Question for those of you that walk your dogs?

[Jadapit]

I walk my dogs every day, Sunday the fur kids and I were walking along happy as could be. We were walking by a house where two labs and a corgi live. The dogs are always in a fenced yard. Not Sunday. I heard something coming up behind us, it was the corgi and one of the labs. The corgi was barking and snarling.

I tried to out run them, I dont know what made me think I could do that. The corgi caught up to us he went at Jada. I was freaking out. I lost my grip on Diamond's leash. She chased the lab back home. Jada flipped the corgi over on to his back, the poor guy was yelping like he was on his death bed. Jada wasn't hurting him. Ebony just sniffed at him. It could have been so much worse.

It still scared me half to death. What should a person do when something like that happens? What do you do when your dogs are on a leash and other dogs are coming at you 90 to nothing?

[Freedom]

Oh , how scary! that is one of my biggest fears when I walk my dogs; that a neighborhood dog managed to get out and is loose. (The area is very good about keeping the dogs fenced. So it would be as you encountered, a rare thing.)

I would start screaming bloody murder to get someone's attention. Hopefully, the owners, who can come out and get their dogs.

Holler at the dogs, and stare at them as that is offensive.

Running will just give them a chance to chase; as you discovered.

My problem is my dogs are little. I'm not supposed to pick them up but I think I would. Picking them up just lets the approaching dog follow the flow up to my arm and face area.

I've never actually ever had any of this happen, just my thoughts.

[Queen of Poop]

I stood my ground firmly giving the dog "the look" and said NO in my harshest dog training voice. Sasha sat beside me as she does when other dogs approach. The dog stopped well before he got to us, turned and went up the side street.

[ScottieMommy]

That scares me to death as well. That any dog sweet or agressive might come towards me and my dog.

What i would do, is try to carry with you at least one treat everytime you take a walk that way if some dog comes towards you, you might be able to calm her/him down by giving the dog the treat. One thing you must always remember DONT run because that will make them chase you even more. I would also scream at the dog/'s as loud as i could to get them to run away.

The advantage of having small dogs like me is picking the dog up, and yet if the dog is bigger than yours she/he can jump at you to get to your dog and probably endup injuring you.

I am sure that the dogs slip of something, i dont think the owner would allow them to roam free, especially if the owner knew her dogs would not get along with other dogs. Some dogs love people, but when they get with other dogs you dont even know who they are anymore, they go nuts.

[Glacier]

I get in front of my dogs and yell at the approaching dog to go away. Make myself look as big and scary as possible and always keep myself between the loose dog and mine. They need to know that'll protect them, they don't have to worry about it or protect me.

I used to feel guilty about this next part, but not anymore--if your dog is off-leash, out of control and a threat to my dogs, I will do whatever it takes to protect MY dogs. Doesn't happen very often, but a couple times a winter some nutball dog decides it's a good idea to jump in the middle of my dog team!

There's a lady out here who we frequently run into with her small dogs. She does pick them up when she sees the team coming, which I greatly appreciate. However, it does make what she's holding more interesting! I have found that if she picks up her small dog and keeps moving, my dogs couldn't care less. It's when she freezes that she becomes an interesting distraction.

[Lori Jordan]

I had that Happen so many times,My poor Lacy i really almost do not like walking her anymore she always gets attached.

Just last week i was walking her in the new subdivision,There was a new couple and this great big ikita,He came running towards us i was so scared i grabbed Lacy up in my arms he grabbed her foot.

The owner came running and yelling at me?My Lacy was leashed,His wasnt.
The dog was very friendly with me just obviously not other dogs,Which is weird because him being a male and Lacy a female..
I took her into the vets she is bruised more than anything she has a few teeth marks she is on antibiotics.

Some people are not as careful as you and i are,My front yard is not fenced(my back yard is)But i can truthfully say that if anyone and walks by Maggy and Lacy will not move they are really good that way,But for the dogs that do they should be in a fenced in area.

I'm so sorry you had to go through that,Poor Lacy always has something happen to her on every walk we go on.

[Jadapit]

I used to feel guilty about this next part, but not anymore--if your dog is off-leash, out of control and a threat to my dogs, I will do whatever it takes to protect MY dogs. Doesn't happen very often, but a couple times a winter some nutball dog decides it's a good idea to jump in the middle of my dog team!


Omg, what happens when another dog jumps in the middle of your team? I cant even imagine that.

With Jada being part pit bull and Ebony being pit bull even though it was NOT their fault that the other dog came at them like he did I would probably be blamed because I own the pit bulls. Ebony was such a good girl about the whole thing. Thank God for that.

[Lori Jordan]

[QUOTE]

I used to feel guilty about this next part, but not anymore--if your dog is off-leash, out of control and a threat to my dogs, I will do whatever it takes to protect MY dogs. Doesn't happen very often, but a couple times a winter some nutball dog decides it's a good idea to jump in the middle of my dog team!


