Hi. I'm after a little advice please.
My BC and Whippet are both under a yr and both enjoy a 20 minute walk 3 times a day (the whippet usually has an extra late night walk also). Saturday (it is now Fri) took both dogs out for our usual morning walk - about 9am. It's usually dead in the field so we have this walk to ourselves and both dogs run off lead. However, when we do see other people getting closer / or in passing i go by the rule of if their dogs are off lead, then i leave mine off. But if other dogs are onlead then i do the same.
So... the day of the incident we are in the park i'm throwing both balls for the dogs, and notice a bloke with a GSD coming up the field towards us. His dog was offlead, and my dogs recall is great so didn't worry at first. The dog came bounding over and shoved the whippet flying. Then went to the BC. He chased her and knocked her 2 the flor and scruffed her by the neck / baqck and wouldnt let her move. I called both dogs to me, got the whipet on lead, but BC couldnt get up due to the fully grown GSD on top of her. I asked the bloke to call off his dog but he laughed and said 'oh he's only playing'. To which i replied 'if you don't move him - i will' He walked away and left his dog on top of mine still scruffing her. Granted the dog was playing but was being far too forceful and rough for my liking. I went towards the GSD to try to intervene and he growled at me, to which my whippet dived to my defence, stood in front of me and growled back. (i was extremely shocked as she'd NEVER done this before). I had a launcher thing (to throw the balls) in my hand, and gently pushed the GSD with it to try to make him move, whilst shouting at him to go away. The bloke finally called his dog off. When my BC got up, there was fresh faeces and urine where she'd been lying - i can only assume she'd done this through stress.
The whippet seems fine, but the BC was limping, so i carried her home and she's been given the all clear from the vet. However, since this incident everytime one of us approacches her she widdles on the floor. She is happy to come to me / partner, but when she does she wees. What can i do? I know that me shouting at this dog to back off didn't help matters. This last week she doesnt want to go for walks, she plops her bum on the floor and i practically am begging her 2 move. I want to help her, and really want to sort this out before she gets more nervous.
Any help greatly appreciated.

Firstly I would report the man to your local dog warden.  I know people with these attitudes rarely listen- but just sometimes it works.  I follow the same rule as you, my dogs are off lead until I see anyone with a dog on lead.  Surely they are on a lead for a reason, be it injury, season or agression.  On one walk a husky bolted over to my cavalier, picked her up by her stomach and threw her to the ground.  I was yelling at the dog to let her go.  She was scared, but unharmed,a horrible thing to go through.  However I was the one shouted at for yelling at his dog!  These people!  I know I'm not the only one to complain about the dog, and it is now walked muzzled and on a lead.
What a horroble experience for all 3 of you.  Do you have a friend that you trust with your dog?  Quite rightly you will still be upset by this event.  If you had someone who the dog trusts, but wasn't there at the time would you trust them to try and walk the dog?  It may pay to have someone removed from the situation to make walks positive again, just to start with. 
Big hugs to your dogs.

Sorry I don't feel qualified to give advice but I do want to say I sympathise with you. I have 3 dogs, 2 yorkies and a cairn. One of my yorkies can be walked off lead but my other 2 are walked on an extending lead as their recall is not 100% reliable. On a recent walk a couple were walking 2 standard poodles. I was walking in front with my cairn and yorkie on leads  (when I see a dog approaching I always put mine on a short lead) and my OH was behind and my yorkie off lead tends to walk in between us. The poodles ran towards us and I told my OH to pick my small yorkie up as she gets nervous when larger dogs come too close. My dogs began barking at the poodles who came bounding up to them. I carried on walking to get out of the way and the poodles ran to my OH and jumped up him to get to my little yorkie. The couple who the poodles belonged to didn't make any attempt to call them away or to stop them jumping up at my OH they just carried on walking. I was quite annoyed about what happened. It is a particular grievance of mine that people allow their dogs to approach mine without asking so you have my wholehearted sympathy. I hope your girl recovers quickly.
jane

Poor you and your poor BC! Life's just not fair sometimes. You have tried to do everything right. Maybe could you walk her somewhere different for a few times, just to get her confidence back? She might be associating the park with this traumatic event and would feel happier to go on her walk if it was somewhere else for a while. As for shouting at his dog, what else could you have done - just let it get yours? I don't think so.

