I am sure I do a post like this every time the sun comes out but today I have had more than my share of muppets to deal with.  I have just been round the woods with the dogs which is approx a 40 minute walk and in the first 5 minutes had 2 very negative encounters so really need to offload as non-doggy people just don't get it.

I had the pup on a flexi lead which was as short as it could be (approx 12") and missy was in at the side of the path off the lead having a snuffle about when a jogger went past with his headphones on.  the pup stopped what he was doing to look at the jogger who lept sideways and swore.  I said "it's ok he's on a lead" which prompted the man to start swearing at me saying he should be muzzled etc.  When I said he didn't need muzzled the boy continued running whilst shouting abuse at me - what a great way to start the walk.

2 minutes later I saw an old man with a stick coming up the path so again the pup's lead was retracted as short as it can go and the staffy was put on her short lead as she associates old people with biscuits!  Before we got past him the man started to shout at the dog "don't bite me bite her" (referring to me) and then started waving his walking stick in the pups face saying bite the stick bite the stick.  I walked on absolutely baffled commenting that he is a puppy and doesn't bite.  Didn't trust myself to say any more.

What did I do in a past life to deserve meeting such eejits???

then we had a couple of non-descript encounters with joggers, golfers and other people walking who said morning or commented on what nice dogs they were - aaah, just what I was needing, positive strokes.

Near the end of the wooded area I spotted a couple with a lab and a lab cross/lurcher type so again both of my dogs on short leads.  the lab/lurcher came running at us barking and growling right up at my pups face.  I had the staffy pulled behind me as she can be a nightmare with other dogs and was trying to get the pup behind me too.  After shouting to the man to call back his dog as mine are aggressive he wandered up with no lead muttering at me.  Thankfully the woman he was with took charge of both dogs and apologised when I pointed out that my staffy is aggressive with other dogs and I don't want the rottie to go the same way because of negative experiences with other dogs. 

Is it any wonder that some dogs bite, I can't imagine what was going through my pups head with one human leaping about and shouting at him and me, another one shouting and waving a stick at him and then another dog running at him snarling.  thankfully my boy didn't retaliate to any of them and as usual stands there looking a bit bemused.

I took the dogs on the same walk earlier in the day at about 7am and only met nice people with well behaved dogs.  The lunchtime walk was full of the kind of socialisation we don't need.

rant over, please someone with rotties and other 'reputation' breeds tell me it gets better as if this is the response I get when he is a baby I am going to have a very sore tongue from continually biting it when out on walks.

You need to walk further away from the asylum cheekychow :-D :-D There are some really odd non-doggy types out there and they say doggy folk are nuts :-D . I have to say my OH would have been like the guy with the dog off lead. He is a man, so never considers anyone or anything other than his own wee world. He once came back from a walk on the beach in Majorca with our then 18 month old daughter missing a shoe! When I asked where her shoe was he said 'oh she was paddling and it got sucked off by a big wave ' - clueless!! Apologies to any man on here who does consider others but you have to realise that you might be a figment of your own imagination as we know you don't exist :-D

> the pup stopped what he was doing to look at the jogger who lept sideways and swore

Sadly this type of negative reaction seems more common than a positive reaction if you have a dog the looks large & powerfull :(

I used to keep Buster on a short lead when people passed me, but now I go one step further and get him off the path with me between the person & Buster, if the person is riding a bike/joggin/pushing a pram, or anything that may be a bit more interesting I will also hold Busters collar, just so people can clearly see he can't jump at them (they all seem to think they will get savaged :( ). Instead of people giving me evil looks and jumping with fright when Buster sticks his nose in thier direction, I get a very gratefull 'thank you' from them, even the teenagers.

It doesn't mater how well behaved your Rottie is on a lead, there will always be people that will be frigtened about him jumping/lunging at them, so if you move him out of the way, even holding his collar if the person looks nervous, you then earn a reputation of being a very polite, considerate, responsible owner and as the people are not frightened, they can see your dog sat down, behaving lovely :)

>please someone with rotties and other 'reputation' breeds tell me it gets better as if this is the response I get when he is a baby I am going to have a very sore tongue from continually biting it when out on walks.

Sorry, it doesn't get better :(
Busters breed doesn't have a reputation (99% of people don't even know what he is), but his size worries people. If we look at it from thier POV they do not know if the owner of this large, powerfull dog is responsible, or if the dog is friendly/well behaved, so they automatically think the worst. The best thing to do is go out of your way to be polite and ensure everybody you pass can SEE that your dog is under controll, it's not worth getting into arguments or shouting at people (I know it is tempting, but just save it all & let it out in a rant on her), as you will only earn you & your dog a bad reputation.

