[DCluver33]

I took Dodger and Molly on a walk with my neighbor and her little dog, Hudson. All was going well until Hudson spotted a dog way far up the street and started going nuts, I put Dodger in a head lock because Molly started acting up and she always sets Dodge off and he gets really hard to control, after we calmed him down the dog and his owner approach us, The poodle was on a flexi leash that was all the way out and locked so this dog has about 6 feet of leash while the owner has no control over him. the dog walks up in a very dominate posture and stares me down, I didn't back down, but held my ground; after about ten minutes the dog backs down. the owner asks are they're friendly and I replied not while he's growling like that so he tells his dog "Buddy no" in a not so firm voice while the dog is still growling. I decided his dog isn't going any where neat my two because of his behavior and posture. The poodle did fine with Hudson, probably because he's a small dog. The guy stands over Hudson, who's getting scared and unsure, stares at him then goes to pet him on top of his head, Hudson who is getting scared runs away from the guy and hides behind my neighbor. my whole issue with the meeting was the flexi leash what if his dog attack one of my dogs? the guy wouldn't have had time to control his dog because he had so much leash out. This is why I hate flexi leashes people don't know how to use them properly.

 

[DCluver33]

I don't think it was my dogs that were causing the poodle to be dominate it was pulling his owner down the street already in his dominate posture before it was even near my dogs I'm sure once it got nearer it made it worse. Once I let Dodge out of his head lock he was fine and he relaxed. Once I got molly's attention she calmed down too, sort of, she's very timid and gets really bad anxiety ( we're working on that). Hudson on the other hand has always reacted aggressively out of fear, and Dodger has learned to ignore him when he does this Molly not so much, I hardley walk the two of them together because of her anxiety. I'm in the process of teaching Dodger 'watch me' he's does it great inside and on my patio and even when we're walking I'll stop and tell him watch me, but if there's another dog around forget it his attention is on the other dog not me no matter how hard i try to get his attention on me it doesn't work. I've now started walking him away from the other dog to break his focus then i go through sit and down several times to get his focus on me.

 

[DCluver33]

my neighbors dog was the only one barking. Molly was whining until i told her to shut it and Dodger was just excited to meet another dog and I didn't want him excited to meet another excited dog. Once he calmed down he could meet the other dog, but the other dog didn't calm down. Usually I bring treats on walks, but tonight I forgot too oops.

 

[DCluver33]

This is not going to be a popular response.

I think that people with dogs that have issues, should walk those dogs with one adult per dog. Having to control two dogs that were reacting to a dog on whatever type of lead is an accident waiting to happen.

I think you should walk your dogs separately until you feel confident that they are not going to react when they see another dog. It will be safer all around.

Flexi-leads are hazardous, true. People keep giving them to me for Christmas and such. I use them to keep doors open. Have you ever had a dog on a flexi go for something, and you grab the tape with your hand??? Ouch!

But what if that dog was loose? What if it came running toward your dogs? It is hard to take two reactive dogs and hold them both back while you deal with the loose one. And dogs that are agressing can actually transfer their aggression on whatever is available. Your dogs could have attacked each other or the friends dog.

It looks really cool when you see someone walking two large dogs down the street. Normally, one of those dogs is eight and the other four, and both have been in classes since they were four months old. They do not arrive from the shelter or the breeder ready to be walked in tandem, perfectly heeling and calm and collected around people and dogs. If you have a well-trained four year old and get a puppy, walking them together is ok, so long as you are training the puppy to walk nicely. You can raise them up to walk together, but it works a whole lot better when the one already knows the ropes and is stable.

I totally get what you're saying. Molly hasn't had a walk in a while (I know I know bad doggie owner), I normally walk them together and they're fine it's just Molly and Hudson's energy is off and it makes me anxious which in turn makes Dodger more excited. Molly is really easy to control even with her anxiety she'll run before she attacks anything she's that timid she usually hides behind me anyways. Dodger was just excited to see and meet another dog, and if I keep walking they don't pay any attention to the other dog, I stopped because my neighbor stopped because her dog was freaking out. Dodger is already tons better with his heel.

