What do you say to owners of off-lead dogs?

[booboo222]

@jaxosk26 The single most effective thing I ever did was train my dog to stand behind an umbrella. The immediate sight block calmed him, prevented access from the other dog, and just generally de-escalated the situation immediately with no other action required until the idiot owner and their "friendly" dog fucked off.

Otherwise I just found a shirt and leash sleeve that simply said "DO NOT APPROACH" white text on red background the best advocating tools. If I had to talk to someone I'd call out "Don't let your dog make contact, mine is super contagious, very sick!" this was the single most motivating thing for other owners far more than asking them to recall or telling them by dog wasn't friendly. Their fear of some mystery virus was far stronger than that of my dog actually being a risk on his own, haha.

In serious situations I also found "I'll kick your dog if it approaches us" was super effective but always opened up arguments, so use at your own peril

 

[jaxosk26]

@booboo222 At this point, I’m beyond giving a shit about verbal altercations with off-lead owners. I’m done being nice.

But how did you manage to train your dog to stand behind an umbrella? I’ve never considered attempting to use a barrier like that:

 

[booboo222]

@jaxosk26 At first it was just a lot of desensitising, opening it while he wasn't around and then leaving it in a corner of the room for him to explore at his own pace, once he was pretty comfy with it as an object we worked on popping it up and making it rain treats at home in spaces he generally felt safe (it's a Blunt umbrella so the push button made a bit of noise opening that was important he get used to), then doing the same thing outside. Then I started shaping our already very solid 'middle cue' to incorporate popping up the umbrella and putting in front of us once he was stationed, eventually I moved him out of middle by dropping a treat in front of him, close to the umbrella so he'd be between my legs and it. And then the last stage was getting him to move through those motions on a cue which was 'here it comes' so he'd back up to my legs and I'd pop the umbrella up then grab the back of his harness. Key to this was doing is super consistently literally everywhere - not just relying on it when I saw other dogs because otherwise it became an aversive stimulus predictor. Instead it was just a fun task to do in order to get lots of cheese on a walk, haha. That also helped me be super fast at doing it when I actually needed it, because my muscle memory of the motions was strong.

In a lot of cases the click and whoosh, plus sudden appearance of the umbrella would startle other dogs and get them to stop or actually run back to their handlers.

 

[jaxosk26]

@booboo222 I love love love this! Thank you for taking the time to explain your methodology to me.

 

[rimbella]

@jaxosk26 I usually don't react, I just ignore the owner, I just watch the dogs. If I see stiffness, desire of attack on my dogs, I'll pull back my dog and stay between them. If the other dog decides to attack, he's getting the boot.

I might say something like "leash your dog" afterwards, but I don't really like the idea of screaming while my dog might tense up due to the other dog. Seems really counter-productive to me, and it would create more tension to my dog, as it would be a weird behavior for him. Dogs don't know that we are talking with other persons. As far as they're concerned, we're barking.

 

[rnblessings]

@jaxosk26 This is why I just keep my dog muzzled now. I cant predict how other people will manage their dogs and theres been enough close calls. It is so frustrating for me.

 

[johansen]

@jaxosk26 I don’t currently have a dog & just lurk this sub to support others. I cannot imagine how I would handle my anger at off lead dogs. It seems so common nowadays! And the off lead owners are invariably entitled, stupid, and completely lacking in care. I can’t even imagine how much harder those idiots make having a dog in general, let alone a reactive dog.

Many hugs to you