Ashamed And Amazed

[~Annie~]

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Well I never claimed my boys had perfect recall, but I thought it was pretty good. Finn, however, led me a merry dance this afternoon ... but I'm not sure I can really blame him.

We were out in the fields this afternoon and round the corner rambles a lovely lab, off lead ... my two shoot off to play and I don't call them back, all tails are wagging and everyone is very pleased to say hi ... but then the labs owner appears with another dog, a small terrier x I think, and this one's on a lead. As soon it sees my two it starts to snap and snarl - I'm guessing fear aggression but I was too far away to really see - and despite the fact that my two, who are by now playing with the lab, are obviously no danger to this terrier x, the owner immediately picks it up and holds it above her head (w00t) from where it continues to snap and snarl.

She shouts across "he doesn't like other dogs or small children" and I apologise and call mine back ... Tyg comes but Finn doesn't ... because he is way too interested in why this woman is holding her dog above her head. Now if she'd just stood still I could have caught up to her and put Finn's lead on, but no she sets off at a cracking pace, terrier still held high and still snarling, with Finn leaping about at her side, completely deaf to me. When calling and whistling normally didn't work I tried doing the (very embarassing) 'excited maniac running in the opposite direction routine', Tyg thought it was brilliant and was right by my side, but Finn looked at me once and carried on trying to see what this woman was doing. As I said, I was ashamed :b to have lost control of my dog, and profusely apologising, but amazed at her behaviour ... her dog was a danger to mine not the other way around, surely if she'd left it on the ground it would have realised it wasn't under threat because I'm confident that under those circumstances Finn would have run away from it as it really was behaving very aggressively ... at one point I heard her say to it 'don't bite me'. Eventually she got to the far side of the field and scuttled out on to the lane through the gate and, excitement over, Finn came straight back to me.

So the question ... I'm going to be doing a lot of remedial recall work with the little blighter but has anyone on here successfully taught their whippet what we call 'drop' ... i.e. to lie down on command and stay there until released, like a dog working sheep. I've taught cockers to do that in the past but it didn't seem like a whippety sort of thing so I haven't tried it with Finn and I'm thinking it would have been a really useful command under the circumstances.

Annie (who is hoping things don't come in threes because that's our second 'incident' this week)

 

[Whippets Rule]

:lol: :lol: :lol: sorry but that's hilarious...I can just picture an indignant woman crazily waving a terrier above her head :lol: :lol: :lol: as for getting a whippet to drop, i think that would be even funnier....I'm so sorry but your post has me crying with laughter.

drop only works for my whippets if they're actually holding something, like a squirrel for instance :lol: :lol:

i'm really sorry i'm not laughing at your expense but your story is very funny :lol: :lol: :b :clown:

I so want someone to tell you they can get their whippet to drop to the floor at a distance but i still think it's terribly funny. :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[AnnSa]

Im sorry............im crying with laughter here :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[~Annie~]

:lol: :lol: :lol: sorry but that's hilarious...I can just picture an indignant woman crazily waving a terrier above her head :lol: :lol: :lol: as for getting a whippet to drop, i think that would be even funnier....I'm so sorry but your post has me crying with laughter.
drop only works for my whippets if they're actually holding something, like a squirrel for instance :lol: :lol:

i'm really sorry i'm not laughing at your expense but your story is very funny :lol: :lol: :b :clown:

I so want someone to tell you they can get their whippet to drop to the floor at a distance but i still think it's terribly funny. :lol: :lol: :lol:

It's alright, I was laughing too, and trying to hide it ... which didn't help I think! And I agree, the reason I've never tried to teach drop was because it seemed like a ridiculous thing to expect of a whippet ... but it's worth asking if it's possible lol!

Annie

 

[Juley]

I think you should have bellowed DROP, stupid woman would have dropped the terrier. :lol: Sorry, I'm laughing too. Do tell us all about the third incident when it happens too.......................

