DO YOU ALLOW . . . your dog to interact with other dogs while you are out on a walk?

[Laurie, Wally & Charlotte]

More specifically, when you are taking a walk and your dog is leashed, do you allow him or her to connect with other dogs that you come in contact with and do not know along the way?  I am asking this question, because of two recent scary experiences.  

The first one happened a few months ago, when I was walking Wally and my daughter's dog around our neighborhood.  Someone who lives a couple of streets away, approached us and asked if her Great Dane could say, hello, to Wally and Monty.  That greeting ended up with me in the hospital.  (I am now fine.)  The Great Dane was friendly at first and then lunged at us.  I reacted by shouting, "No," and immediately yanked my two dogs away.  The force of the pull caused me to fall backwards and hit my head on the pavement.  

The second incident took place about a week ago, when I was walking Wally in a friend's neighborhood -- far away from my home.  She took me over to her friend's yard, so that Wally could be introduced to a "very friendly" dog."  Well . . . that dog behaved very aggressively and I had to tug Wally away before he was bitten.  I understand that this situation was a different, in that the dogs were not meeting on the street, and that only Wally was leashed.

Wally loves all people and all animals, and doesn't have an aggressive bone in his body. He always acts appropriately around other dogs.  However, he is not submissive, and will stand up for himself if provoked.  For safety's sake, should I just stick to a rule whereby walks are meant for walking and nothing more?  

Thanks for your input!

[Adina P]

You said you use it as a training moment because you want your dogs to be 'confident yet friendly' -- how do you address that training desire during meet and greets? 

[Jane, Rooney & Stuart]

Not sure exactly what you mean but I'll try to explain.  Of course it is different for both dogs because they both have different personalities.  Rooney used to be much more timid - the dog park has helped that so much but also I think our meet and greets.  I try to make sure that Rooney knows during those times that he is not calling the shots.  He gets to greet ONLY if I allow it - I may put him in a sit or a down and leave him there for a bit.  Rooney is not a jumper or barker so he follows with a friendly sniff and greet.  I'd like to think that this helps him feel that I am in control thus gives him more confidence in that situation.  Stuart can be very reactive to other dogs if they go beserk - sometimes he will walk on past and ignore them - good boy - or on a few occasions (like today) he did not handle their behavior well at all.  But never out of aggession - always out of out of control puppyness - the "I'm so happy to meet you that I'd like to pounch on you and wrestle".  Stuart have never meet a stranger - so working with slowly down the greeting/exercising absolute control till there is a calm greeting.  Once Stuart is calmed down things go well.  Not sure if that is what you were asking or if you disagree.  Just my take on it :)

[F, Calla & Luca]

I do let my dogs greet others if the owner indicates it's OK, but I agree that is putting a lot of trust in an owner you don't know, never mind the dog. I think in the 2nd situation you mentioned, meeting for the first time in one dog's yard is not a good idea, I've had some trouble with that. Territoriality may intervene. Also, leashed and unleashed mixing together is also not a good idea. So far we've been lucky that even when issues have arisen, mostly in my own yard, they have been manageable. I would hate to stop all meet and greets because the dogs do enjoy them.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

My short answer is NO.

If a dog is ever going to be reactive to another dog, it's going to be when meeting a strange dog head on while on-leash. Especially if one or the other is displaying excitement and/or straining to get to the other one. Even the most even tempered friendly dog can react badly in that situation.

I would stick to "walks are meant for walking" and keep moving.

[L.M.]

We used to allow Seamus to say hello to dogs on a walk.  When we got Stella, it just became a nuisance.  Ours pull to say hello, the other dogs pull to say hello and it's just not worth the trouble.  They don't get much out of it in terms of socialization because it's so quick and it usually results in a tangle of leashes.  On walks, we have flat out said no if someone asks to say hello or usually our body language and commands to Seamus and Stella make it clear ("Leave it" tends to really clue people in that we don't want to say hi).  

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Here's a recent discussion on this subject from the Training Group....hope it is helpful

http://www.doodlekisses.com/group/trainingmindsets/forum/topics/gre...

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

I have taught Riley to 'walk on by' even though he would love to say hello to everybody and every dog.  We know most of the dogs in our neighborhood and now have about three or four dogs that we have met and know are Ok. The last one was a five month old Labradoodle just the other day who just wants to play with Riley. All the others get a wide berth.  It's just not safe.

[Kaytlin and Cooper]

I have a "keep walking" command for when I dont want Cooper to stop say hi to a dog, a person, or sniff the ground. Its very useful to have a command like this

[Doris, Knox & Flash]

I rarely let my dogs "meet and greet" when we are walking, but it's because of my Jack Russell! Knox is usually very friendly, but Courtney...hmmmm...not so much! She is very territorial and protective of me and I do not trust her reaction to other dogs when they get too close to me! Typically, it's best to just say "hi" and keep her moving!!

[Kate C Pappas]

I do not let my girls make contact with other dogs on walks. Firstly, our walks are 'working walks' where we use our rules for heeling and paying attentions, stops with sitting, stays with me walking leash length away and then recalling etc. And it's known that dogs aren't usually comfortable interacting on leash, be it for better or worse.

In our case too, Yindi is dog reactive although on walks she never lunges, growls or tries to go after another dog. Odd that it's pretty much the opposite of the norm.

I'm so sorry you were injured to the point of being in the hospital and glad you're fine. I also don't understand how and why dog owners don't know their dogs well enough to 'read' their body language and know what they might do.

When asked on walks if my dog is friendly, suggesting they want to have a meet and greet, I slow my walk down and say yes but we're on a training walk. And it seems like so many incidents are followed by comments like "she has NEVER done that before".

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Mostly not, but sometimes yes.  For example, on Saturday we will be involved in a fundraiser for the Pet Adoption Center we got Clancy from.  The whole point of this fundraiser is to walk your dog around the local lake with hundreds of other dogs.  Of course, there are some meet and greets involved but we don't initiate it.  Last year Ned did not like a Boxer (he just doesn't like Boxers) as we walked by and had to be corrected - embarrassing for me, but....

[Kaytlin and Cooper]

I do let cooper say hi if the other owner is ok with it - but its a quick hello, sniff, goodbye