Other Peoples

[mazza]

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Went to some woods today with OH and our two dogs. This was our first time in this particular wood and thought it would be a nice change of scenery for the dogs. Mostly beech trees and lots of open clearings throughout the wood.

It was lovely, nice weather and we were all enjoying being there. After about 20 mins into our walk, from another path joining onto our path appeared a huge thickset black Labrador and within a few seconds came three more equally menacing looking labs. They were huge, very strong and powerful looking. They were all off lead and I couldn’t see anyone with them. Our dogs were off lead, as soon as these dogs approached I got Annie on her lead but as she tried to skirt away from them she slipped her collar, I was so scared she would bolt off but she tried to keep close to us and at the same time keep her distance from these dogs, she was very frightened and kept darting about trying to get away from them and I could tell she was getting very stressed , she started to cry and sort of bark , never heard her make this sort of noise before. Meanwhile Alf was being given a good looking over by two of them, he stood absolutely still while a chocolate coloured one on one side of him and another black one on his other side with hackles raised sniffed all over him. I thought any minute now one is going to go for him. Alf would not have stood a chance if things had turned nasty. All four dogs were very bold, very pushy and intimidating. At this point two men were walking over to us and calling their dogs back with no response. I was trying to keep close to Annie and trying to put myself between her and these dogs. OH was trying to shoo the dogs away from us and call Alf. Eventually, the men got hold of 2 of them, one saying “it’s ok they’re friendly”, trying to make little of what was going on, as he tried in vain to get hold of other one. You’ll know what friendly is mate if your dogs aren’t under control in a minute, I thought. Didn't even get an apology from them. :rant: As we got away from them, I felt so relieved that neither of my dogs were attacked, I really felt we were in a very dangerous situation, if one had gone onto the next step of aggression and it did look highly probable, the others in the pack would have followed suit and I dread to think what could have happened.

I’m just glad OH was with me today, hate to think how I could have handled this alone.

 

[lalena]

poor you! the cheek of some people :rant: :rant: :rant: and for your babies :huggles: :huggles: :huggles:

 

[jok]

What a shame, that will have put you right off a lovely new walk. We also had a bad experience with two massive Lab's today. They were off the lead and both mine were on. Both were jumping all over my two and i had the pushchair with me too, which made it even harder to fend them off. I wasn't too bothered about them jumping on Chloe as she's big and would give as good as she gets. The useless lady owner just stood there flapping. Then one of them jumped on Frankie, and i just grabbed the bloody thing and pulled it off. All the lady said was, "thank you, i can't manage him when he gets like that"! Don't let him off the lead then :rant: I told her that it was just not acceptable to let her dogs behave like that around a much smaller dog, doubt it will have gone in though, she was useless :rant:

 

[Janimal]

Glad all turned out well in this instance Mazza, :thumbsup:

the cheek of some doggy people you meet on walks - it so annoys me :rant: :rant: Yes Ive had - Oh they are 'friendly' too then next thing you know a fight breaks out. :rant: Little Alfie wouldnt have stood a chance with three of them. :sweating:

 

[jezza]

Hi mazza,

There is a lovely small wood about a minutes walk from my house, but thats exactly the reason why I don't go there anymore, because you can't see anyone coming until its too late

Nice big open spaces for me and the dogs now

 

[jezza]

Hi mazza,
There is a lovely small wood about a minutes walk from my house, but thats exactly the reason why I don't go there anymore, because you can't see anyone coming until its too late 

Nice big open spaces for me and the dogs now 

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Oh and I almost forgot, most people round here don't seem to understand the words 'poop' and 'scoop' :rant:

 

[Juley]

My poor Daisy was set on at RINGCRAFT but a Russian Black when she was about 4 months old. The we had £ black labs ( different ones) have a go when she was onlead. The last one got told in NO uncertain terms what I thought of her and her dog. Rather put me off labs thou I know a few nice ones, hope you are OK. :luck:

 

[~whitecross whippets~]

:rant: im glad annie and alf are ok though! :sweating: :huggles:

 

[Nicola]

Sorry to hear about your scary experience. I always thought labs were such softies...what's happening to them? So many seem to have quite dodgy temperaments these days.

We have a working labrador down our road and she's lovely...not a bad bone in her. Not overly big either, like some you see these days. Huge great things.

 

[~Sarah~]

Oh and I almost forgot, most people round here don't seem to understand the words 'poop' and 'scoop'  :rant:

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I stepped in a pile along the canal towpath yesterday - yuk. :rant: :rant: Plus Dolly spends the entire time trying to eat other dogs' poo. :x :x People seem to think it is OK to not clear up along the canal - I don't know why because they are public footpaths and there are dog poo bins.

Sorry to hear about your awful experience Mazza. :rant: :rant: Nowadays I am a bit neurotic about getting Bobby and Dolly back on their leads as soon as we see anyone else. I have had a few nasty incidents and it is very frightening.

 

[~elizabeth~]

I always thought labs were such softies...what's happening to them?

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No, they have always been unpredictable. I was attacked by one when I was a few months old, it came rushing out of nowhere at my mother and tried to grab me. The owners of the cottage just looked on and did nothing. When my mother challenged them about it they said 'what do you expect, she's just jealous of the baby'. That was a fair few decades ago now too.

I've known a fair few since then, and most had some sort of aggression/dominance issue, I can't think of one I'd describe as a softy. OH walks our friend's lab Sita every day, and most of his effort goes on avoiding confrontations between her and other dogs. We witnessed a fight in the Vet's waiting room between 2 very dominant, aggressive black males a few months back too.

Plus Gelert nearly had his throat torn out by one at Christmas. One approached him in the manner you describe, suddenly it was hammer and tongs. Since then, I notice that every single one we have met behaves in the same manner, they greet other dogs with tails and hackles raised in a highly provocative fashion.

