Walking the dog is a time to unwind, put a podcast on and relax as you enjoy the great outdoors.
But unfortunately that is not a reality for those of us with nervous dogs who can be reactive after they were attacked as younger pooches.
That being said, the stress in my experience is often caused by other owners, those that appear to have no control or ability to recall their pets.
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My dog Ché, who is five and a half, was sadly attacked by two large dogs up Corstorphine Hill shortly after we got him as a pup.
He was set upon and chased across Clermiston Road to our front door and on this occasion the owner of the two large beasts that leaped on him had no way to reign them back in.
Before this attack he was super friendly and would love playing with dogs of all genders, shapes and sizes.
However after the ordeal he has become nervous around other male dogs and can sometimes react if they get in his face or surprise him.
He is thankfully well trained, will come back or stop when you call him, and will tend to stay close to my leg when approached by other dogs so that I can grab his harness or put him on the lead.
The majority of the time we tend to keep him on the lead as we feel that is the responsible thing to do when in confined spaces but when we are in a large open field he will be let off to sniff around and chase the ball as we avoid other walkers - after all Border Collie’s require that stimulation.
But all too often we will be minding our own business when another large male dog comes bounding over with no owner in sight.
Previously this would not bother me as I’m sympathetic to excitable dogs but since I had my son, who is often strapped to my chest on dog walks, I have begun to get very frustrated.
I’d often try to get the owner’s attention, shouting and waking up my son in the process, to tell them that Ché is nervous and can be grumpy if it is another male dog approaching him.
Unfortunately the response is traditionally “Oh don’t worry, my dog is friendly!” as they saunter through the field miles away and unbothered.
Of course dogs can sometimes get away from us or we lose our concentration but it is important to listen to other dog walkers when they are trying to alert you to a potentially dangerous situation.
On occasions my dog has reacted, and on others their allegedly friendly dog has reacted aggressively to my dog, causing an issue for a parent with a young child.
If the situation were to go south how are you supposed to intervene with a young child? You cannot and this could lead to one of the dogs becoming injured.
I’ve had this scenario happen to me around four or five times in the last fortnight and it is extremely disappointing to see owners react in such a nonchalant fashion.
Surely it is not too much to ask for owners to respect other dog walkers, and if they are unable to quickly retrieve their dog or control it with commands, to put it on a lead before someone gets hurt.
We all just want to enjoy our walks at the local park or woods so it is in everyone's benefit to be mindful and use our brains by not letting our dogs sprint to the other end of the park to approach a dog you do not know or understand.
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