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I'm Becoming Afraid To Walk My Dogs


*kirty*
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kirty, the way I have reduced my anxiety about being attacked whilst walking my dogs (one reactive, the other not) is by keeping to familiar routes, where I know all the dogs and whether they are adequately contained or not. I avoid areas where I know the owners don't contain their dogs. I have spoken to two owners about containing their dog, instead of going straight to council, and we have worked out an arrangement that they have their dog on lead whilst out in public (their dog ran out of the beer garden at the local pub and attacked us in the main street twice) and they contain their dog during the times that I am likely to walk by with my dogs. It is not perfect but at least I can walk that way and mostly not get harassed.

I do not walk the local streets at popular times (weekends and after school), instead I drive to more isolated walks where all I have to contend with are rabbits and wombats. When we do encounter roaming dogs I maintain distance, remain calm and tell the dogs to "walk on" in a quiet firm voice. The calmer I am and the fact that we continue to walk, if possible, the calmer the dogs are.

I am vigilant, especially on sunny days when people and their dogs are out, but I have learnt to plan ahead and breathe. I am also very wary of off lead areas because some people do not see a problem with allowing their dogs to approach three Rottweilers that are on lead :eek::banghead:

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Guest donatella

I've said a billion times and I'll say it a billion times more, I don't walk my dogs on the streets for fear of roaming digs. It's not a fear I intend on getting over anytime soon as 1 attack could kill them instantly, there is no getting over it or moving on. Instead I weigh up my options and chose to eradicate that danger, they still lead happy lives and I am not straining my neck trying to see over my shoulder. There are plenty of ways to entertain dogs safer then then the unpredictability of street walking fortunately. I just love them too much to take the risk.

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I don't walk in the streets any more either. Just too dangerous and I have had dogs attacked in the local parks as well so I tend to drive further to more isolated parks. I also carry a short stock whip and that is great for stopping a charging dog in it's tracks. They don't know what to make of the sudden noise, will usually stop and think about it. If I crack the whip a few more times, most will turn tail and go back where they came from. If they keep coming they get hit with the whip. I also pick up my little dog if something charges and am much more aware now of the dangers to small dogs than I was before I owned one. I even carry him past the hound ring at shows sometimes as he is rather erratic on lead when excited, bouncing all over the place and I am sure he looks like a rabbit to those large sighthounds that take such an interest in him as we approach.

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Corvus I truly hope you are never in the situation where you really fear for your dogs lives. Your lack of compassion is astounding :(.

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Several times I've had to step in front of charging dogs and growl at them to put them off a bit, or call out to the owners to get their dog, but their owners always give me the dirtiest looks or yell profanities at me like I've just murdered their child. How can you feel safe with people who have attitudes like that? To me those who purposely flounce the law with no disregard to others and don't give a rat about their dogs harassing others are nuf nufs.

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I just had a client tell me she tried to take her small fluffy dog for a run at a local dog park last week. The weather was very wet here all last week and she arrived in her raincoat ready to get a bit grotty for the sake of her dogs exercise only to find a bunch of unattended dogs running amock inside the dog park while their owners had all gone back to sit in their cars. Defies belief really :mad

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Excuse me? I have never said everything is all wonderful in dog walking world. Did you miss the bit where I've been there too? We all have scary moments.

And we all cope with them differently. Some, like you Corvus, will go for the "feel the fear and do it anyway" approach.

Others prefer to find methods to avoid having to feel that fear and anxiety. I think if you got to the stage you couldn't leave the yard with your dogs then perhaps some help to deal with the anxiety might be justifed but its' hardly an irrational anxiety if you keep having negative experiences.

We're never going to agree on this topic but for some people "get over it" isn't the solution. Hence my advice about avoidance strategies. Horses for courses. :shrug:

I said I got over it. I didn't say kirty needs to simply get over it. Obviously it's not that simple or she would have done it already.

