I have been a dog owner for a whole three weeks today!!!

Anyway, one of the many things I thinks about regarding my darling Daisy is what is polite and the right thing to do when I am out and about with her. We have a designated dog field near my house which we go to every night for her walk and to meet some doggy friends. Depending on who is there depends on whether I let her off the lead or not. Somedays her recall is fab others can be rubbish and one of us has 'collect her' from the dog she has decided to abandon us for! Most people have their dogs off lead and even though I have been unsure about her I have been encouraged by some owners to let her off and not to worry.

The thing I worry about is I often read on here that it is rude for your dog to just run up to other dogs and with Daisy being 6 months old that is pretty much her favourite thing in the whole wide world (apart from having a tummy rub!). I haven't had any issues at all with this as thankfully she is polite with other dogs and really friendly with their owners but after reading comments on here I have started to become a bit paranoid about it all. I had a problem the other way round where a lovely but over excited Staffie called Bella left her owner standing on the other end of the field and jumped up at my daughter who was holding Daisy's ball. She was quite shaken even though Bella just wanted to play so I can see where there might be concern Her owner had terrible recall and then blamed us because the ball was squeeky!

Anyway, I just wondered if anyone could enlighten me on the right thing to do as I don't want to spoil her doggy play time but also don't want to get my head bitten off!

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http://www.cockapoo-owners-club.org.uk/

i suggest you take time reading angry alert thread lol, plenty in ther eon this subjext lol
have fun and congrats on your new addition pics please ???????

If i am walking in the fields and see another walker /cyclist /dog i recall Millie and clip her on her lead. Even if its a friend and she knows the dog -I dont want her learning running off to greet dogs full on is acceptable. I wouldnt let Millie play with another dog without talking to the owner first. I treat other dog walkers how I woud like to b treated, the majority around here are pretty good. There is nothing more annoying / scary than an offlead dog you dont know running towards you.

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What Millie said. I also recall my dog and don't let her approach people or dogs until I know it's okay for her to do so. I want my dog to learn to wait for permission, if it's granted, not just dash off.

If I arrive at an area where there are already loads of dogs running around, I expect her to wait for permission to go join in and then I test her recall every now and then randomly, but I wouldn't call her back and clip her lead on every time a new person or dog turns up in that situation.

Sounds as though you're already doing the best thing you can.

My dog doesn't usually run off to people or other dogs, he is too busy sniffing and chasing around, so i usually let him staff off lead if there dog is off lead and they are not making moves to put their dog back on, but if i see a dog on a lead on our walk i will always call him back over and put him on his lead to.

Toodles sometimes gets a bit nervous of dogs, especially if he is on his lead there are many times when people have let their dog come running up to us when he is on lead and he jumping and backing away nervous or scared, so not all people follow those rules.