Today is not going to plan with my 8month old boy. Thought we’d get out this morning and enjoy the weather before it gets too hot on this strange and unusual nice day. Went to a big field to see if it had dried out and took a ball. Wasn’t interested in the ball. Just grabbing sticks and chewing on them. Usually he’d bring me things and drop them but today he was running off with them and not coming back. So left the field and went along through a nearby trail instead, he was on his lead at this point. Went to the toilet. As I was picking it up, 2 dogs appeared with their owner, they were off their lead. He lunged and I was pulled round in a circle and went flying and he continued to try and dive on the other dogs. Was so embarrassed. I felt like I was going to cry but didn’t want to embarrass myself further. I thought I’m not going to end the walk this way so I did the turn about walk on a bit of path where I could see if anyone was coming. He walked home quite nicely after that so I felt bad for being so upset about it all. He’s crashed out now snoozing. Has anyone got any words of wisdom for something I can try to avoid another morning like this.
You did absolutely the right thing taking him on further, where you could see if anyone was coming. It's always better to end on success, rather than a crisis. It's difficult when your own dog is on a lead and others aren't and you need eyes in the back of your head when you're stopping to pick up poo too. I try to check that the coast is clear before I pick up, but that's not always possible. One of my dogs also reacts better to other dogs off her lead, but it's still work in progress. The mini-heatwave has probably taken him by surprise as well as us, so keep on with the training and try not to be put off by one incident - I've lost count of the times that I've been embarrassed by my dogs, well, one of them, anyway. Don't let it get you down.
It's great isn't ? Put us through the wringer and then they have not a care in the world. I don't know about words of wisdom, but I agree with @Granca about ending on a good note, it sounds like you did the right thing. The lunging thing is horrid, definitely takes away your dignity! He's very young yet, and if my Cassie is anything to go by this spring weather gets them excited. I've had a notsogood session at gundog training to day, what I do when things go wrong is think about what I have got right, I find it helps.
Mine is 2 and a half years old and we have similar events very frequently! I think you gradually learn to shake off the embarrassment! In fact this morning I made the mistake of trying to bring in my wheelie bin off the pavement with one hand whilst holding the lead in the other - she got scared of the wheelie bin, then blamed a poor innocent young lad walking towards her up the pavement to school and started lunging and barking at him I was left in a mess of barking dog, scared boy, wheelie bin in the way all in front of a queue of cars waiting at the traffic lights. It had all been going so well! Don’t be disheartened, I don’t think there is anyone on this forum with a young dog who hasn’t had many frequent episodes like yours!
Xena's 2 now and it's always a bit of a fiasco when somebody approaches with two dogs. She's quite civilised with one, but she gets all silly when we see two, and yes, it's always frustrating when the other dogs are off-lead and yours is on. You do get used to the embarrassment!
The older I get the less embarrassed I get about anything. It's just one of those things that I just don't have the energy for. Embarrassing things still happen but I just smirked and giggle to myself. You got yourself and pup out if a bad situation and ended your work on a high notes that's good. Be proud instead?
I'm embarrassed all the time, not at my dog but at myself and DH for not finding enough time to train him well. No excuse really but I work full time and am on conference calls into the early evening for the next few months then it's dinner and clean-up etc. DH is renovating two houses (including ours) as well as tending to the household stuff like laundry, cooking etc. We always -without fail - spend at least an hour playing/training after dinner but it's not enough and is not helping with his outside-the-house behavior. But it's the best we can do and I refuse to beat myself up too much Please don't ever feel bad...I think you did fantastically well in a horrible situation
I just remembered an awful incident last weekend at the dog park..Maxx was playing with two staffies and wouldn't recall as usual then ran off with them. When we finally caught up he had blood all over his face to our horror. We assumed one of the staffies accidentally bit him...we washed his face but couldn't find any wounds, so realised Maxx must have nicked the arm if the older man who owned them and it was his blood! Oh the shame. Hubby saw him again at the park a few days later and apologised profusely and luckily he was fine about it. We have to do better
One day I had Ella on lead at the beach and three dogs came running up, owner-less. Ella let into play with them, I kept hold of the lead and got pulled so fast onto the hard sand that I smacked my knee on a rock and was completely winded. The OH helped me up (muffling his laughter ) while I couldn’t breathe and thought I had done some serious damage to my knee. Highly annoying and embarrassing! Just so you know... We've all been there!
Thanks for the replies, they made me feel better. He’s been so good the rest of this week and been a champ in some new situations so I feel silly I got so upset about it. I told people at work about it and they all laughed so I can laugh about it now too
Oh blimey ,this has brought back some memories ! My late boy Sam was ( I like to think ) a pretty good puppy /youngster , rose coloured glasses are wonderful aren't they ? I came home from walks in tears on many occasions , whilst he snored away, oblivious to the stress caused , and rightly so really as he was only being a typical exuberant young Lab , he thought it was ace ! Best thing , I found , was to try to forget and not dwell on my failures as a rubbish owner , tomorrow is another day , keep the faith ! xx
Very glad you're feeling better and it was good to read all the 'we've all been there" posts... because we have all been there. And no need to feel silly about getting upset...we've all been THERE, too! Personally, the next time I'm having one of those days, I'm going to have this imprinted on my forehead:
I took my dog, Max, to a crowded beach...I didn't intend for it to be crowded, of course . I had him on a lead in one hand, his water frisbee in other. All of the children playing near the shore were to much for him to bear. He pulled me over and drug me, all the time jumping and happy. And everyone laughing at me. Lucky me, those people don't know me, so we just stayed and played with all those kids!
Haha I don’t know how but it somehow remained in the bag and during the spin I’d flung it to the side safely out of the landing zone. Oh dear @Moosenme i think these things must just be part of the Labrador package We’ve had another good new experience today. We were on a narrow track and a horse and rider came in the opposite direction so I stood as far over on the side as I could, braced for chaos... and he just stood there and watched them go by keeping all these positive things in mind for when we have those other mishaps
Sorry I know I shouldn't but the song, I'm spinning around, Move outta my way came into my mind. We all get days like this, but look how good he was with the horse and rider. Well done.