You do what you have to do. If your problem is there are too many loose dogs around, you go looking for places that have fewer (which I suggested earlier). If your problem is a particular dog on your street, take a different route or drive past (which I suggested earlier). And so on. I don't think that I'm lacking compassion because I'm upbeat and solution-focused. Being the victim of dog aggression is traumatic and life altering. It is terrifying when you think a dog is going to attack you. I've stood there shaking and weak in the knees while I watched a large dog charge across 70m of ground towards us, roaring, and I've got no way to protect any of us. I thought we were all going to get mauled. Fortunately I was wrong. The dog was friendly and just had a seriously bizarre greeting ritual. Until that moment I truly believed every charging dog meant to rip us to pieces. It helped me a lot to realise this wasn't the case. So I'm positive because it helped me to be that way. Not because I don't understand how it feels or don't care. I have good bounceback, apparently. But that doesn't mean I don't understand what others are going through. It just means sometimes my idea of help seems really off base. I am only just beginning to realise that. So I'm sorry to all those who have been like "Oh, god, here's Corvus preaching sunflowers and lollipops again - she has no freaking idea what it's like." Except JulesP, who could have found a more diplomatic way to object.

Edited by corvus
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(their dog ran out of the beer garden at the local pub and attacked us in the main street twice)

This is outrageous! The council should have stepped in on three counts:

1. dogs being in eating areas (it doesn't worry me but it is illegal).

2. dogs being in public unrestrained.

3. dogs attacking

My dogs love their walks and some are too active and outgoing to simply entertain at home. :( The IGs don't really need to be walked but the others definitely do.

This is it. The dogs NEED to go outside their front gates for, as the terminology is, environmental enrichment.

I just had a client tell me she tried to take her small fluffy dog for a run at a local dog park last week. The weather was very wet here all last week and she arrived in her raincoat ready to get a bit grotty for the sake of her dogs exercise only to find a bunch of unattended dogs running amock inside the dog park while their owners had all gone back to sit in their cars. Defies belief really :mad

Again. Council is not regulating and enforcing their laws. The parents should have all be admonished at the very least by council rangers.

Tell you friend to report this to the rangers.

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My dogs have not been walked on the streets for years. We always take them to a park during quiet times. I used to walk them morning and night around the streets and go to the park on the weekends but I was sick of my dogs being targets. they now only get walked on a weekend by my husband (I stay home with our son). We used to go as a family but we had a dog charge at my son and if it wasn't for my beagle we would have been in a lot of trouble. So now we dont do that as a family and my husband takes the dogs to a crap park coz no one uses it.

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Heh I do like the word nuffnuff. I don't think DOLers are saying every non-DOLer dog owner is a nuffnuff, but if they're of the off-lead, out of control owner variety then yes. Yes they are.

I'm with you on that. Nuffnuff sounds more charitable than thoughtless idiot. :)

Don't want to sound hopeless. But many of the problems I've had walking the dogs occurred in places I'd sussed out to be safer than the walking tracks thro' the parks.

Like, in a quiet suburban street with high-fenced houses... someone left a gate wide open & out came thundering a cattle dog (bit me trying to get the sheltie).

In similar street, people were putting a dog into a car & it broke free and thundered into me & the shelties. Those people were so distressed at the harm their dog had done.

In the quiet shopping centre, another cattle dog came thundering across the street.... his owner had his lead over her arm. Dog circled & the shelties' leads went around my legs pulling me over. Dog ignored owner's calls. Two blokes in a passing truck came to the rescue.

Then there was a quiet reserve tucked away behind a local retirement village. Went there nearly at dawn. Only to see a bloke in a car on the far side.... open the door & let run free two big dogs, then closed the door. Dogs thundered straight across at me.... with 3 small tibbles. We were close enough to get back in the car.

Amazingly, as I've said, safest place has turned out to be events with hundreds of dogs (on leads) & owners in attendance. Have always been to Million Paws Walks & BCC Canine Capers... & there's never been a problem. Maybe the nuffnuffs don't attend. :) One time...I saw 2 border collies light into each other, but owners quickly sorted.

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My dogs love their walks and some are too active and outgoing to simply entertain at home. :( The IGs don't really need to be walked but the others definitely do.

It is the same here - I am lucky in that my chosen type of dog is pretty robust (not that, that should make any difference but if they were attacked, they would stand a better chance than an iggy).

I couldn't imagine having to keep Zig home and entertain him, he would drive me nuts pretty quickly.

