I have just had a wonderful confrontation with a nice lady walking a GSD.

When I am unable to walk Jasper myself my son takes him onto the field next to our house, he is very well behaved and will happily run round and come when called. If another dog appears he will of course go and say hello but if the other dog doesn't want to play then it's back to his game. Several times this woman has appeared with her GSD and has shouted at my son to put Jasper back on the lead. She even made him put Jasper on the lead so she could let her dog off, who then proceeded to destroy Jaspers ball. At one point he came back into the house after only a few minutes quite upset as she had been quite horrible to him and called him a name not suitable for this forum, and certainly not suitable to use on a 10 year old. Once I had got this out of him I of course went straight out to speak to the woman but she had gone. It has got to the point where he is afraid to go out with the dog, which is his greatest love in the world.

This morning we were both there and Jasper was playing happily when she arrived. Jasper had seen the dog but was more interested in chasing his wubba. Eventually this woman passed close enough to us for Jasper to investigate, he stopped about 5 yards from them wagging his tail when the woman shouted across to me that I had no respect for other dog users, no control over my dog and that a child shouldn't be out on his own with the dog.

Although this was like a red flag to a bull I managed to remain calm. She of course denied swearing at my son and said that she was just worried about how her dog would react. I told her that if she could not control the dog in public then she shouldn't be out with it until she could and that she could not harass other dog users just so she could walk her own. She then explained that it was a rescue dog she had only had for 8 weeks and didn't know how she was with other dogs. So I put Jasper on his lead and took him right up to her.

I explained that she could not keep other dogs away forever and she needs learn to understand her dog better. She was completely astounded when I told her that we had only had Jasper 2 weeks longer than she'd had the rescued GSD, but completely predictably, they said hello, had a sniff and then remained spectacularly uninterested in each other. I explained Jaspers behavior and what her dog was likely to do and hopefully in future she will be a little more trusting of her dog.

It amazes me that people can take on the responsibility of owning a dog and share their life with it and whilst being so completely ignorant as to make no effort to learn about or understand the animal.

I had someone like that here, they rescued a dog and kept it away from all others because they didn't know how it would react.
I used mine to test it, getting closer and closer until they were sniffing, their dog was fine, and has been off lead ever since.
They were first time dog owners though, so I didn't judge, but I'm pleased that I could help them and their dog

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I work my life around my dog, not my dog around my life

Marley was in our park yesterday off leash playing (very nicely) with another dog they were running all over the place then this woman came in carrying...yes carrying her two dogs either side of her. Marley naturally being 7 months was curious so went over to see and this woman just went mental shouting at me to put him on a lead, when I got him on we thought best to leave park and woman said please dont let your dog look at my dogs as they are very nervous, after being carried around for god knows how long am not suprised they are nervous, no interactions poor things.
So yes I worry about some people too

Thank goodness I am not alone. The thing that worries me most is that we spent three months trailing round various rescue centers looking for a dog to adopt, during which time we got to know the type of dog you generally find there. Probably 6 or 7 out of 10 were Staffies, while the rest were mainly larger breeds such as Rottweilers or Alsations, the type of dogs that many people typically struggle to cope with if they are not sufficiently prepared, which I suppose is why they were there in the first place. Each rescue centre was very specific about coming to check out a potential new home but at no time did they check whether or not we would be capable owners, especially with dogs that already had established behavioral problems. If we had gone to a breeder then we would of always had that support there for us to refer back to if needed, but if we had a rescue dog, would an already overwhelmed rescue center be able to help?

The woman sounds like a bit of a twonk but in her defense I too would be concerned to see a ten year old child in sole 'control' of a dog. How would you expect your child to cope with a full blown dog fight? Not something I'd want to subject any child of mine to. Your dog might be 100% but it doesn't mean other people's are, I certainly wouldn't allow a child out with any of my pack even the dogs that are perfectly behaved, it's just not worth it.

Alot of good rescues do offer excellent support either by on going training courses, access to behaviourists and vet and general support.

