Fed up with Irresponsible Dog Owners. Regularly  meet a man with two Goldies the younger one very aggressive. He usually put it on the lead but this morning left it off, it came at mine growling and both mine growled back specially the older one who was bitten by a cross pit ball last year. Why as when it is on lead and mine are either on lead or put on lead when we see him, there is not problem from any off them mine get told off but he doesn't say anything to his one who started it. If this is going to be his normal practice now I dread going over there.

if it keeps happening, or escalates, then maybe a chat with the dog warden is in order?

That.  ^   There are ways now that the DW can take action against repeat offenders like this.

Our Dog Warden is pretty useless and you cannot speak to her direct, I tried in the past.

Then she isn't doing her job.

As a council employee,  she is answerable to the public -  that means us!

If you have the same problem with her again,   contact your local councillor/s.   They have the power to ask some very hard questions about council employees and their work ;-)

Was on the beach on Monday with my cockers, Phoebe, 5, Luna 3 and Domino 8months. A Young GWP came bounding over to my dogs scattering them in all directions. Domino was terrified and ran off, tail between his legs. The 2 girls were also scared but stood their ground. I managed to recall Domono and grab the GWP collar. All the time this was happening, the owner made no attempt to call her dog. I returned him to her and said she needed to work on his recall. Her answer was " he's a puppy". So puppy's are allowed to run riot and have no manners at all. Some people do not have a bloody clue. So angry.

Lynneb:  I totally agree, people are just so thoughtless.
My dogs are always called to heal (old and young) and put on a lead if there is another dog around and I make it very clear that I do not want, neither do my dogs want, any other dog buzzing around them while out for a peacfull and controlled walk.  IT'SO RUDE !!!

> Was on the beach on Monday

It wasn't John Muir was it? I had a similar experience last week with a young GWP there. To be honest it didn't bother me, it came bounding over, my two older girls glared at it and it bounded after one of the younger boys, he ran in a big circle back to me and, like you, I grabbed the dog. No harm done, young dogs don't always have good recalls but they still need off lead exercise.

I own a sensitive hound breed, so even youngsters aren't likely to cause problems to anyone but I do feel for those with bouncy gundogs breeds in particular. I often meet young labs, gwps and goldies that bound up, jump all over me and the dogs with apologetic owners way behind. My dogs don't appreciate in your face types but they cope with it, when I owned a dog aggressive dog who would not have coped with this I avoided off lead areas.

For me the ideal is for everyone to have a bit of consideration but also understanding. I met an akita in the woods yesterday, The owner just stopped with the dog on lead staring at mine coming towards them (narrow path). I shouted ahead asking if the dog was ok with others and told him mine were fine. He shouted back saying she didn't like other dogs. Ok, called mine back, put them on leads and squashed into the trees to let them past. No real problem but why was he there, why not just walk round the road, and/or muzzle it. If I'd had the young gwp with no recall and a death wish things would have been very different.

chaumsong....which beach are you speaking about?

like I said John Muir, guess it wasn't if you didn't recognise the name, still there are probably young dogs rampaging on every beach

like I said John Muir, guess it wasn't if you didn't recognise the name, still there are probably young dogs rampaging on every beach

Yep we had one at the beach at the weekend. A medium terrier mix came flying down and was charging about while it's owner was the other side of the beach and not even watching his dog.

I took my girl out to a woodland park last week and was walking behind a man walking two salukis off lead paying hardly any attention to them. They kept stopping and he wouldn't notice untill he was way in frount, he didn't put them back on when they came up to a boxer who was being walked on a short lead, the boxer kicked off so I asume they went up to him like they did with my dog.
Then on the same walk a pointer of some sort cam down from a hill with no owner in sight and was running about with the two salukis then harassed my girl before running off to his owners who eventualy came into sight but again paying no attention to him.

> walking two salukis off lead paying hardly any attention to them

Well, again it's about understanding other types of dogs. Salukis are notorious for selective hearing and poor recall. I do homechecks for lurcher rescues and anything with saluki in it has to have a patient owner with an understanding of their needs. He may well appear to be walking along ignoring them, but a saluki would very quickly get bored if he called them all the time so he was probably doing the right thing. I'm assuming from your post that they were dog friendly and it was a safe area. Perhaps the boxer that 'kicked off' shouldn't really be walked in an area where other dogs are running around playing?

> Perhaps the boxer that 'kicked off' shouldn't really be walked in an area where other dogs are running around playing?

While I understand what you are saying, I disagree Often the only place to walk a dog where there are no offlead dogs, is on pavements - certainly in towns/etc - not everyone has access (or a car) to a wide variety of dog walking areas. Tara doesn't like dogs who are over friendly (she will tell them off) and I really don't see why she (and I !) should not visit these often attractive walking areas. Owners should be prepared that their dog might get a telling off if it approaches an on lead dog. When this has happened in the past to Tara, the dogs have learnt not to do it (those that we saw on a regular basis) and there have been no problems after - a useful lesson learnt. I used to have miles of pleasant fields to walk in right next to my house - I certainly wasn't going to bundle my dogs into the car and take them somewhere else just because an owner had no control of their dog. I am an understanding owner - I get that young dogs may not have instant recall and that some dogs are difficult to recall, but I expect the 'understanding' to work both ways My understanding does not extend to aggressive dogs that should always be on a lead (or be muzzled) tho' !

