Off leash play is great. Killian, Bruce, and Zachary love hanging out together. Even though it looks ferocious, these guys are having a great time. Never a bad moment is had by any of them. If you look closely you can see that none of them is wearing a collar. I firmly believe that dogs should play "naked". Dogs have died from broken necks while playing with collars on, even with their owner's present. All it takes is a moment for one dog's canine tooth to get caught on another dog's collar, one wrong move, especially if one dog is much larger than the other, and a life can be lost.
On leash play is not so great. I realize that most people aren't as steeped in dogs as I am. I'm sure there's a small segment of the Ann Arbor population who thinks I'm just not a very nice person. Why? Because I don't let my dog's greet other dogs while we're on walks. Here's why. Until very recently, when I was walking my personal dog's there were three of them. Fable, an elderly Leonberger with spinal cancer who has since gone on ahead , Tug, a pit bull/bull mastiff mix, and Whimsy, a pit bull mix I rescued last summer who is recovering from a host of health problems. Here are two examples of recent incidents. I'm walking my on-leash dogs around Elbel Field. Coming towards us is a guy walking his dog, which I realize is off-leash. I ask him to call his dog, please. Too late. The guy's comment, as his dog runs over, leaping onto my sick, old dog, knocking her down and making her scream in pain (spinal cancer, remember?), which causes Tug, who can be leash aggressive and was very bonded to Fable, to immediately go on the attack and attempt to eat the loose dog was "Oh, he's friendly!". Meanwhile, previously abused, neglected, sick Whimsy is cowering on the end of her leash threatening to back out into the traffic on Hill St. "Oh, he's friendly". I've had people say that to me before, and really, it ranks right up there on the "dumbest comments ever" list. So your dog is friendly. So what. Maybe mine isn't. Tug doesn't like every dog he meets, especially when he's on leash. But if he does like your dog the first thing he does is turn into a 110 lb. play bowing, whirling dervish, which immediately makes me picture leash entangled broken legs or worse.
One other day, approaching the park parking lot after a walk with Tug and Whimsy, a gentleman, being walked by a large Golden Retriever who was tugging at the leash, panting and slobbering, seemed to be coming right at us. As he gasped "He just wants to say"Hi!", I realized that yes, he WAS coming right at us. I said, "Sorry, these guys are working on their CGC (Canine Good Citizen Award - a test of manners in companion dogs), they're not allowed to say "Hi" on leash. Which is true. When testing for the CGC, your dog is required to allow another person walking a dog to approach and shake your hand while remaining seated at your side. It's also a great defense. Because that dog was obviously completely out of control.
Call me jaded. Call me worse. I'm tough, I can take it. Because my first concern is my dogs. My second concern is for both you and your dog. Dogs should behave on leash. They should be able to walk right by another on-leash, or even loose, dog without blinking an eye (OK, maybe they'll give them the eye, but they'll keep walking politely). It's called having manners. It makes you and your dog look cool. It makes it easy to walk down a crowded street. It keeps everybody safe and healthy, because you can't assume that the dog you're so eagerly approaching doesn't have something brewing (like parvo), or isn't loaded with worms. And it makes everybody happy. Walking down the street, having a little sniff and greet is easy if you're walking one dog. Try it when you're walking 2. Try it when you're walking 5, like I frequently do. Not so much fun now, is it?
The bottom line is that dog's need contact with other dogs. They're social beings and can't live a life without it anymore than you could live a life without the contact of other humans. But give them that connection by finding them a buddy. Taking them to daycare. Going to a dog park, if you feel comfortable doing that. While it's easiest to just say "Oh, he's so friendly, he's just got to say "Hi" to every dog he meets", it just isn't true. So put some effort into it. Teach your dog to walk nicely on a leash, to respect both you and everyone around him by being an upstanding member of canine society. It'll be good for both of you, keep everybody safe, and really strengthen the bond you have with your dog.
What kills me every time is how many dogs are anything but friendly on leash while their owners are telling me that they are. Their dog will be approaching my dogs displaying all kinds of dominant/aggressive signals, which my dogs will react to if they're close enough, and then those people will give me the "what kind of monsters are these" look. So I've started avoiding dog encounters as well, which is sad, because I feel like my dogs are so much less socialized here than they were back in Europe.
Posted by: TerrierLady | June 12, 2008 at 04:10 PM
Thank you for posting. More dog owners need to read this. Unfortunately, I'm guessing only the choir will hear this tune. It's time for people to start taking responsibility for their dogs and learning how to control them, while respecting other people's & dog's right to NOT want to meet them!
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