Walking a dog aggressive dog off lead? OPINIONS PLEASE

[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.

[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.

[dab_20]

In my opinion your dog isn't very aggressive at all. An agressive dog is unpredictable and would overcorrect an excited dog by attacking. Your dog snapped but did not injure. This is a proper command for "back off". Sure she's scared of other dogs and needs some working with, but I don't consider her aggressive. Normal people who don't know how to speak dog, like this lady, would blame the wrong dog for what happens. You need to calmly explain to people that your dog is performing a perfectly acceptable command and that their dogs need to be socialized more so that the dogs can learn to recognize signals from other dogs. You are in the right in this situation.

I completely agree. Every dog can snap, it's just dog language. It doesn't mean they are dangerous.

That lady was 100 percent wrong in my opinion.

[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. ^_^

[BitsyNaceyDog]

Fear aggression is still aggression. If Kya is snapping at other dogs she should not be in a dog park. The snapping could've evolved into a more serious situation. Any dog that shows any signs of aggression, even minor aggression, should not be at a dog park. It's not fair to the other dogs or their owners.

The other lady wasn't too nice and shouldn't have threatened to call the police, but she was mad and overreacted. I would've been mad too if I was in a dog park and another dog was snapping at my dog when all my dog did was greet the other.

[bckrazy]

To my understanding, it was a public park not a dog park, where dogs shouldn't be uncontrollably running all over the place.

[ChrisH]

I just want to point out a couple of things. Firstly, I believe the dog Comedy Devil wrote about is not her dog but belongs to a friend (very well trained by her by the sound of it) and secondly that we do not have dog parks here in the UK nor are there leash laws as in the US.

Now my opinion, for what it's worth.
In a similar situation the spaniel dog that ran up to Kya would have been my Bob because he, like that dog, would not have come back to me when I called. If, as happened with Kya, the person with the dog had grabbed it and said the dog was not friendly, would I have shouted and threatened the person? Would I heck, I would just be so glad that person had control over their dog, unlike me, and what could become a nasty situation was avoided.

(p.s. I never let my Bob off the leash because he completely ignores me ... all that is in his head are the enticing smells and sounds around him, nothing else exists.)

[ComedyDevil]

Thanks for all the replies, guys.

Just to clarify, as ChrisH said, I live in the UK, and we don't have dog parks. It was a public park where the incident happened, and it is the norm to let your dogs off lead as long as they are controllable, which in my opinion, Kya is.

I'm glad that people agree I had control of Kya, but I can also understand what some other people are saying about assuming an offleash dog is friendly. I always try and find a place with no other dogs before I let her offlead, as I said, this was a BIG park and the spaniel really did come from nowhere, but obviously, Kya needs to run and, as she IS controllable, i dont see why she shouldnt be allowed off lead when its safe to do so.

IMO, people who's dogs have no recall are FAR more dangerous than a dog who snaps if approached, as i said, I can call my dog back, they cant.

Thanks for all the advice.

[Lori Jordan]

I'm going through the same thing with my Newf she took off for half an hour yesterday..Thing that frustrates me the most is when you call your dog,they look at you then turn and run..I was a mess yesterday i went after her,did not chase her but she had led me through fields swamped ditches finally i got a hold of her and we came home so now i will be having to take her back to obedience,or something i will not have a dog that runs!!!! So as a reponsible pet owner i have to take action in getting this fixed!!!,