Were just back from a walk on the park and I'm quite upset. A lady who lives just up the road from me has got a 14 week old whippet puppy which is VERY playfull!:rolleyes: She was also on the park at the same time as me on Monday and her pup wouldn't leave Harvey (my 9 month old CKCS) alone and he was terrified as the whippet is very leggy and charges up to Harvey, pouncing on him, growling and nipping his neck - I picked Harvey up because he was trembling and the owner basically told me that I should carry him around the park as her dog being a whippet needs the exercise and she didn't want to have to put him on his lead!!! I know this pup is only playing but I don't think that it's fair that she lets him run riot making a nuisance of himself -  she has no control over him at all and he completly ignores her when she calls him back. Today was exactly the same, Harvey was off lead minding his own business like he does when the whippet came bounding over chasing him, pouncing and nipping at his neck, again Harvey was frightened with his ears back and tail tucked between his legs trembleing so I picked scooped him up and politely suggested that she goes on one side of the park and I stay at the other on a football pitch throwing Harvey's ball like I always do - her answer to that was 'well if he comes over to play then your going to have to pick your dog up - he only has baby teeth you know, he won't hurt him'!!! I walked away really annoyed - Harvey is excellent around other dogs, he's never been nervous or shown any signs of agression and I don't want these incidents to change his character. I don't want to fall out with the lady in question but other than cutting Harvey's walk short if they are on the park in the future (which I don't think is fair), I don't know what to say or do.........any suggestions??

Thanks

Hayley

Hayley, complain away!  This is terrible,  no one person or dogs owns a park, no dog should ever be allowed to nip or bite another dog.  Who is she trying to kid, baby teeth are far sharper than adult teeth, the size ratios are completely different, the temperaments, height, speed, how on earth can your poor Cav play with a Whippet.

I would have lost my rag well before now, the woman is completely out of order, dog owners must have complete control of their dogs and pups, what bad habits she is teaching it, she needs to go to the park when no-one is around, you are entitled to walk your dog/pup without interference from others. What exercise will your dog get in being carried.

By all means tell this woman so and if it does not work report her to your local dog warden.  If you are worried by her reaction have a friend with you for backup, and at the very least change walking times so as to avoid her, she is an utter disgrace to allow her pup to hurt another.

This youngster must be enjoying "puppy licence" at the moment.  Older dogs are being tolerant of him because they recognise that he is a puppy.  In a few weeks this will run out and older dogs will start to show their displeasure at his riotous behaviour.

Harvey might prefer to walk elsewhere for a while, change his walk time or to walk with a friend when possible.  It sounds to me as if the whippet's owner isn't being very reasonable or fair to you.  However, she's going to come unstuck with this "it's your problem" attitude - eventually she will meet someone whose dog rises to the challenge and she may not like the outcome!

I wonder how this woman would feel if say my large, boisterous, GSD puppy had exhibited the same sort of behaviour with HER puppy?

I think that if the shoe had been on the other foot, a very different scenario would have ensued.

One should extend to others the courtesy one expects for oneself; do you know any out of control large dog puppies that you could invite over (cackles evilly) :D

Or a grown dog who would put rampaging pup in his place?  ;) :)

I had the same problem with the owner of a very large 9 month old Boxer "he's just playing, he's only a pup"   well a 5 or 6 stone pup jumping on an 18lb Bedlington is no joke    Funny tho, the owner soon changed their tune when my yearling told the dog off by grabbing his nose and hanging on while 'swearing' like crazy :D :D

Makes you mad doesn't it :rolleyes:

I used to have the same problem with a young lab puppy - he used to charge at my dogs and body-slam them hard enoguh that you could hear the thump from quite a way away!  It happened twice, the first time the woman owner apologised and put him on a lead so I didn't say anything.  The second time the bloke was walking him, and he just let the puppy do it with no apologies - so I told him exactly what I thought: that he should NOT let it run up to mine as he had no idea if mine were aggressive or not - he was too busy on his phone to ask - never mind that I'd put mine on leads; also that he should get it trained, as if it carried on slamming random dogs, one day it would end up in a fight and badly hurt by a dog far less tolerant than Opi.  He stood there looking a bit sheepish, and I haven't seen them since!

