Worst walk ever - fuming

TOday I must have walked for about 2hrs and all that time I came across about 16 to 17 dog walkers and apart from two all were off lead, what a bloody nightmare.

As I set off for home, I was walking up hill on the left side of the road (a not too busy road but traffic does go along it) about 50 yards in front of me in the opposite direction was a lady with a Westie and yes it was off lead. It copped us stright away and commenced to bark, I was clicking and talking to Georgie to keep her attention on me, about 40 yards the dog started to cross the road barking and I said to the lady "can you put your dog on lead". She shouted the dog and it ignored her, over it came barking, tail up bouncing off the floor "can you please put your dog on the lead" she shouted again dog ignored, so I put myself between George and the Westie (Poppie) Not a growl, or snap or bark came from Georgie at all, this Westie would not let up and I was having difficulty being between the dog and Georgie. Lady came over (did not apologise) first thing she said was "is your dog viscious, it should have a muzzle on it" The dog would not let up so I had to life Georgie out of the way (I know I was wrong but I had no option)

I was effing fuming I said to her, "sorry but your dog came over, off lead whiich I asked you to put it on lead. My dog is not off lead and therefore I am in control, you did not have your dog in control and it was showing agression running across a road off lead bouncing off the floor and barking and stright into my dogs face" She replied your dog should have a muzzle on it if its viscious and there is nothing wrong with my dog" I said clearly you have no control as it never listened to you and your dog came to us not the other way around. She then said I was a silly cow and should grow up

I walked away, I cannot tell you so angry, really angry and no matter what its always the Staffie fault and all the dogs today were off lead mostly and I got Georgie to sit and stay and wait yet over they come, its just horrendous and then that stupid Westie I so wanted to punch her lights out

thats a pain in the arse but sadly owners with little dogs seem to think they dont need to use a lead , but in most case,s they are very wrong
you should have come on team north west walk this morning , we seen loads of dogs but thankfully no problems

You must be so angry I would be too. You were right in everything you said, that lady was in the wrong.
She shouldnt have it off lead especially if it doesnt listen to her!

Such a shame you had a bad walk but look at the positives, no one got hurt and it sounds like you did your best to keep Georgie under control.

but how good did Georgie do!
you must be chuffed with her.

there is pretty much nothing you can do with morons like that, just hope the westie doesn't pull that stunt with a genuine aggressive dog who is too strong for the owner. Maybe the huge vet bill would convince her to use a lead?

the only other thing you could have possibly done (if you wanted) was to shout at the Westie yourself and maybe keep it at a distance that way. (Just bear in mind Georgie might back you up!)

How did Georgie cope with all the other dogs you came across?

i made her sit, and stay then wait. She was ok, sometimes she did stand up and made her sit again and then she stands again but she never lunged or raisaed hackels but what I do is stand between her and the other dog, she can still see it but I partially block

There was a chap who had a Border Terrier and he did put his dog on lead, his Mrs said awe she is gorgeous and walked over with their dog on lead and I said "id rather you didnt yet she is not good with other dogs" and they were fine and walked on, George did stand again but was fine

sometimes she sits no problem when other dogs go by and some she just keeps standing up like sits for 5 - 6 seconds and sits again

Think what I will do is get a few treats and keep her attention more on me

I don't blame u for how u felt i would be the same. Is Georgie vicious? she asks sounds more like her dog is the vicious one & needs a muzzle.

I dont believe her dog was or is viscious like I dont believe mine is either. It approached Georgie in the wrong way and Georgie as we know dont quite get "being dog" yet so would have reacted defensively in other words a massive telling off (but not a nice one)

What the lady had was a dog off lead, and she had no control at all and I had to deal with her dog and mine, the issue also is she clearly saw STAFFIE and that was her reaction even though SHE and HER DOG caused the situation

sounds like Georgie (and you!) did really well for the whole walk.
if all she is doing is going from sit to stand then this really isn't a big display of stress and tension.

I imagine she struggles to stay sat when dogs which aren't too relaxed themselves walk by (maybe they are a little excited/fearful/tense etc) or maybe even black dogs (hard to read body language on a black dog or see their eyes).

the off lead dog thing is a pain but there is no accounting for idiots, you'll always come across them in every aspect of life. Don't let them get to you, you'll only hinder your own progress, just do what you want Georgie to do, stay calm, deal with it, then walk away and forget all about it.

working at the rescue I could get into several standup rows most days as we have so many morons either handing dog in or trying to adopt dogs out. But if I let them get me angry then I've got no chance of staying relaxed later when I'm working with the serious problem cases and will probably end up getting myself bitten.

focus on the positives from the walk, which it sounds like the majority of it!

You and Georgie deserve a massive pat on the back for that, you did so well. What a stupid woman she was, she should be able to control her dog better than that and if she can't she shouldn't have it off the lead.

I carry my tin round with me as well in case I have to ward off a dog charging at us, hopefully I won't have to use it.

Grrrr, it makes me mad when people are like that. That happened to Reggie, this womans dog came charging over, Reggie jumped up to warn the dog and it ended up in a bit of a scrap (with Reggie coming off a lot worse). Reggie was on his lead and her dog wasn't........she said exactly the same thing, surely your dog should be muzzled!!! My hubby found out where she lived and we reported her to the police. Anyway, am happy to report that I followed Adams advise about blocking the other dog and it has worked! The last two occasions when another dog has come bounding over to Reggie has ended fine.....what a relief.