Omg, what happens when another dog jumps in the middle of your team? I cant even imagine that.

With Jada being part pit bull and Ebony being pit bull even though it was NOT their fault that the other dog came at them like he did I would probably be blamed because I own the pit bulls. Ebony was such a good girl about the whole thing. Thank God for that.[/QUOTE

Even if she wasn't,It would not be your fault.I know alot of people are against Pitbulls,For stupid reasons.

But i cannot honestly say if i had all my dogs out and another jumped in,They would probably do damage.Molly is a scrapper,A German Shepherd tried to fight Molly she put that dog in its place.

They could be great dogs,But i would not say if they were to attack that they were not dog friendly,They would attack because they were protecting you.Our babies for some reason sometimes do not think of themselves,It is us they worry for.

[lizbud]

The one thing I would never do is run from the strange dogs. That's
just an invitation for them to chase you. I do something like Queen Of
Poop said. I also always carry a few dog bisquets that could be used for
distraction. It can get pretty scary if the other dogs seem agressive but
you have to remain cool & in charge when it's happening.

[BC_MoM]

I can so relate. I have run into so many loose dogs when I walk my two. It is NOT good when you have a reactive dog. I try to stick my two behind me with a tight leash and step in front of them, and at the loose dog. I usually yell pretty loud too, but in a calm voice: "GO HOME. GET." Stuff like that.

It happens so much around here that I've thought about carrying something around like a spray that won't permanently harm the dogs - because I just can't take the chance of one of mine being attacked.

Like Glacier, I too feel bad yelling at them, especially if it is a case where they are lost, confused and scared. But my dogs do need to come first. And I will do anything to protect them.

When I just had Mickey, we were at the park, and he was on leash. These two JRT's came bolting at him (and this was a HUMAN park with off leash kids) and starting attacking, so I kicked them. Meanwhile, the owners were sitting on a picnic bench, and LAUGHING.

[Jadapit]

The one thing I would never do is run from the strange dogs. That's
just an invitation for them to chase you. I do something like Queen Of
Poop said. I also always carry a few dog bisquets that could be used for
distraction. It can get pretty scary if the other dogs seem agressive but
you have to remain cool & in charge when it's happening.

Your right, I dont know why in the world I started running from them. I thought I was going to have a heart attack, I'm to old to out run anything. Lol.

I will start carrying dog treats with me. Thanks for the help everyone.

[Giselle]

We talk about this issue all the time on GreyTalk. The general consensus over there is: If you are in the right (your dog is leashed and on public ground), you should do whatever is necessary to protect your dogs.

Bring a big walking stick, a PVC pipe, a rock, spray bottle, pepperspray, Direct Stop, mace, whatever. You have every right to protect your own dogs from loose and aggressive dogs.

FWIW, we have a dog aggressive/territorial dog at the end of our street who we sometimes encounter. Because Ivy is leash reactive, I use any means necessary to push that dog back. One time, I had to throw a rock near it (not actually "at" it), and I didn't feel an ounce of guilt. That dog had attacked us before and I was NOT going to give it that chance again.

[wolf_Q]

I've had that happen so many times. There's a lot of people that let their dogs roam around here. I don't care if there dog is loose if it stays in their yard...or even if it comes over for a friendly sniff...its when it comes charging up to my dogs snarling and growling that I have a problem. I have been known to act like a crazy person when this happens. The first thing I do is get in front of my dogs and yell "Go home!" to the other dog. Usually a bit of yelling/waving my arm at them is enough to get them away. I have had to use the end of the leash and swat them with it...I've had to be meaner than that too, I don't like to, but I can't have my dogs attacked. Nebo tends to not be very friendly to dogs running up to him growling either. If the owner is nearby and doing nothing (you wouldn't believe how often this happens...they sit on the porch and watch ) trust me they will hear about it. I have never tried to outrun the dogs, I stand my ground and get the other dog to back off.

[Chilli]

You've recieved some great advice. Everyone has already stated just what I was going to say.

No matter, the same problem occurs in my neighborhood aswell. A firm "Go Home" seems to always work, but I always remember my dad bringing a heavy walking stick when he went on walks with me. He was ready to do whatever was needed to be done to protect us.

Hopefully you won't run into a situation like that again!

[beeniesmom]

That has happened to me a couple of times when I walk Beenie and Frankie.
Both times, the dogs that were running toward us stopped a few feet away after I started yelling NO really loudly and stimping my feet.
When They were pups, I could pick them up but now, at a combined wieght of 55 lbs, that's not possible.

I wanted to add that once, when Frankie was a pup, he was in the back yard and started running toward the side yard barking. He was running toward the meter reader. She quickly opened a small umbrella before Frankie reached her and scared him! That was a genious idea and you may want to do that even though I'm not sure how fast you could open an umbrella while walking 3 doggies! I know I probably couldn't with the two of them... but just an idea.