A friend's BC was almost killed at doggy daycare.

[Tommy Coyote]

It was attacked by 2 standard poodles and no one was paying attention.

 

The facility is paying all vet costs which are substantial.

 

It's not just walking your dog around the block that is dangerous.

[Blackdawgs]

I'm sorry to hear this.

You couldn't pay me enough to use a doggie day care.

After being accosted by more off leash dogs than I care to think about, I am starting to think that doggie daycare and dog parks are creating pet dogs that are total assholes and devoid of social skills.

 

All of this propagated by owners who think that it is their dogs' god given right to interact with any dog that it sees.

[Tommy Coyote]

Going to those places is certainly a big risk.

 

I don't take my dogs out. There is no where safe for us to go. They play in their backyard.

 

They aren't really well socialized but at least they are safe.

[Gideon's girl]

We have standard poodles here that are known for attacking other dogs. I think they just got crossed off my list, not that they were really ever on it.

 

I hope your friend's dog recovers fully and quickly.

[Ttiffany20191]

How terrifying. I'm glad they got them to pay the cost of surgery. That doesn't always happen as a lot of times you release all liability and sign your life away in the forms you have to sign. I hope he ends up being ok. Sad.

[Sue R]

We were at the beach last year and as I walked Celt and Megan back towards the walkover, a fisherman warned me there were a couple of people with their loose dogs playing on the beach ahead of me. I took my two and went up by the dunes where we sat, unnoticed by the folks and their loose dogs further up the beach. Eventually, one of the dogs, a very large poodle, spied me sitting with both my dogs lying by my side, on leash. The poodle came bouncing around past me and came right up into my dogs' faces, with no regard for their personal space and the fact that they were both indicating plainly in dog body language that the poodle should keep a respectful distance.

 

The poodle's owner came up and was very friendly - and I pointed out there was a leash law on the beach and his dog should be on leash. He said that his dog was enjoying exercising and "exercise is a beautiful thing", and found me to be quite contrary in pointing anything out that was otherwise. I said that neither my dogs not I appreciated his dog coming up uninvited into our midst. He saw nothing wrong with his dog being "friendly". What part of "personal space" did he not understand?

 

Because I was sitting in soft sand and had both dogs on leash, I was not in a position to easily get up and move but rather was concentrating on controlling my dogs and avoiding a confrontation. The man finally left with his dog, thinking I was quite a nasty person and very unreasonable. I was just grateful that none of the three dogs made the first move to start something that would have truly been unpleasant.

[rushdoggie]

The "nothing wrong with your dog being friendly" is a new cultural phenomenon. I have trouble with this in classes where people think class is a place for their dogs to socialize with each other (vs a learning space) and think its more weird that someone doesn't want to have their dogs invade personal space than it is weird that they do. They are usually well meaning but clueless.

 

Just this week, I had a headache where apparently one of my student with a giant pibble mix let her dog get close to someone's toy breed dog in the parking lot and didn't notice the pibble got really close. The owner of the toy breed (who is an experienced dog trainer) mentioned it to me to remind her to keep a closer eye on the pibble, and when I did he pibble's owner was very upset, saying that her dog is sweet and friendly (and he is) and that the toy breed's owner is unfairly attacking her because she has a pitty (she wasn't). No amount of explaining why letting her 90 lb dog even look at a 9 lb Papillon made much difference.

[Smalahundur]

Going to those places is certainly a big risk.

 

I don't take my dogs out. There is no where safe for us to go. They play in their backyard.

 

They aren't really well socialized but at least they are safe.

Really, your dogs literally never get further than the backyard?

I think I would not want to own dogs under such circumstances.

Well thinking a bit more, I would not want to live in such a place myself, even regardless of whether I wanted to have a dog or not...

[teresaserrano]

A few years ago I was bitten twice by a gsd who hated my dog (feeling was reciprocal). Both times the owner wandered blissfully near us, close enough for her dog to lunge at mine (who was dieing to do the same). Both times I stepped in front of my dog and was bit (nothing serious, dog was definitely not aiming at me, but still). Owner was an older sweet lady that had just no idea about personal space. She felt terribly afterwards, but didn't seem to grasp the concept of keeping enough distance. I ended up bellowing at her, whenever she wandered in our direction, "Not a step further, I don't feel like being bitten today".

