How most dog owners feel when an off-leash dog approaches them while walking their own dog on a leash (Photo: wolf laying down showing her teeth)
Welcome to Week 3 of “What to do when off-leash dogs approach me and my on-leash dog.” Phew! That’s an appropriate mouthful for such a vast topic.
Be sure to read through all three blog posts in order, so that you can begin to understand all of the important components for how to deal with this sticky situation.
Here are the links:
Week 1: https://beyonddogtraining.ca/news/prevention-is-the-best-medicine-for-encounters-with-off-leash-dogs
Week 2: https://beyonddogtraining.ca/news/who-is-protecting-whom
Now that you’ve read the first two blog posts, you’re ready to go through your checklist:
You’ve built a solid relationship with your dog. Check.
Your dog knows how to follow you on leash. Check.
Your dog listens to your commands both inside and outside the home. Check.
You’ve studied dog body language. Check.
You’re practicing being aware of your surroundings while on walks to AVOID confrontations from even happening. Check.
You’re no longer hitting the panic button when you see an off-leash dog. Check.
You’re working hard in areas where there are no off-leash dogs because you know your own dog needs to be rehabilitated first, before being expected to handle confrontation from an off-leash dog. Check.
But sometimes, life happens.
Sometimes life happens (Photo: Malinois running through the grass)
You’re walking on a narrow trail with your non-reactive dog, who heels on leash, listens well, and is good with other dogs when an off-leash dog pops out of the woods right beside you. Now what?
You stay calm. You assess the other dog’s body language as “excited.” Excited is not “happy,” by the way. Excited dogs can start fights by rushing into another dog’s intimate space. Face-to-face greetings with excited dogs can cause fights as well, especially when one or both dogs is on a tense leash.
While staying calm, you’re going to step in front of your dog with confidence and you’re going to point and say “GO!” By stepping toward the off-leash dog and giving eye contact, you are now forcing the excited dog to make a choice. Most often, the dog will choose not to approach you. Dogs want to avoid conflict wherever possible. It’s in their DNA. Wolves and feral dogs don’t want to get into unnecessary fights, because those can lead to life-threatening injuries.
If you have a bit more time, you can put your own dog into a down-stay. I like to add a “head down” command to this as well, so that my own dog is in a relaxed body position. When the body is in a relaxed position, the mind will follow.
In order for this to work, you need to practice down-stays frequently with your dog around distractions. Build up slowly. For example, teach the down-stay in your kitchen. Then practice down-stays in your hallway, on your balcony, in your car, and in your backyard. Once your dog’s down-stay is solid, add distractions. Try down-stays while out on your walks. Try down-stays OUTSIDE your neighbourhood dog park (far away at first, and then try moving closer.) If your dog can’t listen to you beside off-leash dogs in a dog park running and playing, then how will she be able to listen to you around random off-leash dogs while you’re out hiking?
Practice like you play. Yes, everything I learned about life I learned from my soccer coaches. It applies here. If you don’t practice keeping yourself calm under pressure and your dog calm around pressure, then game day (random off-leash dogs) will continue to be…unpredictable with varying results — sometimes your dog will get bit, sometimes you will, sometimes the other dog will. But you CAN work toward a better life with your dog and improve game day anytime you wish. Today is a new day!
Practice like you play (Photo: Border Collie laying down in a forest)
By showing your dog that you will advocate for his space, you are showing him “you have his back.” This allows your relationship with your own dog to flourish. This builds trust.
Some people feel more empowered carrying compressed air, a tennis racquet, or a walking stick. I shuddered the first time I read that a walking stick is a good way to keep off-leash dogs at bay. I don’t want to hit a dog with a stick. That said, if an aggressive dog is about to attack you or your dog, do you really want to:
-try to separate a dog fight by yourself and get bitten and spend the day in the emergency room (specially during a pandemic)?
-have your dog ripped open and spend the day at the veterinarian’s clinic?
-allow your dog to DIE at the hands of this aggressive dog?
-or end up in a combination of #1 and #2…where you’re in the ER and your dog is at the vet in surgery?
Personally, I use myself (stepping in front of my dog and pointing and telling the other dog “GO!” I do not carry any tools, though I have been considering the compressed air lately (there are way more untrained off-leash dogs lately and I know many clients have had their own dogs attacked while walking on trails and in their own neighbourhoods.)
If I have time (i.e. the dogs are approaching from a distance, and I am in the middle of an open field) I have Magic in a down-stay with “head down.” I then step up, point, and give the “GO!” command to the other dog.
To this day, the best tool in my toolbox has been being aware of my environment at all times. I have avoided many off-leash dogs by simply being aware of them well ahead of time and creating distance between them and my pack.
A recent example of that:
Magic and I were walking on a residential street. As we approached a house where there is often a dog tied out, I saw that she was not tied up. She began to mix it up with an on-leash Border Collie. The woman walking the Border Collie was suddenly thrust into a situation where her dog was on a tense leash and very stressed out. You could see that (understandably) the woman was also very stressed out. The other dog’s owners were nowhere to be seen.
There were still parked cars impeding Magic’s ability from seeing this brewing. I stayed calm and did a 180 degree turn, which we practice all the time, and we left. Had we continued, the off-leash excited dog would certainly have bounded over to us, crossing an intersection to do so. I kept that dog safe, and my own. Win-win.
A lot of people get really bent out of shape when they have to change their walking route. Here’s something that helps me choose joy over feeling annoyed.
Remember: It’s not about you. It never has been and it never will be. I had a choice: be annoyed that I had to change my walking route that day, or keep my dog safe. I will choose the second one every single time. Who cares where we walk, what route we take? My priorities when I am out with my dog are to have fun, enjoy the outdoors, to feel relaxed, to work on training skills, to build our relationship, to fulfill Magic’s canine needs (to follow, to exercise physically and mentally, to explore the environment with her nose,) and above all else, to keep my girl safe.
Hopefully you will find these strategies helpful for you and your dog. I’m not here to tell you what to do. I’m here to provide you with all of the information I’ve gathered over my years of research, so that you can find what works best for you.
Next week, I’ll cover a couple of examples that were trickier to navigate, the strategies that helped in the moment, and how those experiences better prepared me for the future.
Thanks for reading!
Have you encountered off-leash dogs while walking your own dog on-leash? Please share your story with us, either in the comments or reach out in an email. We would love to hear from you!
Happy training!
Alyssa
Photos by: Jessy Hoffmann @jessreporter (wolf laying down showing her teeth,) Upsplash image (Malinois running through the grass,) Tadeusz Lakota @tadekl (Border Collie laying down in a forest,)