Dog Walking Questions

[Cass C]

I have a couple questions for those of you who walk your dogs.

 

1) When you are on a walk and someone is headed your direction either walking, riding a bike, ect. Do you move out of the way or go to the other side of the street with your dogs to allow the other person to get by?

 

I have been moving out of the way and putting my dogs into a stay or crossing the street if there are kids playing on the other side of the street to avoid issues. My problem is when I just move to the side and put my dogs in a stay people have taken it as an invitation to try and pet them, which usually leads to me telling them not to pet my dogs and often getting the 'it's ok dogs like me' excuses. That usually leads to my dogs breaking a stay and barking. They usually bark at strangers on walks, probably because it makes me nervous when people I don't know want to pet my dogs. I also had a kid chase me down the road and try to pet my dogs from behind, which could have ended badly if I hadn's stopped the kid before he reached the dogs. Kids seem to think its ok to pet my dogs because I work in the local school district. What should I do in these situations or should I stop trying to stay out of people's way and just hurry by?

 

2) I noticed after the walk today the Lyka's paw was bleeding, which I think may be because we went from having 1-2 one mile walks a week to walking 3 miles every day, as I'm trying to get back in shape and what better motivators than my dogs . The dogs seem to be loving this new walking schedule, so is there anything I can do to avoid this happening again and is there anything I can do to help her paw heal or should I just leave her home when I go for walks until it is healed?

 

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

[aschlemm]

I am a big time dog walker! I love to walk with my dogs (both on and off leash) and I've had MANY issues over the years! I used to politely stop and step off the trail. Dogs on my left and on the left side of the trail. But I had too many issues. I hike alone and I don't want every Tom, Dick and Harry to stop and pet my dogs. Also, other people walking dogs seemed to think that was an invitation for their dogs (either on or off leash) to approach mine, which I REALLY don't want. I don't know how many times I've heard "Oh, it's OK, my dog is friendly" right before their dog grows at mine. Any more, I keep moving. My dogs on my left and staying to the left of the trail. When someone approachs I have them drop back to heel position. That way I am a physical barrier to oncoming people/dogs. Also, I feel it is being courteous to joggers, bikers and horsebackriders not to force them to pass directly by strange dogs. If the oncoming dog is completely out of control I will go off the trail to the left (and keep moving.) It drives me nuts on well used trails because people act like they are driving a car and walk on the right and then leave their dog all over the trail, pooping, peeing and getting in the way of other trail users.

If Lyka isn't lame and the pad just has an abrasion I'd probably buy a set of dog boots for her to walk in. Just be sure it isn't a wound from stepping on something sharp. Then I'd rest her and let it heal. If she is usually a tenderfoot you might want to look into some pad toughening products. ProtectaPad. Musher's secret.

Enjoy your walking!

[Cass C]

Thanks! I will look into dog boots and the pad toughening products. Does it take the dog a while to get used to wearing dog boots?

[aschlemm]

Depends on the dog! My male BC, Logan, has injured his paw pads several times. He is wild and crazy so it is impossible to keep him quiet until they heal. In the past I've bandaged them and then put on his dog boots to keep the bandages clean and dry. He does the craziest walk!!! It's a riot! He looks like a Hackney horse! Then, after a few minutes he's too busy zooming around to be concerned with them. My female BC just sniffs them and then walks around normally.

[teresaserrano]

Tess always walks between me and trafic so the "change sides" comand was taught from when she was small. When we're walking and someone/something aproaches I just ask her to change sides so I'm between her and whatever and we keep walking. It works well for us and people don't feel the urge to pet her when we're walking by brisqly.

 

If someone really wants to pet her, I ask them to wait a bit, tell her to sit and then tell people to pet her under the chin. But she likes people, so it works well. With dogs, she sometimes wants to say hi, and I trust that she only wants to say hi to dogs that she likes. She often ignores other dogs and it's always dogs I also don't much like the looks of. If she's interested I will ask the other owner if it's okay for the dogs to sniff each other. If I'm in a hurry or don't feel like it we just keep walking.

[simba]

I've recently found a nice park to walk where there is often an option to change paths or get off the trail in a hurry. There's usually another path going parallel to the one you're on which you can climb up a slope to or something. If that's the case we just keep walking.

Otherwise I'll pull them off the trail and get them to sit, or just walk briskly past them. Whoever said that a dog can't go nuts when you keep them walking briskly was entirely wrong.

 

The other nice thing about that park is that everyone who has petted them has stopped a fair distance away to ask first. Even unaccompanied kids. Owners with off-lead dogs stop to ask if their dog can greet yours, too.

[moosikins]

There are companies that sell leashes online in various colors that say "Pet Me, I'm Friendly" in green or "Please DO NOT Pet Me" in red as well as variations in between!

 

You could also put an "In Training" lightweight vest on the dogs - I've seen those work nicely as deterrants for petting.

[haiku]

I know the feeling when you are in the middle of working with your dog and someone tries to come up and pet the dog, especially on walks. I normally pull off to the side and put my dog into a sit stay and work on attention control, as that is just what I have decided to work on till she can reliably look to me rather than trying to go greet the stranger. However I would like to get to the point that unless I go to greet the passerby then my dog will ignore them and keep on walking. Usually if I do not look up at the people passing by then they do not stop to talk or try to pet my dog, as I am focused on her and she is focused on me. I have however had to use the excuse of 'sorry she is working at the moment and can't be pet' excuse when they try to say 'its ok I am good with dogs.' I find it is a good way to work on recall away from the stranger, and not hurt someones feelings by flat out telling them no you can not pet my dog. 9 times out of 10 if I pull that excuse out it works. Kids on the other hand.. I'm not sure as results vary from kid to kid. Lately I have had some very nice kids approach and actually ask before going in to pet the dog, but there are also those that just try to run up to the dog, in which case I usually walk off.

