fed up

Just need to vent: since the Boxer climbing into Roxy my OH and I have become nervous walkers. He more so than me. So we don't walk in the complex any more, which is fine - it's a very boring walk anyway. But we used to take the pups out to the parks on their long leads (there's a small park nearby and a larger one about 20 minute's drive away). We haven't been to the little park since. We've been to the bigger park but my OH freaks when he sees another dog even far away off lead. I know he is anxious as the Boxer did bite him and also the off-lead dogs always seem to be the ones who belong to irresponsible owners. By the way: it is illegal over here to have the dogs off lead in a public park, but nobody seems to care. Now when we go to the bigger park my OH won't let the pups have their long leads, preferring to keep them close by.

As you know, their ex puppy school teacher has invited us to have play dates with her dog on the enclosed school grounds which has been awesome. On Monday her dog found a disgarded bone and when her mum went to take it away, she dropped it, which meant Roxy and Vinny were interested in it. The other dog then started "shouting" at them to which Roxy "shouted" back (both of them are very bossy and vocal:lol: ). Anyway, it was just a shouting match and she got her dog into a sit to calm down and the OH got Rox to sit and calm down and everyone was friends again after that. Except teacher's dog was a bit annoyed afterwards and had had enough of Roxy and Vinny wanting to play with her, so her mum grabbed her collar to get her to sit and then put her in the car as it was about time to go home. She phoned me earlier to say she broker her finger when she pulled the collar   and has taken a rain check on next week's play date   But we will continue the following week and she is going to invite more dogs. I just hope she's not going to try and stop them and that I'm reading too much into it as always.

Now, Roxy is a very "in your face play with me" staffy, hence us keeping her on long lead and the play dates at school being so good for her. Vin's only 10 months so he's still learning to play nicely - so they're also good opportunities for him.

My frustration is what to do with them in-between play dates since the OH has completely lost his nerve to go out with them. They get loads of exercise every day as we thankfully have the garden space and we spend afternoons training, playing, running around etc. But that's not the point, I feel they need to get out. Over here I'm hearing more and more of other owners not taking dogs out at all any more since the irresponsible owners have ruined public parks by letting their dogs off lead. I'm so annoyed.

Thank you, rant over  

Nawww Lisa how frustrating for you both. Could the lady trainer put you in touch with any other owners who you could meet up with for a play date ? She must have a few contacts.

If your OH is nervous when out walking with the dogs on a lead they will pick up on this and are likely to be a bit more reactive when other dogs approach. Do you know anyone with a very calm dog he could maybe take out for a hour to put his mind at ease when walking a dog ?

Kathy wrote:Nawww Lisa how frustrating for you both. Could the lady trainer put you in touch with any other owners who you could meet up with for a play date ? She must have a few contacts.

If your OH is nervous when out walking with the dogs on a lead they will pick up on this and are likely to be a bit more reactive when other dogs approach. Do you know anyone with a very calm dog he could maybe take out for a hour to put his mind at ease when walking a dog ?

Hi Kathy - the trainer says she is going to start inviting other calm dogs to the play dates - these are also all owners who don't go walking for the same reasons (irresponsible owners/dogs off lead). I agree that the pups will pick up on nervousness and become more reactive and it's worrying me terribly. I love the idea of my OH taking a calm dog for a walk, sadly we don't know anyone who lets their dogs go for walks   It's such a horrible situation. I have a friend who has two JRTs who are 9 and 10 years old and have never walked a day in their lives. I'm feeling very upset about the walking situation today. We've been good about taking ours out, dodging other people and enjoying our walks but it's just become a sad situation and to me it's unacceptable - they need to get out and about.

ohh lisa sorry you and your oh are feeling like this  ,but just give it time and it will get better,i felt just the same when sash was attacked last year,i just wanted to wrap her up and protect her,may have been totally the wrong thing to do,its a horrible situation,the more time and walks you go on the easier it gets  

Aww Lisa that's so cr1p I'm sure things will settle down and everything will turn out right

Can't really offer advice as we are still struggling, but we are always here if you want to vent  

Thanks ladies. Hope you and your doggies are doing ok otherwise  

Hope your feeling a bit better  

Thanks Janey  We found some huge sports fields to walk on yesterday so it was a very good, calm walk. Not sure how often they'll have the gates open though, but we will keep going as long as we can! The kids are exhausted this morning and they walked beautifully since we were so calm

Thats great news, start to build some confidence Xx