Because this was the first pack walk, we did not bring Mushroom, who is leash-reactive toward other dogs. We had wanted to put our best foot forward by just bringing Badger. This turned out to be a good decision because we saw a couple of off-leash dogs, even though the park had signs up saying that all dogs needed to be leashed. We turned Badger around and steered him away from the off-leash dogs, and luckily, he didn't react in any way. I kind of thought I should have talked to their owners, but I didn't want to ruin an otherwise pleasant morning by starting a confrontation.
Since this park was about a half hour drive away from our apartment, although we had a good walk, we probably won't be going back unless there's a scheduled pack walk. In the meantime, we'd like to find a trail closer to home where a lot of people walk their dogs, so we can practice walking Badger (and eventually Mushroom) past other dogs. Hopefully we will actually be able to make it to a pack walk on time in the future!
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| Happy Badger after our solo "pack walk" |
What do you do when you meet off-leash dogs (and their owners) on walks?
We have several leash reactive dogs in our pack walking group and they are improving so much every week! Mushroom will benefit so much from it!
ReplyDeleteAs far as encountering off-leash dogs, we turn around and head the other way if we see a dog off-leash. It's annoying, but we don't want Turk to suffer a setback in his leash reactivity because of someone being irresponsible with their dogs! :)
It's good to know that pack walking is helping out leash reactive dogs. One of the goals of the group I'm trying to join is to be a positive example of pitbull-type dogs, so I'm not sure if they want leash-reactive dogs around.
DeleteAlso, I have no idea why the background of my post is weirdly colored in parts.
We pass a lot of off leash dogs in our neighborhood on walks. It is extremely frustrating. If the owner is with them, I just ask them to call their dogs back. I hate it because it seems like I am saying my dogs are dangerous, when really they just don't appreciate being rushed on by strange dogs. If no one is around to control them I just walk past as quickly as possible, or turn around if needed. Once I have had to actually kick a dog who was being territorial and harassing us. Luckily a cop was driving by so I mentioned it to him and he went to talk to the owners.
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