Meeting on Walks

[jelly8bean]

I am getting very good lately about walking my lovely's and I wanted to ask you all opinions of this situation. I am out walking my rottie this AM (she and I do walks alone) and on the greenway I see a pair of women who I have seen before on this trail. These are two soccer Moms who are walking their mid-size dogs (say 40-50lbs). They use flexi leads and have little control as their dogs pull them from side to side on the trail and jump on each other trying to play. The first time I meet this 4 some I just took my rottie to the side of the trail, put her into a sit and talked to her kind of standing in front so the other dogs wouldn't lunge at her. She was great and just sat there listening to me while the group passed. This time I see the group standing and talking just around the bend of the trail, flexi's at max and dogs snuffing around. I have to say I caved.. I just didn't want to put my dog into the situation where there could be some issue, so I turned tail and went back the other way. So at lunch today I'm walking my young blue, she is not yet up on the walk with me skills (gentle leader time!) and I worried I would meet this group again. My baby is not all that good yet, and when I am walking my two dobies it might /could be worse. I had the two out for a walk on Sunday and we pulled to the grass and had a nice sit/wait while a nice person with his well mannered black dobie passed us. That sort of thing is fine, but what about the - this is my dog's exercise/release time walkers? What do you all do when walking and you see what could be a less than attractive dog meeting situation ahead of you?

[magtie]

when i'm walking my boxer i almost always avoid confrontation with other dogs unless i know the owners. He may be missing out on some socialization but i don't know what the other dogs are like. Tie's wound up at the best of times and if we come across another wired dog things could bad fast.

if the dog owner insists on a meeting i usually oblige. But never EVER with small dogs...

[jelly8bean]

Glad to know I'm not alone. Even with my very friendly young blue I wouldn't have put her into this situation. I guess I could shout out to them to hold their dogs but that makes it seem like you have a problem rather than they have the problem. Oh well...

[Rich S]

When we're walking Magnum we avoid all contact, human and dog. We're not at all worried about Magnum's behavior, it's the other humans and dogs. We have had people tell us their dog is friendly so we let them get close to us, and of course their not as friendly as their owner believe. My fear is that Magnum might defend himself one day and hurt another dog.

Magnum is so big he often scares most people on our walks. And of course people see the Gentle Leader and think he is wearing a muzzle.

[apollo]

when i'm walking my boxer i almost always avoid confrontation with other dogs unless i know the owners. He may be missing out on some socialization but i don't know what the other dogs are like. Tie's wound up at the best of times and if we come across another wired dog things could bad fast.

if the dog owner insists on a meeting i usually oblige. But never EVER with small dogs...

That's exactly what I do with Apollo.

[jelly8bean]

Now I'm working on walking my two girls together at least once a week. I find that if I walk them individually we seem to bond more.. but I need to work on them together too. So since we fill the trail I definately pull over if someone is coming. You know, I wonder why no one else does this? Why is it always me that goes to the side of the trail? Humm....

[MLR]

I know exactly what you all are going through. I usually walk my two dobe's together and it's always me who takes the precautions. I think it's because it's usually that people with smaller dogs don't see their dogs as vicious and because they could even pick them up with ease if there was a problem so they just don't think or observe simple common courtesy. I think doberman owners are just more concerned about good dog manners period.

The only breed I have encountered that my two get ready to fight over is pit bulls. It must be that they both project the same energy and protectiveness towards their owners. As long as the other dogs are mainly curious and friendly I let mine stop and visit with them while I talk to the other owner. We don't have dog parks or even dog specific trails here in Battle Creek so it's the luck of the draw whenever we go out. There are a lot of rentals around where I live and it's an ever changing population of people and animals.

One thing I've learned is that the calmer I am and the less I raise my voice the calmer my dogs are. This is not to say that they haven't tried to pull me off my feet responding to a fenced in dog guarding his territory when we are walking by it's home. I always carry treats and use them if my dogs make it past this kind of situation without going completely bonkers. This means no barking and no pulling me in the direction of the fence. I just keep walking and keep a firm hold on the leash and keep repeating the heel command. Then they get a treat.

One sure way to make the other owner move out of your way is not to move yourslelf. The old mystique of the breed usually causes them to move aside so long as I'm not acting cocky about it and keep talking to my dogs and smile a greeting at the other owner. They may think I'm nuts, which doesn't hurt, but it works every time. Even when it's just a group of people walking along together, like young teens acting like they're all that, they usually move well out of our way when they see one or the other of my dogs eying them intently. Nobody ever sneaks up on us from behind either.


I don't mean to imply that good manners aren't needed, but I also truley believe it should go both ways.

Try this sometime Jelly8bean. Unless you know for sure your dog will go after the littler one, don't you always be the one to move out of the way first. Take back some control of the situation. Otherwise you could be telegraphing to your dog that there's something to be on guard about and setting it up to happen. That's just my opinion.

[Sue J]

I agree with MLR about telegraphing. I think dogs read our emotions better than we do theirs sometimes. A fearbased animal can also be a problem. It takes good judgement on the handler's part too though to determine when to move over/turn around. It sounds like you know your dogs pretty well and are a courteous handler. JMHO.