Dogs off leash

[lv4dogs]

The dogs & I hung out at powdermill park (a very nice park near me) for a few hours on Sunday. Some lady had her 3 pugs running around off leash. One comes running right towards us and I yell to her that sometimes Raustyk isn't too friendly with other dogs sometimes, especially females. She yells back don't worry they are friendly. Well duh just cause your dogs are friendly doens't mean that all others are too. Here I am with Raustyk's leash as short as it could be, holding her right next to me, trying to walk to the other way, trying to get out of there, trying to get her to be nice & forget about it. One of her pugs runs rught underneath Raustyk & just stands under her. I tried my best to hold her back & did a good job until the pug goes right for her face. Well Raustyk picked that dog up like it was a ragdoll. Even though it was not my fault I still felt OH SO BAD. Luckily the lady was very understanding, more so than I. The dog didn't have one puncture wound on him (very common for Raustyk NOT to puncture other dogs, its more of a scared warning that she gives). I kept asking if her dog was ok & she kept saying "yes, he's fine and don't worry about it anyways its all my fault I he went after your dog & I didn't have them on a leash" (meaning her fault). I am oh so glad that she was a very understanding lady but at the same time I hope this teaches her a lesson and she keeps her damn dogs on a leash from now on or at least has complete control over them at all times.

Here I am trying to introduce the right dogs to Raustyk to get her out of this behavior & this does not help any.
I hope this doesn't give Raustyk a bad rep, she really can be great with other dogs... if they are introduced properly. I don't know what happened to her in her previous homes but she has a few negative results from them.

The pugs were cute though. Friendly, well I'm nt sure about the one, at least to other dogs.

[beeniesmom]

I understand how you feel.
Something similar happened to me several weeks ago in my neighborhood.... except that it wasn't a pug... it was a BIG DOG!
It was running toward my little Beans. She was on the leash close to me but this dog kept running toward us.
It scared the &#%$ out of me and Beenie because it was also growling. I am usually not afraid of any dog.
I yelled at it before it jumped us. Surprisingly it stopped and turned back toward the yard it came from.
I still don't know who's dog it was and I was too scared/shaken to knock on the door where the dog came from to tell the owner what had happened.

People really should keep their dogs tied, especially if they are prone to doing this kind of thing and of they are not friendly.

[Dixieland Dancer]

I know I probably sound like a broken record but.... Dog's without solid obedience commands should not be off leash anytime! This includes dog parks or any other environment where other dogs or small children can be. My wish is that every dog owner would care enough for their dogs to have them properly trained. Sadly though this is not the case as you have found out. You are to be commended though for trying to warn the owner and for understanding your dogs personality enough to realize there was a potential for a problem. I wish more dog owners were like you.

[Chilli]

I agree with everyone, and I've been in a similar situation, too.
I ALWAYS keep Ethan on a leash, no matter what, since he is extremely shy and sometimes aggressive toward strange dogs, and right as I was wrapping up a walk with Frisk and Ethan, my neighbor's black lab (bigger than Ethan), came running up, not on her leash(heck, she's never on her leash). We've known this lab everysince we moved here, and she has always been so friendly with Frisk, infact, her and Frisk often run around in the upper yard together. But for some reason, she saw Ethan and started growling. I had never heard her growl in the whole 5 years I've been around her. She walked right up to us, got right in Ethan's face and just growled, ready to bite at him, so I slapped her in the nose and told her to go home. Luckily, she listened. I get so fed up with that.
Eventhough, I usually let Frisk run loose in public places sometimes (eventhough there is a city rule ALWAYS have your dog on a leash... no one ever follows it -_-). If I see ANYONE walking anywhere in sight, I call him over and snap his leash back on. He obeys when we call him, so its not a problem.

I'm fed up with this subject, I get worked up about this kind of stuff

[elizabethann]

This thread makes me so mad! That woman should of had those pugs on a leash!!! I walk Fenway around this pond in the big city. There are 3 entrances to the trail around the pond. At each entrance it says "Dogs Must Be Leashed". What happens? We ALWAYS come across unleashed dogs. This one woman in particular has a small daschand and a big lab/chow cross. The big dog always acts "strange". I can't put my finger on it, but I just don't trust it. This stupid owner always says "oh, they're friendly". And stupid me doesn't say anything when I really want to get in her face and scream "well, perhaps MY dog isn't friendly?" or "perhaps I don't like your dog near my dog?" I don't know what is wrong with people. I don't care if your walking a Pit Bull, a Mutt or a Poodle, if there's a sign that says leash your damn dog, leash it!

Thanks for letting me get that off my chest.

[LauraT7]

We live aq block from a large school property ( a kindergarten, Grade school and middle school all on the same grounds - acres of open property) that we often take our dogs up to for long walks. there are some fenced areas that are bigger than our backyard, Big open playing fields where we would let them run off leash and play ball, and a track where Jon often rollerblades with Fizzy. there are also playground equipment areas near the kindergarten and grade schools that attract local kids outside of school hours. and of course, other dog walkers at times.


ALL of my dogs have been 'friendly' - Tristan, especially, had a way that could win over even some supposedly unfriendly dogs - but that doesn't mean I let him be used for dog bait!

Since Tristan did NOT have perfect recall - the minute we saw another person or dog, we would call him back and put him on back on the leash.

As many of you pointed out - it takes ALL parties to be 'friendly', for things to 'work' and unless you already know them, there's no way to tell. I have seen lots of purportedly 'friendly' dogs surprise their owners with a growl or snap!

