First run in with an arsey dog walker

Well it was bound to happen at some point.

Yesterday I took Nita to the dog park where she loves to go, unfortunately none of her friends were there so we had a wander around, throwing her ball for her and she was off lead.

Despite the short time we have spent together, I am fully confident that she is not dog aggressive and loves to play. In fact she usually ends up playing with six other dogs in the same park.

So, a good half hour went by, a women came to the dog park walking her dog. We were quite away from her playing at our side of the park. As she comes closer towards us (about 30m), Nita heads over to say hello and it kicks off, she got to about 12 feet away or so and the woman suddenly starts screaming and telling her to shoo, waving a bloody cane at her. Her dog then starts barking and Nita stops and just looks at the commotion. I've never heard a dog owner go off as she did, no wonder the dog started barking.

Anyway the woman starts hopping about, waving her cane towards Nita a she walks towards Nita. Yes, she decided to walk towards her.

Nita, then looks at me, I call her and she comes back (good girl). Obviously extremely annoyed at her waving her cane I said to her 'I hope you weren't going to hit my dog with that'. she replies 'I'll bloody wrap it round its neck next time'

Well, that was it. Dads blood turned red and protect mode was switched to 11. 'I beg your pardon, you'll do no such bloody thing or I'll take that cane and shove it where the sun doesn't shine, my dear' I thoroughly enjoy the fact that not effing and jeffing winds them up more.

'Dogs are supposed to be on a lead' she screamed

'Hey, you could see my dog was off lead, its called getting a good amount of exercise, you came towards us, maybe if you let your poor dog off once in a while it wouldn't be so arsey either, typical dog, just like its owner'

'Well if it comes near me again its getting it'

'Yeh and you know what will happen with that cane you old battleaxe'

With that she wandered away muttering to herself and left

20 minutes later a bunch of people I walk Nita with arrived and there was 11 dogs playing happily together, off lead, collies, GSD's, chihuahua, terriers all enjoying some damn good exercise. Apparently she is well known as a whinger.

Makes me wonder why people have dogs.

i'm not having a go,as i've had plenty of run-ins,with less responsible dog owners myself,but you are really not doing yourself or the staffie image any favours by allowing your dog to run loose when a dog and owner comes along that you don't know and have never met before.
it's simple good manners for both dogs to be on the lead and introduced with both dogs under the full control of both owners.

I agree with dazaldo I'm afraid. I don't agree with the way the lady handled it but obviously if her dog was on a lead there's a reason and if I'm honest I probably would have shooed Nita away myself as Axl is sometimes dog aggressive.

I would also say that your comment about not letting dogs off lead is a bit unfair. Axl can't go off lead for a couple of reasons. He's got a tendency to be dog aggressive to dogs he doesn't know and he has problems with his back leg so he can't run off lead much. I don't think that's a reason for me not to have him and I don't think it makes me a bad owner

You should always put your dog on lead or call her close if you see a leaded dog approaching its just good manners, responsible ownership and stops situations like you had today. Maybe something to think about.

I do agree that the other dog owner seemed to over react but unfortunately it's the bad press that staffies get. The way to change people's minds is to be responsible and calm and prove that not all staffy owners are thugs and irresponsible owners. A lot of people are frightened of staffies because of bad press.

Just think about it, if you had put Nita on a lead and walked her over there to say hi then the situation could have been a lot different and maybe you would have had another new dog pal for her

I'm not having a go but I think as Staffie owners we have a huge responsibility to be even more careful.

Hey don't think you're having a go at all, I'm quite thick skinned. We all have our own views etc, the world would be a crappy place if we didn't.

However, on this particular occasion, I was in a designated area that allows dogs off lead. Its fenced off and people can use the other part of the park to walk on lead.

The women could clearly see I was walking Nita off lead and came towards me, not the other way round. Nita was happily playing ball.

My comment about her not letting hers off lead was due to us being in this particular area and I also found out this morning she is well known for doing this then complaining. Apparently quite a few people have had dealings with her.

I completely agree to walk on lead in an area where its required and I also do this too. I also agree that as a staffy owner I need to show our staffies are not bad as the press makes out. Hence why later that day she was happily milling about with 11 other dogs, off lead and the owners we impressed with the way she got on with playing, incidentally the chihuahua ruled the pack lol

Ahh okay sorry I didn't realise you were in an off lead area. Sounds like she is the resident pain in the butt then lol in that case just ignore her. Nita sounds like a little angel bless her!

Even in an off lead area it's rude to allow your dog to run up to people without asking prior permission, and your dog could be deemed to be out of control if that person decided to put in a complaint. Not all dogs have complimentary personalities, temperaments, activity levels, ages, play styles etc and don't have to interact/play with every single dog they see. Sounds like she went a bit OTT but I would be p***ed off too if it was me. My dog is reactive and nervous, so I would avoid anyway, but I walk a very friendly dog for an older lady who I still shoo dogs away from him unless I know them. Dogs can be friendly but still have problems with resource guarding, play bite inhibition, impulse control etc also. Next time, might be wise to ask first.

Sorry Debs, I should have stated that.

I don't find it rude at all, Rachel. Its not as though she ran over to her barking and jumping, that I can agree with as being rude. She pottered over to them. If the woman knew her dog wasn't friendly then she had no reason to come towards me knowing full well I was exercising her off lead in an off lead area apart form wanting to be antagonistic.

