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So, I was walking Buddy near our local lake/reservoir just now. Beautiful day. Crisp, clear, nice breeze, temps in the 70s. I could hear some women approaching on the path, and upon hearing one of them say, "Come!", I decided I'd better leash Buddy. (He's a recovering but still-reactive dog.)

 

As I came around the bend, I saw a yellow lab. Then a schnauzer. Then a little terrier type dog. And then a puddle of other small dogs. I think the human brain stops counting at five and defaults to "a lot". So I'm going to say there were seven dogs approaching. There may have only been five or six, but my brain said, "whole lot," so I'll say seven. (It was psychologically seven dogs, anyway.)

 

After I saw the fourth dog, I leashed Buddy for fear that he would get snarky. He doesn't do well with meetings in general, and each additional dog in a group pushes him closer to his threshold.

 

As the seven dogs approached, en masse, yards in front of their owner, she yelled, "They're friendly." Now they were upon me, and I called out, "He might not be!" She said, "What?! He isn't?!" I said, "He might not be." She said, "Just let him go, and walk through them. I'm a dog trainer."

 

Now, seeing that these were small dogs (the lab had passed already), and hearing her confidence in her dogs, I assumed they were going to pass right by and ignore Buddy, so I unhooked his leash. Whereupon the puddle of dogs more or less surrounded us, and a couple of them started barking. I did the "leave it" command, and Buddy was relatively calm, but he had that look he gets right before he reaches his threshold - right before he decides to drive the other dogs off. So I put my hand on his collar.

 

The "trainer" now said, "Just let him go and walk right on by. I'm a dog trainer." Meanwhile, her little dogs were still surrounding, us, barking. I said, "Well, he might pin one of them." She said, "Really?!" as if she'd never heard such a thing. I said, "Yeah." (I should have said, "I'm THIS dog's trainer, and this isn't a good situation for him.") At that point, she attempted to call her dogs away from us... and they basically ignored her. So I kept my hand on Buddy's collar, and he stood about as calmly as he could be expected to stand, until most of the puddle had trickled away. In the end, there were two rather stodgy pugs left standing nearby, sniffing intently. She called them and called them, and when Buddy and I finally managed to move on, they followed after her.

 

::Sigh::

 

I should have pointed out to the woman walking alongside this trainer that none of the dogs was obeying the trainer's commands... and that she might want to choose a different trainer.

 

And... is it just me, or shouldn't a dog trainer be better served by knowing that a pack of dogs like this should be completely under control when out in public? My dog can't be the only one who finds a puddle of strange, yapping dogs threatening. And what if I were a dog-phobic human? Shouldn't I be able to pass without having to deal with that?

 

Reactive dog note: I've been mentioning this hand-on-collar thing I've been trying instead of leashing my dog when he's in a situation likely to cause reactivity. I'd have to say that it continues to work better than leashing, for me and my dog at least. Something about my holding Buddy directly, without the tension of the leash between my hand and him, causes Buddy much less tension. Could also be that it forces me to be right alongside his body, where maybe he trusts that I'm handling the situation. For what it's worth.

 

Mary

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It sounds like you handled him pretty well! There is nothing I hate more than someone calling out "They're friendly!" when their dogs are hurling themselves towards us. The thing I've learned is that most people just don't understand that some dogs don't want to meet other dogs. It doesn't matter how "friendly" your dog is. And saying you're a dog trainer automatically means you know the best way to handle the situation. :rolleyes: Most people just don't get it. I've had people get mad a me for telling them that my Golden wasn't friendly, meanwhile their dog is completely disobeying their commands and stampeding towards us, and my dogs are the ones under control.

 

Toby (our golden) also feels more comfortable with a hand on his collar. He greets dogs better off leash, so the hand on collar is a nice alternative. We still have some control but he doesn't feel stressed out by the leash.

