Bad End To A Nice Walk

[LM1981]

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I was out for a walk with Mae my little whippet, a friend and her lab on Sunday. The dogs had been swimming an Mae had eaten what seemed to be half a picnic someone had kindly left on the grass (no idea what was in it or how long it had been there) :x , we were having a great time.

Mae loves to play with other dogs and was playing chase very happily with an over excited spaniel when suddenly a boxer started tearing towards her growling. The boxer didn’t even touch her but as soon as Mae saw it coming she started yelping and quickened her pace, she was terrified, and just took off down a path. I could hear her in the distance still yelping, my heart in my throat, I thought that the boxer had caught her . I went in pursuit and found help in a young lad, who had nearly been sent flying by my petrified hound. Several minutes later, after every terrible thought had gone through my head, Mae appeared from under a bridge, she was so pleased to see me it was untrue.

I had not stopped to see where the owner of the boxer was (it sounds horrid, but I didn’t give a stuff about what happened to the boxer), I didn’t hear anyone call it but to be honest I wasn’t listening too hard. My friend stayed back to see if Mae circled round and she saw the owners. It turned out it was the same boxer that had had a go at Mae the week before, part of a pack of 5 (mainly collie types, who all seemed very friendly and well behaved). The owner just said that the dog wasn’t normally like that and it was probably because she was in season. The owner appeared to make no attempt to help me find my dog only saying that Mae will probably head home (big problem if you don’t live near by) :rant: :rant: .

What really made my blood boil was not the lack of help in finding Mae, but the fact that she had a bitch in season off lead in a busy dog walking area and that she knew it was unpredictable. It was heartbreaking to see Mae so scared, it shook us both up and now I am going to have to build up my own confidence in letting her off lead again, we had only just started to get over the re-call hurdle thanks to some advice from this site. It was not a good end to what had been a lovely outing for us both .

 

[kirislin]

bloody irresponsible d!ckhead owners! grrrrrrr! Poor little Mae. My whippets were all frightened of boxers when they first saw them, I think it's just the shape of the boxers face. They cant read it. Luckily the ones were met were friendly but over the top with being boisterous and Penny immediately thought they wanted to attack. She wanted to have a go at them!

I wonder if the one you met was really friendly but too full on and Mae couldn't recognise it's body language because of the funny shaped face. Either way the owner should even have had her out there in season.

 

[Lisa S]

poor Mae I am pleased she is OK but they do make you worry don't they? my boy is also very wary of boxer dogs and dalmations and randomly spooked by other big dogs wherein he reacts like Mae and does a runner which is so scary as they just take flight but i sort of know now when he is about to do it and do something about it.

we were walking the other day and was walking towards a man with an old dog that he knows really well and a lady with a weinaramer (sp?) pup probably only about 4\5 months old and i spoke to the man and turned around and my dog has disappeared - the daft sod had darted into the bushes so as not to walk past the weinaramer - so that is probably another to add to the list :wacko:

this doesn't happen very often at all so don't let it put you off letting her run free and play as you can probably spot which dogs would worry her and do something before she runs off.

 

[LM1981]

I sh it had been just a case of Mae not reading the dog right, but I have to say this is not something I had thought about. Sadly the same dog balled into Mae the week before and I had to pick her up to get her out of the way because the boxer wouldn't give in. I did wonder on Sunday if she had remembered the dog from the week before.

I am hoping we run into another, friendly, boxer so I can introduce her to them properly, I don't want her to associate all boxers with a bad experience because I know they can be great dogs. You are right that perhaps the look of them is a bit different and that wouldn't help. Mae is great with dogs of all sizes, one of the dogs she plays with regularly is the biggest German shepherd I have ever seen and she loves her to bits, she has also gone running in (not entirely by my choice) and had a great game with a Rottie and Doberman, thankfully they were the softest things you could ever see. I have wondered if she was a good judge of which dogs the play with and which not to but to give her her due she has never got into trouble before and does avoid some dogs, I think they definitely pick up on the mood of other dogs and react accordingly.

On the plus side we have had a great walk tonight and she has had a play with a terrier we see from time to time so it doesn't seem to be worrying her too much.

 

[Sarah86]

Poor Mae, I hope she is ok - glad to hear she has had lots of fun playing with a terrier friend. It is very terrifying when they run off at full speed like that. Last year Penny got attacked, slipped her collar and ran off down the road at full speed with the dogs chasing her, luckily when they had given up she hid round a corner waiting for me. It sounds like Mae is very clever too, hiding and waiting for you under a bridge. Some people are so irresponsible, sadly we are hearing more and more stories on here.