If you find it hard to hold your temper when ignorant people irritate you, think of it this way - you want your Rottie to grow up friendly so leading by example is a great way to help, if you can ignore the prats, he can learn from you to ignore them too :)

Sorry you had such a rubbish walk :(

> You need to walk further away from the asylum cheekychow :-D :-D

lol, that cracked me up dakkobear. ROFL... 

Mastifflover your comment about people not knowing what Buster is but being frightened anyway is bizarre but true.  I feel like I am trapped in a scooby doo mystery with bizarre monsters just waiting to be unhooded.  If the pups tan bits were coloured in black he would look like a lab and no-one would bat an eyelid.  Cliches are cliches for a reason but there's nowt queerer than folk!

I feel a bit better now that I have offloaded.  I went out trying not to look like a chav so when I had my 2 chav hounds people might not jumpt to conclusions but clearly it didn't work.

A few weeks ago I took that pup to visit my grandad (I alternate the dogs each week) and we met one of my grandads friends when I was leaving the house.  he threw a total flukey saying thats one of those dogs that bites your hands off keep it away from me.  Oberon as usual was totally oblivious but for some people commonsense clearly doesn't come with age.

Ahh we had an "encounter" yesterday with our pup.  Pup was on a lead and we (my hubby and me) saw a couple of fellas with 3 dalmation sized dogs, next thing the dogs shot over and were running rings round us.  They weren't being aggressive but my pup had a fright which meant he let a growl out.  Anyway hubby asked the fellas to get their dogs, their response was "they don't bite" and they just left them!!!  I shouted them next (our pup was more frightend by now) same response "they don't bite"  I replied "no they might not, but i do"  They eventually came huffing and puffing and got them.

Unfortunately a few years back I had the similiar treatment when I was out walking a Pomeranian.  She also stopped to have a wee and he started going on that no wonder the country is the way that it is with dogs weeing everywhere etc and waving his stick at us!!

Must say though I took Carmen to the water park yesterday as it was quite hot and thought she'd enjoy being cooled down, there were lots of people in white trousers and every single one of them just laughed and actually stood close to me when I was telling Carmen not to jump up or shake! 

I think joggers must be a nervous breed. I was walking my fully grown male shepherd who is pretty laid back down a single track, in a woods near to where i live. Said jogger was spotted coming from the opposite direction. I shouted 'gimme a sec and i'll get him out of the way', whilst guiding my dog behind me and into some light foliage.

Instead of slowing slightly to afford me the second longer i would have needed, the jogger decided to put his hand on my dogs head and push him whilst shouting 'move' as he ran past. My boy bless him growled and barked at him, but didnt lunge forward to go after him. This was followed by the jogger doing the usual comments of 'muzzle' and 'lead' and 'bloody dangerous' and 'put down', along with various abuse towards me.

Needless to say in a calm and calculated manner (as the jogger had at least afforded me the chance to reply by stopping a few yards away to do this), i constructed my reply. This was to point out he was on a lead, and that if he was to try and push past my dog or talk to me like that again, then a bite from the dog would be the least of his worries. I may have punctuated this reply with some colourful verbs and adjectives, but he got the general idea and moved on his way.

Like i said. Strange breed. Dont be put off by them.

> I may have punctuated this reply with some colourful verbs and adjectives

ROFL!!  :-)

Well said....
The mountain bikers too...I had to jump out the way of about 6 bikers. Narrow track two dogs and several little humans.
I so wish I still had the poo stick in my hand it would have fitted beautifully through a set off spokes!! Bearing in mind I am a cyslist as often as I am a dog walker < I had to be mad to contemplate such a thing!!

Don't worry it will be cold and wet again soon and they will all retreat back into their nests!

Dont get me started on the mountain bikers!  one barrelled into my 16 year old springer who is deaf and his eye sight is not what it was either.  No apology, said the dog should have got out of the way!

I must admit the joggers, cyclist, walkers are all very good in my area, never come across a bad one at all.  None seem to be dog haters, some continue on their line of run/cycle etc, others will take a wide berth, but no-one bad mouths the dogs.

then again I don't have an aggressive looking breed and none of my dogs have got in the way as they are always brought too me well in advance.  We also meet horse riders who are fantastic and give you a chance to get your dog before coming past.