It took a while to work out which group at the dog park and what times were best to go - before I was comfortable there. In saying that, I am still very aware of him and if new dogs enter, we usually leave if they are a bit over the top as this can send Zig into over the top mode very quickly (not pretty to watch a dog go from playing happily in a group to running around annoying others).

Several times I've had to step in front of charging dogs and growl at them to put them off a bit, or call out to the owners to get their dog, but their owners always give me the dirtiest looks or yell profanities at me like I've just murdered their child. How can you feel safe with people who have attitudes like that? To me those who purposely flounce the law with no disregard to others and don't give a rat about their dogs harassing others are nuf nufs.

This is exactly what I do and have always done - step in front of my dogs and growl a loud and very clear warning to get away. So far so good..

After a couple of instances with Ollie dog, I used to carry an umbrella (one of the small compact ones but they open fast and it does scare most dogs off - opening in their face)..

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This is exactly what I do and have always done - step in front of my dogs and growl a loud and very clear warning to get away. So far so good..

All the dogs that've caused me problems have come like a rocket.... didn't falter (two from behind & one from the side). They charged at top speed. In three cases, there was no time to step in front... closest I got for one, was to put my arm in front of our sheltie (got bitten). Only once, with a German Shepherd thundering across a park at us, with high speed, did I have the luxury of time to step in front on my shelties & yell 'No....!' Dog didn't miss a beat.

Fortunately, the owner on the other side of the park (where dogs had to be on leashes) heard me... & he hollered at his dog, which stopped metres from us. I'm not afraid of dogs of whatever their size..... but that day with the 2 shelties, I thought we'd had it.

Edited by mita
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It is just mind boggling that some people take little or no responsibility for the actions of their dogs.

All I can suggest is that every incident, no matter how small, is reported to the council.

My letter has been posted and I concluded by saying that Councils had to start doing what they were elected for and being paid for.

If I get a response, it will be full of platitudinous self righteousness about all the actions they do take, etc etc etc etc. Oh, and how much better they are than any previously government.

The only thing to do is to bombard them.

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I have had some awful experiences with my dogs in public. The latest was only last week when I was walking my two dogs, a woman was heading towards us on a narrow walkway with her Anatolian Shepherd running off leash in front of her, I sat my dogs and stood in front of them and called to the woman to place her dog on the leash, she ignored me and the dog started to run at us, I yelled that one of my dogs was reactive and for her to put her dog on the leash, eventually she caught the dog and hit itconfused.gif putting it on the leash and walking past me, I was shaking with anger and fear by this stage, Abbie remained sitting behind me but Yogi Whippet was barking and carrying on( but still under control) as the woman passed me I told her that dogs had to be leashed in public and she told me that aggressive dogs weren't allowed in public.

I rang the ranger when I got home and asked if I was at fault in anyway or could have handled the situation better, he said that I did all I could to keep the situation safe and that if he had seen the incident the woman would have been fined for having her dog off leash and not under adequate control.

Unfortunately I now I feel that I do not want to walk my dogs in the area where I had this happen as I don't trust that she would put her dog on the leash if she came across us again.frown.gif

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For 20 or so years of dog walking I wasn't worried by charging dogs. I had had big dogs with excellent social skills, and I have reasonable dog skills myself. I knew most charging dogs weren't going to run in for an actual fight, and those that did my dogs could handle, either defuse with calming signals or stand up to.

Then a couple of years ago I was out walking two young dogs, one maybe 7 months, the other a year older. And 2 unaccompanied GSD's came charging across several hundred metres of open ground to attack the puppy. They didn't listen to me. They didn't even acknowledge I was there. They didn't pause to check us out before closing in. No owners in sight. I couldn't physically fight them off. I was battling just to stay on my feet in the melee. If my older girl hadn't fought them off, the pup would have been history. I believe in hindsight that they were prey motivated; they saw the big fluffy white pup as prey. When my girl told them unequivocally they needed to go through her to get the pup they took off to look for easier pickings. Her fighting skills were amazing, I knew they could, but I had never seen them use that speed and power in anger before.

Despite my best efforts, when large loose dogs come charging I now have to fight to stay calm. I am able to do so only because if I don't my girl might feel she has to protect us again, and I don't want that load on the shoulders of an essentially gentle and soft natured dog.

