Thursday, September 10, 2009

sorry, just because he is on the lead!



"sorry, it's because he is on the lead", do you find this statement familiar?
I was taking the boys out for a walk yesterday morning. Just as we came out from our front garden into the pavement, I saw a big black dog dragging his owner on the lead, they were about three doors up the road, so I pulled the boys back and make them sit and wait while waiting for this strong dog to get pass us. While my boys patiently sitting there waiting to be released, this dog came and saw us, he decided he will lunge and jump ontop of my boys. I was taken aback and hopefully the owner will control her dog but she wasn't, she just said to me: sorry, it's because he is on the lead!
I am very much believe in training. Before I have Sing, I tried to read about this breed and go to shows to find out more about shelties, also trying to look for some puppy training schools where I can take him to and started reading books about training and how to become a good dog citizen etc.
You can say I am very lucky as all my dogs are well behaved, whether they are on the lead or off the lead. They have never done any silly things or being aggressive towards other dogs/human. They are also very good with joggers/cyclist, it didn't appear to them that they should chase a jogger or a cyclist, so I have no problem walking the boys.
In many occassions, we met dogs were aggressive, whether mine are on the lead or off the lead, the aggressive dog tried to EAT my dogs, the owner always told me: just because he is on the lead! I think this is such an irresponsible statement and sometimes it make me feel angry.
I remembered when Sing was young, we did a lot of training together, one of them is to walk pass a dog without looking at any distractions, make sure your dog is with you and give you his full attention; we also train to have two handlers stand still talking but our dogs are still paying attention to us instead of looking at the other dog ... etc. Paddy is a great behaviourist, she help me a lot throughout the years when I have all my shelties. It is a shamed that Paddy moved to Lincoln when I have my 2nd sheltie but I always remembered her way of training and I tried to keep training all my dogs that way.

2 comments:

Vonnie said...

I think because we have small dogs, we notice it more! If the dogs are on-lead then there is no excuse for them to jump on top of the dogs! I find that irresponsible dog owners do not pay attention to the surroundings when they are out! One evening when we were out walking we passed a man reading a book, dog and extendable lead (this was in a built up area) I mean!!!!!!!!!!!

Sara said...

people should have to pass a test before they get a dog!