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I acknowledge that my dog shouldn't have run after her dog and I also acknowledge that he has an issue jumping on people. What I object to is the way that these situations are handled.
There is no reason to yell at my dog, especially b/c doing so is only going to escalate the tension in these situations and it also prevents me from disciplining and/or redirecting him.
There are many ways that these situations could have been handled in a friendly manner. For example, the woman who was walking could have simply asked me to leash my dog. Before we saw them, he was on-leash. I only let him off-leash b/c I viewed her and her dog as friendly and that is how he and her dog have interacted in the past.
As for the situation with him running after the other dog, again, I take responsibility for that. However, again, there is no reason to yell at my dog. And I expect an owner to take responsibility for their dog nipping at my dog. As far as I'm concerned, they didn't have complete control over their dog either nor did they reprimand their dog when he nipped at my dog. Yet I feel that my dog is being solely and unfairly blamed in these situations.
You are correct about your dog being unfairly blamed, when the blame falls squarely on YOUR shoulders.
You are also correct that there is no reason to yell at your dog. Instead, if it were me, I would be yelling at YOU. In fact, I would probably be screaming at you.
There is NO WAY to handle this in a friendly manner, since you wrongly perceive any friendly overture from the past as an open invitation to let you dog loose to jump all over other people and dogs. You don't get to make the decision to let your dog off leash to greet their dog. They do.
As for their dog nipping at your dog, you're lucky the dog took control of the situation. I might have done more than nip at your dog. A swift kick to get him away from mine might have been in order.
I must have misread your first description, because here you say they did not have complete control over their dog. I thought their dog was on leash. Are you insinuating that because your off leash dog was harassing their's, and it defended itself, that it's to blame?
I am not "inflicting" my dog on any one and, yes, I do have the right to cry fowl when a dog lunges at my dog. If my dog had done this to another dog (ie. lunged at an unleashed dog), I get the feeling that you would still find a way to blame him (and me).
As I said before, this dog would have lunged at my dog regardless of whether my dog were leashed or not; I have seen this behavior in many of the neighborhood dogs and in all of the dogs in this particular play group. They have clearly formed a pack and, as a result, are aggressive with dogs that they view as non-pack members. And, as far as I see it, they are aggressive b/c their owners are also aggressive and/or defend their dogs' behavior (which you are also doing).
We are going to have to agree to disagree re: the owners' reaction. Reacting to aggression with aggression is only going to escalate a situation (as opposed to de-escalating it).
Yes you are, and no you don't.
You let your dog off leash to confront someone, after YOU decided that THEY need to help you socialize your dog.
Their dog would NEVER have lunged at your dog if your dog had been on leash under your control because the dogs would have been many, many feet apart from each other.
And please, don't try to analyze pack behavior. You really have no place to do that, given your inexperience in that field.
You are the only one disagreeing about the owner's reaction. Any sane person would act with aggression if a loose, out of control aggressive dog with a clueless owner came running at them.
I'm surprised, TwelvePaw, as I have made it clear that I am responsible; please make sure that you read my posts rather than those of the other posters who have decided to label me as "irresponsible."
My point in moving would be to avoid a group of dogs and their owners who are clearly hostile towards me and and my dog.
Responsible people don't let their dogs off leash and off their property. If you move, that irresponsible person would still be with you.
Here's a hint, even if your dog truly is "friendly", if the other dog is threatened by him, it's aggression. So, keep your dog on a leash.
That also goes for letting him run up to people in general. I stopped walking on my lunch hour in a cemetery just down the street from my job because too many people use it (despite signs that say leashes are required) as their own personal unleashed dog park. I don't like it when strange dogs run up to me because I don't know their intentions. The ones that have done so are lucky I wasn't carrying anything that could be used as a weapon, or I would have used it.
All dogs should be leashed at all times in public, no exceptions.
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