So Fed Up

Before I start I know this is our fault and I take fullresponsibility but am so stressed about it now. So tonight we take misty to the river and park where we went on Weds and had a lovely time. We were hoping to meet the dogs we met on weds so she could have a good run. So we park up, then go for a walk to the field part. She sees a pair of dogs and again ignores us and just lays there waiting for them.they say hello then she realises we are there and we move on. We have a lovely walk for half an hour and the park goes from full to only us there. So we decide to drop the long line and play the game where we send her to each other. One of us calls her she runs then gets a treat then runs to the other for another treat. We stupidly think this is helping increase her recall learning. So it's lovely, we are playing and she is loving the run. I hide behind a tree, she finds me and its all good. She runs back to hubby and I stay where I am. He sends her back to me and I suddenly see her sprinting full pelt past me and believe me she is fast. We are shouting her recall word, touch, shouting her name, pressing the clicker and she is just flying not listening to anything. There was no point me running the other way as she wasn't even looking. So after freezing for a second I chase after her and go around a bush. I see a guy picking her up and coming over to me giving me a mouthful about I should control my dog if it's( yes he called her it) attacking other  dogs. Now I was still in shock seeing her being dragged by her harness and carried,(she wasn't doing anything while he had her) so I just said sorry and he went back to his dog completely furious. Now as I didn't see anything I asked hubby truthfully what happened as he had a view, he just said she went up to the dog to play and there was no aggression which I totally believe. She is not an aggresive dog. I'm just so upset by it all, obviously the training we are doing means nothing as she didn't listen to anything and did what I always thought she would if the long line as dropped and there was another dog. I always try to stop her being a dog that pesters other dog. You know the kind, when your dog is on a lead they bound over and the owners don't care or have no control. I'm so frustrated at my hubby, he has a serious Lung disease he was born with so there was no option of him running to get her so again it's always me who gets the abuse. I know it was one hundred per cent our fault for tonight as we shouldn't have dropped the lead but I really thought she would be so interested in us she wouldn't do tthat as we were in the middle of a game. Now I'm stressed that if we go there again he will give us abuse and make trouble for us. I know that she didn't attack his dog but he is saying she did. I'm worried that he hurt her yanking her up like he did. I'm worried that she will never ever listen to us and will always just do what she wants. I'm pretty sure if she wasn't staffy or if she hadn't run up so shockingly fast and approached politely there wouldn't have been a problem. Feel so frustrated like we are doing the wrong thing with her as it's been eight months now and yet its as though we picked her up yesterday. Sorry for whinging just so sad about things tonight. I'm going out with my friend for dinner later so a huge amount of beer should help me cheer up a bit. Goes without saying she will not have line dropped for a very very long time (unless she is already playing with a dog)

Ok I've calmed down abit now. Misty seems fine, her being manhandled hasn't affected her I think. She's been a bit subdued but that's probably cause hubby and I were. She's had loads of kisses and cuddles and is now talking to him in the front room. I can't blame her for running off, it's just her nature and its our fault for not holding the line. Maybe she might have learnt a lesson tonight but I doubt it!

Emma you never made a mistake hen just a learning curve dnt beat yourself up just move on i believe every day is a learning day with a dog hen the important thing is you realised your mistake thats the important thing, the guy was inexcusable though he behaved appallingly . The important thing is you know mistys recall isnt great at the very least you are more than willing to correct it.

Emma, what ever you do please go back to that park and enjoy your time there with Misty. Some people are just so arrogant.

Misty has done what most Dogs do when distracted by something more interesting than what they are doing. You haven't been work hard for 9 months with no results, it will fall in to place. My Flo is in no way perfect with recall (she does recall even though Deaf) but is so very much better now than when we first got her. It took me two years to trust her and now she is off lead on every walk except when other leaded dogs are about.

You will get there and more than likely not even realise it just keep up with the good work you're doing