Sometimes people make me so cross. Just a couple of weeks ago some idiot with the most aggressive dog for miles around let it off the lead on our local rugby pitch. It came straight for my bitch (on her lead because the signs on the gates request us to keep our dogs on-lead). It bit her face, knocked me over, I clenched my teeth so hard I cracked my wisdom tooth. The owner came galloping across the pitch then stopped 10 yards short and watched me struggling to get his dog off mine. Then he tells me it's not his dog's fault because he was attacked as a pup. I won't go into what I said to him He deserved it though. I on the other hand don't deserve the bill for £375 to repair the crack in my wisdom tooth. What a life eh!

How awful for you all :(

BC's can be extremely sensitive dogs (I have 6 of them!)

I am not a dog trainer and my advice comes only from what I would do with my own dogs. Perhaps other forum users will present better ideas.

Given she has been given the all-clear by your vet, I would:

(1) For the widdling when you approach her - to be honest, ignoring the weeing would be my first consideration. I wouldn't make any attempt to rush and clean the area as this would only increase her stress. Of course, it would be cleaned in due course but my initial concern would be to not cause greater stress to the dog. Approaches to her would ALWAYS mean a positive experience either through treats or a tuggy with her favourite toy. Initially I might stop my approach at a distance and throw the treat towards her and gradually reduce this distance at a time dictated to by her behaviour.

(2) For the not wanting to go on walks - again, no big deal would be made. I have an older border collie who has become increasingly anxious with age (he's now 14). Earlier this summer, he was half way down the track from our house going on our usual walk when a crow-scarer went off. He went rushing back to the house and for days would refuse to go any further than 15 yards from the door to do his business before rushing back in the house. He didn't want to come on walks...he didn't go on any walks. Again, I used positive association to gradually increase the distance from the house. He had to relearn that nothing bad would happen and this took a looooooong time.
Another option could be to change your routine. Perhaps taking her in the car to the field rather than walking there. I think the key is for you not to show any upset or stress.

Do you go to training classes? I think this would be useful for developing her confidence with other dogs and people again. If you don't already go to a class, I would check out what's available locally and speak to the trainer about her current anxieties before starting the class.

I do hope she gets her confidence back soon :)

I asked the bloke to call off his dog but he laughed and said 'oh he's only playing'. To which i replied 'if you don't move him - i will' He walked away and left his dog on top of mine still scruffing her. Granted the dog was playing but was being far too forceful and rough for my liking. I went towards the GSD to try to intervene and he growled at me

I just want to say quite strongly that the behaviour of this "man" and his dog are totally unacceptable. His dog is not playing, it's bullying other dogs. His attitude is appalling.

I'd certainly contact the dog warden in the first instance.
I suspect if you wanted to take it further it's possible the man could be liable under the DDA because his dog growled at you and you had no idea if it was safe, which must have scared you I imagine.
Also, under another Act (which the police should be aware of, but are not always it seems) dog-dog aggression is dealt with.  So it is possible to get the police involved in serious cases (eg if this happened again).

Your poor dogs :( I am so sorry this happened to them and esp. the BC who it seems was terrified. Are you going to be able to avoid this "man" in the future?

It may be worth considering carrying something with you to deter the dog but you'd have to desensitise  your own dogs - and if he is aggressive at all then you may be putting yourself at risk.

Do let us know how it goes and if you are concerned about your BC contact the www.apdt.co.uk or a reputable behaviourist from the www.apbc.org.uk for advice. I'd suggest as someone said, maybe driving to a walking spot but don't force the dog who has very good reason to be scared, see how it goes.

Lindsay
x

Hello

What a horrible experience, for you and the dogs. I often wonder why the majority of anti social people own dogs with no manners.......... interesting eh they have no thought for others and let there dogs behave in the same way. Its the dogs I feel sorry for.

That's terrible, there really are some bad dog owners around. I find if I go anywhere strange with my dog for a walk I usually carry a stick with me.  Living in the welsh mountains there are some pretty scary big birds that start circling my dog, bichon, he must look like a little lamb from above.

I usually find if I wave the stick while dogs are running around they do leave us alone *so far*.

love

welshdoglover x

Hi, i think everybody else has given you great advise but just wanted to say hugs for you and your girls.I'm sure she will come round,bless her.

I'm glad you've wrote this as it gives me the opportunity to add what happened to us the other day. I was quite shocked! Walking my 5 month old border collie and 3 yr old Jack Russell Terrier, with my 16 month old son in the push chair (yes its quite a feat!), We was at the country park, when i stopped to talk to an elderly lady who was telling me about recently losing her westie, i had my collie pup on a lead and had knelt down behind the push chair as we spoke. Another elderly lady approached from behind with a big fat chocolate lab & her friend. "Dexter" obviously was the boss as we were soon to find out, he pushed his way past me to get on top of my collie, by which time i had slipped my finger through my Jacks collar, and he nearly knocked me straight over trying to get to her. The silly old bat who owned him, was calling "dexter, come on, lets go Dexter" in the meakest of voices and Dexter was blatentley ignoring her. Next thing Dexter, jumps up on my sons push chair and licks him right round the face not once but 4 times, meanwhile i've got my hands full with dogs i shouts to her "Do you not think that you should maybe put him on a lead and have him under control when you meet other people over here?" to which she replied "Yours aren't on a lead!" so i said "actually my puppy is on a lead and the other one is under control, that is the difference" as i still had hold of the collar. Anyway she walked on and i gathered up my lot and walked on and as we caught her up to over take she said to her friend "she's so rude!". I had to bite my tongue and remind my self that the lady was about 70, so i never said to her what i thought, but my point is: I dont know if she has EVER wormed her dog, her dog could be carrying a number of diseases that its just wiped around my sons face, She was lucky it had only licked him as it could well have bitten him straight in the face. Part of me thinks oh its my fault i shouldn't have taken both dogs and a push chair as i had my hands full, but then if she could have controlled her dog there wouldn't have been a problem. Theres all this drive about picking up dog poo and the diseases and infections that young children can catch from it, yet she quite happily let her dog lick its bum and then my sons face! I was completley livid, but what could i have done? Really i should have been able to report it to the police as this dog had, in a sense, attacked my son. But i know they wouldn't be interested as no damage was done.
I completely sympathise with the original poster as this is one of a number of incidents that has happened whilst walking in country parks, and every time they have been caused by people who are unable to control their dogs. What is needed is some sort of greater policing of dogs and owners who cannot control their dogs should be fined. I've spent alot of time so far training my collie pup (we go obedience twice a week, ring craft twice a week) and i would be devestated if some ignorant moron ruined it all!

I am so sorry to hear about your experience.  I have a GSD who is very physical when playing.  I therefore put him on the lead when meeting ANY unknown dog.  A dog can be fine with other dogs normally but may get frightened of my boy playing rough, so with him, I ALWAYS check first.  To repeat what a couple of the previous posts have already said,  I would definately report this to the dog wardens.  I would be very surprised if the police were interested at all, as it seems as though if it is dog aggression to another dog, they don't want to know.  The dog wardens however (at least where I live) are very good.  If they get a number of complaints about the same dog, they can then take action.  (I'm not sure of there full powers), but if everyone reports incidents such as yours they may already have had complaints and would normally make contact with the person.
Unfortunately you still get irresponsible owners like this.

Hope your pooch gets back to feeling like it's old self again soon.