I've had to fend off an off leash dog before while walking Molly and Dodger and my two both just stood there and ignored the other dog, to a point, I just stood there in front of my two until the off leash dog turned around and left. I wasn't worried about my two; I was worried about the guys dog and the way it approached my dogs.

 

[DCluver33]

oh yes I'm very aware of off leash dogs. I was just mad that this guy let his dog, who was growling, go up to other dogs like that especially with that much leash.

I'm not worried about my dogs attacking another dog I'm worried about another dog attacking my dogs, Molly's already been attacked by some lady's off leash little black dog once I had to physically pull her dog off Molly. That made molly's timidness worse. I take molly out separately once a day to socialize her with other dogs to help her with her anxiety.

When we adopted Dodger we made sure he was socialized with everything and everyone, we take him everywhere we possibly can with us. Molly on the other hand wasn't socialized properly when she was younger (she used to belong to my grandparents who did nothing with her). Once she gets over her timidness she's fine with other dogs, but i keep a very very close eye on her and the other dog.

 

[DCluver33]

I would like to know how one gets in front of your dog and stay there when another dog is fast approaching? We have had a couple incidents out walking and I can see where that might be very difficult if the other dog is unleashed and very aggressive although not so bad if the other dog and your own dog doesn't really want to get into a fight. If both do, good luck!

It would seem to be very difficult to do esp. If one has to do it for a few minutes as the dogs circle each other.

My friend had a pit bull attack her dog (pit off lead and her male GSD on leash) in a parking lot. There was absolutely nothing she could do as the pit was way too fast (and determined!) to block him from her dog. If the pit owner had not come rushing across the lot and physically grabbed his dog, it would have gotten very ugly very fast.

I saw the dog coming towards me and i just turned so I was between the dog and my two. It wasn't running towards me, but walking, it wasn't aggressive just more territorial I just didn't like it's body language, once it saw me become more dominate so to say it stopped turned around and went back to it's owners.

 

[DCluver33]

I had to fend off two off leash dogs once. Try doing that with a very DA dog. My best friends lab is very DA I was walking her and this lady either let her two dogs out or accidentally let them out, but this min pin and this Aussie Puppy got out and Indy wanted to kill them. I had Indy up off her front feet and I had to kick the puppy in the face, not hard, to get it to back off I figured it'd be better if I kicked it then getting attacked. the min pin was circling to get behind me and I just kept moving so it was constantly facing me, Luckily the owner came out and got her dog the Aussie puppy went back inside. Pure luck none of us got injured.

 

[DCluver33]

since your dogs are and your friends dogs
are reactive why didn'tyou cross the street? why didn't one
of you ask the man with the Poodle to not to come any closer or
to reel his dog in? i think you should have done something to
avoid the encounter.

my dogs weren't reacting in an aggressive way they were just too excited to meet another dog at that point, once they calmed down they could have meet him, but the poodle wouldn't calm down. Hudson was the one who was getting aggressive. We crossed the street, but the guy crossed with us to have his dog meet our dogs. The guy was kinda of stupid IMO. Should have it been handled differently? yes. Should have I had Molly in a choke collar instead of a flat collar? yes. Usually both of mine are really well behaved they were just really excited, too excited to meet another excited dog who was on 6 feet of loose leash. if they guy had reeled his dog in and stopped it from growling then they could have meet the dog. It didn't occur to me to ask the guy to reel in his dog because I was trying to get Dodger to focus on me (hence the headlock he was in) he wasn't listening and my neighbor asked me for help so I stayed to help.

 

[DCluver33]

I love my flexy/recoil leash. I anticipate what is or might be coming up. I reel her in when even the possibility of a problem occurs. The rest of the time she can move about and I am not yanked about. We have to remember that our dogs and their behavior is one thing but not all dogs and owners are alike. We should be mentally and physically prepared to deal with wide variety of situations. There are a lot of nice and not-so-nice dogs and people out there ...... it is a fact of life.

i like them too, I use mine occasionally, but when other dogs are around i reel mine in, his was not. He let his dog on 6 ft loose leash go up to another dog before he even asked if they were friendly.