I recently had this with my Misty who is a 14 week old GR.  We were outside our house on a communal green with Misty (11 wks old at the time) on a lead just with her sitting there getting used to a load of children playing nearby, when a friend who has recently moved in near us came out of his house to say hello with his Bullmastiff puppy, 16 weeks old and no lead.  She came bounding out and literally jumped on top of Misty making her yelp a few times, really struggling and clawing to get away from the BM.  Our friend made no attempt to take his dog off and kept saying "aw, isn't she friendly, its because Misty's on a lead that she doesn't like it" etc etc .  In the end my OH had to pick up Misty and we made polite goodbyes and left.  Doesn't really help us as obviously we are trying to socialise Misty with everything and everyone going :rolleyes:.

Its the owner who needs the training  stupid stupid woman !!!
I would tell her in no uncertain terms to keep her dog away from mine to get it on a lead or I would report her to the dog warden what if it decided a little pup wasnt enough that he would go off and terrorise a little child playing with a ball or such like .
No way would I tollerate her telling me to pick my pup up because her dog needed more exercise....huh  ....she would end up picking herself up from the tongue lashing I would give her !!!!!!!!!

If you really dont feel confident enough to argue with this moron then I would definitely find another park or gardens to walk your baby I'm sure she wont be around long with her dog with that attitude as others have said an adult dog will soon put her pup in its place.

Enjoy your pup
Roni

People on here might not agree with me but as I have a dog that I am sure has been negatively affected by older dogs chasing her as a puppy I would not tolerate this behaviour. If this woman is going to continue to lord it over the park then I would resort to tactic to prevent her pup from upsetting your dog.  I would carry a washing up liquid bottle filled with water with me.  As soon as her dog bounds up just give him a quick squirt or 3+.  That should sort him out.

good idea Cheryl or a couple of lemon squeezy bottles that are small and fit in your pocket .

better!

I changed my time of day for walking my youngster and now I have relatively peaceful walks. Most people understand so if this woman wont, take action and complain to the dog warden. They may be able to have a word in her ear. :-)

The trainer Colin Tennant has a recommendation in one of his books which might work.

If you carry an extendable umbrella and pop it out at ground level whenever the other dog approaches it's apparently very likely to spook it and prevent it from coming any futher. CT says it worked in over 300 cases he worked with.

Worth a try, perhaps ?

Dear Luvhandles,

Brilliant advice from Rod B but if that fails I can always bring my two inner-city hooligans round. A GSD and whippet/staffy X, they have the perfect combination of speed and size to put manners on the most unruly pup and have perfected the art of 'parallel attack' in which no blows are exchanged but the intruder dog quickly gets guided out of range and then told off in no uncertain terms.  Our rates are very reasonable and even I can look fairly scary in the 'care-in-the-community-just-doesn't-work' outfit I wear to walk the dogs which might just frighten the daft owner off.

Seriously though, it's horrible when someone else's anti-social behaviour impacts on you and yours.  Confront or avoid, the decision is yours but good luck either way.

Linda

Hi Hayley,

That's awful - I like the idea of having a water spray with you to discourage this dog from coming near Harvey. If / when you do pick him up to get him out of the way, try not to make it seem too big a deal to him or he might start excited about it all as well! Any new pics of your boy?

Lucy

Hi Lucy, will send you some pics later today..........Harvey's had a bath this morning after a very muddy walk:rolleyes: He looks soooo sweet Hope your all well?

Hayley x

I had this problem when my little CKCS was alive a bouncy lab pup came rushing up and leapt on her back playfully.  Unfortunatly he caused her permanent spine damage. 

Ooh, he's gorgeous Hayley!

Bevb we have a similar problem with a friendly but uncontrolled Rottie, she rolled my Cavalier Ellie once and made her squeal. Luckily no damage was done - so sorry about your little one. :-(

LOL Linda!

Just read your post and it's really made me chuckle.............might just take you up on your offer!

Hayley

On a similar note, I had Tansy in the park today and at this point she was on her lead. She said 'Hi' to an off lead labrador who was fine, when suddenly up runs this little shihtzu. It was with the two ladies and the lab but had been lagging behind. One lady says to me quite innocently 'He's a nasty little b****r, so I apologise in advance' This snarling little bundle of fur had a go at Tansy, who at just 9 months old turned her back and walked away. I still had hold of her lead, but she didn't even pull...just quietly walked away. I was well proud of her!! (She did have a good ball chase off lead afterward)
The attitude of some dog owners never ceases to amaze me.