Stupid people who complain about dogs just enjoying themselves.

Gillie

It's gonna be tough on you to continue living near these ppl!

You have my sympathy!

golden

GG66 - I know where you are coming from. Sorry to hear that your news.

deaddonkey

other people's fears are not the responsibility of the owner

Your sole responsiblity is to control your dogs under a manner permissible under the law, this means you don't let your dogs attack, intimidate, hassle etc other people

if you manage all that (leaving aside breed specific legislation), then you are within your rights to walk your dogs off lead. They are your responibility - someone who wants to wrap the world in cottonwool - "oh, think of the children" has no right to complain, they can be afraid, they can want to complain, because they're petty whingers with nothing better to do - tough. Keep walking your dogs off lead and under control - don't mind other people's fears, i certainly don't, otherwise you'll be pandering to them all the time and they'll get their way and your dogs won't get the exercise they need. If your dog doesn't approach people uninvited, then you're fine. It's that simple - social responsibility be damned, these people just want to get their way. I stopped being socially responsible with my dogs a long time ago, other people can cower away in fear, i don't care, my dogs don't go near them and that's it. Anyone who tells me to keep them on a lead gets an earfull.

You keep walking your nice dogs, and make sure you enjoy every minute of it.

deaddonkey

Glowing wrote:

On another point, can you ever consider a dog 'trustworthy'?

Definitely. I know that one of my dogs is 100% trustworthy with strangers and the other isn't.

If you don't mess with a dog's owner, a good dog is 100% trustworthy. Getting rowdy with the owner because you're afraid or whatever, changes that situation considerably.

A muzzled and leashed dog looks a lot more dangerous than a dog trotting ahead and then waiting for its owner - muzzling a dog just makes the problem worse.

Glowing

Thats fair enough deaddonkey, but when people say they trust their dogs, I always get an image in my head of a two year old toddler running around the garden carrying a raw steak .... enough said!

2funki4wheelz

Nothing, not human/animal is 100% 'trustworthy' if your definition means they will never lash out, there's so many things that could cause it - pain/fear/mental problems/outside factors that you mightn't even be aware of. It's great to trust your dogs and to know they're well behaved but there's no 100%, not ever.

Jotter

I think its unfair to your dog to consider it 100% trustworthy.Its an animal and should be treated as such, that doesnt mean you cant love it but you need to remember at all times that its a dog, it doesnt view us they way we sometimes view them.
Our family dog passed away at christmas, great dog fantastic temperment but we were in polo grounds a couple of years back, we were well away from people and he was off the lead. There was a family having a picnic a good bit away from us. Next thing their toddler was wandering towards us, naturally I assumed the parents wouldnt let their child come too close to an unleashed dog they didnt know (or a strange person they didnt know)so I kept playing with dog but I was wrong. The kid kept walking and the dog started walking slowly towards him, he looked like a cat stalking prey and my gut told me to get the dog on lead asap, which I did. In fairness the dog just went back to playing with me and I prob was overreacting at the time but I wasnt willing to take any chances, mostly for the kid but also for my dog.
He could have been misreading something from the child and if anything had happened hed be the one put down, even though he wasnt vicious, it only takes one time.

_feedback_

Peter Collins wrote:

Funny as in strange, not humourous

My God man, get an education

Ignore this GG66, that poster seems intent on causing hassle on every thread he posts.


That really is a sad story... I can only imagine that this was made ten times worse by the fact that it was this same neighbour that aggrivated the dog. If it was somebody else it may be easier for you to put the blame on yourself due to the fact the dog wasn't restrained accordingly.

Best of luck with re-homing...

Attol

Ok, perfect example of why I believe every dog should be on a lead when they're in the vicinity of new dogs... We brought home a 5 year old neutered female bichon frise last night for a 2 week trial with our 7 year old not neutered male as he was seriously lonely after losing his brother. They've gotten on amazingly and we've already decided that she will definitely be becoming part of our family. Our neighbour's 2 year old female neutered westie came to pay a visit to Rosie with her owners. She was lying on the couch next to my dad(she was asleep from having had a very long day) and the westie kept screaming and howling. She started shaking all over and the owners were holding her. She jumped and lunged at our dog. My dad reacted and put his arm over her to protect her and the westie kept jumping and trying to attack her. She wouldn't obey her owners at all. She ended up biting my dad on the arm. I have never seen the westie act like this in my life so randomly dogs can attack for no apparent reason which is why people should be responsible. Had the westie gotten to Rosie it would have been a disaster. The poor thing is really tiny as bichon females tend to be whereas westie females are still quite well built with very strong jaws.

Alfasudcrazy

Part of the reason I try to leave the dobies off lead as much as possible is that both - but especially the male pull so hard on the lead I am afraid he will give himself a heart attack or damage his throat.

