What do you do when you see a strange dog off lead Discussions

It's always been illegal to have a dog off lead on the highway (street) but what do you do when you see a large or bully breed dog running around loose & barking when you are walking your dog.
In my local paper today there was a big headline saying Staffy X Labrador running loose on street attacks a dog & its owner as they were walking down the street, But if you looked at the pictures the "bites" the owner had, looked like it was off her own dog
So I am wondering what would you do if you saw a dog running loose when out walking yours

I would take my dogs home first, then phone the dog warden & then go to try to catch the dog that's running loose.

I cannot really answer that as when I take Pereg out I am on my big road scooter and her leash is fixed to the back nearside canopy/roof frame, so loose dogs [and there are far too many of them on the Moshav] do not come near us.

There is no point in calling a dog warden as we do not have one - just dog catchers from the Local Authority who turn up once in a blue moon to pick up the unwanted dogs from town that end up dumped on the Moshav. But it takes more than a few complaints before these dogs are picked up, mainly because the LA covers a large area of scattered Moshavim and Kibbutzim.

And no way would I ever go near one.

But - if/when a loose dog tries to get into our front yard, where Pereg is tethered, I scream at it to go away. Because I do not want stray, probably un-vaccinated, no doubt covered with fleas and ticks and who knows what temperament, anywhere near her.

Are there that many un-owned dogs where you live Malka ? here in England we do have latch key dogs.

There are some people on the Moshav who have outside dogs that roam free. They are not latch key dogs as such, just dogs who live outside and wander around. I see the same dogs for a while and then they disappear - maybe picked up in one of the LA dog catchers collections? Maybe yet another victim of an RTA?

But the main problem with loose dogs is that people from towns who no longer want their dogs drive to the nearest Moshav, Kibbutz or Army bases, and just dump their dogs.

The tragedy is that dogs are seen as a throwaway commodity here. Kids nag for a puppy, puppy has no training, puppy grows into not such a cute little puppy - get rid of it, we can always get another...

ive put tie my dog up but i seam to be a magnet for loose dogs this week. 3 in 1 week!! so the first one i used the labradoodle i was walking as a lure for the escaping jrt and it worked (although i did want to walk away as this is my reflex with phoebe now) Then it was the labradoodle as he jumped out my car when i opened boot the bugger, hes never done that before. I let him run about and sat on his doorstep as i had no intention of chasing him he came in for a drink after 5 mins. Then the little boarder terrier was running a mock in the road and nobody was doing anything so i stopped my car and opened door and shouted "hello baby" and she just jumped in my car! she was really nice and called molly i parked up and waited a min and her very elderly very out of breath owner tapped on my window. But i have had my fair share or bad times with phoebe and off lead dogs. most annoying was "the poof and the pugs" as i now call him. he had 3 pugs, 2 off lead they ran up to phoebe barking and snapping and they were underneath her nipping her belly i was going mental that i would drop kick them to the moon if he didnt get them but he wouldnt come close as was frightened of Phoebe so i tied her to the lampost picked the pugs up by their harnesses and chucked them like bowling balls at him. Ive had run ins with him since but he tries to stay out my way. I have a problem with a woman 4 houses away aswell that she purposely lets her dogs out the front door lose when she see's me coming and thinks the fit Phoebe throws is funny. Ive had many rows with her some with dogs in tow some without now if i see her at her door i get hold of Phoebes clip and go to undo it she now goes back inside. ive thankfully only had to let Phoebe off lead once as the owner quickly learnt im not a woman to be messed with. Ive informed her of the fact its illegal to have dogs out of control in public and i will report her if she lets her dogs out on me again. Lucky i know Phoebe isnt nasty and has never hurt this womans dogs or the pugs shes barking because shes excited, but they dont know that if them thinking shes nasty keeps them out my way im happy.

I'm greedy and have had three votes!
We don't really have a loose dog problem here. The dogs in the Country Park mostly run loose, but are friendly enough, and are loosely with their owners - if you know what I mean. For the odd difficult one, I would change direction if I knew the dog or owner had a problem coping, but generally speaking I'd leash my own, tell them to 'watch me' and march them on.
If the dog was a danger to itself or traffic - I'd try to trace the owner or ring the Dog Warden. In the past, I've always found them either too scatty or snappy to catch.

