Walking Ripple through local woods today, he'd had some off lead time but was back on his harness as he had started wandering off and eating stuff . Some people from the village came towards us with their two labs off-lead; from quite a long way off their dogs ran up to Ripple who started his usual idiot thing of twirling round and round in the harness in his excitement to see them. I couldn't distract him with treats as the other dogs were trying to get these as well so OH stood there with the twirling Ripple while they went past. In fairness they did call their dogs as they went past but they were engrossed in conversation and weren't really paying much attention. Just as we started to get Ripple back under control one of the labs came hurtling back to us and started Ripple off again, as they were totally oblivious to this I called out to them to call their dog as it was giving us a problem - OH reckoned they gave me a very black look and he thinks I should have just waited till the dog went back to them. Quite frankly I get fed up with this - the number of owners that don't appear to have any idea what their dogs are doing, and are not aware or don't care that they are making things really difficult for another dog walker. OH thinks I'm embarrassing when I say something . Now I feel really .
You are right to be annoyed , mine are off lead most of the time but if we see an on lead dog approaching , I call them up and put them on leads because Sam in particular is a demon for meeting and greeting ( and not all dogs like this ! ) I think its good manners to either have your dogs at heel off lead or onto leads if another one is on lead around them . Sadly I also come across owners who are chatting away and oblivious to what their dogs are doing or who they are annoying , don't feel bad about it
I think you did the right thing - I usually ask people to call their dogs. I stay polite, and don't fuss, particularly if the dog is young or they are doing their best to call/catch them anyway. I might be a bit short if they are on their phone though.....
It sounds to me that the only time they called their dogs was as they passed you and paid no attention to what they were doing or the effect they were having on Ripple. You were completely justified in calling them to recall their dog, I get particularly annoyed with people who ignore what their dogs are doing but have the audacity to give you black looks if you say anything.
It doesn't sound like they were in charge of their dogs (or even trying to be) I find I am one of those owners who's dogs ignore their calls and go off to investigate the on-comers. I maybe exaggerate a bit, if I see a dog in our big woods (Ladybank) on lead I usually rein her in and pop her on the lead. Most dogs there are off lead, and if on lead often because they are chasers or rescues, or eaters or rollers. I rarely meet grumpy owners. Lilly seems to pick the odd one now and again to mug for treats though I think I am lucky. You got to work with what you have got though. I wouldn't beat yourself up.
I have to say, now Charlie doesn't really fuss so much on lead at off lead dogs (he used to though, awfully ) it annoys me more when dogs crash through my training. I can be stood there, with my dog on a placeboard, and a dummy out, waiting for someone to amble out of the way, their dog distracting my dog, nicking the dummy, jumping up at me for treats, and the owner will say, "Come on, Timmy, come on...COME ON... oh, are you training! Well, we mustn't interrupt! HaHa! Do you want to train mine? COME ON, TIMMY!". Sigh.....
That's exactly it - I couldn't understand why they couldn't see what was happening with Ripple. OH is just going to have to get used to me embarrassing him .
@SteffiS when my OH has been a bit "let's not make a fuss" I turn it round and say well is that how he would like us to be on our walk and allow our dog to run riot, annoy others and walk on oblivious. For some reason he always sees my point of view
Just to clarify I'm not grumpy about all off lead dogs who come up to Ripple, it's just the ones whose owners don't seem to be at all aware of them. I appreciate that Ripple needs a lot more training in being less reactive, I think he's got the makings of a real idiot .
It's much harder, reactive dog, or not for greetings when one dog is on lead and one is off as the lead interferes with their body language and generally makes the on lead dog feel more vulnerable. I guess I was lucky when Juno was young in France as the norm is that you put your dog on lead when meeting another dog and generally no greeting is allowed. If I don't know the dog I don't allow any greeting and just focus on Juno walking pat nicely with focus on me or sitting quietly to one side of the path again focussed on me. It works better for me as it reduces the expectation from Juno of meeting/greeting/playing with other dogs.