I guess alot is luck, Maybe half of the luck is either myself, or my dog (or both of us) are out in hi-viz :-D

> I must admit the joggers, cyclist, walkers are all very good in my area, never come across a bad one at all.

I think if everyone had an ounce of thought for others then there wouldnt be the problems there are. I walk along a cycle path and have never encountered a bad cyclist. Sometimes the dog will be walking on the cycle lane instead of the walking lane but if thats the case and a cyclist comes along, i always make sure i move well out the way so the cyclist can use the other path and have enough space.
I also appreciate not everyone likes dogs so it is basic manners for me to put mine back on a lead or demonstrate i have control of him so others see i am a responsible owner.

> Must say though I took Carmen to the water park yesterday as it was quite hot and thought she'd enjoy being cooled down, there were lots of people in white trousers and every single one of them just laughed and actually stood close to me when I was telling Carmen not to jump up or shake!

This reminds me of yesterday. We did a charity walk and got talking to a couple with a training guide dog for the blind, a beautiful golden retriever. halfway along the walk we bumped into the owner who was panicking that the dog had jumped into the river running alongside the path and he couldnt get out. She was trying to find an easy spot where he could get walk out easily. I stood on the bank with Fred trying to call the dog and hoping the dog might want to get himself out to play with Freddie but in the end my chap saved the day by shimmying down the steep bank and grabbing the dogs collar to heave him out. The woman was very thankful, and the dog showed his appreciation by shaking his muddy silty river water all over us, then rubbing up against us for a good rub & tickle :-)  bless him, we were soaked and ended the walk absolutely filthy :-) will make great pictures for the charity of us coming over the finish line covered in mud :-)

It only happens occassionally but when it does it annoys me.
Because I go to the same area at pretty much the same time, I tend to see the same people and I always make a point of acknowledgeing people I see regularly.
I suppose I get a bit possesive of MY woods lol

>> Don't worry it will be cold and wet again soon and they will all retreat back into their nests!

I am starting to wonder if it is me not other walkers that is the issue but the sooner they all retreat the better. 

I had another run in this morning with a woman with 2 labs.  I first saw them at the start of the walk and her dogs were apart from each other with the one closest to me with its hackles up, stiff tail and a growl at my pup who just stared him out.  I saw her again later in the woods and both her dogs came running up to mine (again mine were both on the lead) and were growling with stiff tails and hackles up.  I asked her politely to call her dogs back and she uttered the immortal words "they are only playing" aaaaaaargh! 

She then remonstrated with me that mine couldn't be aggressive as the pup was wagging his tail.  Then she said that if mine were aggressive they should be muzzled even when I pointed out that mine were under control and it was hers that were off lead (and clearly they had poor recally training). I could have cheerfully choked her with a dog lead, except I was using both of mine on the dogs. 

So, obviously the polite can you please call your dogs back/put them on a lead doesn't work.  Neither does 'my dog bites, will you get yours away'.  What do you all say to get people to leave you and your dogs alone?

what total loonies! poor dogs and you :( was this in campie?

> we met one of my grandads friends when I was leaving the house.&nbsp; he threw a total flukey saying thats one of those dogs that bites your hands off keep it away from me.&nbsp;

when liams mum told a friend of hers that liam was getting a bullmastiff (t-pot with me :)) her reply was a shriek and "but those are drug dealers dogs!!" - EXCUSE ME???

> what total loonies! poor dogs and you :-( was this in campie?

yup, every incident has been in campy.  The dog show in a few weeks will put the total fear into all those weirdos who are currently inhabiting the park when the place becomes dog central lol.  I think I will have to vary where I walk.  My poor boy will be getting a complex.  I saw a boy smoking heroin in the park the other week, never thought I would see the day that people go to the duck ponds for a toot.

You'd better watch out Kim with that drug dealers dog of yours ha ha

What a bunch of idiots!They were more threatening and aggressive than your dog ever would be.I think they should be on a lead and muzzled.

> The dog show in a few weeks will put the total fear into all those weirdos who are currently inhabiting the park when the place becomes dog central lol.

lol yeah

> You'd better watch out Kim with that drug dealers dog of yours ha ha

i was raging! how dare she!

I live in the sticks, its a nightmare when the weather is nice at the weekends - they all come out of the woodwork !! 

