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I have something like this happen fairly regularly. Sometimes with Annie on leash, sometimes offleash. Approached by a dog that is off leash, possibly unfriendly, and not under vocal control from the owner.
I took Annie to a local soccer field today. It's snowed a lot lately, so our normal offleash areas are full of snowmobiles and I am tired of dealing with the dog park. Let her off leash, played ball a bit. We had been there maybe a minute when here comes a dog... I hear the owner yelling, dog ignores him.
I called Annie back, held her collar. Should have put on her leash maybe, but dog was a few hundred feet away at that point; I was hoping the dog would leave and the owner would successfully recall it. Nope. It circled us sniffing Annie rather rudely, tail rigid but rather low. Annie growls. Keeps sniffing and circling, Annie growls again. It's one of those slinking, low head, hackles up kinda dogs. To be honest, based on the interaction between dog and owner, it's probably a dog trained with a lot of physical force and not much skill. Not a happy, confident dog at all. I say, after Annie's second growl. "ok dog, shoo! Go on home" and try and get between them.
Owner approaches, dog ignores him but backs off from us, Annie ends up breaking free while I offer the owner our leash which he declines . The dog chases after her, looking not playful, and falls on his butt in the snow a few times. Owner yells at dog, dog eventually goes with him home, Annie is at a sit stay as they leave and then we played "find the treats in the snow" and a bit of ball (before I lose the ball)
If a fight looked likely, I would have dropped the collar so Annie could escape/fight it out/defuse it but I always figure the owner has a better chance of catching the dog if Annie isn't running with it! I also will drop the collar/leash if the dog is approaching at a flat out run and looks likely to try and connect. But then again, Annie does not enjoy being held while approached by a strange dog, and am not sure that holding her is any safer. My leash was in a zipped up pocket so hard to access, and a challenge if I need to let her go.
What do you do when approached by offleash dogs?
I took Annie to a local soccer field today. It's snowed a lot lately, so our normal offleash areas are full of snowmobiles and I am tired of dealing with the dog park. Let her off leash, played ball a bit. We had been there maybe a minute when here comes a dog... I hear the owner yelling, dog ignores him.
I called Annie back, held her collar. Should have put on her leash maybe, but dog was a few hundred feet away at that point; I was hoping the dog would leave and the owner would successfully recall it. Nope. It circled us sniffing Annie rather rudely, tail rigid but rather low. Annie growls. Keeps sniffing and circling, Annie growls again. It's one of those slinking, low head, hackles up kinda dogs. To be honest, based on the interaction between dog and owner, it's probably a dog trained with a lot of physical force and not much skill. Not a happy, confident dog at all. I say, after Annie's second growl. "ok dog, shoo! Go on home" and try and get between them.
Owner approaches, dog ignores him but backs off from us, Annie ends up breaking free while I offer the owner our leash which he declines . The dog chases after her, looking not playful, and falls on his butt in the snow a few times. Owner yells at dog, dog eventually goes with him home, Annie is at a sit stay as they leave and then we played "find the treats in the snow" and a bit of ball (before I lose the ball)
If a fight looked likely, I would have dropped the collar so Annie could escape/fight it out/defuse it but I always figure the owner has a better chance of catching the dog if Annie isn't running with it! I also will drop the collar/leash if the dog is approaching at a flat out run and looks likely to try and connect. But then again, Annie does not enjoy being held while approached by a strange dog, and am not sure that holding her is any safer. My leash was in a zipped up pocket so hard to access, and a challenge if I need to let her go.
What do you do when approached by offleash dogs?