I know a lot of you have had this problem. I had it again this morning. Very upsetting, especially when you have a young dog that you are trying to teach good manners to. I can cope with the dogs behaviours but the owners are just unbelievable. I shall remember to go out earlier in future, unfortunately I was later than usual getting out, because I am sorry to have to say this but most of the dogs that pose problems are those that are being walked by the ones that have just dropped off the children to school or are in a hurry to get to work. Or maybe just haven't a clue on how to control their dogs. Apologise to those that do know how to control theirs when dropping off to school etc. What are your views? When do you come across the worst ones? And what breeds are they and with what kind of person!

are these dogs on leads?

lol..like when do you see dogs on leads! ... most dogs are walked off lead from 10 weeks old... socialising!  :rolleyes: ;)

:-D  As a school dropper offer myself I won't take offence, as I totally agree with you.  I actually do my first dog walk at 5am, and ten 11am to avoid these people too, as yes, they are usually mum's who have bought a pet pouch for the kids and don't have the time or inclination to train, or business people rushing to work, who also have no time to train their dog. (Sorry to all of you that do, there are many exceptions, I know many on here are excellent but in general I have to agree.)

The best owners who I come across are generally the retired, who have the time and effort to really put into a dog, others are far too busy with general life and expect a dog to teach and learn all by itself.:rolleyes:

Actually, just been sat contemplating all the dogs I meet and this sounds absolutely terrible I know, but I really have to say that the best trained dogs I seem to meet as previously said are either owned by the retired or all appear to be owned by male walkers in their 30's. ( but that may be to do with the fact that most walkers are female so percentage wise will have more badly behaved dogs - I hope!)

that the best trained dogs I seem to meet as previously said are either owned by the retired

It loks that way where I live...but the dogs they walk are actually mature...frequently over weight and the  younger family people tend to have pups and young dogs... so it is difficult to compare levels of training/behaviour as the crazy young dogs need to be seen when they are mature.  I very rarely see an elderly person with a big bouncy adolescent labrador. 

The dogs with yonug guys here are no better behaved then any other young dogs...

Round this way it is anytime after 8am to 1am in the morning.  Most irresponsible owners are between 17 and 30 and apart from one GSD the problem dogs owned by these people are all staffs or staff x Akita and Staff x Shar pei.
It is impossible to walk my dogs after this time without parking the car as close to my front door as possible checking out the door first and the rushing my dogs into the car at full pelt to drive them away from here to somewhere a bit safer.
We have a large bad element round here who will not put thier dogs on leads and breed indiscriminatly to see who can produce the most aggresive dog and when thier dogs attack others they find it highly amusing.

Some of these are on leads and some are not. Unfortunately for me I am a dog trainer so keep my dogs under control just incase any one who I train sees me.:-) Fortunately all the ones that come to our classes are not to blame. Hey ho will go earlier for my walks in furture. As the weather is warming up it makes sense.
Funnily enough when the school holidays arrive I don't seem to have this problem. :-) Happy walking to all of you and lets hope you have a distress free one.

Take some business cards out with you jumbuck - all those people who look as if they could do with some training could be a whole new source of revenue for you!!  ;-)

i don't "do" objectionable dog owners very well and i'm lucky not to have the same problems of avoidance that some of you do. however, i do see some very risky looking combinations of dogs, pushchairs, primary school age children and harassed women trailing along to some of the schools in town. and i always wonder just how many of these women have been persuaded to get a dog on the grounds that "someone else" will be putting their fair share into the work. the sort of "someone else" who then tends to be missing for 8 hours a day and comes home needing some space to chill out and relax rather than entertain or exercise the dog! ;)

I had a young girl (must have been about 13 years old) walking 2 dogs - a boxer and a lab - both dogs were pulling, barking and lunging at Glazby as we walked past.  The girl looked petrified and then she ended up letting go of the lab's lead whilst the boxer literally dragged her (I could see her feet slipping) over to us.  Luckily Glazby just stood his ground and didn't cause a scene (he doesn't like other dogs approaching him, especially when he's on his lead).

I had to whilst controlling Glazby, pick the lead up of the lab and hand it back to her and managed to man handle Glazby away from them.

I was concerned for the young girl and asked her if she would be okay walking them together - she said yes, but I wasn't convinced.  If there had been a fight there is no way she could have got 2 strong dogs under control by herself.

Some people havn't got the sense they were born with.  Two large dogs being walked by a youngster?  What if they pulled her into a road?