[Tommy Coyote]

I used to take them out to a lake where they could run but everytime we went something almost always happened. They got crosswise with the wildlife, or found garbage that people had left out. People left fishhook on the bank? Deer came up out of the gullies and ran over the top of us. One time there were bald Eagles that were big e ought to carry them off. 9ne time hawks came down right over their heads. One time one of the dogs got attacked by a fox.

 

I have a big back yard so they get lots of exercise everyday.

[Smalahundur]

Wow, are you sure nobody put a curse on you?

[highway61]

How many pounds are your adult BCs that an eagle is big enough to get airborne with them in their talons?

[Shandula]

Daycares are scary places. The place I teach is a daycare during the day. They sometimes have FIFTY dogs running around together. Hello recipe for disaster.

 

Every week in class I have to remind people that this is not a place to socialize your dogs. In fact, there is a reactive dog in class and people bring their dogs SO close to her, and she lunges. Then the people look so surprised. Every damn time.

 

When I'm training out in public spaces, we constantly have people coming up to us with their dogs (on and off leash). I'm considering putting muzzles on them so people will think they are mean. Although truthfully, my little BC has very little patience for rude dogs in her space.

[Donald McCaig]

Dear Doggers,

At the Bluegrass last weekend I was very aware of what constituted good manners when people are wandering around, each with several to many offlead dogs. Good manners is keep your dog(s) apart from others' dog(s) unless you have a good reason to speak with that person in which case both parties are constantly aware of their dogs.

 

I expect there were between 2 and 3 hundred dogs of every age present and there were no dog fights. In 35 years I have never seen a dog fight at a sheepdog trial.

 

Donald McCaig

[Tommy Coyote]

The dog I had with me at the time was pretty small but have you been up close to a bald eagle? They are huge. I bet those birds are 3 feet tall. I just turned and left. I wasn't risking an encounter with one. They didn't come down but just sat and watched us.

 

But we did have a hawk come down and fly right practically on top of us us. That was really odd.

 

Taylor was swimming up there one time and got too close to a goose nest. The geese went after her. I thought I was going to have to go in after her.

 

Big birds can be difficult. I had a friend who had an owl grab one of her cats. And I know of another woman who lost a small dog to an owl.

 

If you go up to Smithville Lake in the winter there are thousands and thousands

Of geese and pelicans that came there. It's an amazing thing to see. All those birds rising off the water at the same time. And the noise is deafening. And a lot of Eagles nest and stay up there.

 

But dogs and wildlife don't mix very well.

[CptJack]

Bald eagles can weigh typically 4-6 KG - they're big but they're not heavy - and can lift up to half their weight. Some Alaskan eagles are bigger and heavier but not sufficiently to carry off any dog that is bigger than roughly cat sized. Hawks diving means 'probably chasing something small and the dog was in the way/there was a chick out of the nest somewhere', not that it was going to hurt your dog.

 

Honestly, I am often in very remote areas. Including geese and ducks and deer and the odd bear - and the deer and bear have been in my YARD, along with skunks, raccoons, and raptors of various sizes (we have bald eagles at the nearest lake, locally we get a ton of golden eagles and red tailed hawks) and assorted other things.

 

If the dog's trained and under control, you should have issues with basically 'coyotes and large cats', unless you're out hiking with a toy breed. A dog going barging off into the middle of a bunch of geese nesting, is, yeah, going to have problems but that.s.. not an issue not to let the dog in the back yard/a bubble Keep it away from the flipping geese, teach a solid recall and leave it and. Carry on.

 

Or don't, but. This sounds 90% like an issue that you have ramped up in your head/your anxiety rather than an actual one.

[Tommy Coyote]

I'm glad you haven't had any problems. But I have had and I am not willing to risk their safety.

[Maralynn]

I think it's a different strokes for different folks type thing. I'd never use doggy day care. But I know that thousands of dogs attend them each day without issue.

 

As far as wood critters, there have been deer, coyotes, coons, hawks and fox near the house. The "local critters" don't bother me. We leave them alone, they leave us alone and leave when I walk through with the dogs. If I had to take my dogs someplace to hike, I'd like be a bit more worried about the wild critters since I wouldn't know how socialized to humans/dogs they were.

 

It is harder to train recalls off of all those interesting critters when your exposure to them is limited.

[airbear]

At the Bluegrass last weekend I was very aware of what constituted good manners when people are wandering around, each with several to many offlead dogs. Good manners is keep your dog(s) apart from others' dog(s) unless you have a good reason to speak with that person in which case both parties are constantly aware of their dogs.

