Hi, I apologise if this is wrong board, but I have a question.
How should dogs meet each other when we are out on a walk.  I ask this because I was walking my 8 yr old retriever when we were approached by another dog, which was off lead.  The other dog went straight around the back and started sniffing, which is fine, but when suzie turned around after a while to see who it was, this dog then lunged at her, teeth bared growling and barking.  I pulled suzie away and walked away, then the other dog went over to our cocker pup, who my husband had. My husband told the dog to go and kept the pup close.  Now did I do wrong in standing still and then letting suzie turn around? I used to just take the dogs the other way when I saw another dog, but we've recently moved and there are lots of dogs around, lots off lead. I don't want to get it wrong if it happens again, and don't want to be walking in the opposite direction all the time. So any advice would be most welcome.

Hi there

We had a similar incident yesterday whilst walking along a country lane with our two dogs, both on lead. A dog came rushing out of a farm gate, barking and coming after our dogs, sniffing, growling etc. It didn't really bother my girl who my husband had a hold of, but was obviously not about to let my boy off so lightly. I actually put my dog behind me and pointed to the loose dog and told it to "get in!" I couldn't believe it when it actually went back into his property!!

The point I am trying to make is it is irresponsible for any owner to allow their dog to approach other dogs when they are on lead. For a start, the on-lead dogs might react differently than if they were loose, as they can't get away - they are trapped! As for dogs sniffing each other, this is something all dogs do, to each other... I would think it is bad manners on the part of the other dog to object to your dog wanting to sniff in return.

Personally, I wouldn't particularly like any dog approaching mine when they are on the lead. when mine are off lead, I do not allow them to interfere with dogs who are on lead either... Where was the other dog's owner when all this was happening?

Was also wondering why your dogs are on lead and why you go the other way when you see other dogs approaching... have you had a nasty experience? If you are nervous yourself, then this transfers down the lead also, which may make your dog react in an uncharacteristic way, thus evoking a negative reaction from the other dog.

BTW I have retrievers too...

Hi, thanks for the reply.
The other owner was over 20 feet away round a bend and up and embankment so couldn't see it. He told us, when he finally appeared his dog only wanted to be friends. I used to walk to other way because I want confident enough to deal with it but, but on Friday I was fine, actually confident in the situation, but I've started over analysing what happened and just wanted to make sure that letting suzie turn around to sniff was the done thing or should I have held her still for a bit longer, and what should I do if another dog approaches us again.

If we meet off lead dog I give my dog as much lead as I can, so both dogs are free of any restrictions and my dog will not be affected by me giving "nervous" signals.
In the end, the other dog is off lead and I do not know how they are going to react so must give slightly nervous "signals" even if I do not do so on purpose.

I used to be relaxed but after few bad experiences I know I can get little nervous on what will happen next but 90% of the time all is fine as long as the dogs get to behave "freely". The other 9% the off lead dog will snap at mine and run away (she is a big dog so can make other dogs nervous), the 1% is what has made me nervous of these situations in the first place, this is where the off lead dog is aggressive and will not leave it to snapping and running off...

Also, I do not think you did anything wrong in the situation, it might have been a nervous dog that could not cope with the eye contact from your dog so snapped... We get this quite a lot from smaller dog that are not used to big dogs... They come bounding over and then decide, actually I'm scared of you leave me alone!
My dog is naturally the baddie in these situations even if she did nothing else than sniff!

I was just wondering if you had someone else you could walk with who might give you some more confidence to let yours off the lead every once in a while. Even if there are no dogs on the horison, some may pop up unexpectedly. I always think that dogs act much more naturally when off lead as they can express themselves without the hindrance of the lead. They also have much more opportunity to run about and exercise (not something which can be effective if always on lead - unless you walk the equivalent of 5 miles a day).

I understand your nervousness, I was badly bitten as a child and am still tense when certain breeds come our way, but I just grit my teeth and carry on, because 99% of the time there is no problem, if your dogs are properly socialised and know how to react/act, then they won't be in danger. I think my dogs lean on me a little now, as if worried, they will stand behind me (well my boy does anyway...lol) and then it's up to me to make a stand.

Would just add that my dog was jumped on today, by another Retriever of all things, and I just called him over, put him on the lead and we carried on our walk until the other dog was away. Even seeming aggression doesn't necessarily have to have a bad outcome.

Going back to the original post, you did nothing wrong in letting your girl turn around, after all, why should she have her bum sniffed if she can't see who's doing the sniffing! And next time, think nothing of calling over to the owner of an out of control dog which may be worring you to get their dog back (in a nice way of course) after all, it is up to them to control their dog and if their recall isn't good enough then perhaps they should be on leads themselves.

My husband was with me and he is really confident. I don't let her off the lead because she isn't good at recall. We have a dog next door who is very dog aggressive, she goes out for walks with a muzzle on, and suzie is ok with her and there is only a 3ft fence between the gardens so I know that she is ok with dogs. Thanks for all your replys I just wanted to make sure the way suzie and I dealt with it was ok and our actions didn't cause the incident. Our walks should now be calmer and not nerve ridden of loose dogs.