It is a nightmare situation but I basically boil it down to putting my and my dog's health and well being first.
Blocking with my body (whilst telling the owner to sort his act out)works 8 times out of 10.
Blocking and shouting at the loose dog is the next resort.
Finally, if the dogs persists and an attack looks likely I will use physical force to deter the loose dog. Thankfully this is rare, the worst occasion was a rottie had escaped and charged me and old Alphie, I blocked, shouted and the rottie kept running right at us (silently which worried me most) so as it came with in a few yards I stepped forward and had to kind of kick/stamp with the bottom of my foot on it's shoulder, knocking it sideways, then again as it tried to turn at us again. This kind of knocked the intensity out of it and it steadily backed away growling and barking, we edged away also and the rottie eventually headed elsewhere.

I'd never tell people to intentionally harm an animal but if it prevents my animals (or me) from serious injury (physically and mentally) then I can justify it to myself. And to be honest warding that rottie off with the bottom of my foot in such a manner would have been more of a shock to the dog and probably hardly hurt at all!
If I'd managed to find out where it has escaped from then I would have offered to help, but sadly I never did find out.

Adam when blocking do you block facing the oncoming dog or turn away?

ah, good question, very important this.
When I block, I already have the dog walking next to me (it's head level with my legs) so when I think I need to block I simply step across the dog right in front of it's head and stop. The dog it now right behind me and I'm still facing forward. What you are trying to convey to the dog is,"I've seen that danger too, you stay behind me, don't worry I'll sort this out". You must always face the 'problem'. When the 'problem' passes/goes another way you can step back next to the dog and calmly walk on. The dog will eventually realise that when you take control of situations nothing bad happens, the dogs trusts you more thus relaxes more when out with you and also begins to learn these 'threats' aren't really threats.

remember though, keep the lead loose when you have stepped infront of the dog.

If you turn and face your dog you cannot see the 'problem' that is concerning the dog, so the dog is left in the tricky situation of trying to keep an eye on the problem for both of you whilst you just get in his way! This will probably only add stress to the situation.

It's the same principal for people, if you are out with somebody who is responsible for your safety & well being and you see something very dangerous approaching you and you start to panic you would want that person to put you behind them and they face the problem and deal with it whislt protecting you. You wouldn't want them to turn to face you, grab you by the arms and tell you to calm down, that isn't a good way of earning trust or making you feel calm and confident in the situation.

Grrr Adam thats so difficult keeping a loose lead with Georgie she pope round my leg and leans and pulls on the lead so I have to pull her back behind my leg. like on Sunday this Westie was round my legs like a rash darting right and left and Georgie trying to reach it (but she never snapped I have to say) but the lead was tight and the dog persisted and sadly I relented and hoised Georgie up to my chest

I know what you mean, I'll tend not to let a dog get that close, I'll basically stop them at least a yard away and if possible 2-3 yards away. I'll do this by, blocking, shouting, stamping or anything which will get the loose dogs attention, once it's focussed on me then I'll decide if the dog is calm (or at least non threatening) enough to meet my dog. Your dog will help you here, if it is not acting defensively then it wants to meet the new dog too.

If it's not relaxed enough to meet yours, then sshhoe the little mutt away!

Once you gain more trust in your dog's own manners you can begin to judge situations better.
For instance, my Mizzie is a very powerful dog and she weighs just under 30kg so has a good presence. Her trick with excitable dogs which run up is to snap her jaws together close to the other dog, mimicking a bite. It looks aggressive but is a basic doggie communication. This usually snaps the other dog out of it's excitement and it'll begin to show it's manners instead. Once it has relaxed then she'll allow a meeting and generally she'll throw a play bow and try to get a game going!
This can only come about because I won't let aggressive dogs near us and know what levels of excitement she can deal with.

If the loose dog is that close and you don't trust Georgie to deal with it with dog to dog communication then don't feel bad about flicking the other dog away with your feet, don't kick it or anything but make it clear it isn't wanted. If you are worried about a fight happening then shoeing the loose dog back a bit is much more desirable than anybody getting bitten. What would be a great outcome is you manage to snap the loose dog out of it's excitement so it is calm enough for a mutual sniff, then everybody is a winner!
Also, if the owner turns up and puts the lead back on, give it a minute or so then let the dogs calmly meet, this way no negative thoughts are left over!

The only trouble I have ever had with Alice is with dogs off the lead, totally uncontrolled and aggressive. Just because they are little, this seems to make them okay. Mine, who has big teeth and could do damage, is seen as the poblem???

I have owned little aggressive dogs and have made sure that they didn't wind the bigger boys up. Why doesn't everybody else do the same?

Probably because they are little Meredith. If it was a large dog they probably would control it better
My sister has two dogs, one being a small JRT and it gets away with murder and has no manners at all and this is because my sister mamby pambied it because she was small and cute

I think it's such a common small dog owner syndrome where they think because their dog is small they won't do any damage or be a threat and they forget that other people have bigger stronger dogs.

We have some friends who have 2 JRT / Bichon crosses - brothers from the same litter. One is 100% full on JRT terrier and the other is much softer but both are outgoing lively dogs. They are fantastically socialised well exercised dogs and can go off lead with other dogs and I think they are a perfect example of how to manage terriers.

What I love too is every time they see Staffies / Staffy crosses and the owner starts to reassure them that their Staffy is OK because of the reputation they always say it's Ok we know Staffies and I feel like our breed has a couple friends on their side wherever they meet up

Oooooooh! This makes me so bloody angry! I can't express in words how angry this makes me.

It's so unfair. It's especially the old ladies with the small yappy dogs that annoy me the most in this situation. Think because their dog is covered in white fluff they can do no harm and when they are growling at other dogs it's 'cute'.

You were completely in the right and did well to keep your cool with her.