 

I was at the Bluegrass too, and while I enjoyed walking the fields behind the handler's area with my two dogs, we also had a good time in the fenced-in dog park. The novice field, when not being used for the trial, is part of a large dog park, and the adjoining field was open during the trial and is a fairly busy and popular dog park for the locals. My dogs enjoyed playing with the other dogs; Rex had a very good romp with a pair of huskies, Bar played tag with a weiner dog, and I enjoyed talking to the dogs' people. My dogs like other dogs, I like people, we like dog parks. Anathema, I know!

[LauraV]

What a lot of dog owners don't understand is just because your dog is friendly does NOT mean mine is. Overly "friendly" dogs can be pushy and rude. Actually your "friendly" dog is not always "friendly" in a dog's eyes.

[Luana]

at the daycare I was taking my dog they would not discipline dogs for bad behavior. not sure if this is how it works in general at a daycare as this was the only one I used.

generally it was fine, but I witnessed a couple of "incidents" with aggressive behavior and for a while I was just trying to take my dog on specific days when I knew some of the trouble dogs were not present.

there was another border collie at the day care, and several times he got involved in almost fight, till one day I learnt that he bit a great Dane and was expelled.

so I decided that day care was not a good idea.

I also do not go to dog parks for the same reason.

just recently I had a problem with a pug (or pug mix I guess) which almost strangled himself pulling on the leash to reach my dog right in the face. Spillo was holding still but I knew this was not going to go well, in fact he did snap at the dog to tell him off. the owner thinks my dog was not friendly.

[Liz P]

"I expect there were between 2 and 3 hundred dogs of every age present and there were no dog fights. In 35 years I have never seen a dog fight at a sheepdog trial.

 

Donald McCaig"

 

I would consider you lucky. I have known two handlers who were consistent about not monitoring their aggressive dogs. Said dogs attacked plenty of others. Thankfully they were not serious attacks, though one of my dogs was left bruised and shaken.

 

There are also plenty of handlers who ignore their dogs being jerks (posturing, picking fights, urinating on everything, etc) who are lucky that other owners spot the problem and remove their dogs from the situation. I've gone to great lengths in the past to protect my fear aggressive dog from the clueless fellow trial attendees. This would including parking far away from other vehicles and walking that dog on a leash well away from other dogs.

[Liz P]

Many years ago I worked at a doggy daycare. After that experience, I would NEVER leave my dog at one. We had several dogs who bullied others on a daily basis. One in particular, a Pug, would systematically follow bigger dogs, stare, posture, take cheap shots and harass them. The other dogs would get fed up and finally bite to defend themselves after going to valiant efforts to diffuse the situation without violence. These biting dogs would then be banned from daycare due to aggression, despite my reports to the owner that the "victims" were actually the instigators every single time. A few friends who have also worked in daycares have reported similar situations.

[highway61]

I have two dogs, one (heeler mix) would be ideal for daycare as he's confident and very well mannered. He goes with the flow, the only issue might be he's not inclined to share and that's really all I'd feel the need to tell the daycare.

 

The Border Collie on the other hand would be a nightmare. He's a sweet dog that is not as confident around new/stranger dogs but otherwise very well mannered. That is until other not-well-mannered dogs invade his space and he gets snappy. He'd do fine with other well mannered dogs but that expectation at a doggie daycare is unrealistic. The things to look for when stranger dogs interact with my BC would be pretty extensive and I don't reckon the daycare staff are trained to look for such things or have the time to invest in that kind of effort.

[mbc1963]

, there is a reactive dog in class and people bring their dogs SO close to her, and she lunges. Then the people look so surprised. Every damn time

Story of my life with my old boy Buddy. EVERY DAMN TIME they were surprised. ::Sigh::

 

There was a guy whose biggish ACD came at my little girl last weekend at the woods. I squatted and greeted with Cricket (which seems to be the best system, given that if allowed, she will flee - and that triggers "chase" mode in the bigger dogs). The dog's hair went up and he did that stiff-posturing-I'mTheMan thing that I know from watching it trigger Buddy. So, I intervened and explained to the guy that my dog was very scared of bigger dogs.

 

Later, up on the hill, far from everyone (or so I thought), the ACD appeared out of nowhere, charging my girl. I squatted down to pat him, and distract him from her. But he wanted at her, so I held onto his collar until owner-guy could show up and get him away. As he left, the guy gave me the DIRTIEST look ever, like, "How DARE you touch my do!?"

 

Um.

 

I really, really, REALLY don't want to touch your dog. But you put me in a position where I needed to. ::Sigh::