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Yes i agree, i have had GSD in the past and i would never ever let her out with either of my sons. They are such a powerfull dog and if another dog came to attack you can not expect it to ask the dog to wait until the little lad has gone in. They will fight.
I have a cavalier and i hate it when big dogs come over uninvited as i have worked in kennels and you can never be sure that the dog is not going to dislike the one it meets, it can be the simplest thing such as smell or the way it looks.
I

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Grandma to Jinja Dog, Mum to Tilly, Tattycat, Moomy, Choo, Sonic, Lawna the rabbit and 6 guineas,20 budgies, 5 Cockatiels, 6 Goldfish and what seems like a million wild mice in the shed.

Well done you !!!
her acting like that is likely to be the cause of future problems....she needs to chill out, and stop being a bully.

Your dog sounds like my Max. He is very freindly, ii have had similar problems, max even got into a fight with a dog, that should have been muzzeled, and not allowed off the lead.

My view, if the owner can not control the dog, or the dog is a danger to others it should be kept on a lead and muzzeled, and given some training.

If faced with a full on fight I would expect him to do exactly the same as me and c##p himself. If it were a case of physically restraining the dog then trust me he would be more than capable. As he is only allowed on the adjoining field anyway he is never more than 100m away and it gives him a great sense of responsibility and allows him to bond with the dog, this is after all why we got him in the first place. He has also participated in every aspect of the dogs training and the dog respnds to him as he would to me.
I fully realise that not every other dog is as predictable as mine and that is really the whole point of my post, if the dog is not reliable around other dogs/people or whatever then the owner should be aware of that and prepared to avoid or deal with such situations. In this case my dog was off the lead and under control whereas even though her dog was on the lead she still had no idea what it would do. I doubt it was the fact that there was a 10 year old in charge of the dog that upset her as she had exactly the same reaction to me, the only difference being that she soon learned she couldn't solve the problem by bullying me into taking the dog away as she had done with my son.

Well done you for remaining calm, your blood must have been boiling!!

I am so glad you were able to get your point over too, if you had had a shouting match, she wouldn't have had the benefit of your experience (even though you may think it is limited!).

Hopefully she will be a bit more relaxed.

I managed a rescue for a large charity, with responsibility for 40 dogs adn 30 cats, with a few smaller animals. Everyone who adopted a pet underwent a indepth uesionaire, a home visit and had to attend an evening lecture (if they were taking on a puppy), The dogs we had being rehomed often had other problems and we were always there to give advice, ideally what to expect when they got the dog. Whlst some are like this, there are others who are not.

When we got our last dog a stray I found who subseuently got taken to the rescue, where we went and adopted her, they didn't ask anything, not if we had other dogs, worked, a garden, house, flat or children. All they wanted was the money - I was gobsmacked at their attitude, they also re-homed the dog in the same area that it was found - not good practice.

Unfortunately there are not standards for rescue centres, only the kennel facilities, anyone can run a rescue and anyone can own a dog - scary world really!

Kate

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Listen to everyone, but use what suits you... and if it works, don't change it!

In the eyes of the law your dog is off lead and therefore NOT under control. If there is a problem no matter how capable your child is, you would be held completely responsible for an incident with an on lead dog. Not your child, and not the other owner no matter what their dogs reaction was because if their dog is on lead under the control of an adult, then you would be responsible. Right or wrong that is the law. Therefore unless you can guarantee 100% when your child is walking your dog that he will not come into contact with any other dog walkers then I wouldn't risk it.

Your choice but in this day and age not something I'd do.

Alongside my own pack of dogs I generally have 2 or 3 extra foster dogs along for the ride, these dogs have come from back grounds I have no idea about and been subjected to god only knows what and I too would avoided your child like the plague and if came across him I would most likely have been as concerned as the woman. She has every right to be worried about her own dogs actions having only owned it for a short period and personally I think her actions were extreamly responsible. Lets face it we all jump up and complain about those idiots who let off lead dogs run up to our dog aggressive on lead dogs now don't we?

Maybe she didn't express herself in the right manner but give the poor woman a break and see both sides of the coin.

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TRPD for all your collars, leads, blankets and coats. Volunteer organisation returning all profits to rescue animals countrywide. PM me or register on http://petcraftproject.proboards24.com/index.cgi