Several times since we have been attacked by single dogs, twice so dramatically passing motorists stopped to get help us get free. Some days I personally don’t have the intestinal fortitude to risk it, and we drive somewhere else to walk or don’t go at all. It is almost a post-traumatic stress, not easy to overcome. I reported all the major incidents, but the only time the authorities showed any interest was when I knew the address of the attacking dog as it had come bursting out of the front door to run across the road and have a go - the other times they basically said nothing they could do.

Edited by Diva
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For 20 or so years of dog walking I wasn't worried by charging dogs. I had had big dogs with excellent social skills, and I have reasonable dog skills myself. I knew most charging dogs weren't going to run in for an actual fight, and those that did my dogs could handle, either defuse with calming signals or stand up to.

Then a couple of years ago I was out walking two young dogs, one maybe 7 months, the other a year older. And 2 unaccompanied GSD's came charging across several hundred metres of open ground to attack the puppy. They didn't listen to me. They didn't even acknowledge I was there. They didn't pause to check us out before closing in. No owners in sight. I couldn't physically fight them off. I was battling just to stay on my feet in the melee. If my older girl hadn't fought them off, the pup would have been history. I believe in hindsight that they were prey motivated; they saw the big fluffy white pup as prey. When my girl told them unequivocally they needed to go through her to get the pup they took off to look for easier pickings.

Despite my best efforts, when large loose dogs come charging I now have to fight to stay calm. Several times since we have been attacked by single dogs, twice so dramatically passing motorists stopped to get help us get free. Some days I personally don’t have the intestinal fortitude to risk it, and we drive somewhere else to walk or don’t go at all. It is almost a post-traumatic stress, not easy to overcome. i have reported all the major incidents, but the only time the authorities showed any interest was when I knew the address of the attacking dog as it had come bursting out of the front door to run across the road and have a go - the other times they basically said nothing they could do.

Your right Diva it is a type of post trauma stress that many of us are suffering from when walking our dogs- replays of past events haunt us even as we try to keep calm and assertive for the sake of our dogs. I am physically fit and active and yet I worry that I cant keep my dogs safe in public, I hate to think how older and less abled people feel. It is not fair that responsible owners yet again suffer because of the ignorance and just don't care about anyone other than themselves attitude of others

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This is exactly what I do and have always done - step in front of my dogs and growl a loud and very clear warning to get away. So far so good..

All the dogs that've caused me problems have come like a rocket.... didn't falter (two from behind & one from the side). They charged at top speed. In three cases, there was no time to step in front... closest I got for one, was to put my arm in front of our sheltie (got bitten). Only once, with a German Shepherd thundering across a park at us, with high speed, did I have the luxury of time to step in front on my shelties & yell 'No....!' Dog didn't miss a beat.

Fortunately, the owner on the other side of the park (where dogs had to be on leashes) heard me... & he hollered at his dog, which stopped metres from us. I'm not afraid of dogs of whatever their size..... but that day with the 2 shelties, I thought we'd had it.

Like I said - so far so good... I don't doubt with the level of irresponsible owners that I may encounter a dog that doesn't stop. I must admit, I am like a hawk when out with the dogs, watching all the time - but I am in an area that I am comfortable and know very well.

I also have a 27kg bull breed (a big woosy one that rolls over or runs away every time he has been confronted) that is happy to stand behind me if a dog is charging (old Ollie dog was the same)..

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We're never going to agree on this topic but for some people "get over it" isn't the solution. Hence my advice about avoidance strategies. Horses for courses. :shrug:

I, too, find it quite extraordinary that someone who has admitted they have become too frigtened to walk their dogs should be told to get over it.

I'm still shaking from an experience this evening whereby a large dog rushed the fence of a children's playground while I walked past with my five little dogs. The dog was illegally in the playground (notices on all gates) and there were only two small children in the playground with the dog. A young boy had the dog by the collar trying to hold him (no lead of course) and the boy was being dragged along the ground by the dog. The boy was not harmed, was grinning his head off and obviously thought the whole thing a great lark. I was terrified that the gates might not be secure.

I am in the process of writing to the council.

Was the nuf nuf parent not around?

:laugh:

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