Had a fabulous day out at Exbury today but it was marred by a family with a 10 week old lab. I wanted to say something but as usual choose not to & told by my friend that it was not my concern & to leave alone. It was there for a good two hours plus being dragged along, poor little mite.

Are you like me & do nothing or made of stronger stuff & say something?

I'm kind of in the middle with stuff like that - I'll try and strike up a conversation, ask about pup, how old and so on, then kind of drop it into the conversation.  I find people are much more open to suggestions in that way rather than if you just set out to criticise - they go on the defensive then.

That said, occasionally I do get too annoyed - like earlier, the stupid woman who kept screeching 'HEEL!' loud enough for it to carry across the park whilst yanking her lab back and almost to the ground.  Then I tend to shout.  'TRY TRAINING IT!' was today's little outburst!

But softly softly does tend to work better I think.  After half a dozen 'HEEL!'s today I just got fed up for the dog's sake.  :-(

> But softly softly does tend to work better I think.

Agree, but even so must be pretty spineless as I fume but do nothing.

Edit to say, the problem is she thinks she was training the poor dog

Ah, someone making the classic mistake of saying 'Heel' when the dog's pulling, therefore teaching it that 'heel' means 'pull'. If they say 'heel' when the dog's in the right position, with the lead loose (or ideally, no lead at all) and then praise and reward, the dog learns what action the command 'heel' requires.

Think. I can be a culprit of that jeangenie thanks for the reminder :)

I really had to hold my tongue at Pets at Home the other day; at the vet surgery bit there was a young mum there who had a puppy that was two weeks old in a towel on her lap. I was picking up wormer and this puppy, I swear, was making noises like a parrot. It was crying so loudly, I could hear it when I came in across the shop. The receptionist was on the phone to the girl's mother...she'd bought the puppy from a 'breeder', it was two weeks old, they'd been hand feeding it and thought it was normal to have one that young. Words just left me, I could feel the tears building up for that poor puppy and left without the wormer.

I work as a groomer so often I can't say many things I would like to, such as stop feeding your dog that Kit Kat every afternoon and he might be able to hold himself up when I trim his nails...

I have a nagging feeling that while some folk are genuinely naïve and don't know that young pups should be limited in their exercise...

...others may have heard the word from a certain TV trainer who argues that Exercise, Discipline and Affection are the way to go, without any disclaimers that this isn't what suits puppies and young dogs.

Add to that, you have a puppy that's bouncing out of its skin on a daily basis; human instinct is to take it out and tire it out with physical exercise.

My personal mantra would be Training, Affection, Exercise... because you can do an awful lot with mental workouts for dogs, and if it is done in a positive manner it will increase the bond, as well as tiring out the puppy without overdoing anything.

me too chris,thanks jeangenie.

> Ah, someone making the classic mistake of saying 'Heel' when the dog's pulling, therefore teaching it that 'heel' means 'pull'.

Unfortunately in this case, she was doing an excellent job of teaching the dog that 'heel' means 'I am going to yank you to the ground' :-(  It was a yank-'HEEL'-thud kind of thing.  Awful.

I hate it when I go to game fairs, public events, Royal Norfolk show and such and you see people dragging poor pups (often just 8/10 weeks old) about for the whole day, often in the hot sun, thinking its good for them to get out and about. You see the poor little mites looking totally knackered and overwhelmed by the thousands of feet they are encountering. But its not just puppies I get annoyed about, I got really angry at a game fair once when they had a have a go lure race for pet dogs, any breed welcome to have a go. These people entered a really old Goldie with obviously bad arthritis as it was hobbling along. The poor dog was the only one to cross the line as all the other just ran around playing so it was then put in again for the final, the poor thing just plodded into the ring and did not bother chasing the lure as it was in pain and hobbled over the the owners who tried to get it to go again. I then saw them later as we were leaving with the poor dog lagging behind and its lead was tight as they were trying to get it to walk faster. I voice my opinion loudly.

it does amaze me how ignorant some new puppy owners are regarding the damage caused to young puppies being over exercised ... and i have to say when out have spoken to owners in the nicest way to try to educate them when seeing how distressed their pup is .... they often seem to be under the impression that all puppies thrive on lead walking and its how you start their training ......  we always include a 3 page guide in our puppy pack explaining how much exercise a young puppy needs and the possible problems that could arise in the future .... it is not just the physical exercise but the effect on a youngsters mind as well .... their possible fear periods and the neccessity of good training classes .... we spend time going thro it with our new puppy owners pointing out how important it is for the well being of their new puppy  and a lot a quite surprised how little they actually need ....

It drives me mad, especially when a fellow puppy owner makes comments implying I don't exercise my dog enough. My 20 minute training sessions plus a 20 minute walk with Nando have him sleeping all day. Her rotty however goes for a 1 or 2 hour walk and still is running around like a loon all day. Of course, sods law is that her rotty is also one of those puppies that seems to just 'behave' and defies everything you believe about dog training! LOL