Just A Vent About Numpty Owners And Off Leash Dogs.

[JulesP]

I live on the Mornington Peninsula and rarely have a problem with dogs running up. There are certain areas that are technically on leash but most dogs owners let them off, 95% of them are well controlled and put on leash as soon as they see another person or dog.

This I don't mind because everyone is respectful.

You don't ever walk in Montrose do you?

I often see a lady that has a heap of poodles in lots of colours. She is very polite with putting her dogs on the lead.

[HazyWal]

I hope so too Jules and I'm sure I will just by reading so many positive experiences here. I really need to get my confidence back when out in public with the dogs not just for me but for Maddie. The gut churning fear I feel before I even leave the house is no good for either of us

I hope any Doler's that see us out and about on the MP will come and say hello, we're pretty easy to recognise. I'm the chubby middle aged woman dragging a portly blue greyhound continually saying "Stanley come ooooooon!" while my little white greyhound is trotting along in front of us :laugh:

Sorry to go OT Malakita.

Edited October 25, 2014 by HazyWal

[Rascalmyshadow]

Sorry to go off topic, JulesP it's not me we lost our last poodle early in the year.

[Malakita]

Just spent 3 days in Rye and went to the beach everyday. Only had 1 dog approach mine. Every other person kept theirs away when they saw me leash mine. Quite a few stopped and asked why I had hold of mine, :laugh: . This was an off leash area.

I LOVE how other people keep their dog away as yours was on leash. Such consideration! I think that is so great! :)

Hazywal, if we are down in MP over the summer and I see you, I will certainly say hi. Stan and Maddy will love their new home! I am sure you will get your confidence back in no time :)

Her Majesty Dogmad, I hope the poor Pom is ok. Poor little mite

[JulesP]

I LOVE how other people keep their dog away as yours was on leash. Such consideration! I think that is so great! :)

I pretty much have the same reaction around here. I rarely have people letting their dogs run up to us. The lady with the poodles I was talking about I've been seeing for about 2 years now. We always keep our dogs apart but I did let them say hi this week. Poppy has been dying to say hi, she likes little poodles. The lady said she keeps hers away from mine as mine look so obedient.

I did have another lady ask if they were attack dogs this week because I leashed them. I said that I was just being polite!

I do try and walk out of peak type times and am always wary on public holidays. Have had issues at Lilydale Lake near the river bit.

[Rascalmyshadow]

If anyone wants to see a large amount of off leash dogs generally behaving quite well go to Dendy park in Brighton, some days there could be 30-40 dogs and its amazing watching them socialise and everybody actually doing the right thing.

The times we have gone there I've never had or seen a problem (although I imagine there sometimes is) majority of the dogs I used to groom would go there.

[heapha]

I used to have a rotti x mastiff, often people would cross the road to avoid my dog even when on leash, in truth though he as a big softie.

We had two incidents with dogs that should have been on leash but weren't

1. a womans walking a jack Russell carrying her leash but not attached to her dog. JR comes running up to Odin Barking. Now when I say he was big softy the only time I ever saw him react aggressively was when being yapped at by little dogs, as my husband and I knew my husband stepped between the JR and Odin. The woman then said "oh don't worry his bark is worse than his bite". All I could think was Woman, this dog is a Rotti x Mastiff and I have never seen him bite but I can guarantee that if he chose to he would rip your little dog in half and call it an entrée, and you think we are worried that your JR is going to do him damage - My husand kurtly told her to leash her dog as it was the law.

2. another woman with an staffy off leash in a grassed area, she is lazing around in the sun whilst the dog gets some exercise. My husband walks over with Odin on a leash as always. At this stage Odin was about 15 years old and mostly blind and selectively deaf (I say selective because he could still hear the fridge from 100 paces). This womans staffy runs over to Odin in an aggressive manner, and lunges at his belly area (no but sniffing no hello just goes for the belly). My husband steps in front of Odin and pushes the dog away with his foot (not a full kick but a foot push. The woman starts getting up telling him to stop kicking her dog. Her dog continues to lunch at Odin and my husband in the end is Kicking her dog just to keep it away. She loses her shit about him kicking her dog to which he tells her to get her dog away and that it has to be on a leash by law and that it is aggressive and therefore shouldn't ever be off leash in public.

Fast forward a few weeks and this womans husband follows my husband when he is walking odin and has a go at him about kicking their dog. Sorry mate but would would you prefer a dog fight where we would likely loose our ederly man and your staffy would be in big trouble, possibly facing euthanasia because your wife was to silly to keep it leashed or even under her control.

