What do you do when another dog run's up to yours?

Hi guys,

Had Troy about 6 weeks and he is friendly. Plays with my brothers puppy no problem and has met several other dogs. He is very excitable but has shown no signs of aggression.

Went on a walk this afternoon and met a little husky puppy, it was beautiful. Troy wanted to play and probably hump but again, no signs of aggression, just over excitement. He even approached a crow on the field which had a broken wing and just sniffed it, never tried to grab or kill.

10 minutes later another Staffy comes running over. I didn't panic at all (as far as I can tell) and I left the leash loose and never pulled him back or applied any tension. The other dog seemed friendly, they were both just greeting and sniffing though it was face to face and they were stood tall. The owner then came running over apologising and trying to grab her dog which then sent it running in circles. Then when she pulled her dog away on the leash they snapped at each other but I don't really know who snapped first or why?

Do you think the other persons energy affected the situation?

20 minutes later I am walking through another park and there is some sort of terrier off the lead. Troy did his usual pulling, yapping and over excitement. The dog came walking over, maybe I should of just carried on walking but I let them meet as the over dog was just following us and it's the only way Troy will shut up. I must admit there was tension in the lead this time but only because Troy had pulled and I stood static. They had a sniff then both snapped at each other.

The other owner was shouting at her dog to come back though, so again what energy caused the snapping? The tension in the lead? The owner shouting or can two dogs simply just not like each other? Or maybe it is Troy's excitable energy as he was not socialised before I got him?

I think you did very well. Loud noise and excitement will make dogs snap at each other. Look at the Staff Best In Breed Crufts 2011.
Sorry dont know how to do links and all that stuff. Maybe somebody could put it up.
The dogs are fine until the crowd cheers at the announcement of the winner and after standing completely still just go for each other.
Sounds like you know what you're doing with the dog in any case.

Thanks for the reply.

I just try to follow the advise given here and I watch a lot of The Dog Whisperer

First one sounds like the owner running up and trying to grab the dog caused it, adding tension to a situation where two dogs where greeting each other in the correct way.
second one I get alot also, small terriers seem to have balls as big as anything. on one occation with a yorkie I was talking with the owner and it looked like a hairy pirahna snapping away. but as we were talking they calmed down and had a "sort" of play together.

Dont watch too much of that guy or you'll be out on your roller blades gettin towed down the street by the dog.
Watch the clips of him kicking the dogs, it is cruel to watch. Sometimes in the clip he just kicks them for no reason just show the owner how to do it.
Its not right.
Its on youtube under Caesar Millano Kicks( I think thats how you spell his name). Again appologies for no link.

George wrote:Dont watch too much of that guy or you'll be out on your roller blades gettin towed down the street by the dog.
Watch the clips of him kicking the dogs, it is cruel to watch. Sometimes in the clip he just kicks them for no reason just show the owner how to do it.
Its not right.
Its on youtube under Caesar Millano Kicks( I think thats how you spell his name). Again appologies for no link.

Here's your link...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFCGtatpCwI

When i am out i just pull lexi on and continue with our walk, the walking distracts her from snapping. If she stands for too long she will snap lol

I find Tilly can be barky (is that correct) on the lead , genearally only with smaller dogs. If she is over excited on the lead with most dogs it seems to be just frustration as if owners are ok we just let them off for a run and generally Tilly is absolutely fine, just very boisterous and rough but that seems to be the staffy way.
One thing I have noticed is if we meet our regular playmates in the street , be they dogs or owners and she is on lead, if she get s time to say hello she is ok, if she is cut short then she goes a little wobbly , biting leads, attacking my daughters feet etc . Never when I am ther on my own but regularly with my daughter whether I am there or not

Just dogs being dogs I reakon, wouldnt read too much into it myself ... some dogs have a go at Max, and some dont, but he's never retalliated (yet), I always try to pull him away and feel slightly tense TBH, mainly because I've had a DA staff and know what its like to have to get in and break them up !! .. you can NEVER really tell how a strange dog, or your own will react for sure, the freindliest of meetings can go bad pretty quickly with very little sign of trouble!

my sam hate dog that get into his face straight away but if a dog as a good manner he normal get on very well also depend on the size of the dog.

Do you think the other persons energy affected the situation?

Yes dogs almost always pick up negativity and nervous tension of the owner. I have noticed time and time again that a highly strung dog will have a nervy owner. I myself am a very laid back person and Romeo is very relaxed.
Just earlier there was a woman with a gsd walking ahead of us and the woman was proper rubber necking us, I just carried on walking. The gsd started to turn round and bark at Romeo and I watched the owner get more and more tense and as she did so the gsd got more and more hyped up. I paid very little attention to either of them and so did Romeo.
Some dogs will never get on however, no matter the circumstances. There are some dogs that Romeo just doesn't care for. He's not aggressive to them, he just ignores them and walks away when they try to play.

Dogs will pick up on people's energy and react accordingly. We only let Suki around dogs that are socialized to prevent any kind of incident. We will speak with the handler and ask if their dogs are good with others before letting them have a sniff. If the handler seems nervous or unsure we stay away

When another dog approaches I always make Ty sit calmly then I contol the interaction especially if the other dog is overly excited. But then again I have never seen him snap at any dog without serious provocation.

When another dog runs to mine i shorten my lead and shout for the owner to come gte it or shout it back. If theres no owner then which i havent come across yet i just hope nothing kicks off

I had gotten in the habit of walking the dogs with both leads wrapped around my left hand and i noticed that Kasidy was more likely to get ratty at passing dogs and then Sisko joined in.A few weeks ago i read posts about going back to basics and decided to buy new leads that i can hold the loops in my right hand and then hold the lead in my left using a couple of fingers on each. It has made a huge difference in how well they behave, and how easy they are to walk ,tension on the lead maybe?.

We always have Rocky on a long line, when another approaches we just watch for bady language and if all is OK then they have a little play together.

Milly willl always be friendley towards other dogs.Its the other dogs that attack her.She was attacked by a little pom recently