 

[TTT]

Another way to look at it - That woman understood the importance of keeping her dog under control - it was on a lead. So lifting it might not have been the 'Dog Whisperer' way to react and maybe it is easy to snigger BUT what if it had been a large 6+ stone dog which she was not capable of lifting - i'm thinking Rottweiler, GSD, Akita etc etc etc.....I'm not picking on any particular breed here - just picture any large dog, on a lead, and your dog was out of control and messing around, causing havoc at a distance from you? Whose fault would it be if your dog got injured?

Good luck working on your recall.

 

[TTT]

Another way to look at it - That woman understood the importance of keeping her dog under control - it was on a lead. So lifting it might not have been the 'Dog Whisperer' way to react and maybe it is easy to snigger BUT what if it had been a large 6+ stone dog which she was not capable of lifting - i'm thinking Rottweiler, GSD, Akita etc etc etc.....I'm not picking on any particular breed here - just picture any large dog, on a lead, and your dog was out of control and messing around, causing havoc at a distance from you? Whose fault would it be if your dog got injured?

Good luck working on your recall.

 

[~Annie~]

Another way to look at it - That woman understood the importance of keeping her dog under control - it was on a lead. So lifting it might not have been the 'Dog Whisperer' way to react and maybe it is easy to snigger BUT what if it had been a large 6+ stone dog which she was not capable of lifting - i'm thinking Rottweiler, GSD, Akita etc etc etc.....I'm not picking on any particular breed here - just picture any large dog, on a lead, and your dog was out of control and messing around, causing havoc at a distance from you? Whose fault would it be if your dog got injured?
Good luck working on your recall.

I did say I was ashamed to have lost control of Finn (but in all honesty if she'd had a dog with her as big as you describe which didn't, by her own admittance, like other dogs or small children and which was likely to behave that aggresively, then even on lead it should have been muzzled). As it was if Finn had been bitten I would have felt the blame lay with me, but her behaviour made a difficult situation much worse, and if Finn had encountered the snarling at ground level I'm sure he'd have backed right off. I have a mini dachsie that is slightly fearful of other dogs, but if every time one came our way I launched him above my head and ran off with him I suspect he's be a lot worse.

Annie

 

[Beerhound]

I think that she didn't help the situation by picking the terrier up. This is going to make it snap and snarl all the more and it is going to "feel" superior.

I don't let mine off with other dogs unless I know them and if I see a dog coming that I don't know then I recall my two straight away.

As for getting a Whippet to drop on command - good luck. My old dog will sit at a distance but not too far away.

I know of a Dobie whose life was saved with the drop command, he took off after a rabbit towards a dual carraigeway and the person walking him (dog was her sister's) dropped him in the middle. He went straight down and lived, if he had carried on over the other half of the road he would have been killed.

 

[TTT]

Another way to look at it - That woman understood the importance of keeping her dog under control - it was on a lead. So lifting it might not have been the 'Dog Whisperer' way to react and maybe it is easy to snigger BUT what if it had been a large 6+ stone dog which she was not capable of lifting - i'm thinking Rottweiler, GSD, Akita etc etc etc.....I'm not picking on any particular breed here - just picture any large dog, on a lead, and your dog was out of control and messing around, causing havoc at a distance from you? Whose fault would it be if your dog got injured?
Good luck working on your recall.

I did say I was ashamed to have lost control of Finn (but in all honesty if she'd had a dog with her as big as you describe which didn't, by her own admittance, like other dogs or small children and which was likely to behave that aggresively, then even on lead it should have been muzzled). As it was if Finn had been bitten I would have felt the blame lay with me, but her behaviour made a difficult situation much worse, and if Finn had encountered the snarling at ground level I'm sure he'd have backed right off. I have a mini dachsie that is slightly fearful of other dogs, but if every time one came our way I launched him above my head and ran off with him I suspect he's be a lot worse.

Annie

Yes, indeed everyone has to be responsible for their own dog. But i, for one, am sick of people making excuses for out of control dogs 'he's fine, honestly, he won't bite' - shouted from half way across a field..............while my dogs are on leads, under control, and being harassed by someone else's out of control dogs....hence the reason i now carry a sturdy walking stick whilst out walking.