I was walking with my mum yesterday on her estate, I had both my boys on headcollars as I was pushing my baby in her pram.  Some muppet was walking down the road with 3 off lead labs, ive seen him before and his dogs constantly run in the road, I would say one is only about 6 months old.  The youngster came running over to see my boys, it just wanted to play which made mine twist and turn to get to it to have a sniff, it annoyed me because mine were on a lead and we were in the street, it would be different if I was over the park with them so I shouted to the guy that mine were on a lead for a reason and that they WILL attack if his dog approaches them - he soon got it away ;)  They wouldnt have attacked but I thought it might make the guy think twice about letting his dog approach on lead dogs.  I also made comments to my mum as we walked away about people who allow their dogs off lead on the street!

Sadly this type of negative reaction seems more common than a positive reaction if you have a dog the looks large & powerfull


have to agree with ml on this,
i have a Large Rottie and 2 English bullys, but i live in an area that has a lot of African people and sadly a very high number i'd say almost all of them are scared to death of dogs , iv had them running screaming like nutty people screamin to control my dog when im not even near them and my dogs on a lead and dont not even noticed them their,
iv had one guy run in a bin shut and hide, one ran and climbed a tree ,
one guy thu a large bottle of brandy at my boy losing grip of his key as he did it then he jumped a fence and begged me to look for his keys i tried but couldnt find them i did give him his brandy back tho as it was a full unopened bottle he must have just bought it and it never broke when he thu it lol,
funnest thing is my boy just ignores everyone which seems to make them look really stupid,
the only time my dog growled and barked at anyone was when we bumped into a bunch of screaming hoodies coming round a corner who had just stabbed a young lad
and were running like a bunch of wild animals thu the estate,
was wierd as when i settled my dog and the kids we carried on our walk and he dragged me straight to where the lad was laying in a stairwell we were passing i think he new something bad had gone on, luckly the boy was ok and came round a few weeks later looking for the blonde lady with the big scary looking dog (me) with a box of chocs as a thank you for calling an ambulance for him and waiting while they came, :-) , he told me when he see my dog he thought the muggers had come back with a dog to kill him and was pretty scared till he relized we were their to help him,
i have been spat at by muslims and the shop across the road from us (run by muslim family) refuses to serve us because we have dogs, sad but true,

i think is a shame that if you have a large breed such as a rottie or gsd that you have to hold them tight or move them behind you to keep random walkers etc happy - to be honest if your dog is well socialised i wouldnt panda to them in such a way as it only reinforces to them that your dog obviously needs close control! - and no offence to labrador and jack russel owners but i find many pet owners of these two breeds are the worst on walks - had one of my dogs attacked by a jrt and has now made him nervous aggressive to any dog that comes over a little too full on with him as he is terrified - he had even flopped and rolled over on the jrt's approach he was always very submissive to everything and the little b still launched a full blown attack on him! and the labrador people never have their bouncy great barky labs on a lead and cannot do a recall to save their lives but cos its a lab its all just fine and dandy in their eyes to have them bouncing all over your dogs who are on a lead - just great when i have one dog who is now very nervous of strange dogs unless they approach in a calm and frinedy manner and the other has a spinal problem so gets grumpy if jumped all over - and can you blame him - i had one guy let his large possible begium shepherd type dog climb on top my old spaniel and try to hump him. my boy obviously turned round and snapped and growled at the dog cos im sure its weight on his back was really painful for him not to mention his hip with djd also - to which the owner of the randy black hairy thing proceeds to shout at me for having an aggressive dog! - was he blind - did he miss the bit where his dog was climbing all over mine who was on a lead!

if your dog is well socialised i wouldnt panda to them in such a way as it only reinforces to them that your dog obviously needs close control!

i agree i often let my boy walk with no lead in the dead of night round our local park i sometimes find its better as the very few people that walk thu their usally the factory workers taking a short cut thu the park,
they wont even notice his their ,
i was  once followed by a creepy man who was trying to chat me up or something i was telling him to go away as my little bully bites (he dont but i wanted the man to leave me alone)i guess he wernt scared of my little bully i had on a lead and he didnt notice my Big Boy as he was off having a sniff about as he continued to follow me and started making rude statments to me well i must admit i started getting a little scared as he was being really rude and wouldn't stop following me and basiclly laughed at me when i was saying the dog will bite you please leave me alone,
he left me no choice but to give a little whistle for my Big boy to come and as soon as this man see my Rottie by my side he was like "oh oh oh a dog like that you need on lead"
i just thought what a joke he never new my boy was on the grass when he was harrassing me but as soon as he was by my side it was a differant story,
maybe this will make the man think twice before he harrases anyone else as you never no whats on the grass in the dead of night :-)

>if your dog is well socialised i wouldnt panda to them in such a way as it only reinforces to them that your dog obviously needs close control!

