I'm feeling a bit down and upset following an incident this morning and am thinking I might feel a bit better if I get in all down in black and white

I'll apologise in advance that this might be long and waffly

We regularly meet 2 older Dallies on our walks, 2 girls. Alfie absolutely LOVES them. They're both very bouncy and excitable but so is Alfie (more so when he's with them ) so lots of mad fun is always had by all 3.

Then there is a little Springer Spaniel that we occasionally bump into. She is quite a nervous little girl and doesn't really "play" as such but she's happy to play chase with Alfie. The owner has told me before that she (the dog!) doesn't like the 2 older Dallies as they're too "much" for her, trying to bowl her over, wrestle etc... I don't really know if it's that Alfie knows she doesn't like that sort of play and acts accordingly or if it's just the simple fact that he can't actually catch her but all he does with her is chase her and her him

So.... now you have the backgroud I'll get to the point

Over at the park today we met up with the SS. All was fine, Alfie was chasing her, she was chasing him, all was good. Around the corner come the 2 girls, they saw this super-fun game of chase in progress and of course, promptly joined in They're obviously bigger and faster than Alfie so they were managing to catch up with the springer who's owner was by now frantically trying to call her back. The girls' owner managed to get her 2 back on leads but Alfie had gone all OTT in his excitement now and I couldn't get him back. SS's owner managed to grab her as she was running past and as she was trying to get her lead back on Alfie is now barking his head off, play-bowing at the SS and generally being a nusiance. I'm still trying to grab him at this point, he's skipping away from me, the SS is looking very unhappy at him being "in her face" and the SS's owner obviously had enough and shouted "NO" at Alfie really loudly and then pushed him away, hard. He fell over and at this point I finally managed to get hold of him and get back back on the lead.

The SS owner then stomped away (clearly cross ) without a word to anyone and I called "I'm sorry" after her but she didn't reply

I feel upset that 1. Alfie seemed to turn into a bit of a "bully" with the springer today after he's usually nice with her and 2. that the owner shouted at him and pushed him. He is only 5 months old at the end of the day... but maybe he did deserve it

Sorry, what an essay

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You are his life, his love, his leader.
He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart.
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rrr, poor Alfie and you. Maybe Alfie did deserve being pushed over but this other person should not have done this. She could have blocked him with her leg, simple. He was not been aggressive from the sound of your post, sounds like he has gotten over excited, which, at the end of the day, he's a puppy. Stupid woman!

He probably would benefit from a little more recall training when other dogs are around.

I wouldn't beat yourself up over it. No dog is perfect and they all have their naughty moments. Alfie is still a pup and you can't blame him for being caught up in all the excitement. It must be difficult for young dogs learning that what is ok play with some dogs is not ok with others, especially as he is already "friends" with the SS. He wasn't being malicious or aggressive, he is just a pup who got carried away.

At the same time though I think the SS owner was perfectly within her right to push Alfie away and tell him no if you were not able to control him yourself. She didn't use excessive force and it doesn't sound like Alfie was hurt or particularly phased by the incident. At the end of the day she has to look after her own and her dog is looking to her for reassurance and protection. If the dog is already nervous then her owner rightly needs to control the situation so her dog doesn't have any more bad experiences than necessary.

I think the main thing you need to do is work on your recall so that you can call Alfie away quickly and efficiently when these situations happen so that it doesn't get out of hand. A good recall solves sooo many problems. Also in the future if you see play starting to get out of hand and the other dog starting to get uncomfortable you can easily put him back on the lead until he calms down and he will start to learn what is acceptable behaviour.

Don't think I am judging you, I have come home in tears more than once when I have had a bad day with Mia . We all have bad days, it just means we have to work harder on our training and keep at it.

I think the ESS owner should have apologised. I would perhaps do the same if anyone went near my precious boys, but I'd be upset if I'd made a dog fall over if it wasn't being aggressive! I see what others are saying re recall, but no dog is 100% robot like. Yes, he might benefit from more recall training, but he is only a pup! She could have just taken her dog away.

Possibly harsh, but if Alfie is happy playing with the big dogs and the ESS isn't, then perhaps her owner ought not to do the same walk where she knows there are big dogs that play too rough for her little Tricky-Woo! For Alfie's sake, he needs to socialise lots so he grows into a happy adult.

Seeing scared behaviour from another dog/owner is really quite unhelpful, they do copy one another. Bear will join in with Zak's aggressive behaviour but is perfect alone or with big dog.

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Transplanted Geordie
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i was thinking about this the other day.

what do you find acceptable to do to remove a dog from another one?

in this situation i do think it is ok for the ss owner to remove alfie as you hadn't yourself and tell him no as whats fun for him is not for the other dog in this situation.

i would remove a dog from my own dog in these sort of circumstances.

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I understand why she did it...panic, but at the same time Freddie doesn't like dogs so I try to avoid taking him places with lots of other dogs, or I certainly wouldn't let him off the lead, to avoid situations like that.

It sounds like she's making her dogs problem worse by freaking out so much, your dog wasn't actually being aggressive, so shouting at him & pushing him was out of line. If she was in a position to make contact with him it would have much more helpful to just hold him so you could get him back.

I'd avoid her & just work on his recall.

I actually think the problem was the ESS owner putting his dog back on the lead- she could not play with your boy, or interact as she wanted to so got unhappy with the situation- which was just your lad being excited and a baby.

Yes he probably needed telling- but it should have been you as his owner that stepped in and told him when enough was enough.

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The SS owner did sound like she was trying to take her dog away but wasn't able to because of the OPs dog being a nuisance ? Why should the SS owner have to walk her dog elsewhere just because other people can't control/recall their dogs ? I'm not being horrible to the OP (I've been there) but shouldn't we all try to be considerate and share? The owner doesn't sound like she would have been annoyed if she had been able to retrieve her dog without bother.

If I were the SS owner I would feel bad for pushing a dog and making them fall over but that doesn't mean that it wasn't necessary. If my dog was ever being harassed by another dog I know I would do the same without thinking! I would probably be more annoyed that I was put in that situation in the first place than sorry for doing it.

You know you never know how an owner is going to react!

I can empathise with you because I have an 8 month old pup who is big for his age and when he gets over excited his recall is pretty much non existent -and he suddently becomes deaf too and of course it leaves you looking like a real plonker.

I try not to get over worried about it and believe that consistency with his training is the way to go. I try to put comments like 'you need to keep that thing on a lead' to the back of my mind and think 'tomorrow is another day'.

Some owners forget that their dogs were young, boisterous and excitable at some stage too.

Thanks all

It's been really helpful for me to get others' views on what happened.

I do understand why she pushed him; she was panicking and Alfie was being a nusiance, but as someone said above, why not just grab his harness... I would have been there in 1 or 2 seconds to get him then

His recall is definitely still a work in progress he's very good with any sort of distance... or if he makes a beeline for a dog/person and I turn the other way calling "bye then" he shoots straight back to me. It's just at very close quarters with all the excitement of other dogs playing that he still needs quite a lot of work

__________________
He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog.
You are his life, his love, his leader.
He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart.
You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion....