It was Andy Warhol who said that

However, I have to say ...what an unprovoked attack that it when the posted has already apologised!

By the way HuskyGal whereabouts in Surrey do you practice as my cousin also has a Vets practice in Surrey for many years.Very interesting.

I completely agree Lucyandmeg - I just thought brainless had shown alot of class not getting into a personal emtoive slanging match.

edited - gadammit. This was supposed to appear miles back.:rolleyes:

hi there huskygal....well done on rescuing this poor husky.
I myself own 2 huskies and my male...13 month old also shows aggression to other dogs but i think that is due to the fact that he was attacked by another dog some time ago...( mine was on lead the other was not,and the other was known for attacking other dogs).
I live in a standard 3 bedroom house with my 2 but boy do they get execise!!!!!!
i dont work so i spend most of my days out with the dogs and take them onto a local field ( huge and enclosed) where i can let them off lead so they can enjoy thier favourate pastime.......running.
I think having 2 dogs has eases the burden somewhat.......and an 11 year old son with lots of good trusty mates.
The dogs entertain themselves on the field with them playing tag...hide and seek and whatever else they come up with.
I do have problems getting the girl to come back but if iv got the time i just leave them to run and when they are all run out and want to go home they come back......if i havnt got the time for some reason i find that if i take the boy and start to walk away she soon comes rushing back......my 2 or 13 months and 12 months of serious nuttiness.

There are plenty of dogs which aint accomodating to other dogs (a)  early socialisation is not necessarily the cause (b) even if it is so what it dont matter a fig yer, you should ask people before lettin your dog run up to any strange dog. but non of those who do let their dog run up to strange dogs have a recall anyway, how many times have people seen a staff mindin its own buisiness when some dog with the owner calling it back has just bounded up to the staff and ended up getting bit? it happens all the time because people cant call their dog back and it is their dog should be on a lead untill it has a recall or at least not blame the staffie, how would you like it if a big or even small person comes running up in your face yet the staffi always gets the blame.

I cant get in to add to that I just wrote, but reading through these posts agin it seems most are saying that if a stranger such as me and mine walks into your parks our dog has no choice but to be forced into putting up with your dogs running at him like it or not.
Thats a stupid attitude to have to any strange dog especialy if a number of local dogs, strangers to mine, run up as a pack, its asking for trouble and the only reason for that attitude is because pople who let their dogs run up to strange dogs without asking the owner is the dog ok first is because they know nothing about dogs and simply have no way of stoping their dog not to run up to strange dogs. Maybe only those of us who accept some dogs have limits, the same as all other animals should be allowed to have dogs.
STARYEYES, says it all that name.

Quote....Starryeyes, says it all that name.....hey????????????????

understand me not you!!!!

wow! good topic!

here are my thoughts aimed at no-one in particaluar.

i have BCs, they are obedient,yet clearly LIVELY & flynn is a typical cocky very"male" full of himself type (devastatongly handsome of course) loys of "iffy" dogs dont like him,though he is totally non agressive.

having collies im also aware that ALOT of other breeds dont like collies, too eyey, too quick,too black.

Ok so if im walking in a "off lead" type area, my dogs are clearly off the lead, if i see a on lead dog, i will call mine back in to walk at heel(just behind me) though still off lead, are under control & will stay with me, or if the path is narrower i will put them in a down & wait for the other dog to pass.

this is no hardship really & infintally better than anything dodgy happening.

Flynn "would" approach a on lead dog to say hi, if allowed, but because of what ive said above & because i have repect for the owner on the end of the lead, i do not allow it.

sometimes the other owner will ask if they are ok, & then they can great each other, lovely.
sometimes the on lead dog, may have a recall problem not a agression problem & its good for them to socalise.

Anyway on the other hand my nellie CAN be slightly iffy when "pushed". if shes off lead she rarely goes far  from me & would NEVER go up to a on lead or off lead dog unless it was one she knew.
however if a gundog type (lab /spaniel) comes bouncing all over her,i have to watch her. * first she turns her head.....* then if they still insist she moves behind me....* then if they still persist she starts smiling quite firmly too no doubt whjat her body language is saying...*then if they still carry on she will snap at them. shes NEVER made contact. At this point i usually hold her collar & turn her head toward me,as the dog is clearly bl***y useless at reading dog body language.

Oh boy!  Echo that

I couldn't got into the first post but got the gist of it from this page.  Life is one big learning curve isn't it.  I have quite a large pack now of only two breeds that get one well together.  The smaller ones being watch dogs and first to give alarm calls and the bigger dogs eager to back off from trouble and run if they have too.

It is only polite to put your dog on a lead when passing other dogs on lead as clearly the other person wants to keep close control of their dog for whatever reason.  I have had runaway scallyway puppies come up to mine right in their face with my dogs doing the back off around my legs and watching carefully for which way the lovely little bundle will dash next.  I then walk away with my dogs because I don't want any the intruder to become pummeled by escaping feet or worse still snapped at for being to cheeky and inevitable I get ' hes only a baby and doesn't mean any harm'.