but the park isn't JUST for dog owners, although we are the ones who use it all year no matter what) but not everyone likes dogs due to upbringing or past experiance.  My dogs are friendly, one in particular loves everyone and doesn't like it when someone ignors her, dislikes it even more if they look at her but don't fuss her.  Anyone she see's she will go upto however not everyone likes dogs so although friendly and well behaved I will always call her in when going past someone, if they want to stop and say hello they can and do, if they want to get on with their run they can. 

i expect people to keep their kids under control and away from me.  I would hate it if out of a run someone's kids where in my face/in the path I was taking etc.  The same as I keep my "furkids" out the way of people :-D

> to be honest if your dog is well socialised i wouldnt panda to them in such a way as it only reinforces to them that your dog obviously needs close control!

I used to think that, but it doesn't. Buster is moved out of the way to let people pass us easily, with me between them & him, if we are still quite close, I'll get Buster to sit (if they look extra interesting or worried, I'll hold his colalr), & I'll say "good boy waiting nicely, YAY!!! good boy, yes you izzzz, watta goood boy" (in a silly, 'baby' voice), suprising enough, people do not look at me like I am nuts!!! they do look suprised though as this little 'baby' voice' is keeping the attention of a huge dog, that is sat down very patiently allowing them to pass without worrying about what he's doing.

LOL, It would give a different impression if I was holding him and saying in a gruff voice "No, LEAVE, stop it, SIIIITTTT DOWNNNN, LEAVE, NO!!" (people don't realise that is poor handling, they just think the dog is hard to control :( ).

I've found showing you have control re-inforces that you are a responsible owner that has control over your dog rather than an owner that needs to control your dog. It's seems a very subtle difference, but I've found it makes a lot of difference with poeple reactions, they can feel relaxed that the dog is seen to be under control and even say 'thanks', so it earns a reputation of 'that owner is so considerate, they always have control over thier dog'. :)

It's great practice for sit & wait under distraction, so I always think of it as training practice rather than pandering to other people.

Afterall, it's owners lack of control and consideration for others, that has helped earn dog-owners, breeds & dogs in general a bad reputation, so if responsible owners try really hard to show we have control of our dogs and consideration for others, we may be able to undo some of the damage the prats have done to the way the GP see us & our dogs.

but the park isn't JUST for dog owners, although we are the ones who use it all year no matter what) but not everyone likes dogs due to upbringing or past experiance.  My dogs are friendly, one in particular loves everyone and doesn't like it when someone ignors her, dislikes it even more if they look at her but don't fuss her.  Anyone she see's she will go upto however not everyone likes dogs so although friendly and well behaved I will always call her in when going past someone, if they want to stop and say hello they can and do, if they want to get on with their run they can. 

i expect people to keep their kids under control and away from me.  I would hate it if out of a run someone's kids where in my face/in the path I was taking etc.  The same as I keep my "furkids" out the way of people

Good post,

I agree, the parks/woods are full of weekenders/joggers/runners/ oldies with sticks, and they can be a pain in the neck....but we have to remember they are public places, there for all to use.

So whether we like it or not, WE  have to  be the considerate ones... because we are the ones with the the dogs that others may see as a threat...

Sad but true!!!!

I really dislike non-dog people in the same way that they dislike me and I've started being just as disrespectful to them as they are to me and my gang! Not the right way to go about things but certainly makes me feel better!

Roll on winter when they all go into hibernation again!!

>I've started being just as disrespectful to them as they are to me and my gang!

So you're reinforcing their belief that dogs and their owners are unpleasant. :-(

one in particular loves everyone and doesn't like it when someone ignors her, dislikes it even more if they look at her but don't fuss her

gosh i have found my bullys to be very much like this (is it a bully thing?)
my older girl whos 4 now seems to have grown out of this now but her son whose 1 year old is just  like she used to be when my girl was younger she was SOOOO Bad it was always a nightmare when people walked by even if they were quite far from her and had never noticed her the strangers could be walking along talking on their mobiles and she would think they were talking to her and go running over to them from quite a distance and of course that deafness sets in and shes gone glad to say she's now good as gold and listens now i feel that she knows im the most interesting thing about and she always stays by me so its a pleasure to walk her now.
but my OH used to hate it he ended up refusing to walk her ,
i think he just couldnt deal with it as training our Rottie was what i would say very easy and he seemed to catch on very quickly and listend straight away the Bullys seem to need a bit more reinforcing and plenty of treats so i found that taking a bag of cut sausages with me works almost to well as if she know iv got them she wont go anywhere but next to my leg :-)
got to say that her son is maybe not as bad as she was when it comes to recall and does come unlike his mum who would have you running round like a nutter trying to catch her, though if someone walking past says "ohh look aint he sweet" he would be off to them, this is why i would never let him off when people are around as i wouldnt trust him he is still a baby and would bolt on me if given the chance,
his mum would have been off to anyone weather they were talking to her or not she would always go running to anyone, thank god shes grown out of this now,
still some work to do with her little boy but then he is getting their ,

