Dear Labby: Big dog/small dog etiquette Discussions

My neighbour never walked her little yapper, which then kept getting out of her yard and causing trouble and other neighbours threatened to have Leah taken to the pound. Because I'm an avid hiker I have since then been taking Leah for weekly day-long walks on the mountain. Incredible, but after an entire day of hard uphill rock scrambling, she still rushes backwards and forwards and jumps up and down and chases butterflies! How her little paws cope with a day of rough terrain, is a mystery. Needless to say, a bond has developed. She worships me to the extent that immediately she figures out what I want, she will do it. So it was a cinch to teach her to sit, lie down, roll-over, come when I call, sit-stay-go. She rapidly went from an extremely anxious little dog that couldn't be let off the leash, ran blindly at the sight of another living being, to such a happy, confident dog that she can ignore other humans, cross a busy road, take a passing interest in other dogs and in one instance even playing chase. However, she's still nervous about big dogs. All I can do, when I see big dogs approach is to remain relaxed, keep walking on calmly and let her sort herself out as she has been doing gradually. Sure, she does the little dog thing with the high-pitched yelp when the big dog blinks, she runs, barks, does all the irritating things. When I'm far enough from the encounter, I call her and she comes to me. End of story. With time, I'm sure she will get more and more confident and relaxed in these encounters as she has been learning very quikly over a few months to get from a fearful, anxious yapper to an intrepid mountaineer. I can understand the big dog owners' irritation (some of my best friends are big dog owners), but can they please understand that anything I do (other than to act unconcerned) is only going to make the encounter worse? I don't mind big-dog owners warning me (even seeing a big dog on a leash warns me at a distance) or they call ahead to put my dog on a leash. Fine. But if they're confident their dog won't attack and I'm relaxed after several big-dog encounters that it is unlikely to end in violence (Leah will show curiosity, overreact to any move the big dog makes and run like hell). Most big dog owners just have a good laugh. However, I've also had some big-dog owners berate me and I wonder what they think I could have done differently.

8 months ago by Anna