Sick Of Wankers

[hankdog]

My son was bitten by a large black Shepard type dog a while ago. He was jogging past and the on leash dog lunged as he went by, luckily just caught him on the hip so a tear in his shirt and a long furrow in his abs of steel. Apparently owner just shrugged and kept walking, he was 5 km from home without phone so just came home. Talk about needing to pay attention, he was near a children's play park can you imagine if it was a kids face.

[hankdog]

gremlin

Edited March 28, 2013 by hankdog

[Dame Aussie]

I'm not comfortable with the assertion that if a dog is reactive their owner has failed to socialise them properly. The leading trainers world wide suggest that you need to have a planned, safe approach to exposing dogs to novel things.

Then it's a good thing that's not what I asserted at all.

What makes you think a planned, safe approach to exposing dogs to novelty can't involve strange dogs? I can read a dog. Can't you? I pick my environments, carry treats for counter-conditioning, and have escape routes and contingencies planned. I just remain mystified that everybody seems to have such problems with loose dogs and I do not. I've had my dogs off leash in more parks and on more beaches than I can keep track of and they have never been injured and they both still quite like other dogs. And it's not like they are both magical dogs with phenomenal temperaments.

I went for years without a bad incident with a loose dog, and I used to post much like Corvus does on this issue, I couldn't understand why others had problems when my dogs always just handled it. They had great social skills. I would walk the streets for miles without any issue, loose dogs never posed a threat.

Then I moved suburbs, and discovered how much of my previous sense of safety was just luck and geography.

This. We have moved a few times over the years we've had our dogs and there's a definite difference between suburbs.

Both our guys are well socialised and friendly with people and other dogs so I don't get stressed about them meeting other dogs but we still get rushed at by off leash dogs. Don't know what I can do to stop it??

[Brookestar]

I'm not comfortable with the assertion that if a dog is reactive their owner has failed to socialise them properly. The leading trainers world wide suggest that you need to have a planned, safe approach to exposing dogs to novel things.

Then it's a good thing that's not what I asserted at all.

What makes you think a planned, safe approach to exposing dogs to novelty can't involve strange dogs? I can read a dog. Can't you? I pick my environments, carry treats for counter-conditioning, and have escape routes and contingencies planned. I just remain mystified that everybody seems to have such problems with loose dogs and I do not. I've had my dogs off leash in more parks and on more beaches than I can keep track of and they have never been injured and they both still quite like other dogs. And it's not like they are both magical dogs with phenomenal temperaments.

I went for years without a bad incident with a loose dog, and I used to post much like Corvus does on this issue, I couldn't understand why others had problems when my dogs always just handled it. They had great social skills. I would walk the streets for miles without any issue, loose dogs never posed a threat.

Then I moved suburbs, and discovered how much of my previous sense of safety was just luck and geography.

This. We have moved a few times over the years we've had our dogs and there's a definite difference between suburbs.

Both our guys are well socialised and friendly with people and other dogs so I don't get stressed about them meeting other dogs but we still get rushed at by off leash dogs. Don't know what I can do to stop it??

Totally agree, moving to a different area, created a whole different set of problems. My CURRENT dog does have a magical temperament as has been used to help to rehabilibate multiple dog aggressive dogs. I have had 3 different veterniary behavioursits refer to her as a canine mediator. I had until I moved never met a dog she could not calm down. One of those was a declared dangerous dog, that the owner had removed the dangerous dog collar from and was running loose at a dog park. I only found out when an animal control officer turned up and seized the dog and charged the owner, the dog was being taken to be euthanised, they had broken the law, the dog was declared dangerous and was only ever allowed out on lead, muzzled and with a special collar to ensure everyone knew the dog was dangerous. It had killed 3 dogs. Animal control had felt that all the dogs killed by it had contributed to the attacks by being aggressive themselves, them being aggressive with an aggressive dog just made the dog worse, and it was huge, and could easily do more damage. My dog calmed it and then they played together. I do not normally have her playing with unknown dogs like that, as she has done enough work with dog aggressive dogs and needs time with dogs I can choose, and she can safely relax with. That dog had come out of nowhere, when I was playing with a ball with her. I let it go, as I trusted her to cope with it.

Having said that, we have since we moved come across a number of dogs she is not able to calm down, and who are incredibly aggressive. I am dreading bringing another dog into the household because of this. If she can't do it, I do not want to expose a young pup to it. She is also incredibly highly trained and will without command walk past any dog on lead. On lead is onlead to her, off lead is her chance to be free and be a dog. She is offlead almost every day, and does not need any more socialisation. She could not be more socialised if you tried.

I am a very big fan of socialisation, but it has come to be an incredibly abused statement. Socialisation does not mean dragging the dog to every dog it sees, nor allowing the dog to do so. It creates huge problems. It does mean creating very carefully planned experiences to allow the dog to interact with others and the ONLY way to learn proper canine social skills is offlead. It does need to be done with carefully selected dogs, or under very careful control or everything can go totally wild. I never trust anyone who says they can read dogs, everyone I know who says that claims that dogs who are about to bite and friendly and want to play. My dog did not develop the skills she has to do the work she does, by being dragged to every dog she sees while on lead. She is also a visiting pet therapy dog in a children's ward. She is incredibly highly socialised and trained around dogs and people, and does not need to be dragged to every dog she sees under the guise of socialisation.

As for retractable leads they should be outlawed. Once had a dog wander across a two lane road on the retractable and the owner was busy talking on the phone and could not find the dog - when the person with me, asked her to control the dog, she replied "its on lead, nothing else I can do"!!! The owner only found out when a car drove through the retractable leash and she suddenly had no lead!!! It never ceases to amazes me how stupid some people can be in how they use them.