Why Don't People Listen?

[Kavik]

I was walking Zoe this morning and it was going well - walked past 2 dogs and gave them enough space and Zoe was behaving. On the way back I spotted a Golden Retriever. No dramas, I move 4 METRES to the left of the footpath, more than enough space for them to get past. I tell the lady that my dog doesn't like other dogs and not to let her dog near mine. Zoe is in a sit.

The lady then proceeds to allow the dog who is off lead to come up to Zoe, who starts carrying on, I then tell the lady again MY DOG DOES NOT LIKE OTHER DOGS! and in order to prevent her dog from being bitten I swing my foot at it and tell it to go away. (which is more than she is doing, she is just standing there). She then proceeds to tell me I have a vicious dog! I tell her that she had the WHOLE FOOTPATH to pass us!

Why don't people listen? Obviously if someone is far away from the footpath with their dog, they don't want it to meet yours!

Rant over.

[Staranais]

Because some people have never been unlucky enough to own an aggressive dog themselves.

They therefore don't understand that although your "polite" dog is currently acting polite & well controlled, it is still aggressive. And when you do finally convince them of that fact, they will over-react since they start to believe that your dog will eat their dog at any minute, since they still don't understand that a dog can simultaneously be aggressive & well controlled.

I got that a lot with my old dog in the last few years I had him, people saying "I can't believe he's aggressive! Why, he's just sitting there!" They didn't understand that he was sitting there because he was well trained & I'd told him to do so, and that if I released him to do what he liked, he'd probably be making a meal of their dog.

You have my sympathy!

[CavsRcute]

You must live near me, Kavik .

We have a "lady" exactly like that who we see on our walks and down at the park. He is always off leash.

My Cavalier is only frightened by GR's( she was rolled by one when she was a puppy) She's not aggressive but gets very submissive when she sees the giant.

The GR isn't nasty but doesn't know his own strength and I have seen many tussles down on the oval with other dogs.

The owner just doesn't get it...keep your dog until control. It's always every other dog who is the problem but until her dog comes into the picture, all the others are playing happily

She also believes that all the other dogs are aggressive

[Monah]

Tonnes of sympathy from me.!xxxxxxxx

What more do people expect us to do????

I am with you in you vent, this is one thing that really drives me NUTS ;)

[W Sibs]

Yeah.. some people just don't get it or stupid. I feel your frustration too

[aussielover]

what was the GR doing off lead anyway???

aren't they meant to be on lead on a footpath?

How friggin stupid would you have to be to let your dog run up to an aggressive dog, especially when you have been given many warnings? Obviously she doesn't care about the welfare of her poor dog.

You definitely have my sympathy.

We also had an incident this morning at the park. My pup was playing with a friend of hers, a GR puppy and this lady brought her off lead staffy into the park which went straight for the GR puppy. It wasn't a full on attack but definitely not friendly play and i reckon it was about 2 seconds away from escalating into a full on attack. The lady continued to walk on, calling the dogs name ineffectively. I went to kick the staffy away and the woman called out "she'll come eventually". Yeah after she has traumatized the poor GR puppy. Thankfully, the puppy was fine and didn't seem too fussed, after a second of sulking with his owner he was back trying to play with Mindy. Apparently this staffy has attacked other GRs before, yet the stupid lady still lets it off lead and has barely any control over it

[skip]

I hear you!

Lately it doesn't make a difference if I am on a off lead beach, a street footpath or a leash only park - I keep meeting off lead dog agro dogs.

Makes watching out for my dogs hard. It has gotten to the stage now that when I am looking for my next dog - I am hesitant to buy another really small one as I worry that one snap and they are gone. I didn't worry as much with my rotti before but then you don't want to see your big dog in a fight either.

I hate " don't worry , he's friendly " as 40 kg or more of dog wants to jump all over a 4 kg dog.

or the guy who told me last week as his undesexed young male was really trying to stand over my small kelpie " it's OK, he's friendly, he's only aggressive to big dogs"

And I was once told my 10 kg kelpie x was " a black aggressive bastard" because he showed a set of teeth and herded a poorly socialised rude GR away. Once the GR decided better not put crap on the evil small dog, mine just walked away.

Stop! I could go all day. Sorry your walk was interrupted Kavik. Do you have to walk Zoe seperate or was that some special time to make up for

spending all weekend at a trial!

[Kavik]

I walk the dogs separately as they are quite different to walk and have different needs. And Zoe is 'special'

If only you could explain to them and make it all better - she would be quite a nice agility dog if she wasn't aggro!

[KitKat]

I walk both my GSD's at the same time, even if Sabe isn't acting the pork chop most people move to the other side of the road, or turn down other streets, on seeing us coming towards them!

ETA - i should say tho - even with Sabe in full idiocy mode i have had the odd person want to introduce their dog/s to us while we are out - never quite understand that!

Edited August 17, 2010 by KitKat

[SalTheGal]

Oh I so hear you!!!