Really annoys me when people put their pets and others at risk by going off leash in a leash area.

[tdierikx]

I must say it's amazing how quickly other people try to get control of their dog when you start swinging a boot at it...

Years ago I was walking 2 of my dogs (a Rotti and a Rotti cross), and this guy was washing his car in a driveway in a side road. Then I see a large Rotti come out of his driveway homing in to have a piece of one of mine. I call to the guy to call back his dog, and he ignores me... his dog gets closer, and definitely with intent... I call to the guy again to call back his dog, and he ignores me again... the dog gets within distance of my now swinging boot - and THAT'S when the guy decides to call his dog and get all huffy that I was about to kick it's head in.

All the while, my 2 are just standing there quietly waiting for mummy to protect them... *sigh*... not one bark or growl from any of the 3 dogs involved, mine, or the one that was wanting to have a go.

T.

[JulesP]

I used to have a rotti x mastiff, often people would cross the road to avoid my dog even when on leash, in truth though he as a big softie.

You are assuming that it is because of your dog. They might be doing it because of their dogs!

[The Spencinator]

As an owner of a reactive dog I can't express how much this brings me to tears sometimes. Even walking the streets near my inner suburban house is stressful. Last week we had the biggest GSD I have ever seen jump his 2 foot high front fence and charge across the road barking/snarling etc. My fight/flight mechanism kicked in and I bolted in the other direction (scared for my own life let alone Spencer's). Meanwhile Spencer is going off his nut at this dog (understandably) and I hear the owner laugh and yell, "don't worry, he's harmless"....... he's just lucky my flight rather than fight mechanism kicked in!!!!!!

[BarbedWire]

I used to have a rotti x mastiff, often people would cross the road to avoid my dog even when on leash, in truth though he as a big softie.

You are assuming that it is because of your dog. They might be doing it because of their dogs!

Agree. I used to think this until I had a reactive dog. Now when I cross the road to avoid issues I usually call out that it's not their dog but mine that I am worried about, especially if their dog is a larger breed dog. I know what it feels like to have others shun you because of your dog's breed.

[Malakita]

Really annoys me when people put their pets and others at risk by going off leash in a leash area.

AGREE a million percent!

Had a little fluffy run out from the driveway, cross the road and wanted to sniff my girl. The dog had no recall and ignored the guy. I said my dog is not dog friendly and the guy finally gets his dog back. And he tells it off followed by a smack.

We also took the dogs to the beach last week. It is an off leash beach area along Beaconsfield Road in St Kilda. So there is a nature strip, then the walking path and then the path to the beach. So we had all finished up, waiting on the nature strip, just waiting for my girl to finish up squirting ( she drank too much sea water). We are always eagle eyed for any dogs nearby. But I was completely caught off guard when they both started to pull me and hard. Some guy had literally just pulled up his car to the kerb, and lets his dogs up without leashes. Thankfully both his dogs run straight to the beach and not towards us! Next time, I will be way more prepared for people who just let their dogs out straight from the car unleashed.

[Malakita]

Really annoys me when people put their pets and others at risk by going off leash in a leash area.

AGREE a million percent!

Had a little fluffy run out from the driveway, cross the road and wanted to sniff my girl. The dog had no recall and ignored the guy. I said my dog is not dog friendly and the guy finally gets his dog back. And he tells it off followed by a smack.

We also took the dogs to the beach last week. It is an off leash beach area along Beaconsfield Road in St Kilda. So there is a nature strip, then the walking path and then the path to the beach. So we had all finished up, waiting on the nature strip, just waiting for my girl to finish up squirting ( she drank too much sea water). We are always eagle eyed for any dogs nearby. But I was completely caught off guard when they both started to pull me and hard. Some guy had literally just pulled up his car to the kerb, and lets his dogs up without leashes. Thankfully both his dogs run straight to the beach and not towards us! Next time, I will be way more prepared for people who just let their dogs out straight from the car unleashed.

[Stressmagnet]

Grrr. Can you stand another rant from me on clueless owners?

The scene:

Local park - LEASHED AREA.

Me and Ernie notice a highly reactive yorkie on a long retractable lead being walked (?)) by a mum with a kid in a stroller.

Ernie is still overly lungy and desperate to meet every damn dog on this earth. His trigger distance is about 3 metres- then he yanks and jumps.

I see this woman bring dragged, stroller and all behind the Yorkie and move well off the footpath and start to distract Ernie by putting him through his paces. At this point, he's 10 metres EASILY off the footpath. the mum continues to approach, makes NO attempt to reel the little guy in - who is now snarling and lunging from about 10 metres away. I ask her nicely to reel her dog back.