A lot of the time (and this is going to sound awful!) we send our rock-solid tempered terrier ahead to greet oncoming dogs, then just turn and walk away with Toby and leave her there :D She's the master of dog language and calming signals. She's a great interceptor and often places herself between other dogs and Toby intentionally.

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You handled the situation fairly well. Just because someone says they are a dog trainer does not mean they know how to deal with reactive dogs. So many people are idiots. Thankfully you can read your dog and know when the situation is about to get dicey.

 

What I would have done different---

 

1. I would have not said "He might not be" - I would say MY DOG IS NOT FRIENDLY and make sure they understand. If need be, say he may attack your dog if it comes near...

 

2. Next time don't trust that the woman is a trainer and knows how to deal with reactive dogs. You gave away some power when you took your dog offleash. Next time I would take Buddy by the collar and keep walking. I would not stop. If you have to stop, try distracting Buddy with obedience, tricks, etc... something that may get his mind off the situation until the other dogs are under control. If you walk away and the other dogs follow so be it. It is up to the owner to chase down their dogs. Your first job is to protect Buddy and his needs.

 

3. Yes you should have told the companion that the trainer is not much of a trainer if her dogs don't call off :rolleyes:

 

Personally, I do not like dogs to come to my dogs. My dogs will not attack but I will say they will to keep other dogs away. I also don't trust anyone whose dog(s) are offleash. Most people don't quite understand that many times the dog is not being friendly or even if it is friendly that the other dog may not be... I don't care if people will call me rude, etc...

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My Griffin dog isn't terribly reactive but he does hate hate hate all boxers and isn't overly fond of floppy yellow dogs. I used to say that my dog isn't friendly when I would see one of these dogs approaching us off leash but would almost always get the response that "my dog is!". I couldn't understand why the people couldn't understand that it didn't matter how friendly their dog is...my dog doesn't need or want to meet them and get jumped all over and mouthed and 'boxed'.

 

Now I just say "my dog is aggressive" when I see one coming. No apologies, no attempt to explain, just a statement that he is aggressive. People are pretty darn quick to leash their dogs or call them back when I make this statement. If they can't call their dog back I'll put Griffin in a down stay and walk forward to block the rushing dog and to grab a collar til the owner can get there. If there is more than one rushing dog I calmly walk forward and keep going until we are through the group. By keeping Griffin moving forward he isn't nearly as likely to get into an altercation than if I tried to keep him still and allow a bunch of dogs to run up and sniff him, etc.

 

Olivia

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I've met quite a few trainers who have had very little dog behavior knowledge or common sense. The good trainers I know wouldn't feel the need to announce that they're a trainer, so that to me would have been a red flag.

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Sounds like that lady watches too much Cesaer Millan. "Just walk right through the pack and ignore them" Umm lady, that is a CALM pack. That was WAY foolish of her to let all her dogs approach yours like that. With them barking, that could have gotten really ugly, really quickly. I agree with not saying yours "may not" be friendly. If given the chance, you need to quickly state yours is not friendly. Or even a quick "he bites".

It sounds like you did a good job on your end by staying calm. I am sure that really helped your dog get through that. I however would not have made him stand still. I also would have moved ahead and just kept giving the leave it command, or watch me or something. Glad all went well though!

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what if I were a dog-phobic human?
This is exactly why Ceana and Poke are always leashed when we go hiking. I have actually had numerous people thank me for having my dog on a leash. Maybe it is just Arizona, but I have ran into a lot of people who are very afraid of dogs while hiking. At first I did it for my dogs, but now I do for other people. Everytime we go hiking one or two people always thanks me for having my dogs leashed because they are scared... it doesn't stop shocking me.
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This is exactly why Ceana and Poke are always leashed when we go hiking. I have actually had numerous people thank me for having my dog on a leash. Maybe it is just Arizona, but I have ran into a lot of people who are very afraid of dogs while hiking.