Fizzy is not formally trained - she doesn't know how to
'heel' or some other commands, but she ALWAYS comes when called. More importantly, when we are walking, and we let her off leash - if she sees someone or something new, she will pause and look back to us as if to ask, "is it OK? can I go see them?"


if it's neighborhood kids we know on the playground, I tell her "OK - Go." and if I don't know them, I call her back. if they are strangers and want to meet/pet her, I will walk up to them with her ON LEASH. Of course, I love to show off my sweet and friendly Fizzy! But if they are jogging or minding their own business, and show no interest in her or us, I avoid them and pass them by.

Since it is a school (and even if it weren't) we always carry baggies to pick up any 'deposits'. Because many local groups use the sports fields, our walks often include picking up trash, easy to do - as there are trash recepticles about the property.

As we leave the school grounds, the dogs are always back on leash. there's just too many hidden directions that things can pop out at you - and you can't control; driveways, kids, other dogs, squirrels, traffic, etc.

If we are at a park and it says 'LEASH your dogs' then they are leashed. We camp alot, and have always taaken Tristan with us. Fizzy hasn't gone yet, but I'm sure she's gonna love it, too. it's just common sense - it's not a dog park, (heck, even designated 'dog parks' have problem dogs sometimes) and you never know who or what you might meet on the path. Most state parks can confiscate your dog if they catch them off leash!

Still, there are alot of stupid people out there!

laura

[bckrazy]

wow... what a dumb lady. I also hope she's learned her lesson. She should be VERY thankful that Raustyk has good bite inhibition and wasn't even trying to hurt her Pug... I just feel bad for the poor pups that suffer because their owners ignore the leash laws. Gonzo has freakin awesome Obedience, he'll leave just about anything with one word, but I would NOT allow him off-leash in a place that he could get hurt or hurt something... ie, unfenced areas with people, cars, dogs, etc.

[lute]

i'm glad the dog is ok. i hope the lady learned her lesson. she's going to loose a dog if she's not careful. i let Beanie out without a lead a couple times back when we lived in the country. one of those times he went charging for another dog then realized it was much bigger then him, but when he was charging he got the other dog all riled up and it went charging for him! it scared the shit out of me, but he was fine and got out of the way in time.....he stays on a lead from now on. i couldn't imagin loosing him.

[KYS]

What a scary situation that woman put you through.
I am so glad the dog was not injured.
I bet that woman will think twice about letting her dogs off lead again.

Glad everything turned out ok.

[cali]

I have been in similer situations, I often walk Happy off leash, but she also hase extremly reliable obedience commands, and she does not leave my side, a while ago an off leash golden comes running up when he saw Happy, Happy remained in a heel with me, I wias in a panic and yelled to the kids that Happy does NOT always get along with other dogs, they just half heartidly call the dog in between laughs, obviously the dog did not listen, thankfully Happy did not mind the dog, I was with a whole group so we were able to keep someone between Happy and the dog until we could get out of the park. and more recently a big shepherd/chow looking mix comes running up to Happy and Misty when I was walking them on the bike path, Misty was pulling a scooter and Happy was off leash, the dog starts posturing all over my girls, no owners in sight, I am scared out of my mind that the girls wont take to kindly to a large strange dog posturing all over them, so I am on the path kneeling down holding Misty by the collar(she was attached to a scooter remeber) and I already had Happy in a down stay and was petting her and whispering "leave it" and "good girl" to her, waiting for the dog to leave on its own, I could not exactly shoe it away, I had my hands full keeping my dogs from reacting to one incredably rude dog! I am just gald they did not take my fear and get aggressive with that dog, because I was in no way, shape or form at ease, more like frozen in total fear lol

[MariaM]

Gah I know exactly how you feel. Sometimes when I walk Major there are stray dogs around and he gets SOO excited. Especially when the dogs come and follow us, I can barely do anything. Sometime I have to pick him up and walk him a while before the other dog finally leaves. Just tonight I was walking Major and I got pissed off. I took him while I went on my bike, this is only the second time I've done this.

I want to train him to be good on the bike, so I was taking it slow and all, when all of a sudden his little border collie friend comes running out of nowhere, and if I hadn't seen it, I'm sure I could have been yanked off the bike and more than one of us (2 dogs and I) would have been hurt.

The border collie puppy was on a walk with her owner and family, but off leash because she USUALLY follows. Keyword being usually. I really don't like that at all.

[cyber-sibes]

I've had bad experiences with dogs off leashes too. The only time we ever got attacked was as I walked my two on leashes as usual and a huge golden retriever charged out of his yard -- by this time we were half way across the road- and started fighting with Star. She ended up with puncture wounds under her jaw. I called the animal warden. He said the retriever would have to be kept tied up, which the owner objected to because she had "invisible" fencing. Obviously it was very invisible, her dog couldn't tell where it was.
On another walk a small dog came running across the road (a fairly wide street) yapping right in Star & Rosie's faces from it's porch WHILE THE OWNER STOOD THERE WATCHING I was really worried they would grab that little mut and injure it - they don't like being barked at. It took all my strength to hold them back while the owner STILL stood on his porch doing nothing. I slipped and got dragged across a tree lawn screaming when this a*#@!! finally decided to come grab his pint-sized terror. The jerk never asked me if I was ok, or helped me up or anything. I was furious. I have to say I like taking my dogs to a dogpark a whole lot better. Much less dangerous.