I could fully understand had it been in another area, to some degree, except for kicking off like she did and threatening to do harm to my dog.  
There has been occasions where Nita has been on lead and another dog has come over off lead. In fact three days ago she was approached by two bull mastiffs off lead with no issues. Of course, thats not to say it would never happen where another dog kicks off with her.

Difference in opinion I suppose, I find it very rude no matter how friendly the dog is. Might not be that the dog isn't friendly - could be a whole host of other reasons. Of course she should have never attempted or threatened to have harmed your dog, though.

Of course, differing opinions are part and parcel of doggy discussions.

However, heres the chihuahua telling everyone to hush

i can understand where you are coming from but i do think you are missing the point slightly. it's not really the behaviour of your dog that's in question but the possible reaction of the other persons dog to an uncontroled unfamiliar animal approaching it. my tessa was very very dog aggressive when i first had her and it's taken nearly 3 years of hard work to get her to the point where she no longer wants to kill every dog that comes near her. she is great with dogs that come to her quietly and calmly on the lead but still has a problem with those that come running at her off the lead.
although i think the other womans reaction was probably ott i can fully understand it and i am sure that you would be equally protective over your dog if the shoe was on the other foot.
but at the end of the day no harm done and hopefully a lesson learned.

If the area is split into off lead and on lead exercising surely it's no surprise to find dogs off the lead in the off lead section. If you've got a pile of dogs and can't let them off at all then you should stick to the on lead section. His dog assumed she was about to join in with them and she obviously blew a piston because she wanted to have her cake and eat it. If it's signed as an off lead area then i'd expect to see sociable dogs off the lead. Same as if i went to the other area i'd expect to see respectful dogs on the lead.

I completely understand the point, Daz had I been in the on lead area. I wasn't.

As Ian said above, that's where dogs are off lead and one where all off lead dogs interact with each other. Hence 11 of them playing happily together shortly afterwards. I'm a big believer in allowing a healthy interaction between dogs where they can freely play in a place where it is allowed and yes, to allow them to sort their squabbles out. Each time I have been there with Nita, there has not been one instance of fierce aggression nor toy guarding. They have their squabbles of course and they then get on with it.

Now, on the other hand, if I had not allowed Nita this interaction and just let her play by herself then other dog walkers would not have potentially commented on how well she behaves and how their initial view of a staffy was unfounded, so really its damned if you do, damned if you don't.

it does seem like she over reacted sightly ,saying that if a strange dog came running up to us whilst out on a walk i would shout for the owner to put their dog on lead(sash not good with other dogs),again sash would have been on lead if another dog was near and i would'nt put her in the position of having lots of other dogs around her.good girl Nita for having a good re-call ,some people just go ott and need to calm down

You and nita have done absolutely nothing wrong a d there's no rule against approaching in an off lead area as long that she didn't attack/ Barked or jump on them from the other hand threatening your dog with a stick is completely unacceptable in any area!

Think I might have read this differently.. Nita didn't approach this woman's dog so there was no reason for her to act as aggressively as she did. I totally agree that when in an area that have off and on lead dogs then it is simply good manners to lead yours when approaching another on lead dog.

This Woman needs to learn some manners of her own I think but then again I have a thick skin and tend to reply with something witty or sarcastic.

This is a bloody tough one. I get so annoyed with small off lead dogs that i have to real my two in to 18 inch leads for control and it really grates me. whowever i just love offlead staffies coming up to mine with the same play ethos, i just let the flexies out full tilt. most owners are gratefull for the funtime. mine are on lead because they will run and can do 8km in under 15 mins...try calling that back!

Ian, to be fair Nita went over to them. No running or barking, she just pottered over. When I look back, her dog was fine until she kicked up a stink then it started. Nita stood there, looked back at me and I called her and she pottered back over.

Nathan, I can imagine that what with the bikejor-ing. Would be bit of a trek.

It looks like the woman in question decided the rules regarding off and on didn't apply to her. It's the same as with children, if you take them to the park you want them to interact with the other children and make friends and really enjoy themselves and want to go again. At the same time there's a time and place for everything.

I also think as a staffy owner we also need to remember that a lot of people are scared of staffies because of bad press. Not our staffies fault but also not their fault either

I agree Debs, hence why I still have no idea why this women decided to approach Nita and me.

I know there have been varying ideas on this post and I have taken it all in. But this is the thing, we all know our own dogs temperament and at what level we need to step in. As an example.
We went to look at adopting another pooch today and went to see two separate dogs, one male and one female. I was surprised at how different the male was to Nita, he was hyper constantly and kept getting in Nitas face. It wasn't aggression, just boisterous play but Nita wasn't having it and told him so. She ended up getting the upper hand without any animosity and if I had taken him she would have ruled the roost.  However it was worse when they were both on leads so I asked the owner if they minded taking them both off. We did so and in the 20 mins there was only one instance where I stepped in to break up a squabble.
The female was pretty much like Nita, chilled out but they just didn't see eye to eye so decided against that one too. It really did give me so much more respect to Nita for the way she handled both situations. I was so proud of her.

Now this I learnt from the video I posted asking the question about rough housing or aggression and also studying other videos regarding it. Had I not I would have potentially panicked and caused more issues  with doing so.

Haizum, you didnt nothing wrong I disagree with people who are saying youshouldnt allow your dog to go up to others when it 30metres away, fair enough if theres a good distance but if they are walking towards you and your dog is friendly, I dont see the problem, I think not allowing your dog to makes it unnatural, a dog doesnt think like a human, you did nothing wrong!