My old boy was unpredictable around other dogs- especially males, so I would always do as you- and make him sit whilst other dogs passed us.... usually people would get it and keep there dogs away- but every now and then you get some stupid NONG who doesn't know whats good for them or their dog.... and then we get the blame when our dog gets aggressive?!?!?! SOOOOO frustrating!

[poodlefan]

Why do you make your dogs sit.. its just begging for another dog to come up. For a fear aggressive dog, its painting a target on it that says "I'm in a vulnerable position and cannot move to avoid an encounter".

Sitting prolongs the time it takes for another dog to pass. I'd be asking for a focussed 'heel' and motoring past.

Dogs wouldn't naturally sit to greet a strange dog. Personally I think its best not to ask them to.

Edited August 17, 2010 by poodlefan

[halfthewords]

I walk my four together, and one of my dogs is fearfully HA, Mischa is slightly DA (more like she doesn't tolerate dogs getting into her space), Cleo is friendly to small dogs but very easily intimidated. Jag loves everyone! There's always this woman down at the offleash school oval we go to on route with her gundog x and it is forever attempting to chase the little ones. : I've told her off a couple of times--and she is STILL surprised when Mischa growls and "air snaps"!

Jeez, people.

[~*Shell*~]

You have my sympathy Kavik - that was the story of my life a couple of years ago! I used to walk Z and people would always let their dogs come running up to him. It's horrible because you want your dog to have a lot of good experiences (ie, dog walking past without getting too close so your dog won't react) so you can set your dog up to be rewarded for being really good but people are just idiots, even when you tell them!

Poodlefan - i used to ask for a sit so i could get Zero's attention. He was much more likely to give it to me in a sit than if he was moving. Also, being brought straight towards another dog can set them off. Zero making eye contact with another dog used to really get him going (he went through that phase!) so a sit was a good option for him. I didn't want Zero to greet the other dog because he would react with any kind of greeting. I just wanted him to get used to having other dogs around him without him having to greet them. Once he'd got that down, I started introducing him to other dogs properly but there was a long time there where he needed to be around them but not "with" them.

Edited August 17, 2010 by ~*Shell*~

[becks]

To answer the OP, most none dog savvy pet owners would expect a truely aggressive dog to be muzzled when out, a well trained dog who is under control won't be seen as aggressive because the pet owner can't see any proof the dog is DA

[~*Shell*~]

That's really sad that they'll believe a muzzle but won't believe the dog's owner.

I have never put a muzzle on Zero. I had a vet ask me once if he could muzzle Z (no aggression or hesitation displayed from Z but the vet was unsure of big dogs ) - he went off his rocker at just the sight of the muzzle. He has never seen one since and I refuse to ever put one on him (i suspect he was probably beaten while wearing one - he was quite badly abused before i got him). That being said, Zero was once so dog aggressive that he tried to attack his own shadow when coming around a corner and having the sun hit him a certain way (he used to slink around corners just in case). He was always on the lookout for them and would have happily killed another dog without hesitation - and yet, he didn't wear a muzzle.

[Genabee]

I always ask other dog owners when walking Genevieve, if their dog is allowed to say hello... I thought that was just manners!!!??? The only time I am more relaxed about that is when we go to school on Sunday, as all the dogs are there to say hello!!

I like to use our walks to work on Genevieve's ignoring skills... so I quite often try to give other dogs wide berths and keep G moving, or we will work on other tricks while dogs, kids, bikes and whatever else moves past.

[Kavik]

Why do you make your dogs sit.. its just begging for another dog to come up. For a fear aggressive dog, its painting a target on it that says "I'm in a vulnerable position and cannot move to avoid an encounter".

Sitting prolongs the time it takes for another dog to pass. I'd be asking for a focussed 'heel' and motoring past.

Dogs wouldn't naturally sit to greet a strange dog. Personally I think its best not to ask them to.

Pretty much what Shell said. It is easier to get Zoe to give me her attention if she is sitting (or standing still) than if we are moving. I NEVER let Zoe say hi to other dogs EVER, this is purely to get her OK with dogs in the vicinity without going off. That is why I give myself distance, so she can see the other dog but we don't have to worry about meeting them.

[Clyde]

Poodlefan - i used to ask for a sit so i could get Zero's attention. He was much more likely to give it to me in a sit than if he was moving. Also, being brought straight towards another dog can set them off. Zero making eye contact with another dog used to really get him going (he went through that phase!) so a sit was a good option for him. I

I do this exactly and for the same reasons. Sit, stay works well for me.

[Stitch]

I have to agree with Poodlefan, the exercise should be done walking at heel not in a sit position.

If you want an example of this exercise, just watch a few episodes of Cesar Millan where he has to deal with a dog-aggressive dog on a walk.

[Kavik]

My plan is to get Zoe to be more relaxed around other dogs, so I use an exercise where she looks at another dog and when she looks back at me she gets a click/treat. This has improved her behaviour enormously around other dogs, and I find works best if we are stationary as it is difficult to do when moving. I am trying to teach her to cope with being able to see another dog move past without reacting.

I am sorry STITCH, I don't think too much of Cesar's methods for dealing with dog-dog aggression. I have used correction based methods to try and fix it in the past and it did not help things with me and my dog.