I see other dobermans on leads and most tend to pull hard. I have heard of a holti thing you can get but don't know how that works exactly. If its anything like the thing they put in horses mouths I would be very slow to use it on my dogs as it could damage their teeth?

fatmammycat

The halti is brilliant with bigger dogs. There's nothing in the dogs mouth, it's like a head collar, it fits over the muzzle and you can turn your dogs head slightly towards you, stopping any pulling.

Danes

I use a gentle controller on my danes - its a head collar too and works on the basis that the dog cant put its weight into pulling like they can on a harness or flat collar. I've seen people use a front leading harness which they say is excellent once you get the fit right - I think the brand name is "sensible" or something like that. A pulling dog is a nightmare on the lead but there are ways around it. You might find the Halti rides up a bit over the eyes whereas as Gentle Controller or Canny Collar wont. When you find the right harness/head collar, you wont believe the difference and you'll be able to enjoy your walks again. Good Luck!

deaddonkey

those haltis are fantastic, they work really well, and the dog gets used to them in about a week.

Nala

Alfasudcrazy wrote:

as much as possible is that both - but especially the male pull so hard on the lead

Try training them?

So you haven't taught them to walk properly on a lead yet, but you have them trained well enough that you can let them run around off the lead (against the law) and you trust them to come back every time you call them?

peasant

Alfasudcrazy wrote:

Part of the reason I try to leave the dobies off lead as much as possible is that both - but especially the male pull so hard on the lead I am afraid he will give himself a heart attack or damage his throat.

as others said, a halti or gentle leader or whatever is a good help (when used correctly, in combination with the normal lead)

But ultimately, training is the best way to sort this.

Use the "tree" method: as soon as they start to pull, you become a tree ..i.e you don't move. Only when the lead gets slack is when you walk again.

Initially you probably won't get anywhere ...so start training individually and in your garden, when there is no rush on.
Introduce the "heel" command when they're walking next to you and praise them while they are doing it. Ignore pulling ...just stop.

Once both of them have understood the principle that the lead only leads somwhere when its slack, you can then venture outside and continue training there.

iguana

deaddonkey wrote:

other people's fears are not the responsibility of the owner

Your sole responsiblity is to control your dogs under a manner permissible under the law, this means you don't let your dogs attack, intimidate, hassle etc other people

if you manage all that (leaving aside breed specific legislation), then you are within your rights to walk your dogs off lead. They are your responibility - someone who wants to wrap the world in cottonwool - "oh, think of the children" has no right to complain, they can be afraid, they can want to complain, because they're petty whingers with nothing better to do - tough. Keep walking your dogs off lead and under control - don't mind other people's fears, i certainly don't, otherwise you'll be pandering to them all the time and they'll get their way and your dogs won't get the exercise they need. If your dog doesn't approach people uninvited, then you're fine. It's that simple - social responsibility be damned, these people just want to get their way. I stopped being socially responsible with my dogs a long time ago, other people can cower away in fear, i don't care, my dogs don't go near them and that's it. Anyone who tells me to keep them on a lead gets an earfull.

You keep walking your nice dogs, and make sure you enjoy every minute of it.

Apart from the highlighted part I agree. I don't think having control of your dogs but refusing to pander to other peoples fears is socially irresponsible. Maybe living in the middle of the country it is possible to walk your dog somewhere that it is feasible to put them on the lead everytime you come near another person. But in a highly densely populated area the dog would never get to be off lead, which will only cause the dog to become unmanagable dueto lack of exercise and socialisation.

I live in urban London and while I do what I can to avoid crowds, such as rarely taking my dogs to the local parks in summer I have never, ever been on a walk with my dogs where I haven't come across people every few minutes, even in the depths of Epping Forest. Luckily I live a 15 minute walk from the Lea Valley which is 600 acres of marsh land around the river Lea. So I have somewhere less populated than the parks to take my dogs. (It's actually amazing how few people living here know it even exists.)

Although last Friday they did disturb a couple who they ran into in the long grass who were either naked sunbathing or celebrating May in the pagan fashion.;) I had a really hard time pursing my lips to whistle them back.

JB1

Hi,
not sure if it's large dogs.I own a dutch sheperd, a breed not known(or very well known) in Ireland.He is very large, ways about 110 pound, but the biggest idiot on 4 feet on the planet.I get regulary approached by people asking if he's a wolf ( no he isen't).However, there is never any fear in them.Leaves me puzzled if it might not just be bad marketing on these 10.
After all, no animal is born bad.I think it is an education issue, but do fully agree with the comment that some people are scared of dogs and we need to be mindfull of that.If I see someone stiffen up when I approach with my dog, Ill put him on the lead.I do tend to start a chat and make the person a bit comfortabler around the dog.Gave me good results so far.Espacially because my mad hatter starts to roll around on his back trying to take whatever he has in his mouth out with his front paws..doesen't really look agressiv.;)