Exactly :rolleyes: It really was an accident waiting to happen and I just hope that the 3 of them got home in one piece and that she decides not to try and do it again.  :-(

thats why i wont let myself get a big strong dog- i'd love a mastiff or dane, yet i know that if they wanted to run or fight etc i wouldnt be able to control the dog, labs are the biggest i can manage.
i found this out when i was give my friends dane on lead- never again!!!! lol

What are your views? When do you come across the worst ones? And what breeds are they and with what kind of person!

Well to be honest, in this town, at both ends of it which I have lived in, it's quite rare to find people walking their dogs -a few responsible people do, the rest just open their doors and let the dogs out onto the streets. Therefore anyone who actually takes their dog for a walk tends to be responsible and are rarely a problem.

Don't the authorities do anything about it.  the dog warden doing a good old rtound up a few times a montha nd charging the £30 a day for the dog might convince them of the correct way to do things.

I live on an estarte built by the council which is probablya bout 75% owner occupied.

When I moved here 18 years ago you woudl get a few regular loose dogs, but since the dog wardens came into being you very rarely get oen , and it is likely to be a genuuine escapee.

You still get the odd smart ass walking their dog off lead (pet hate) alon the street, but otherwise they hate the idea of the charge to get the dog back which was well publiscised.

Nope, never seen a dog warden around in the 18 years I've been in this town.

They definitely seem to be a thing of the past including police on the beat and traffic wardens, despite being told around here that there would be more of them around. I am in West Sussex. As to giving out business cards. We are always full up so don't need to have people that would more than likely throw them back in my face with more abuse to go with it. No, I will just have to go at a different time. I can always go whenever I like as I work from home. Except Saturdays when I go training and then he comes with me.  Good to hear from you all and have your feed back. :-)

it varies so differently where you live doesnt it, around here everyone is very responsible and clued up, which is great,i suppose when i got my dog i followed the general trend and tried to be fair to others, but if i had lived in a place where dogs ran riot perhaps i would have let mine (unlikely)  but it might be a factor.

Well to be honest, in this town, at both ends of it which I have lived in, it's quite rare to find people walking their dogs
Now these are the kind of people I'd NEVER sell one of my puppies to if i was a breeder ..... as we were talking about which kind of people you would or wouldn't sell your puppies to, these are a bit NO when it comes to my preferences. I only have a Chihuahua at this moment and I feel terrible if I don't take him out on a long walk at least once or twice a day (that's just me). I think I might be suffering more than him ;). I feel guilty and feel like I'm neglecting him.

On the walk I take my dogs round it's usually between 8am and 9am, then evening around 5pm.  The morning trouble is a young male black lab - he's an absolute pain, and the owner has no control at all.  Every time we pass near it - always with a lot of trees and undergrowth between us - the poxy thing runs straight to us.  It isn't nasty - just wants to say hello - but it doesn't like people much, and it won't leave my dogs alone.  I always have to scare it off, and the owner never apologises.

In the evening it's a pair of labs - unsociable, they often try to frighten my dogs away by charging a bit and barking a LOT even if we're quite some distance from them.  I did manage to stop them last time - had my two on lead and we all stood stock still, seemed to calm them down.  The owner just yells at them, and gets louder until they go with him - I've known these dogs since I've had mine (3 years now), and they've always been the same; they used to get walked up the park, but they were always charging other dogs and badgering them, so obviously the owners gave up and started taking them to the field/wood I go to now.

I've never had an abusive owner but that girl with the boxer was lucky.  Some dogs just don't seem to like boxers, and my boxer has learnt to retaliate. 

I get very annoyed that I put my dog on the lead when I see another and she's always very close to me.  If I take the time to put my dog on the lead to avoid any aggression I think its courtesy for other people to keep their dog away from mine.  Instead I get them coming and sniffing her bottom and literally getting her back up.  They tend not to though so in the event of me spying a dog that looks potentially dodgy I alter course if at all possible.  Its not fair on my dog.

I had a classic yesterday - I was running  5 of the dogs in our paddock when a family went by on their bikes, the woman had a large black Lab on the end of the lead whilst riding her bike at the same time - as they went passed my lot - you guessed it - the Lab pulled to check out the sight of all these hairy Belgians running about and she came flying off the bike and landed with a crunch on the road - her husband then proceeded to shout at me for having my 5 dogs running loose -  my dogs were on MY ( fully fenced) land and it was THEIR stupidity that caused the accident :(.

They went off still mumbling about irresponsible dog owners but this time holding the dog and PUSHING the bike :D

Yvonne

Well I am off early before the later walkers. :-)