 

[affieluver]

Another way to look at it - That woman understood the importance of keeping her dog under control - it was on a lead. So lifting it might not have been the 'Dog Whisperer' way to react and maybe it is easy to snigger BUT what if it had been a large 6+ stone dog which she was not capable of lifting - i'm thinking Rottweiler, GSD, Akita etc etc etc.....I'm not picking on any particular breed here - just picture any large dog, on a lead, and your dog was out of control and messing around, causing havoc at a distance from you? Whose fault would it be if your dog got injured?
Good luck working on your recall.

I did say I was ashamed to have lost control of Finn (but in all honesty if she'd had a dog with her as big as you describe which didn't, by her own admittance, like other dogs or small children and which was likely to behave that aggresively, then even on lead it should have been muzzled). As it was if Finn had been bitten I would have felt the blame lay with me, but her behaviour made a difficult situation much worse, and if Finn had encountered the snarling at ground level I'm sure he'd have backed right off. I have a mini dachsie that is slightly fearful of other dogs, but if every time one came our way I launched him above my head and ran off with him I suspect he's be a lot worse.

Annie

Yes, indeed everyone has to be responsible for their own dog. But i, for one, am sick of people making excuses for out of control dogs 'he's fine, honestly, he won't bite' - shouted from half way across a field..............while my dogs are on leads, under control, and being harassed by someone else's out of control dogs....hence the reason i now carry a sturdy walking stick whilst out walking.

i understand where you are coming from but there is a huge difference in having a dog clearly out of control to one that is having a moment of deafness through curiosity after all hounds are hounds and will never be the next heelwork superstar imo the women would have been far better leaving her dog on the floor if finn had got bitten there wouldnt have been much annie could have done as the other dog was on a lead i hope you manage to gain some control annie when you do would you please let me know so i can tell angel as she would have reacted in the same way lol :lol:

 

[mamaroo]

sorry to butt in but as someone who doesn't actually own a dog at the moment I can't stand beside my 'perfect dog' nor shrink away at the thought of my 'not so perfect' dog.

I found the whole thing probably a bit funny and a bit embrassing on both sides. It's quite embrassing when your dog doesn't come back as requested you can have 99.9% recall but there's always the .1% that lets you down - running in the oppostite direction is always funny. It also pretty embrassing when you have to lift your dog up away for other dogs so it won't bite chunks out of them. It also very funny to think of some crazy women running hell for leather with a dog on her head.

Back when I walked my 'family' dog I came across someone with a walking stick or similar and my dog just went to say hello his dog - tails wagging etc and the man gave my dog a knock with it. I wonder if how he'd like it if someone came up to him a belted him across the backs of the legs with a stick for saying hello to another walker. I often say hello to people while I'm out walking - arn't the dogs doing the same thing.

 

[~Annie~]

Another way to look at it - That woman understood the importance of keeping her dog under control - it was on a lead. So lifting it might not have been the 'Dog Whisperer' way to react and maybe it is easy to snigger BUT what if it had been a large 6+ stone dog which she was not capable of lifting - i'm thinking Rottweiler, GSD, Akita etc etc etc.....I'm not picking on any particular breed here - just picture any large dog, on a lead, and your dog was out of control and messing around, causing havoc at a distance from you? Whose fault would it be if your dog got injured?
Good luck working on your recall.

I did say I was ashamed to have lost control of Finn (but in all honesty if she'd had a dog with her as big as you describe which didn't, by her own admittance, like other dogs or small children and which was likely to behave that aggresively, then even on lead it should have been muzzled). As it was if Finn had been bitten I would have felt the blame lay with me, but her behaviour made a difficult situation much worse, and if Finn had encountered the snarling at ground level I'm sure he'd have backed right off. I have a mini dachsie that is slightly fearful of other dogs, but if every time one came our way I launched him above my head and ran off with him I suspect he's be a lot worse.

Annie

Yes, indeed everyone has to be responsible for their own dog. But i, for one, am sick of people making excuses for out of control dogs 'he's fine, honestly, he won't bite' - shouted from half way across a field..............while my dogs are on leads, under control, and being harassed by someone else's out of control dogs....hence the reason i now carry a sturdy walking stick whilst out walking.