He was calling them but only when he happened to notice they were gone, he wasn't even looking to see where they were or what they were doing. I had no problem with his dogs and yes they seemed calm and friendly enough but it was just that he wasn't keeping an eye on them.

As for the boxer it's not an off lead dog park, it's a woodland park where dogs are not banned so there owner has every right to enjoy the nice views and walk with their dog while keeping it on lead. The way I see it if you have your dog of the lead you should be able to keep away from risks, mine is fine with dogs and I'm allways having her off lead but if I come across an on lead dog ill keep mine away from them or put her back on the lead to pass it.

As I've said from the start it's all about consideration and understanding. A grumpy older dog telling a naughty youngster off is absolutely fine, that's how dogs learn manners. However a dog that will actually bite and cause damage to another dog if it invades it's space is NOT fine. A young dog should not be physically and emotionally scarred for life just because it's enthusiastic. If your dog really bites another dog then as far as I'm concerned it should be muzzled and you should be avoiding popular off lead areas.

> The way I see it if you have your dog of the lead you should be able to keep away from risks

Unfortunately that's not always the case, a dog on lead is not necessarily under control, just as a dog off lead is not necessarily out of control. A friend of mines' whippet had her throat torn out, requiring 32 stitches when a greyhound attacked her. The whippet was off lead and simply walking past the greyhound who was on lead. The greyhound should have been muzzled and had no right to be there really as we found out she was the 4th dog it had attacked. A rottie in my village has bitten 3 other dogs, each time while she was on lead, she is still walked in a popular off lead spot while the owner shouts to everyone to get their dogs on leads and keep them away! It simply not fair for the vast majority of people with well adjusted dogs to have to run the gauntlet of these dangerous dogs, why ruin everyones fun.

Im not saying that dogs shouldn't be off lead and allowed to meet and socialise with each other as they should, just that for me I see it as considerate that if you can see someone coming with an on lead dog its nice to at least try to give them their space, Just as if for what ever reason I didn't want someone's dogs to come up to me and mine I see it as considerate to try to move away and keep my dog close behind me. Dogs don't always do as there owners want, some times things happen we don't expect and some dogs its harder to get a solid recall with which I completely understand but I still think owners should still try.
Defernalty agree that if a dog bites it should be muzzled.

A risk doesn't just have to be a dog on the lead, I could have easerly stolen one of this guys dogs, just sliped a lead over its head and walked into the trees, I could be some crazy dog poisoning person and with either of those he wouldn't have know what happened until it was to late.
There could be something dangerous on the floor, someone coming threw a gate any thing realy.
Then you also have risk of people who are afraid of dogs reacting badly to an off lead dogs coming up to them to say hello, I use to be terrified of dogs so know who scairy an strange off lead dog coming towards you can be.

Absolutely agree with all of that Jo

Up vote to that

> I see it as considerate that if you can see someone coming with an on lead dog its nice to at least try to give them their space

Here here to that!  My dogs are friendly to other dogs - but I choose to walk them in a park that is strictly on lead at all times because its close to my home, beautiful and my dogs cant be let off the lead with other dogs around or squirrels as a distraction since my recall is rubbish - not their fault, mine, I know so I make it up for them by going to secure field specifically for off lead play etc. But the thing is in my park 50% of the dogs are not on the lead, which I have no problem with - but surely its just manners to ensure that your off lead dog at least doesn't approach on lead dogs they don't know in either an overly friendly or hyperactive way - I think most on lead dogs would feel at least a little vulnerable when that happens with an approaching off lead dog. I have asked many times when rude dogs bound up to mine and just wont leave mine alone or let us pass for their owner to recall their dog or put on a lead so I can pass - do the owners say yes? NOPE usually answer with "if your dogs bite mine then mine will learn" - ????? I don't actually want my dogs ever showing aggression thank you very much and certainly don't want to purposely put them in a vulnerable situation where a fight may happen! and the rest just say "no, it'll be ok". Drives me insane.

But... my absolute worst pet peeve is the owners that have the dog off the lead because they also have a child in a pushchair or more than one child and they pay absolutely no attention to what their dog is doing whatsoever as it bounds around at full speed often completely disappearing out of sight of the owner - who still doesn't notice and just expects it to come back eventually - and the ones that walk their dogs but also pay no attention because they appear to be surgically attached to a damn phone.