>I really dislike non-dog people in the same way that they dislike me and I've started being just as disrespectful to them as they are to me and my gang!

And then we all wonder why we have a bad reputation :(  Two wrongs don't make a right and you might find if you plesent enough and respectful to people they in time will be back to you.  No wonder so many people push dogs out the way if the owners they come across are like you.  I wouldn't like to meet you when out on a run, or just for a dogless stroll with friends would I?

My night time walks now I see a bloke walking home from his job in B&Q and a young girl walking back from her job at Wilko's...After just afew times of walking past eachother we now pass an "evening" and no-one walks on the grass like previous.  Funny how you "know" people you only ever say one word too....

After just afew times of walking past eachother we now pass an "evening" and no-one walks on the grass like previous.  Funny how you "know" people you only ever say one word too

yes its nice when you see the same people and maybe they were scared of your dogs at first but then they see you so many times and they realize that the dogs are actully good dogs and their fear is gone,
iv had this happen a few times and i like to think that iv educated some people around here who before were terrified of dogs (as alot of people around here are)
and now they see that All big dogs are not bad and are not going to eat you the minute you walk by , its nice to see people that would normally run from you end up smiling as they go by as you'v seen them so many times and have made a point of telling them "its ok you can walk by they are friendly and wont hurt you", a women at the end of our road was scared of my big boy last year this year she walks past our house and when were out the front instead of crossing the road she will now comes past and says hello and even pets my dog i think shes amazed that you can actuly touch such a big dog without losing your hand :-D

IN saying all that its like everything in life really theirs good and bad in all and your sadly always going to get some idiots who overreact to the presance of a big dog,
but i'd like to be hopeful that for every 3 people that would overreact their maybe one that would stop and take the time to see that not all dogs live up to the bad rep they have and that you can turn these people around, sadly some are unchangable and best ignored, :-)

Your always going to get people scared of dogs, or even just allergic and don't want a rash!  But it does prove if you respect other people MOST will respect you back, in time.  Im not botherd if someone doesn't want to touch my dog, infact I'm happier because you don't know where people have been....BUT I'm happy with them knowing my dogs are under control and don't have to go out their way to avoid them as i will keep them under control.  It's a nice feeling when someone appears to appreciate the respect you've given them.  A thank from someone else walking their on lead muzzled dog, or a thanks from someone cylcling past makes my walk so much better, but I was brought up to give respect and get respect and it's true.

Unfortantly the same can't be said for all dog owners, and infact there's plenty of people with dogs that I would give a wide berth to myself....

also its not just the non doggie people who act like idiots i have come across ALOT of small dog owners who have these yap yap dogs that bark madly and growl at your big dog off or on a lead, my mums got a women on he caravan site who has 2 very small dogs that yap all the way while walking along , iv been shouted at by people like this while my rotties off his lead ands paying no attention at all to the yap yap nasty little gremlin looking beasts and the owners have the cheak to ask me is MY dog alright :-O ,i should have him on a lead, this irates me as if my dog was acting like theirs then id be in trouble but because theirs is small and cute its allowed to bark and growl madly, id like to kick these owners up the rear end they
have no control whatso ever and have the cheak  to ask if mine is ok, HELLO!!! does he look bothered tho? no he dont care that your dog is an out of control nasty little thing he really couldnt care less, even tho he could eat him as a treat he wouldnt waste his time on your little yap yap far to noisy for my boy lol

I know what you mean, I walk past two little rats, I mean fluffy things that always snap at my setter bitch even when she is midning her own business.  The owners have started crossing the road with their fluffy things now and they do it from the other side of the road.  Luckily a quick "leave it" and she walks on, loose lead, not a care in the world.

