Molly, 10 months, is well into hooligan mode at the moment. This afternoon we went to a country park with a big lake and I happily let her run around like a loon, jumping in mud, swimming in the lake, bringing me sticks so I'll chase her....She's got great recall and only jumps at my partner and me now so I'm pretty confident I can intercept any unwanted behaviour and she has such fun! i am always on the lookout making sure she's not bothering anyone and call her when children approach. Anyway she met another young lab just as her owners let her off the lead and they ran off playing (in mud). Said owners called her back frantically and put her back on the lead. I was to embarrassed to talk to them so I don't know how old the dog was but I'm guessing younger than Molly. Its made me question myself about letting her loose when she's slightly crazy. Is there etiquette for this that I don't know about?
I let Stanley off. Sometimes he gets up to no good but I just apologise and go on my way. He's still got a very puppyish look and he's so adorable most people (luckily) are just like ohh he's just a baby. If I see a dog on the lead I always call him back and put him on his but otherwise I just let him have a play. I thought that was the etiquette in the UK. I've found most people to be very understanding - ESPECIALLY Labrador owners. So if you're doing something wrong - so am I.
I think that's just fine - if dogs are off lead they are bound to play. If I spot a dog on lead I pop mine on or get them walking close to me until we have passed.
Doesn't seem to be the etiquette round here I've lost count of the number of times I've had Ripple on the lead and other dog owners have let their dog race across to him. Quite often I've had to resort at shouting at people to call their dog back. There's one GR in our local park that was always racing up to us last summer, he even ran across a road in the park to get to us, luckily my daughter was with me and returned him to his owners - even then they didn't seem to get the message. And yesterday a horse rider had her dog with her off-lead (in our park not somewhere you'd normally come across horses) who raced across to Ripple - how on earth could she have her dog under control when she's on a blimmin horse! Sorry for the rant this is one of the things that really annoys me. I will let Ripple off to play with other dogs if I think it's safe, but not near a road and certainly not near a horse.
I can't see anything wrong with what you did, as the other dog had been let off lead too. I like to see them run and get muddy!
I like my dogs to play with other dogs, but only if they stay responsive to me. I do not like play continuing if the dogs become unresponsive. So while someone is working on being able to interrupt play, and that's more of a challenge for some dogs than others, having your dog hoolie around madly with another dog might not be in your plans - it often isn't in mine. The owners might have had all sorts of reasons why they didn't want their dog to play. Maybe they had plans to do a bit of training or something instead.
Harley will quite often ignore others dogs whether they are off lead or not, but if I see another dog on lead I pop her on too just incase. If it's a new dog who wants to play I ask the owners to let them say a quick 'hi' on lead as I can read Harleys body language well and know if she will be ok with the other dog. I have found some owners don't like their dogs getting muddy or wet!