[waffles]

I just keep walking when I see people or keep walking while going up into the grass if their dog looks out of control (pulling on leash) or if we see young kids, I cross the street. On trails I have him sit by my side off the trail and most people just keep walking or if I stand in front of him with my back to people, they seem to understand I don't want the dogs to meet.

 

This is usually enough to keep people from talking to us. My sister in law walks with headphones and that keeps people from talking to her.

If someone does say something I just keep walking and say 'no, thank you' nicely or 'sorry he is in training'. Usually I blurt out the first one and keep walking. I really don't care if a stranger thinks it is rude that I don't feel like/have time to stop and talk to them about my dog.

[haiku]

Headphones would definately work too if as Waffles said, or at the very least it gives you the excuse to ignore people even if you don't have any music playing.

[borasaurus]

Headphones would definately work too if as Waffles said, or at the very least it gives you the excuse to ignore people even if you don't have any music playing.

For some reason, I never thought this was safe, since you're blocking out one of your senses. I guess it depends what time you're walking, too, and where. Maybe I just watch too many TV shows where people get kidnapped while running with headphones on because they can't hear someone approaching.

 

Usually, I just cross the street or step off to the side with my body in between Kieran and the other person. We seem to run into people with dogs more than just people and then Kieran gets a paw to the face because "oh she's just playing." I've also seen dogs start fighting in the middle of the street coming from opposite sidewalks. I was pleasantly surprised on Sunday when someone actually asked, "is it okay if our dog meets yours?"

[simba]

I will often do wear big headphones not plugged in to anything, when I am walking alone without dogs in a city. I can hear well enough to hear people coming up from behind me etc. For some reason when the drunk angry man accosts you they seem to get less offended at you not-listening when you've headphones.

 

But then my music is usually quiet enough to hold a conversation or hear footsteps or cars anyway. With the big ones you can wear them ajar so one or both ears are actually uncovered- though it works better if you've long hair.

[haiku]

For some reason, I never thought this was safe, since you're blocking out one of your senses. I guess it depends what time you're walking, too, and where. Maybe I just watch too many TV shows where people get kidnapped while running with headphones on because they can't hear someone approaching.

 

Lol I understand that, I suppose in my mind the music would be set to a reasonable volume, which means fairly low, because I agree being able to hear someone behind you are an engine roaring toward you from behind would be nice. I always walk against traffic so I can see what is going to hit me if someone decides to come at me. But anyways with the headphones that is why I suggested having no music in them at all, this way you can still hear the environment around you.

[Tess's Girl]

Be careful with the vests and the leashes that say "do not pet me" or "needs space" if your dog were to nip or bite someone you can be help liable because having a vest or leash like that they can say you admitted you had a dangerous dog. Along the vein as the "beware of dog" signs.

 

I scoot my off to the side and put them both in a down. I always place myself between my dog and the people and I usually turn my back to them and face my dog. If they try to approach I move in the opposite direction and just say something like, "Sorry, she's shy." I've found that saying "shy" works better than telling people she's "fearful" for whatever reason.

[Cass C]

So I wanted to thank everyone for all the advice. I've started standing between the dogs and people as well as telling people my dogs are shy. It works great except today something happened that was a little upsetting, because I try really hard not to interfere with other people while I'm waking my dogs.

 

I was walking my dogs around the neighborhood, when someone walked out of their garage. I didn't hear or see them, but the dogs did and started barking. I pulled the barking dogs away and hurried away from the house to get my dogs out of the situation without anyone getting upset. The lady they were barking at yelled after me that I shouldn't take dangerous dogs outside in a neighborhood with kids playing in it. I feel like my dogs were just scared by the lady appearing out of 'nowhere' and were not being vicious beasts to anyone.

 

What is your take on the situation? Should I not be waking my dogs without more training or did I do the right thing by pulling the dogs away and continuing the walk? Is there another way to avoid this in the future?

[CptJack]

I think that some people are snotty jerks with unreasonable expectations of dog behavior and attribute things that are by and large normal dog behavior to 'aggression'.

Or, put another way, some people are so dog ignorant and have such disneyfied views of dogs that if they're barking, they're aggressive. Which is dumb.

 

Carrying on with the walk was right. Getting them back under control and focused is good. Maintaining distance is responsible and fantastic. Not taking your dogs out is ridiculous. How do you GET more training if they never enter the world?

[Ttiffany20191]

I have a rescued bc who is extremely fearful of other dogs and reacts to them. I couldn't get her to be okay with other dogs and it became a problem on walks. Finally figured out that if a dog is coming in her direction I have her come and sit facing me. Once it passes she gets a treat. She is extremely food motivated so that helps. It has been the only thing that works.

 

As for bikers no problem but we just move over to the other side of the street.

 

Congrats on your new walking routine..I know your pups are loving it!

[Jescano]

Jinx usually avoids rude in your face people. The type to pet your dog even when you ask them not to. So he'll usually put himself on the other side of me and people tend to not try and pet him. But if they do, a quick stern "Leave it!" works great for both pup and human. It's more for the human. Jinx is a great avoider and we generally walk off leash. No one has ever wanted to pet him badly enough to chase him down. I just keep going unless it's a narrow path and a big group or horses or something like that. Then we'll pull over and stop. But I'm not too worried about horseback riders or bikers stopping to pet the dog.