I can also see where you're coming from - I've been in the situation you describe myself on occasion, and if the lady concerned is at home now telling her OH about the awful out of control whippet she encountered this afternoon I wouldn't blame her - but Finn showed no real interest in her terrier until she decided to waltz about with it above her head at which point he was essentially harassing her not it. Prior to that he'd been happily playing with her off lead lab which was so far ahead of her she couldn't see it until she caught it up because it had stopped to play.

 

[meddling]

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Oh you poor thing...your blood pressure must have been sky high by the time he came back to you - bless him...whats more tempting and interesting to a whippet than a low flying swearing terrier...oh what a silly woman!

 

[jinnyfizz]

I wish I knew the secret of getting mine to ignore other dogs! :blink:

It hasn't happened yet and although I am lucky and only walk on permission farmland where there are rarely any other canines around I still wonder how to get them to come back when their attention is on something far more interesting than me!!!!! :unsure:

 

[~Annie~]

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
Oh you poor thing...your blood pressure must have been sky high by the time he came back to you - bless him...whats more tempting and interesting to a whippet than a low flying swearing terrier...oh what a silly woman!

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[TTT]

sorry to butt in but as someone who doesn't actually own a dog at the moment I can't stand beside my 'perfect dog' nor shrink away at the thought of my 'not so perfect' dog.
I found the whole thing probably a bit funny and a bit embrassing on both sides. It's quite embrassing when your dog doesn't come back as requested you can have 99.9% recall but there's always the .1% that lets you down - running in the oppostite direction is always funny. It also pretty embrassing when you have to lift your dog up away for other dogs so it won't bite chunks out of them. It also very funny to think of some crazy women running hell for leather with a dog on her head.

Back when I walked my 'family' dog I came across someone with a walking stick or similar and my dog just went to say hello his dog - tails wagging etc and the man gave my dog a knock with it. I wonder if how he'd like it if someone came up to him a belted him across the backs of the legs with a stick for saying hello to another walker. I often say hello to people while I'm out walking - arn't the dogs doing the same thing.

I would say a dog running in the opposite direction is not funny but dangerous. Imagine if he was running towards a road where he could cause an accident resulting in members of the public getting maimed or killed. Imagine if he was running at full tilt and knocked over child or old person.

Remember not everyone likes dogs - some people are very afraid of them, with good reason in some cases.

 

[jazad]

sorry to butt in but as someone who doesn't actually own a dog at the moment I can't stand beside my 'perfect dog' nor shrink away at the thought of my 'not so perfect' dog.
I found the whole thing probably a bit funny and a bit embrassing on both sides. It's quite embrassing when your dog doesn't come back as requested you can have 99.9% recall but there's always the .1% that lets you down - running in the oppostite direction is always funny. It also pretty embrassing when you have to lift your dog up away for other dogs so it won't bite chunks out of them. It also very funny to think of some crazy women running hell for leather with a dog on her head.

Back when I walked my 'family' dog I came across someone with a walking stick or similar and my dog just went to say hello his dog - tails wagging etc and the man gave my dog a knock with it. I wonder if how he'd like it if someone came up to him a belted him across the backs of the legs with a stick for saying hello to another walker. I often say hello to people while I'm out walking - arn't the dogs doing the same thing.

I would say a dog running in the opposite direction is not funny but dangerous. Imagine if he was running towards a road where he could cause an accident resulting in members of the public getting maimed or killed. Imagine if he was running at full tilt and knocked over child or old person.

Remember not everyone likes dogs - some people are very afraid of them, with good reason in some cases.

I think Annie meant she tried running in the other direction - to get Finn to chase her and thus leave mad terrier woman alone...She also admitted feeling ashamed (which does essentially imply she felt guilty, and by extension probably sorry) and she has also said she will be working on recall. What more can she have said in either her initial post or subsequent postings to clarify that although the situation had a "funny upside" if you will, she is/was in fact taking the matter seriously. After all her initial posting was relaying the incident and asking for advice not saying "a funny thing happened on our walk today" :thumbsup:

 

[~Annie~]

I think Annie meant she tried running in the other direction - to get Finn to chase her and thus leave mad terrier woman alone...She also admitted feeling ashamed (which does essentially imply she felt guilty, and by extension probably sorry) and she has also said she will be working on recall. What more can she have said in either her initial post or subsequent postings to clarify that although the situation had a "funny upside" if you will, she is/was in fact taking the matter seriously. After all her initial posting was relaying the incident and asking for advice not saying "a funny thing happened on our walk today" :thumbsup:

Yup, that's exactly what I meant, and however funny a woman beating a hasty retreat with a terrier on her head may be, I was mortified to have become the owner of a dog I couldn't control.

