go into that! Apparently he got both of them from the lost dogs homes, different homes, but the same time, so something a bit odd in that, but that is my assumption as I didn't think they were that common, we had a good chat about dogs in general, his questions soon exceeded any answers I could give, did though point him in the direction of this forum for more specific answers, figured it was one place I could guarantee he could find other owners of Samoyeds!

So that was our walk, out of control dogs everywhere, some friendly, some that frankly shouldn't be in public without some serious help!

Is it me or are owners just that out of touch with the reality of their dogs?

Yes, I made a few assumptions about the dogs, but a dogs body language is sometimes fairly easy to read!

Ruth

[janisw]

I agree Ruth. i had a day at the local club today & a black lab just about took my dogs head off .No reason, she was close to me on a short leash & it was a pushy nasty mutt . Owner was to busy chatting to take notice of her dog making a nusience of itself.

I have my dog close to me for 2 reasons. I dont want her to get hurt or be cause of concern for other people & other dogs. Why cant others be as respectful.