I have placed this ' thread ' under ' General Chat ' it really could come under the title of ' General Rant ' I took my 5 1/2 month Akita out this morning at 5.30 we made our way to some grassy wasteland close to some houses, out of no where came a springer spaniel that belongs to the village vet ! Whilst the vet was no where to be seen the springer runs in circles around Yoji, playfully to be honest, but, since Yoji plays differently ( I say this because Yoji has played with the springer before OFF lead and the vet said Yoji was ' brutish ' I keep him on the lead, I'm spinning in circles as the springer runs back & forth at Yoji at this point is getting frustrated and starts barking, I reel his lead in and walk away with difficulty, the vet then makes an appearance in his dressing down with his 2nd OFF lead dog only to see us walking off and Yoji barking like crazy with frustration at the springer. Since the vet hadn't seen any of the previous actions we looked the guilty party and the springer trotted off as if butter wouldn't melt. Furthermore, the vet goes back into his house without the springer which then follows us home ! Someone give me strength Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr
I think you did need a rant Philippa - and maybe the vet needs a kick up the kecks. I do not know where you are or how your time relates to mine, but IMHO no vet should let their dog run loose, whatever time. Your Yoji is still a puppy and for a vet of all people to just let their dog/s run loose is not, in my mind, a vet I would let a thousand kilometres near my girl. I think maybe you need one of these...
Thanks for the we'll needed ' hug ' Juli. We are in the South of France, so, I will have to brush up on my French before I can enter into conversations with the vet. I'm currently looking on line about the laws in France for keeping dogs on a leash. Thanks for you reply. Oh, by the way we don't use this vet, we go to the next village
Plenty more hugs from me if necessary. Maybe not so far away? Geography was never my good point. Scientist/medical more like it. But I am lucky in that my wonderful adorable vet is just that. Wonderful, adorable [and and gives good huggles - and I love his wife!] - and his English is perfect and he knew more about canine epilepsy than did the only two neuros here. And he helped me cope with my beloved Pereg [my avatar] - yeah, well, I know I could not have coped without him. He also comes here for Tikva's shots etc because he known I am not physically able to take her to the surgery. But - laws here regarding dogs on leash are ignored. "Mama - wanna puppy" - next thing? Mama or Pappa dumps the untrained pup at the nearest Moshav, Kibbutz or Army base. The law is that no dog is permitted to go out loose. Yeah. All dogs must wear a collar with details of owner. Yeah. The law is that all dogs have to be seen by a vet. Microchipped in the ID number of the owner. Yeah. Untrained, never vaccinated, and never having been seen by a vet are illegal. Oh Yeah? Oh, I forget. There is or was a vet in town known as The Dog Killer. Hopefully I think she has now gone.
I know the feeling when I had the Akitas there was no end of off lead dogs running up to them, and mine were not good with strange dogs I had a good few near misses.
It's hard work sometimes, I am working hard to help him with these situations, it takes the joy aout of walking him sometimes. We are starting to take him on his longer walks very early on a morning and later in the evening, with that we don't want it isolate him from others either, it's getting the balance right.
"Brutish", what like the Beatles? Your village vet sounds like a bit of a village idiot to be honest, you'd think a person who makes a living off caring for animals would have more sense than to let one run wild.
This vet is irresponsible. One of my dogs is reactive, he is OK in his own space, but cannot stand a dog in his face, so I know how you must have been feeling. Sometimes you can avoid a confrontation by just taking your dog to one side and asking for a sit stay till the intruder has passed, but if the intruder dog is without an owner, and dancing round your dog, the situation is much more difficult. Do you carry treats? If so throw a handful of them right into the other dog's face. Very few Springers will miss the chance of a free meal, and hopefully you can make your exit while he is occupied. It can be a good idea to teach your puppy the, 'Watch Me' command. Start by training this at home, as if it was a game. Give the command, 'Watch Me', and food reward your dog for keeping eye contact. When he understands this, extend it to other locations, and then begin to point out the presence of dogs, cats, horses, or whatever other stimulus. I say, 'Look at (doggie), Watch Me', and reward for looking away from the stimulus, and giving eye contact. You can also go on to train a sharp U turn to face you if the dog is directly in his face - if you have enough time. Lesley McDevett, from whose book, 'Control Unleashed', I have stolen these methods, suggests the command, 'Dog in your Face', for this move.
I trained my Akita almost every day on social behaviour with other dogs. Then on our walks twice now he's been attacked by dogs off the lead once bitten on the face and then a dislocated toe during a 2nd attack. Now if any dogs come near him he will lash out at them 1st as a warning to stay back (he's always on a leash so he can't hurt them) all hard work for other dog owners who just don't care about others
Its so infuriating that someones lack of responsibility with their dog can utterly ruin 'your' dogs entire approach to other dogs.