two little rats,  lol thats what my mum calls the womens at her vans dogs they are really badly behaved i had my rottie down their one weekend and he just walked back from the beach with me by my side and the womens coming toward us with her 2 yappy  rats and they were going mad, my boy didnt even lift his nose off the floor to look he wernt bothered , as we past the owner said to me "you shouldnt have a big dog like that off a lead he could hurt someone" i was gob smacked!
i just stood still and looked at her and she had these 2 little dogs tugging to get to my boy yapping madly, i told her she should maybe think of muzzling her own dogs as if one slipped its lead then we may have a problem here,
she started ranting on about how if my dog bit hers she would have him put down by this time my boys walked off into mums van not a care in the world,
i told the women i thought she needed to look at her own dogs behaviour and put a bit more effort into training them properly before she started trying to give me any advice on mine,
she said her dogs were fine and were just highly strung, OH Thats ok then i said , i mean what do you say to someone that thinks this behaviour in their little dogs it ok?

> i have come across ALOT of small dog owners who have these yap yap dogs that bark madly and growl at your big dog off or on a lead

Unfortunately, I've found that lots of small dogs have the same instinct towards bigger dogs as humans do - they get intimidated and go on the defensive. It's rare to find a small dog that is sociable towards Buster, but I have seen the same dogs that bark & growl at him, completely ignore smaller dogs, even ignore dogs the size of a lab. I think it's partly due to the owners reactions and the fact the owners keeps thier little dogs away from bigger dogs.

I remember 1 small cross breed terrier type dog, came hurtling towards Buster. The owner looked worried & started frantically calling her dog, but believed me when I shouted out 'don't panick, my dog's friendly', so she allowed her little dog to come up to us, they had a sniff and bounced around each other in a playfull way (Buster was on-lead). Every time I pass this little dog, his tail wags in happyness when he sees Buster :)

The yappy, defensive behaviour can't be held against the little dogs, it's not thier fault, it's thier owners fault through lack of training/socialising/handling/the fact they don't care and sadly thier own perception of larger dogs :(

i agree ML i blame the owners i must say i am yet to meet a good small dog owner or well trained small dog around here,
i know their must be plenty of good ones out their probely on here their will be alot better owners , but in my area i think all the little dog owners are really stupid people,

> in my area i think all the little dog owners are really stupid people,

It's annoying isn't it - it's stupid people that get a bad rep for little dogs, just like stupid people get a bad rep for big dogs :( ARGHHH, people! :mad; It's no wonder we choose the company of dogs ;)

It's no wonder we choose the company of dogs

here here!! lol,
iv never been a people person myself even as a kid my school tried to make me do work experince in a Nusery full of screaming kids, i refused and opted to write a letter to Battersea dogs home asking if i could do it their clearing the kennels, of course in them days they wouldnt allow it insurance issues they said but id have rather shoveled dog poo than work with a bunch of screaming kids all day,

theirs nothing better and more rewarding than coming home to your friendly pooch whos always so happy to see you ,

i'd choose dogs over people anyday of the week,

in fact and i know this sound awful :-( but honestly if i had to choose my OH or my dogs im affraid the dogs would win paws down i could live without my OH but not without my dogs :-)

I have said that two wrongs don't make a right!

My dogs are very well behaved and there is no need for people to be rude to me but they still are. If people are polite to me then I am polite to them. I would act like this in every day life, I'm not going to go out of my way to be nice to someone if they're going to be rude to me! That's when people treat you like a pushover and will be even more rude!

Not at all. If they are pleasant to me then I am pleasant to them. My dogs are very well behaved and ignore everyone they walk past, they never go up to anyone or even look at anyone so I don't feel that people need to be wary of them. I could understand if they went bounding up to every one in sight but they don't.

> My dogs are very well behaved and ignore everyone they walk past, they never go up to anyone or even look at anyone so I don't feel that people need to be wary of them

But how are strangers meant to know that your dog won't bother them, or lunge & bite them? They can't know that and some people really are wary, simply don't like dogs or have had dogs jump all over them in the past and assume all dogs will be the same.

