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Exercising Reactive Dogs Thread


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Bloody hell Snook, you and Justice are not having much luck lately are you? How was Justice while all this was going on?

I don't know how you feel about the encounter now but if it was me I would still be seething. I'm not good at confrontation but I do like to write things down. Do you think it would be worth writing down what happened and how it could affect Justice ( and any other nervous/reactive dog passing by) and maybe popping it in the postbox? Probably won't make any difference but it may help to get it off your chest and maybe, just maybe, they will think twice before they let their 'friendly' dog wander in the street. I swear to God, people who have 'friendly' dogs are completely clueless to the struggle we go through daily.

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Good grief that sounds intense. Close enough for a few kicks, see I'm not thinking that's friendly, that's very in your face pushy. I'd be chopped steak inside for a few days,

Go egg their house, leave a note explaining the eggs are friendly!!!

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Unbelievable Snook :(

Why are some dog owners SO CLUELESS ?????

They make our lives an absolute nightmare. All the while happily oblivilous to the world. Errrrrrr.....

Be kind to yourself. Hope you & Justice have an enjoyable evening at least.

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I had an incident the other day. Actually I have near misses all the time when I go to the beach. But this one really astounded me...

I specifically go to on-leash beaches for the simple reason: THEY ARE ON-LEASH BEACHES! I have a dog that I am trying to expose to other friendly dogs due to his lack of socialisation as a puppy. He didn't know how to react and was too boisterous and excitable to be polite in his doggy greetings. Either that or he would be terrified and hide/bark. Best way I have found is tire him out and then let him say hello... ON LEASH. hell I would love to be irresponsible and let him do what Samoyeds love doing and running, running, running to his heart's content... but I can't. I'm not going to break the law and potentially have an injured dog, either through his reactivity or another dogs. So I am happily walking along the beach chatting to a friend, a couple of people walk past with leashed dogs and Jester and them have a sniff and a "hey, how you doing?" moment. it was going well. Then I see this Golden Retriever puppy with this guy (who can only be described as exceedingly self absorbed and pompous, without swearing). he saw me being tentative with Jester's introductions... now if you see someone being that way you would surely want to keep your dog away from it or at least introduce it on leash? Nope. he lets the dog off and it starts racing towards us. I had an alarmed look on my face and motioned to him to call his dog back. He didn't. So I change direction and walk the other way saying very loudly "This is an on leash beach. The idea is you have your dog on a leash." I get glared at. "Please call your dog back."

I turn around and the dog is about 1.5 metres away and I'm thinking "Oh sh*t." I managed to block it from Jester, which was my worry. I didn't want anything to ruin the good meet and greets. Again, "please put your dog on a leash." This guy refused to put his dog on a leash and then, he walks right up to me and says: "It's ok. My dog's ok." I must have given him quite a look because my friend looked taken aback. :o Then he went on to tell me (in a guilt trippy kind of voice) That "this dog is actually a guide dog training puppy and this is the only chance she gets to be off leash." :eek: I glared at him and walked off. So much I could have said but what is the point with a moron like that? If it was ACTUALLY a guide Dog training puppy then they have exercise facilities for off leash running. Heck, they have a heated pool for it I believe. This guy has the gall to say this. And I don't care if it's the Queen's Corgis, THEY SHOULD BE ON A LEASH!!!

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I guess I'm lucky having a really loud reactive scary bulldog. I don't need to yell, really you can't hear me over the noise the Tubster makes so I never need to convince people to take their dogs away. I often get the pit bull rubbish which makes me laugh because calling him a pittie is rather like calling a ute a Ferrari. I just go with it though, whatever keeps the crazies at bay.

I wonder what the answer is, is it just a case of increasing irresponsibility in dog ownership. I'm lucky enough I can walk mid morning, post school drop off but most people are at work or shopping. I see a lot of responsible owners at that time, and even had a chat with a lady and her two dandy diarmants yesterday. That being said about a third of the streets in my area are no go zones because of frequent roamers.

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People really annoy me as our beach is leash-free... right. That doesn't mean you go to the entrance onto the beach, let Fido off the bloody lead, then you sit down, drink coffee, talk on the phone. All the while Fido is running a muck, annoying me, Stella is going off her brain & to avoid a dog fight I have to put her on lead because Fido has NO recall nor manners for that matter & is about to become Stella's brekky... All the while the 'owner' is still sipping coffee on the bloody phone. ERRRRR. Leash-free but under effective control please. As the sign says.

I too find people are VERY quick to put there dog on a lead if they have seen Stella lose it on previous occassions. People who haven't are quite shocked when they don't leash up after I have asked them to & witness the consequences. Don't let this pretty little face fool you I say :angeldevil:

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I guess border collies aren't on the scary dog list, that must make it hard to convince people to back off. I wish we had on leash beaches, there's a few off leash and nothing else here. When I used to take Hank it was a free for all and since he was the big dog he seemed to draw his share of fidos wanting to have a go. Luckily he would wade out to sea until the other dogs couldn't stand and then he would be ok.

We just had an interesting scent walk. A rather large, feisty male dog walked across a t junction in front of us. Jake was ok, he needed one reset but considering the other dog barked at him I was fine with that. I waited until it was gone and then set off on it's path, we had to do LAT or is that SAT at each wee mail spot. Interestingly Jake didn't write any weemail of his own, he would have a little freak out we would do a slow approach and then quickly walk away. He's such a funny dog, he would Hoover the air and then look meaningfully at the peanut butter, just as if it were the actual dog......wonder if he was playing me? Probably but that's ok too.

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Yes thats true. They don't look like the "scary" pitbulls or whatever. Yet my Vet reckons BC's are top of his list as far as being bitten. Surprising isn't it.