 

Yeah... fear of dogs is very common. When someone is staring at my dog as they approach, eyes steady, I figure they're scared he's going to come near them. THen there are a lot of people who - if not scared - would just rather not meet a dog up close, in the same way I'd rather not meet a nose-picking 6-year-old. One of our local parks had no leash rule, but did have a sign that stated, "No one should be approached by your animal unless they want to be." I think that's a good rule of thumb.

 

I usually call my dog to me and have him do a "sit/stay," and frequently people will thank me or say, "That's a good dog." I figure it certainly can't hurt, having dozens of local hikers and joggers - fellow citizens - who know me as "that lady with that black and white dog who is well-behaved." :rolleyes:

 

Thanks for the input, all.

 

Mary

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Maybe it is just Arizona, but I have ran into a lot of people who are very afraid of dogs while hiking.

 

I used to go to an ATM that was in a little building in a parking lot (no drive up window). I always took my Aussie (on an 18 inch traffic lead) with me, just because I felt safer that way. One day while I was waiting on the walk a polite distance from the building, a man came out and asked me to leave because his wife was in the building and was afraid to come out. Of course, I left but I've always wondered what happened that would make her so fearful of a leashed, quiet calm dog. Good thing her husband was there to communicate for her.

Barb S

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I have stories to tell,

 

One is while moving a flock of sheep down a logging road someone was approaching with unleashed dogs and she called out, "they are friendly!"

 

I called back that my sheep were not. And to watch out.

 

She laughed and caught her dog. The dog came readily and there was no problem.

 

Another one was running the sled team on a dirt road with the dry land rig and a lady was walking two rotwielers (Sp?)

 

She called out they were friendly as the dogs came tearing at us with their hackles up. ( for some reason seeing a team of sled dogs can bring out the worst in some dogs.)

 

The team is taught to ignore everything but this turned into a tangled mess and my wheel dogs can really fight.

Thank heavens I was able to stop and snub the team and chase the dogs off. Kind of scary.

 

I think it is good manners to be aware that not everyone wants a loose dog running up to them. And in the country they can get shot.

 

I was riding on my horse to town and two lassie type collie dogs ran out into the road to bite my horse then chase a guy on a bike. My horse is pretty calm and the bike guy and I were so freaked the dogs were going to get hit. The owner came out of the house to watch?

 

Then on sat, farmers market, a dog ran by our booth with a belt around its neck, another lady and I caught it. And then tried to find the owner. No luck. A beautiful golden lab/retriever type dog, good coat. Finally after we called our local pet protector folks a guy walked up to us and cursed us out in no uncertain terms. He told me that the dog would have found him. I told him, as gently as I could that the dog was crossing a busy intersection and would have gotten hit. He didn't hear me. And stormed off with his dog. It really shook me up.

 

One of my dogs got loose at a event and crossed a road and was killed in front of me. I just hate that loose dog stuff.

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I can't believe someone would let their two rotty's aproach a working sled team :D Idiots!

 

When we are hiking and Lucia is loose, I make her do a sit stay when others approach. There has been a couple times that I haven't seen the other dog or person coming until too late. I'm one of those that yells "she friendly!", but it's quickly followed by, "if yours is not, she gets what's coming to her for not listening!" I don't want her hurt, but I don't want the people to think I'll be shocked if she get bit either. This doesn't happen often, by the way. I find it embarrassing to have your dog ignore you :rolleyes:

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Oh cute pics, your dogs look like my cap dog.

 

 

WOW, your pup looks just like Grady. Same face shape and everything :D I'll bet if we put spots on yours or took Grady's away, they would look exactly alike :rolleyes: Where did you get him? Grady came from Hayden Lake , ID. I was wondering if they could be related.

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Little Cap came from Washington state somewhere north of Camano Island. The rescue person told me that the owner had died. She did give me some papers later just for me to see. But I guess we cannot be sure if that is him?

 

He is a pretty small dog.

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