I am polite & considerate to all people I pass with my dog, without waiting to see what thier manners & people skills are like.  A polite & considerate approach is much more liekly to recieve the same approach back, as for the horrible poeple that can't seem to be nice nomatter how you behave, don't sink to thie level - feel smug in the fact that you know how to behave in a respectfull manner while out in public :)

I don't intend to come across as picking at you atall, just try to explain that if we alter our views on things it can make dog walking and meeting idiots a much more pleasent experience for us (and even the people we meet) :)

so I don't feel that people need to be wary of them

i think you should be aware of other people where i live most of the people are scared of dogs so you have to be wary of people ,some are rude about it some are not even when like yours  my Big boy dont even notice anyone he just gets on with things sniffing about in his own world but i still have to be wary of people as the man who thew the brandy bottle at my dog proves he was just scared and overreacted lucky for my boy the man was a bad shot and the most my boy done was look at what the big clonking noisy thing was that landed across from him no harm done thank god,

i would however be on very high alert if i let my younger bully off his lead as i know he would run up and jump on someone wanting a stroke, so he only gets let of when it very late at night and i always have my eyes scaning the little parks entrances for any passers by as soon as i spot someone i call him back give him a treat leash him then if he notices them and looks their way i will say leave to get his attention on me and not the passerby, rewarding again when he listens then when coast is clear i'll let him off again its working great he's recall is better than it was 6 months ago but being a bully im not sure if i'll ever trust him the way i trust my Rottie,

i remember my poor Ellie getting a kick in the face by a thug sitting on the back rest of a park bench once just because she went over for a sniff so for this reason i'd rather not allow my dogs near strangers you never know what they are going to do specially around here,

The yappy, defensive behaviour can't be held against the little dogs, it's not thier fault, it's thier owners fault through lack of training/socialising/handling/the fact they don't care and sadly thier own perception of larger dogs

It's not always the  current owner's fault - some of us have rescue dogs and have inherited problems that were caused before we had them :-( My youngest dog is a small terrier rescue who spent the first 5 months of his life shut in a kitchen so the whole of the outside world was a very frightening place to him. When we first had him he would bark at the grass growing - he is still very vocal but we are working on it and he is very slowly learning to stop barking when asked but it has taken us 2 years to get this far with him and he still has a long way to go. Having a dog who barks can be very embarrassing when you are near other dog owners because they assume that you are a failed owner when in fact we are owners who are trying to train out someone else's mistakes - he is not allowed out of the car when we arrive at the woods until he has stopped barking and when we first had him it could take as long as half an hour before he could be let out.

My other dog is a large breed so he is used to larger dogs but still barks at other dogs whatever the size at times.

> It's not always the current owner's fault - some of us have rescue dogs and have inherited problems that were caused before we had them :-(

Sorry Harley, I didn't mean to cause offence.
I should know better than to forget about the rescue dogs with behavioural issues that were the product of previous owners, as my last dog was a rescue! He had this very embarrasing habbit of screaming at dogs if they were the other side of the road (he was a lab-cross, so a fair sized dog, with a big voice!) he would get exited and frustrated that he couldn't greet them so would scream! People would give me funny looks because it sounded like he was being hurt :( It did take a few years to sort out, but he got there in the end. Cramming in head in passers by shopping bags was something we never made any progress with though, I just had to learn to steer him away before he got the chance :(

>My youngest dog is a small terrier rescue who spent the first 5 months of his life shut in a kitchen so the whole of the outside world was a very frightening place to him.

Ahh, poor little poppit :(

>he is still very vocal but we are working on it and he is very slowly learning to stop barking when asked but it has taken us 2 years to get this far with him and he still has a long way to go

Progress is progress, no matter how slow, so well done to you :)

One of my dogs was badly attacked three years ago by a JR, he had thirteen bite marks on his body, he was an outgoing confident, Best of Breed winning dog, his show life was all ahead of him.  It turned him into a nervous wreck, he could not have a dog approach him from behind without wetting himself.  It has taken me three years to get him to the stage where he trusts some other dogs.  I'm afraid after our experience I treat all other dog owners I meet when out walking  as idiots until i know differently.  I know I have a reputation as that mad woman with the dogs, I don't really care because no dog will ever do that to one of mine again.  I don't want to socialise when I take my dogs out, I want to walk and run them in safety, I don't really pass the time of day with people, just a friendly hello to those I know and a wide berth to those I don't.  As time goes by and other people have had incidents with badly controlled dogs I know I have gained respect for my stance.  I only ever have them off lead on a safe field they run on, other than that they are on lead at all times.  If any dog off lead runs at mine then I tell the owners if it happens again I will deal with the dog first and then deal with them later, they are often open mouthed at my reaction but it works, I don't really know what I mean but it seems to have had the desired effect and I have not yet had to put my threats into action.

My heart goes out to anyone who has had to deal with a dog which has been attacked.  I look at my boy now, he is reaching his prime and know he would have done very well in the show ring, but has had to struggle though life just because of the actions of one very stupid dog owner.

Sorry Harley, I didn't mean to cause offence

No offence taken :-) Just pointing out that things aren't always what they seem :-)