Jake did really well this morning Hankdog :thumbsup: Way to go :D

I got bowled over this morning by a Lab mix that appeared from nowhere & not an owner in sight on the beach. He looked like he had been cooped up for a week or something. He was running everywhere, crazy. Keep charging at Sonny & Stella. So dam annoying. I kept telling Stella to 'leave him', which she did about a dozen times :thumbsup: but this dog kept coming back. So I gathering up my guys, changing direction quickly & all of a sudden the owner appears about 100 ft away. So I'm pretty cranky by this stage & have a sore back from falling over, ask her to call her dog, to which she says, he's fine :mad I ask again as he is terrorizing Stella & I know any sec she is about to explode. Get the same answer. I yell back, 'he wont be fine if my girl gets hold of him'. She finally came & got him as he had no recall & she had no lead :mad No idea either & dragged him away by the collar. End rant. Sorry folks but ...

On the upside my girl did really well. Not even a growl, bit of a lip curl & she charged back at him a few times but that was as nasty as she got. YA!!! :cheer:

Edited by BC Crazy
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Thanks grumpete & Snook :)

Yes bit of rough start this morning but my girl shone through & I couldn't be happier :).... my boy is funny you know. In amongst all the mayhem this morning he roused on Stella. He ran over & nipped her on the back. Just is case she got any naughty reactive ideas. Gotta love that :)

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Just thought I would spread some love for the responsible dog owners out there seeing as we seem to have had bad experiences recently.

I was walking Spencer in the street near my house the other day and saw a young girl about 5 years old, her (I assume) mum and their adolescent labrador approaching down the other end of the street. I did what I normally do and crossed the road to avoid them and also kept my fingers crossed they were in control of the dog. As they approached I could see that little girl was the one holding the leash. Just before I turned to sprint in the other direction to try and avoid the dog blasting across the road at us I realised the mother was holding onto another leash that was a little shorter than the little girl's. HALLELUJAH! The little girl asked her mum if she could bring the puppy over to say hello to Spencer so mum asked me if that was ok. I explained that he wasn't friendly so not a good idea. Mum explained to daughter that sometimes dogs are scared of other dogs just like you (the kid) are sometimes scared of new people. HALLELUJAH! We then proceeded to have a nice chat about labradors (from opposite side of the road) and the little girl informed that she loved walking her dog but sometimes he got a bit excited because he was still young so mum holds the other leash in case he pulls really hard. If thats not 5 star parenting I don't know what is!

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Just thought I would spread some love for the responsible dog owners out there seeing as we seem to have had bad experiences recently.

I was walking Spencer in the street near my house the other day and saw a young girl about 5 years old, her (I assume) mum and their adolescent labrador approaching down the other end of the street. I did what I normally do and crossed the road to avoid them and also kept my fingers crossed they were in control of the dog. As they approached I could see that little girl was the one holding the leash. Just before I turned to sprint in the other direction to try and avoid the dog blasting across the road at us I realised the mother was holding onto another leash that was a little shorter than the little girl's. HALLELUJAH! The little girl asked her mum if she could bring the puppy over to say hello to Spencer so mum asked me if that was ok. I explained that he wasn't friendly so not a good idea. Mum explained to daughter that sometimes dogs are scared of other dogs just like you (the kid) are sometimes scared of new people. HALLELUJAH! We then proceeded to have a nice chat about labradors (from opposite side of the road) and the little girl informed that she loved walking her dog but sometimes he got a bit excited because he was still young so mum holds the other leash in case he pulls really hard. If thats not 5 star parenting I don't know what is!

Oh my god! That's beautiful!!!

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The Spencinater... Wow we need to patent that parent. She is amazing :thumbsup:

A shinning example of responsible dog ownership & she is making every effort to

raise another. How beautiful. Wish there were many more like her :D

Edited by BC Crazy
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Quick update on Miss Stella. Tonight will be her 5th night medication free :cheer: I have been gradually reducing her meds as I have started her on a very low dose of Prozac as requested by our new Vet. So I will only be giving her a third of the amount of Kalma she is used to. So she is now only taking half a Kalma tablet morning & afternoon. Stella used to half 3/4 of a Kalma tablet before bed but I have cut this gradually out. Now she has no meds & she has slept through for 4 nights in a row without any upsets, reactiveness or anxiety.

I'm thrilled as this is the first time in her life she has managed to do this without the help of medication. Not only is she sleeping through but right through till 8am. Considering I was up with her on 3 to 4 times every night with her pacing, crying, running & so anxious it would take me ages to settle her. Only for her to rest for perhaps an hour, then to wake again.

Fantasic effort my brave, sweet girl :heart:

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She is a nervy girl isn't she. Prozac has been Jakes lifesaver but I find it's fine tuning makes all the difference. At 20mg he is manageable but awake. 5mg (1/4 tablet) either side of that and he's a zombie or a nightmare. Time of day strangely seems important. If I give it at night then he's back to nightmare, first thing in the morning and he's fine. I really believe I would not have him if it weren't for Prozac, I only have to be late with a dose to realise what a difference it makes.

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Interesting Hankdog. I forgot Jake was on Prozac actually but am very pleased to read that you have had huge success with it :thumbsup:

I was hesitant to put Stella on this but new Vet swears by it for very noise phobic/reactive/nervy/anxious dogs to which Stella is all of the above. So we are giving it a go. She has only just started it 5 days ago, takes a couple of months to really get into their system I believe. Interesting about the time of day administration & the difference it can make. Strange isn't it? Anyway we have kicked off with 10 mg in the morning, see how we go with that. I'm hoping that Kalma will only have to be used on the really bad days. Thunder storms, cracker night or if she just isn't coping periodically. Along with her Mutt Muffs, Thunder shirt & DAP spray :crossfingers: :D

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