Her response (as she continues to approach) is 'he just HATES big dogs' and LAUGHES. At this point, Ernie is reacting and yanking and jumping because her dog is right in his face and I'm putting myself between him and said Yorkie. As her dog snaps at ME and my dog, she laughed AGAIN and says 'he thinks he's a big dog but he won't hurt you'.

At which point I said 'control him or I'll kick him into next week'. I then got abuse heaped on me for walking MY dog in an area if I didn't want him to 'meet other dogs'.

Seriously. So glad I cannot carry a weapon.

[suziwong66]

Grrr. Can you stand another rant from me on clueless owners?

The scene:

Local park - LEASHED AREA.

Me and Ernie notice a highly reactive yorkie on a long retractable lead being walked (?)) by a mum with a kid in a stroller.

Ernie is still overly lungy and desperate to meet every damn dog on this earth. His trigger distance is about 3 metres- then he yanks and jumps.

I see this woman bring dragged, stroller and all behind the Yorkie and move well off the footpath and start to distract Ernie by putting him through his paces. At this point, he's 10 metres EASILY off the footpath. the mum continues to approach, makes NO attempt to reel the little guy in - who is now snarling and lunging from about 10 metres away. I ask her nicely to reel her dog back.

Her response (as she continues to approach) is 'he just HATES big dogs' and LAUGHES. At this point, Ernie is reacting and yanking and jumping because her dog is right in his face and I'm putting myself between him and said Yorkie. As her dog snaps at ME and my dog, she laughed AGAIN and says 'he thinks he's a big dog but he won't hurt you'.

At which point I said 'control him or I'll kick him into next week'. I then got abuse heaped on me for walking MY dog in an area if I didn't want him to 'meet other dogs'.

Seriously. So glad I cannot carry a weapon.

Ahhh yes the assumption that because you take your dog in shared public spaces, you want to meet and greet anyone and everyone including dogs, that you pass It's highly related to the assumption that because i have my dogs in public, it's everyone's right to touch and distract them

It's my first week of having The Pocket Rocket (12 week old Choc lab bitch) in low risk public spaces - the challenge has been more about other people keeping their hands to themselves than it has about teaching her acceptable behaviours. Twice i've had to physically remove older men's hands from her.

[Stressmagnet]

Yeah. What is with that?

I ask permission before I greet anyone's animal.

Granted, Ernie is beautiful and friendly but omg keep your hands to yourself!

[BarbedWire]

Grrr. Can you stand another rant from me on clueless owners?

The scene:

Local park - LEASHED AREA.

Me and Ernie notice a highly reactive yorkie on a long retractable lead being walked (?)) by a mum with a kid in a stroller.

Ernie is still overly lungy and desperate to meet every damn dog on this earth. His trigger distance is about 3 metres- then he yanks and jumps.

I see this woman bring dragged, stroller and all behind the Yorkie and move well off the footpath and start to distract Ernie by putting him through his paces. At this point, he's 10 metres EASILY off the footpath. the mum continues to approach, makes NO attempt to reel the little guy in - who is now snarling and lunging from about 10 metres away. I ask her nicely to reel her dog back.

Her response (as she continues to approach) is 'he just HATES big dogs' and LAUGHES. At this point, Ernie is reacting and yanking and jumping because her dog is right in his face and I'm putting myself between him and said Yorkie. As her dog snaps at ME and my dog, she laughed AGAIN and says 'he thinks he's a big dog but he won't hurt you'.

At which point I said 'control him or I'll kick him into next week'. I then got abuse heaped on me for walking MY dog in an area if I didn't want him to 'meet other dogs'.

Seriously. So glad I cannot carry a weapon.

Sorry I don't get this about threatening to kick other dogs. How would you feel if someone kicked, or threatened to kick, your dog? Surely there are more appropriate responses.

[Jemmy]

Grrr. Can you stand another rant from me on clueless owners?

The scene:

Local park - LEASHED AREA.

Me and Ernie notice a highly reactive yorkie on a long retractable lead being walked (?)) by a mum with a kid in a stroller.

Ernie is still overly lungy and desperate to meet every damn dog on this earth. His trigger distance is about 3 metres- then he yanks and jumps.

I see this woman bring dragged, stroller and all behind the Yorkie and move well off the footpath and start to distract Ernie by putting him through his paces. At this point, he's 10 metres EASILY off the footpath. the mum continues to approach, makes NO attempt to reel the little guy in - who is now snarling and lunging from about 10 metres away. I ask her nicely to reel her dog back.