Two of mine are young also but they have learned their manners from the older dogs and expect the same sort of respect from others.  I cant tell you the number of times I have tried to explain this to people but they just don't seem to get it so now I walk swiftly away with guess what? an off the lead dog following mine having a whale of a time nipping at their hocks    owners shouting it back to no avail.  No I am not so cruel as to walk away with a puppy following me I usually turn a bend and sit my dogs waiting for a red faced owner to catch up with its wayward rascal.

I know from my dogs reaction if they are afraid of an oncoming older off lead dog and usually turn around and choose another place to walk. 

I am still learning myself after all these years and I have to say generally if you see a dog being put on lead when you approach it is always wise to put yours on lead or call it in close if you can rely on your heal work.

Again as michelled not aimed at anyone at all.

My tuppence worth...

Where I walk regularly there is a beautiful, young exhuberant entire St Bernard. He is an absolute darling without an aggressive bone in his body and just wants to play all the time. He rushes around like 'Tigger' on ACID, approx 10-11 stone, bumping in to all, shoulder charging, scruffing etc. trying to say hi to everyone...and my boy HATES him.  He has absolutely no manners and has knocked me over once in his attempt to get to Ta-ri who has gone to stand behind me hoping, desperately, not to be seen!!!! Now we are at the point where mine starts growling when he senses that he is near. My concern is that if mine gives a warning snap or even the aggressive body language this fun-loving boy could turn. I think his teenage years will soon be behind him and he is becoming a bully and if he doesn't take to being warned off I could have a BIG problem on  my hands and I know who will come of worst.
Others find his bad manners appalling, should we ALL stop walking there???

Has anyone had a tactful word with his owner? Only it seems entirely unreasonable that the rest of you should need to change where you walk. Sometimes people are surprisingly clueless about things that should seem obvious and if everyone appears to accept the behaviour of this St. Bernard, his owner may well assume everything is fine and dandy. There's nowt so daft as folk sometimes and a quiet word might work wonders.

wow!..Its been a year (nearly to the day!) since this thread started...(I'd forgotten all about it!!...how embarrassing!)
what a difference a year makes!...
Thankfully, very quickly, I learnt throwing stones from my Glass House was more stupid than the (assumed) stupidity I was moaning about :rolleyes: (<- at self!)
  (and also that my PMT combined with voicing (questionable) opinion is not a good move! best go off and eat chocolate and calm down...then the brain can be engaged before the mouth!! ;) )

The best lessons learnt are all ways the ones where you have no one else to blame but yourself, so you have to take the onus!

Well a year on.. and no surprises my stance is completely different to that first voiced!
The end result, we now have a dog where we go to public beaches,busy forestry commission walks, public parkland always on lead (off lead on our own land which is secure) or attached to a bike.. mostly he's too busy sniffing or running to be bothered with stopping to meet other dogs, but when a meeting is forced or he takes a fancy to be sociable then its sniff, move on, or sniff, play :)
No more growls or vocals,lunging,Paw on back, on toes stance, hackles up.........
We learnt:
- Build your dog up to succeed
- where meetings couldnt be controlled..the first point couldnt happen! simple.
- so walking in public areas and expecting others to take the onus that was mine was a)unfair b) unachievable
- I was right about not going straight to training classes (group) it was reassuring when apbt trainers I spoke to agreed that it would be disruptive and dissadvantageous for all concerned and that a Behaviourists assement would be required before classes could be attended anyway.
- I rallied round as many friends as I could, and worked on controlled one to one meetings, found a good behaviourist to help me with assesing  and my time frames, and started by simply walking round in large circles ,using 'watch me' and reward (instantly) circles get smaller when behaviour is calm, any lunging and its back to a wider circle, good behaviour and slowly the circles decrease and a my dog gets to meet the other who is standing in the centre of the cricles we're making...again any bad behaviour and its straight out to the wide circle.. and so on, rewarding for calm behaviour, for watching me,and for looking at the other dog but not lunging or eyeballing and returning attention to me.
-lots of controlled and varying exercises of which the above is just one example, slowly slowly building it up.
- we walked on our own land and as if we had an in season bitch, and the ends justified the means...within 3 months (training an hour everyday without fail..it has to be consistent) we could then walk in public areas and meet other dogs. I doubt very much we would have been (longterm) successful if we had not have taken that time out.

So I have to say with the benefit of hindsight ;) and the even better benefit of success...
"Build your dog up to succeed"
And that'll only happen if you realise the problem is yours to rectify and not everyone elses :D

Huskygal i gotta ask :) Are you really a veterinary surgeon?

No..Im not ;)
Nearly...but no cigar...I studied at Liverpool and dropped out in my last year (due to bereavement) and being too young to realise you should never turn your back on a good thing! I guess I figured then I would go back to it when I was ready, but never did..Luckily...Ive never regretted it!! and now my profession is doing what I did then..but to Humans!! :D