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I had an unfortunate encounter with a dog off a lead this afternoon, how should I have responded?

ComputerGeek1337

Hello,

I was out for a walk in the park this afternoon. I do a walk almost every day in this park, to try and loose weight. I suffer from anxiety and depression, and so am feeling on edge most of the time, but this afternoon was feeling more on edge than usual.

A dog which wasn't on a lead came up to me barking. I was fearful it might bite me. I screamed at the dog 'down' out of fear whilst walking backwards. This happened before at it hasn't usually bothered me. But this time the distance between the owner and where the dog was, was much larger than usual as this is what caught me by surprise. This further agitated my anxiety.

I then screamed at the owner: 'you really should keep it on a lead, it's not hard'. I then walked away with my back faced to the owner to avoid further confrontation.

How should I have reacted?

Parents

  • Hi ComputerGeek

    I'm going to tell you what is theoretically good advice, but I understand in the moment the emotions are running high and it can be very hard to do this.

    Usually shouting at an already riled up dog isn't going to do anything but make it more agitated, they are a bit like humans that way. Also, 'down' tends to be an overused and under-obeyed command, I've met an awful lot of dogs who've heard it so many times that at this point it's just white noise. Usually a good move if a dog comes towards you barking is, rather counterintuitively, to ignore it and focus on the owner. A strange dog is really unlikely to listen to you regardless, and what contact you do have is likely to make things worse rather than better if it's frightened. If you have to talk to the dog, a firm but non shouted 'No' is often a good option.

    So instead often a good first move is to look at the owner and say 'can you call your dog back please'. Try and be pleasant about this, although again I am aware tensions are running high. 

    Many unhelpful owners may at this point say things like 'oh she's friendly', 'she's all bark', 'she won't hurt you'. This is often code for 'I haven't sufficiently trained my dog to come back to me and I'm embarrassed about it'

    At this point, again as calmly as possible, a good next statement is 'Then could you please put them on a lead. They're scaring me a bit' 

    Walking away is also a good move at this point as some owners will react with anger, but it is almost always embarrassment based, so avoiding the situation usually sufficient. 

    Overall, the calmer your tone and body language is, the calmer both the dog and owner will stay. And if you have to fake that you have to fake it. But shouting almost always makes everything worse. 

    Hopefully that helps. Let me know if you have any questions. 

  • in reply to Fibonacci Squid

    I would stand still too, try and relax because dogs will pick up on aggitation and most especially fear. My dog often runs up to people thinking they're someone she knows, most of the time she comes straight back to me, but sometimes she dosen't. I try and put her on a lead if I see someone coming, but sometimes people come round a corner and bump into us.

    What annoys me is when people don't put their dogs on leads when they see another dog on a lead, some round here don't even carry leads with them, I've been shouted at several times for asking other dog owners to put the lead on.

  • in reply to Mummycat

    It is embarrassment I promise. They know they are doing wrong but their dog can't / won't walk properly on a lead and they can't be bothered to teach them so they take it out on people who point it out. 

  • in reply to Mummycat

    yeah to be fair some people are just ridiculous

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