Her response (as she continues to approach) is 'he just HATES big dogs' and LAUGHES. At this point, Ernie is reacting and yanking and jumping because her dog is right in his face and I'm putting myself between him and said Yorkie. As her dog snaps at ME and my dog, she laughed AGAIN and says 'he thinks he's a big dog but he won't hurt you'.

At which point I said 'control him or I'll kick him into next week'. I then got abuse heaped on me for walking MY dog in an area if I didn't want him to 'meet other dogs'.

Seriously. So glad I cannot carry a weapon.

Sorry I don't get this about threatening to kick other dogs. How would you feel if someone kicked, or threatened to kick, your dog? Surely there are more appropriate responses.

I think it's that the polite request was completely disregarded. Stressmagnet may not have planned to carry through on the threat, but sometimes you have to be rude for people to take you seriously. If Ernie had gotten riled up and bitten the other dog, he would probably be the one in trouble...

[The Spencinator]

Grrr. Can you stand another rant from me on clueless owners?

The scene:

Local park - LEASHED AREA.

Me and Ernie notice a highly reactive yorkie on a long retractable lead being walked (?)) by a mum with a kid in a stroller.

Ernie is still overly lungy and desperate to meet every damn dog on this earth. His trigger distance is about 3 metres- then he yanks and jumps.

I see this woman bring dragged, stroller and all behind the Yorkie and move well off the footpath and start to distract Ernie by putting him through his paces. At this point, he's 10 metres EASILY off the footpath. the mum continues to approach, makes NO attempt to reel the little guy in - who is now snarling and lunging from about 10 metres away. I ask her nicely to reel her dog back.

Her response (as she continues to approach) is 'he just HATES big dogs' and LAUGHES. At this point, Ernie is reacting and yanking and jumping because her dog is right in his face and I'm putting myself between him and said Yorkie. As her dog snaps at ME and my dog, she laughed AGAIN and says 'he thinks he's a big dog but he won't hurt you'.

At which point I said 'control him or I'll kick him into next week'. I then got abuse heaped on me for walking MY dog in an area if I didn't want him to 'meet other dogs'.

Seriously. So glad I cannot carry a weapon.

Sorry I don't get this about threatening to kick other dogs. How would you feel if someone kicked, or threatened to kick, your dog? Surely there are more appropriate responses.

I think it's that the polite request was completely disregarded. Stressmagnet may not have planned to carry through on the threat, but sometimes you have to be rude for people to take you seriously. If Ernie had gotten riled up and bitten the other dog, he would probably be the one in trouble...

As the owner of a reactive dog I have come up with some creative one liners that work 9 times out of 10 (way better than "he's not friendly, stay away"). They include, "back up, he's got kennel cough", "be careful, he bites people" (when its them in danger they are much more obliging) or "he will draw blood" works pretty well. People tend to give you 'the look' and then leave pretty damn quick... pull those bad boys out next time and you can avoid confrontation a lot easier (at least in my experience) :)

[tdierikx]

Grrr. Can you stand another rant from me on clueless owners?

The scene:

Local park - LEASHED AREA.

Me and Ernie notice a highly reactive yorkie on a long retractable lead being walked (?)) by a mum with a kid in a stroller.

Ernie is still overly lungy and desperate to meet every damn dog on this earth. His trigger distance is about 3 metres- then he yanks and jumps.

I see this woman bring dragged, stroller and all behind the Yorkie and move well off the footpath and start to distract Ernie by putting him through his paces. At this point, he's 10 metres EASILY off the footpath. the mum continues to approach, makes NO attempt to reel the little guy in - who is now snarling and lunging from about 10 metres away. I ask her nicely to reel her dog back.

Her response (as she continues to approach) is 'he just HATES big dogs' and LAUGHES. At this point, Ernie is reacting and yanking and jumping because her dog is right in his face and I'm putting myself between him and said Yorkie. As her dog snaps at ME and my dog, she laughed AGAIN and says 'he thinks he's a big dog but he won't hurt you'.

At which point I said 'control him or I'll kick him into next week'. I then got abuse heaped on me for walking MY dog in an area if I didn't want him to 'meet other dogs'.

Seriously. So glad I cannot carry a weapon.

Sorry I don't get this about threatening to kick other dogs. How would you feel if someone kicked, or threatened to kick, your dog? Surely there are more appropriate responses.

If an owner is not interested in controlling their dog, and it's threatening me or my dogs, I'll happily kick it... I'm not going to have myself or my dogs bailed up or bitten by an out of control dog... simple as that.

I'm sorry if that may seem offensive to you.

T.