In Hungary we have more or the less the same situation as Malka. There are dogs running loose everywhere, even in the city centre. Some have been abandoned and some are allowed to roam free by their owners and very few of them have ever been socialised which why I always avoid them. And I don't want them near my two because you always have to assume they haven't been vaccinated or worse still might be rabid.

If there was no owner and it seemed friendly I would probably try and get hold of it, but if I thought it was going to attack, its impossible to say unless one is in the situation as no single method will work in every case, so id play it by ear’ but id do whatever necessary to protect my dogs.

Have to say when I had the Akitas it was stupid owners (not strays) who I had most problems with allowing their dogs to run up to mine, Oh! Hes friendly blah blah, but mine were not and didn’t take to strange dogs running up to them, and was bloody hard work trying to stop mine having a go.

There are no latch key dogs around here, so if I saw a loose one I'd know it shouldn't be out on its own.

Like Vee, if it was friendly I'd get hold of it and if it had a disc on I'd contact the owner direct, otherwise I'd take it home and ring the dog warden.

If I couldn't approach it for some reason I'd contact the dog warden.

Barbara and I are probably in a different position to those of you in the UK. We do not know if loose/stray dogs have had any vaccinations let alone a rabies shot.

For me I do not care if a stray/loose dog is "friendly" or not. I do not want it to come near Pereg - because although we can never prove it, it was a loose/stray dog that came into our front yard and left Pereg with a nasty puncture wound on her shoulder/back.

I had to get a vet out [Ram was off duty so it was a locum] - wound needed flushing, cleaned, stapled - anti-biotic jab plus a week or 10 days anti-b tabs, I forget.

And three weeks later Pereg had her first Grand Mal epileptic seizure, which, we are 99% sure was triggered by the attack from that dog. We do not know as she obviously had epilepsy somewhere in her background, but the trauma of the attack set it off.

It is not that she is "bad" with other dogs. I had taken her to the Vet on Sunday - new premises, everything new - and she was as calm as anything with the strange place, strange smells, strange people, strange dogs being brought in - and she was an absolute dream of a dog.

But no way does she want a strange dog coming near us if we are out on my road scooter, or if a strange dog wants to come into our yard.

And in the latter case, I will screech my head off and tell it to :lech" - "go" - "lech, lech lech lech" - and yes, I have been known to throw one of my crutches at one that will not go.

And no, I am not ashamed of having done so.

Actually if I see a dog off lead and I'm with either of my dogs I feel a touch queasy. Sophie is way leash aggressive and loud so I have to drag her away and pray the other dog doesn't follow. With Callie it's not such a big deal but I'm always afraid a strange dog might challenge him. Easygoing though he is, if he felt threatened it would be bad.

Mouse always wants to play. If it's a aggressive dog I just generally have him sit, and I'll shoo it off.
With aggressive dogs once he locks up and he gets the crease in the hair in his neck you simply will not move him.

He's been attacked once by a pair of loose GSD's, he slammed the one to the ground so hard I thought he broke the poor dog, but it screamed murder and both ran off.

Zeus, Kobi, Dottie & K9 will stand their ground & if they are on their leads will get very vocal, so I will always about turn & take them home first, then I will go back out with slipleads & some treats try catch the lose dog, but if its showing aggression I won't catch but just monitor until the dog wardens turn up.

I would most properly walk in the other direction. I don't like off lead dogs running upto my dogs. I would look out for the owner tho and if I don't see anyone I would take my dog home and go back to the off lead dog or call partner to take our dog so I could sort out the other dog, which I have done before.

I walk Izzy in the park off lead. I let a strange dog come to me if it wants, most off lead dogs here are friendly. Its a good park; dogs that are dog aggressive are generally kept on lead. However if there is no owner I will stay by the dog until the owner turns up and if it is on a road I will capture it.

When I think of Hungary, I think of Puli. My wife had a Puli puppy when we got married and he was as absolute joy and lived for 16 years. We have Bogi's ashes preserved in a little memorial shaped like a stone.

When I first thought I was looking at a dog off leash, I looked closer and saw that it was actually a coyote. I called Animal Control and was told they don't try to pick them up but that I should bring my dog inside. Later I found that coyotes sometimes do roam the neighborhood, mainly at night, and that cats left outdoors are at risk.