 

[~elizabeth~]

he stood absolutely still while a chocolate coloured one on one side of him and another black one on his other side with  hackles raised sniffed all over him. I thought any minute now one is going to go for him ...Eventually, the men got hold of 2 of them, one saying “it’s ok they’re friendly”, trying to make little of what was going on,

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This is the problem, the owners don't recognise the signs of aggression; they think the high tail gesture IS friendly, not intended to challenge and intimidate other dogs :rant: I'm genuinely fed up of this recurring situation, it can potentially be dangerous. See the result:

 

[buffyrannoch]

:rant: Poor Alfie and Annie , I had a very similar experience a few months back, theres a guy in the town with six out of contol labs, and they all charged at Toby and bowled him over, leaving him petrified, and Buffy was beside herself with worry, the bloke that owns them said nothing, so I told him how disgraceful it is going for a nice walk in the countryside and getting set upon by a large pack of unruly dogs, and he was horrible about it, and laughed in my face when I said that his dogs might have given Toby a fear of dogs, I shook all the way home, and dread the day we ever bump in to him again

 

[Janet]

I've had a similar experience with 3 labs chasing my (then) 15 week old whippie out of the nature reserve, through car park and out on to the road. When I eventually managed to catch up with them poor Louis was just sitting inside the gate of the car park shivering and shaking. The owner was blowing on 1 of those gundog whistles and soI told her where to stick it!!!! She then had the cheek to tell me I should be able to control my dogs :rant: I used to like labs but nowadays I try to avoid them like the plague!

 

[Juley]

Theres an old chap who walks his Lab in the village, he always swears it is friendly. I let my Chelsea approach, (with a wire gate and fence between) the lab went for her, he was shocked, I told him to take steps to put his dog on a lead around others.

 

[jok]

i don't understand why people insist their dogs are friendly when they most certainly are not. No one would mind if they said they were aggressive and then had them on the lead firmly under control.

This situation absolutely took the biscuit - walking chloe in the nature reserve where we use to live. See a Rottie x approach that i didn't know approach, so i put Chloe on the lead. Owner shouts to me "she's friendly, let yours off and they can have a play". I let Chloe off, and her Rottie attacked Chloe. I will never make that mistake again and always keep her on the lead unless i know the dog. :rant:

 

[mally]

Take a stick with you mazza when your walking your dogs.I always do, Most dogs will keep there distance when you've got a stick. The stick also comes in handy for the dogs owners if they give you any lip

 

[~elizabeth~]

i don't understand why people insist their dogs are friendly when they most certainly are not.  No one would mind if they said they were aggressive and then had them on the lead firmly under control.

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Neither do I. Two explanations. Sometimes they aren't very experienced dog owners, and are genuinely taken aback when their dog starts to behave like this at the onset of maturity. They don't recognise the warning signs, and trot the familar phrase out because they are vaguely embarrassed and can't think of anything to say (or do!).

The other is that they are completely in denial that their dog has a problem, and usually blame the other dog for starting the incident off. I saw this happen with a youngish lab who ran up and knocked Henry, an elderly whippet, over. Poor old Henry growled defensively, the lab owners came over and started screaming at poor Henry and his blind octogenarian owner about HER having an aggressive dog. This then wound up the lab pup, and he started to attack Henry again, copying what his owners were doing).

Sita, our friend's Lab, has bitten a number of dogs (or rather bitches) now, fortunately never when OH has had her :sweating: . She attacked a Jack Russell in a very serious fight, and has had mouth contact with a collie and a GSD that I know of. Her owner is also slightly in denial of the problem; she had always had lab crosses before, and was genuinely taken aback at the difference in temperament. Sita has been socialised well with other dogs since a puppy, and walked with Gelert most mornings since they were both 5 months. He doesn't like her very much, she used to bully him terribly.

And there are some people who seem to take genuine pride in their dogs aggression

To be fair, I do remember one nice lab, a very lightly built black one called Jack; completely different in type to the ones you seem to see today.

 

[maggymills]

hope your doggies are alright now :sweating:

my mum has labs- her bitch is having her last litter-7wks pregnant!

they are the big sort- esp the pup they kept- whose now 15mnths old and 37kg, and they are big and bolshy but they are lovely temperaments. They need to know when they can be boisterous- mums know that smaller dogs dont really like rough play with them. They play nicely with my terrier and also with mums border terrier.

i know alot of labs these days that are manic and out of control-its not nice to see especially if you know there are good labs out there!

what i think is happening is that first time dog owners are thinking "oo i'll get a lab because they are easy friendly dogs to have" and dont realise they have oodles of energy and intelligent- so they are just left to run riot- :rant:

you should find a nice lab for alf & annie to meet so they know theyre not all like that :huggles:

 

[mazza]

quote=moriarte,Feb 17 2006, 02:50 PM]

he stood absolutely still while a chocolate coloured one on one side of him and another black one on his other side with  hackles raised sniffed all over him. I thought any minute now one is going to go for him ...Eventually, the men got hold of 2 of them, one saying “it’s ok they’re friendly”, trying to make little of what was going on,

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This is the problem, the owners don't recognise the signs of aggression; they think the high tail gesture IS friendly, not intended to challenge and intimidate other dogs :rant: I'm genuinely fed up of this recurring situation, it can potentially be dangerous. See the result:

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I remember reading about that very bad attack on Gelert at the time, glad he went on to make a good recovery. :thumbsup:

Take a stick with you mazza when your walking your dogs.I always do, Most dogs will keep there distance when you've got a stick. The stick also comes in handy for the dogs owners if they give you any lip

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Thanks Mally

From now on ,definately will be carrying a stick.

Would have been really useful yesterday.