TTT, if your comments are general ... well of course you are right ... no dog should be running off lead and out of control, whether in the vicinity of other dogs, small children or fast cars, but none of us are perfect and sometimes these things happen to the best of us. If, however, your comments are directed at me, well you are preaching to the converted ... my dogs are generally entirely under my control and are trained regularly to ensure that they remain that way, both informally and formally at a weekly APDT training class. Finn is also a trained agility dog, who will run through dark tunnels, up steep ramps he cannot see what's on the other side of, etc. etc., on my command. In situations where I doubt my dogs they remain on their leads, i.e. despite being stock broken I don't risk them off lead near livestock, they are hunting dogs and however safe I think they are around sheep and cattle no dog's recall is 100%. I think perhaps you feel that a potentially serious situation is not being taken seriously enough here, but the levity reflects, I think, not only amusement at the spectacle (although I'm sure the lady with the terrier on her head didn't think it was funny) but also the posters knowledge of me from this and other forums ... trust me, I'm not in the habit of posting about my dogs misbehaving because they generally don't.

As to dogs running up to other dogs I think many people do as I do ... a) I run my dogs off lead where I can see them, b) if another dog is off the lead and not called back when we hove into view then I assume it's owner is happy for it to play, if it's on a lead or called back by the owner then I call mine back to me, and c) if it's a young dog, or a very small dog, or a breed that might be less sociable than some, then I call mine to heel and ask the owners permission for them to play. Some dogs are very sociable, others aren't, but what a pity to assume that all dogs are to be avoided and deny our own sociable dogs the opportunity to socialise. That said, if simply because I had misjudged a situation my clearly friendly dog (they are both pretty waggy for whippets) approached someone who didn't welcome the attention and that person then used a stick on my dog I would question their behaviour not mine.

Oh, and I have booked a session with my APDT/Agility trainer friend, who also works dogs to sheep, to see if we can't teach Finn the 'drop' command (luckily I use 'leave it' for the things they have in their mouths that they shouldn't) so I'll let you know if that works.

Annie

 

[fallenangel]

one of mine hates non pointy dogs and old woman so in places shes likly to come across them shes muzzled and keeped on lead but the thought of lifting a 28lb whippet over my head when shes kicking off lol i would have to hold her one handed like an ice skating lift while i steard my elecric wheelchair away.

I can see things form both sides and no were your coming from with aving differing degres of tempramnet here i come across all situations and know that now and again the most well behaved dog can get selctive defness. I dont get anyed at this and if i were this woman would not have had a problem with you as you were trying to get your dog back its thoughs that just stand there watching or just walk off wheil there dogs harrassing yours i get mad at. we met one last night but that another thread.

when we take ours to traning class the one thing allways stressed to smale dog owners is DONT pick your dog up as it can take a situaion from curiosity to a quiet overexcited game or even agression dogs dont pick each other up so as soon as the owner does this the off lead dog then thinks well thats not a dog. is it a cat, toy, somthing new i havent seen before this ends up in jumping up and even nipping for the dog to try and see whats in your hands.

TTT i can understand your frustrion but all dogs go deaf now and again dont judge the dog look at the owner are they trying to get the dog back or dont they care if there not bothers then hit them with the blinking stick as its them thats need the traning.

our lacey has the best recall here and has never ever ignored us untill last summer when camping at whippet raceing she saw a lady she new from a puppy and hadnt seen in a few years the lady had one of her dogs with her on lead and lacey as usual was off and just trotting about with us. she spotted carol the lady and whent flat out to her no matter what we said or did. I didnt know what carols dog would do but in my book if her dog had bitten lacey thats our falt not carols lucky everything was fine but thats the first and only time in 5 years shes ever ignored us. so any dog can go deaf.