I did have one funny incident the other day though - a diddydoodle cockapo or something - came bounding up to us - not aggressively but definitely fast and overly excited weaving in and around my two dogs - the owner did recall her dog so I wasn't too annoyed and just kept control of mine and had them continue to walk trying to ignore the nutty dog - however it then proceeded to keep following us just about on my heels for quite some time as the owner also then followed behind us repeatedly calling "Betty Betty" in the softest way possible - and to absolutely no effect - it felt like I was being following by a Frank Spencer Impressionist. I got fed up in the end - turned around faced the dog - and told it "back" and it went running back to her owner......... only for the owner to say "I don't think that was necessary, you scared her".

Tinar
I agree wholeheartedly with your comments about people being stuck to their phone and taking no notice of the dogs.  Especially when the dog poops and they haven't even seen it as they're too busy talking.
Don't get me started on people not picking up poop, that's a whole other thread!

> but I choose to walk them in a park that is strictly on lead at all times because its close to my home

If dogs are not supposed to be off lead then the situation needs reporting to the dog Warden and clearer notices or warnings issued to those who flout the rules.

> If dogs are not supposed to be off lead then the situation needs reporting to the dog Warden and clearer notices or warnings issued to those who flout the rules.

There are only 3 employed dog wardens in the Wiltshire Council area and only one in Swindon Borough, despite the town being one with over 300,000 population. The Dog Warden office in Swindon is only open Mon-Fri not weekends, not evenings or early mornings, only 9am - 5pm, and you're lucky if you get an answer to the phone and not just an answering phone since if the warden is actually out doing the job then they're not in the office taking calls.

When they are that under-staffed (due to underfunding by, no doubt, a ridiculous council) I don't really want to bother them too much unless I see something dangerous because I do want them to be available to be able to deal with more dangerous and urgent situations (which they often have problems dealing with too).  Even if you find a stray dog they are so very understaffed the kennels are unmanned overnight - the dog warden will actively try to encourage the stray dog finder to help by keeping the dogs, and even ask you to go to a vet to see if the dog has a microchip (I know this as I had a situation where I found a stray in a thunderstorm and ended up actively looking for its owner and looking after it myself).  Its all shockingly underfunded and under-run, to the point of being a pointless service as they simply cant cope dealing with the dangerous dog situations/reports so any other breach of rules of parks etc, dog fouling, quite simply you haven't got a hope in hell of them having any time to address and they will even say so.  I have NEVER seen a dog warden in my town in 40 years except when I went to the pound with the dog I found - they aren't a presence you will see at any dog park at any time. I don't know if its like this in other areas but that's what the situation is around me - and its not their fault - its the lack of funding for manpower.

I always put my dogs back on lead if we see other dogs on leads, I had a bad experience with an off lead dog wen mine was on lead. Plus wen all on lead we can meet and greet nicely.

Nessa

Some dogs are defensive-aggressive when confined on a lead but more relaxed about greeting when off lead.

I'm afraid I have a bouncy, very happy to see you pup, luckily she is little so people are very patient. I do put he on a lead when I see other group approaching for their benefit and mine as she always prefers their company to me. The only gripe I have is that a few and only a few dog owners will completely ignore that fact that she is with them and not taking the slightest notice of me and carry on marching away when if they would just wait 2 minutes till i can catch up and retrieve her it would make things so much easier. And yes I know its my responsibility to keep her under control, but sometime these thing take a bit longer than expected.

If you have a long line on your pup it will making retrieving her a lot easier and can also prevent her from running off in the first place :-)

Lizzie if someone else's dog latches onto me I will wait until its owner arrives before I carry on walking.

However I can understand why not all people will do the same, so to be quite blunt :

You need to run faster

This happened to me just now. George has been unwell with a bad back but since Thursday has been doing fine. I took him for a short lead walk on the park only with 2 minutes to be attacked (again) by a neighbours springer. I didn't see it was them otherwise I would have gone a different way. The owners reply 'oh I don't know why he does that'. I said he is on his lead as he has a bad back!!
George is now back to square one doubled over in agony with a nice graze down his side. If he has to go to the vets I'm tempted to post the invoice to them! Fuming doesn't come close as he was on he mend and now he looks dreadful again.

Needless to say I'll be avoiding the park for the next few weeks.

If that neighbour's springer is a repeat offender, report them!  There are new laws now allowing dog wardens to take steps for problems like this.

It just seems to like bashing my dog I'm not sure of it does the same to others. I do usually avoid them but as I say I didn't realise and I so wish I had as now my poor dog is in pain and miserable again.  Fuming!!!

The law has changed now and if your dog is on the lead and the other one loose and causes you a problem i.e. injury etc. they are liable and you should complain to the Dog Warden and the Police. They are liable for a fine and I would definitely give them the Vet cost if you have one.

His painkillers are working and he's relaxing more. It's just the fact he could have been REALLY injured say if he had a more unstable problem and the owners blasé response was the icing on the cake. If you know your dog can be vicious then keep it under control!

I would still report it as it might happen again.