Walking a dog aggressive dog off lead? OPINIONS PLEASE

[CagneyDog]

I think the women was in the wrong. You did the right thing, you got your dog back and as you said, the same thing would of ocurred whether your dog was offleash or not. My biggest pet peeve is dogs who don';t come back when called and are not controlled.

[DIANESDOGS]

Sounds to me like you ran into a "C-R-A-Z-Y" person. I don't know. This is a tough one. Since you do know that your dog can be dog aggressive, you should probably never have her off lead, since a dog can run up to her very quickly before you may even have time to call her back. But from what you describe of the other lady, she's a piece of work. And a very rude individual to boot! In the future should you encounter another situation like this (it doesn't have to be dog related), be polite and explain yourself (as you attempted to do so) but you DO NOT have to offer any credentials or personal details. She is NOT the police and you owe her NO details other than your sincere apology. If she wants to call the police, tell her, "go ahead". Offer to lend her your cell phone. I find that 99.9 percent of rude bullies decline when their bluff is called - especially when she was equally wrong!

[pnance]

I tend to agree with KBlaix and Glacier on this. One of my dogs can be dog aggressive. For the most part she's fine but periodically she'll run across one she doesn't like and I'm not willing to chance it. I have control over her but I don't have control over another dog so I always keep her on a leash when in public to make sure she's close and I never take her to off leash parks for the simple reason I know a lot of owner don't have full control over their dogs.

So I guess my response to this situation would be dependent on if you were in an offleash park. If you were then I can understand the woman being upset (although it sounds like she over reacted). If you weren't and both of you just had your dogs offleash then no she had absolutely no right to act the way she did especially since you had control and she didn't.

[bckrazy]

:/ the same thing kind of happened to me and my friend when we were letting our dogs play yesterday, at a park that allows dogs to be off-leash as long as they're "UNDER VOICE COMMAND", which is actually the general rule in most big parks in my area. I feel that Gonzo is actually more obedient off-leash than on, because he knows he has to give me all of his attention when he is off-leash. A Lab ran across the street and through the field and right up to my friend's Aussie (again, with the owner yelling and the dog acting like he was deaf ), and was jumping all over Chance, the Aussie. Chance did definitely growl and snap at the Lab, and he's a VERY friendly dog who has never done that to Gonzo, ever.

When we saw the Lab coming, we immediately called our dogs and put them on their leashes, so we could stand in front of them and control the situation if need be... I definitely think if there are people/animals/cars/etc closeby or the dog has unpredictable recall, the dog should definitely be on-leash. But, there's NO way you should be punished for wanting to play with your obedient dog, and you be punished simply because your dog expects some manners from other dogs! That lady sounds way crazy... next time I advise you to put her on-leash if another dog is coming towards you, so you definitely won't be in the wrong. ^_^

[Dixieland Dancer]

I was confused by the original post at first. At first it sounded like you were on a walk in the neighborhood and your dog was off lead. Then it sounded like you were in a park area. I assume it was a dog park since other dogs were off lead also.

I'm going to address this as if the dogs were in a dog park because if they were on a neighborhood street neither of the dogs should of been off leash.

In a dog park environment, you need to understand that not everyone who goes to a dog park has a trained dog that will listen in an excited environment to a recall (even if they do at home). Unfortunately, you have to expect that as the norm and not the unusual. Unless there is a lot of room to make sure you can get your dog on leash before another dog comes near, you must keep it on lead for YOUR dogs safety. While it doesn't sound like your dog is truly an aggressive dog, she does have fear issues around other dogs and 90% of all dog bites occur out of fear.

When I take my Dusty to the dog park, I am always on guard because as loving and friendly as he is with people, he is very territorial over his frisbee when another dog tries to play with it. For that reason, I never participate in community dog play at the park with him. I go there strictly for walking him on trails that are not frequented too much and I always put him on leash if another dog comes near until I know they are not frisbee nuts too. That is Dusty's only issue. I can go to the park without his frisbee and he would be fine but he enjoys it so I'd rather be on it gives him great joy to chase it at the park and I have a hard time However, I usually do take it because it's great exercise for him and it give him great joy. I'm just always on guard.

With your dog, you will also need to be on guard. Not so much for your dogs inability to listen but for other dogs who visit the park that do not listen. I tend to lean on the side of better safe than sorry.