Rory has always been a little reactive on his lead around things which stress him. I trained and it was so much better and he was feeling much more confidant despite being knocked over by a cyclist and then a Jogger recently. He is very good now and looks forward to a treat and doesn't react very often. I was just entering the park another choc lab called Rollo was in there and when we walked through the gate a growling and snarling match started. nothing bad happened it was a bit of a handbags at dawn incident, all noise. I found it all very upsetting and strange. It just was not like Rory to do this anyway and to a dog he knows well and plays with? Times gone on and its never happened again I continued to train and Rory does not seem to overly concerned about this. obviously Rory was seen as the aggresor and some rumors few for a few weeks but I just ignored them and got on with my life. Turns out Rollo has a bit of a problem he will attacks people and dogs when he's on his lead. He's done it twice to Rory when we were in our garden and Rory just ignored him and sat as he was asked. I also saw Rollo do this to a man who was just walking passed. It was bad Rollo sounded really scared the man was terrified. I've found out it happens all the time. I now know it was not Rory who reacted badly that day he was just protecting himself as I thought but how do I tackle this. His owners a nice man but has done no real training, Rollo was castrated early because he was pulling? He still does but now has that lovely(not) tear inducing throat noise too. If I walk my dogs with Rollo when I go to leave and call my dogs in to put their leads on he grabs Rollo as its the only way to catch him now. He won't let his owner catch him on the park he just runs off . Its bad and I just don't know how to approach it. The man always says your dogs always come when you call (yeah always he he)and they walk nice on the lead and doesn't Rory like balls when Rory came to me rather than play. He found it strange that my dogs like to come to me rather than do there own thing. I think i'm going to have to talk to him just wondered if anyone had a similar experience and got any ideas.
Ooh that could be awkward ! I've no idea how you would approach that situation , but the very best of luck to you when you do xxx
I think its something I'm going to have to do carefully as rollo will get a bad rep and be left in his garden more
Being someone who hates confrontation I think I would be trying to avoid meeting Rollo at the park. Rollo isn't the problem, it's the owner and how likely is he to listen and take advice on training his dog. Of course it also depends upon your relationship with the owner. If it was someone I knew quite well I would be making a few suggestions, perhaps starting with something like I was reading an article the other day......
So they were both on leash? If Rollo is castrated and Rory is not then I think another factor might be that Rollo is one of those neutered males who does not like intact males. I do see that other people have had unpleasant encounters with Rollo and probably they were not all intact male dogs but still, it could be an additional factor for you and your dog.
Rollo not coming when called I would say is a completely different problem and the owner obviously hasn't trained a recall. The aggression towards dogs and people could be because Rollo is nervous. Maybe if you know the owner well enough and you want to bring up the subject you could go at it from that angle. It doesn't sound as bad as telling him his dog is aggressive. Most dog aggression is caused by fear. Few dogs are aggressive for the sake of it. Fear aggression can be caused by all sorts of things a bad experience, poor socialisation,even just someone wearing a hat as you've experienced with Rory. Rollo sounds like he is leash aggressive. He is reactive on lead. This is common for nervous dogs. When a dog encounters something that scares it it will choose either Freeze, Fight or Flight. The sensible thing to choose is Flight but a dog on a lead can't so it's only option is fight. You could suggest Rollo's owner looks on the Internet for advice on leash aggression telling him it's very common and doesn't mean Rollo is aggressive just nervous on lead.
Just thought. Saying Rollo is leash reactive is probably a better description than leash aggressive. It means the same but doesn't sound quite so aggressive.
yes on all fronts he is lead reactive and yes its the owner and I do avoid if I can I just feel helpless and worried about whats going to happen to him. I was thinking of giving him the website just to look at for good ideas maybe that could work. I don't think Rollo is aggresive but most people in the area now do
