Update

This is an update on the unfortunate incident that happened earlier, as reported on this forum:

Walking to the shops, Douglas on short lead. Rounded a corner and a wire-haired terrier in front of us off lead. We stopped completely and  I shortened Douglas's lead yet further. The other owner 8 feet away. I warned 'my dog can be a bit grumpy with other dogs'. The other owner did nothing, but allowed her dog to come up and sniff Douglas nose-to-nose. I said it again - he may be grumpy. Just at that moment, the free dog (it was a male) urinated against a plant pot at the entrance to the shop we were outside, this was 6 inches in front of Douglas's face. He saw red and snapped. It was ugly. Many people somehow appeared and though neither I nor the other owner wanted it (so she said) one of the bystanders called the police. The other owner and I swapped names and details. The other dog is being taken to the vet for a check-up. I walked home in a state of some shock with Douglas. Upon getting back to the house, I phoned the other owner with the number written for me on a piece of paper to check that she had my number alright and to apologise again that this bad incident occurred and to agree to speak later when she knew what had happened at the vet's.

The main part of the update is to say that the other dog is fine. It was taken to the vet and was thoroughly checked over. No treatment was given apart from an injection which I assume was pre-emtively to prevent infection. I paid the bill. It was £80. The police never called. To be fair, as others have noted, I’m not sure that there was legally much of a case as mine was the dog that was in control  in the public place (alongside busy road). The other dog was off lead. Accepting completely my responsibility for ensuring Douglas causes no damage, I do nevertheless consider the other owner to be stupid for ignoring twice my warning and not properly protecting her own dog. Unfortunately, however, I do know that there will be dozens more like her. (‘My dog wouldn’t hurt a fly’ - aye right). So I had to put up with the cocky boyfriend coming round to get his money, but that, thankfully, was the end of that.

Except that it’s not really the end as everything here has to be revised in terms of making sure that such a thing never happens again. We’re changing our walking routes to try and lessen the possibility of encountering the dreaded offlead dog situation (with stupid or absent owner). We use a muzzle sometimes. We’re working on the ‘watch me’ command, though I suspect that some proximities to pushy offlead dogs will always be too much for Douglas. I’m wracking my brains to think how I can let Douglas go offlead himself safely because he does love chasing after a ball. I’ve even been looking in the property pages to see if it’s possible to buy a field! However, as we live in central Edinburgh, there are not many fields round here.

So we’re chugging along here, still very upset at what occurred but doing everything we can to go forward.
I did feel sorry for the woman who has been prosecuted (as well as the one that got injured, obviously) for not preventing her akita attacking another dog at Crufts – just after her dog had won an award. She obviously is an experienced dog handler – much more experienced than me – but yet it happened even to her in an unguarded moment. This is a worry to any of us who may have a dog who is not always best of friends with his own sort.  Although Douglas is the friendliest, most affectionate dog with humans, it is not a particularly safe manoeuvre to pull him away from a scrap (which hopefully I will never have to do again). If the other owner moves in to protect their dog and gets inadvertently injured (as seems to have happened in the Crufts case) then this does take things to a new level of nightmare. It seems a great pity.

I’d like to thank everyone again, as previously, for all your intelligent and informed comments on my story.

I can fully understand why you feel you have to change your routine. That incident would have been upsetting for anyone. We live in the city too but more suburbia and encounter many dogs daily, some are fine and Flo will completely ignore them but then there are others that are a problem. There's a certain fine looking Blue just around the corner that we bump into quiet often, he is very DA but has a responsible owner that keeps him on lead. We are constantly assessing our walking environment and will change direction if we feel that Flo's walk might be compromised.

Off lead, Flo doesn't go far from us but on occasion there have been confrontations and we are just quick to get in and stop any nonsense. It seems such a shame that you can't find an area for Douglas to enjoy some off lead time. Would a long lead be an option or is it more a case that there are other off lead dogs that you don't feel can be trusted ?

Hi Ian and thanks for the suggestion. A long lead certainly increases the chance of me getting Douglas back if he's free, but getting him back is not really the central problem. His recall is actually very good and I can rely on him never to be far from me. The issue is if another offlead dog bounds up in an apparently aggressive manner and Douglas decides to respond in kind. As with the dogs of many of us on this forum, he may not just bite – he may bite and not let go. The other dog may start it, but he goes too far. So this is the thing that must be prevented and the long trailing lead doesn’t really address this central problem because he’s already usually close enough to be grabbed. We all think we are watching for the signs and will step in, but sometimes this situation can develop in a nano-second and without warning. It doesn’t really matter if the other dog or owner is ‘to blame’. On another occasion (thankfully only a minor incident), the other owner made a fuss of Douglas – oh Douglas Douglas, you lovely boy she said, fondling his ears. Her own dog (off lead) got jealous at the attention he was getting from her human and let fly at Douglas (on lead). He responded in the manner described. So lessons learned all round. Even in defence, it cannot be allowed to happen. But I can see what you're saying. There is caution and there is over-caution. We're trying to strike the right balance here, while ensuring safety for all - most of all for Douglas himself.

Glad the original issue got sorted   it's such a shame that we have to take extra precautions because of irresponsible owners!

So glad its been sorted. Its so hard when you have a reactive dog and useless owners of other dogs that let theirs run up to any leaded dogs and see no problem! Grr

Glad that it has all worked out, despite having to change so much of your routine now. I hope you manage to find a good balance with Douglas and his freedom. It would be a real shame for him to lose out just because of other people not being responsible of their dogs.

Agree with Emma above   

I feel so sorry for you guys in towns; just got back from a lovely woods walk with Madge and she was off-lead all the time. I think because there's so much space she doesn't bother with other offlead dogs, just a quick sniff and then I call her away and she's fine. I do always call her in and pop the lead on if I spot another on the lead - this is just good manners and people who don't reciprocate are just irresponsible. I used to have an Akita and despite all our efforts and specialist training, I knew you could not rely on her for recall, especially with other dogs, so sadly she was always on a long lead, wherever we were.So after her, staffies have been a dream !

I feel so sorry for you guys in towns; just got back from a lovely woods walk with Madge and she was off-lead all the time. I think because there's so much space she doesn't bother with other offlead dogs, just a quick sniff and then I call her away and she's fine. I do always call her in and pop the lead on if I spot another on the lead - this is just good manners and people who don't reciprocate are just irresponsible. I used to have an Akita and despite all our efforts and specialist training, I knew you could not rely on her for recall, especially with other dogs, so sadly she was always on a long lead, wherever we were.So after her, staffies have been a dream !

Glad it all ended well (apart from your wallet).   

so glad it all got sorted out,it is worrying thou knowing you got to be careful when out walking,it took sash a good year after she was attacked to let another dog even near her,we taught the watch command and it did help alot.

Glad you got it sorted and the other dog unharmed.
It drives me crazy the amount of irresponsible owners there are out there.
Why oh why don't owners of aggressive dogs keep them on a lead. It's something I find astonishing.
My last staff was very DA and I went to great lengths to find out of the way places to walk her. Even then, she was always on a long line.
I'm seriously considering buying a field to let out to owners with DA dogs so they can have a good run with peace and security.   

Ah what a nightmare for you, some people are so irresponsible   . I hope you manage to find a safe place for Douglas to have some off lead play