Ok, so this *might* be a vent! I think I just want to be told I wasn't doing the wrong thing... but if you say I was then I'll take it like a big girl!
We spent the last week at our holiday house - small town, big influx of tourists after christmas. I have a toy poodle, very friendly, loves all dogs, comes when he's called MOST of the time. I also have a german shepherd pup, about 5 months old. She is learning to behave, we take her to obedience every week and practice at home. She is getting better with recall, but coming when she is called is still pretty hit and miss. We are very conscious of socialising her and she has a lovely, friendly nature.
Soooo... we have been to the beach near the holiday house every day for the last week to exercise the dogs. We walked them on the leash through the part of the beach which is still, where there are people and children (only a few people around). When we get to the surf, which is a good 200m from the still water (connects during high tide but separate during low tide) we let them off the lead to run after checking there are no people within sighting distance. We walk with our three kids and two dogs along the beach, playing in the waves at the shore. The walk is about 500m before you hit a cove of sorts where you have to wait for the waves to be breaking right then you can duck around a corner to another small beach. (Quite safe for the kidlets when holding a hand!)
So, yesterday Dh walked about 20m ahead of myself and the kids, carrying Miss P. The big kids and I were ducking around rocks, trying to beat the waves and having a lovely time. The dogs were following DH. He reached the cove ahead of us (but not yet through the break, he was waiting for the rest of us) and as I came around the corner DH was crouching down, Miss P on a hip, the poodie under his arm and holding the german shepherd pup by the collar. A woman was standing about 10 metres from him and started screaming at me that I should have had my dogs on a lead. She had a large, sturdy dog on a lead. Looked like a pit bull (but I'm not sure) and a smaller dog which looked similar. The smaller dog was off leash.
I saw the woman and her dogs and said 'oh, we didn't expect other dogs' (having checked the beach for any people prior to taking the dogs off leash), she responded by yelling in my face that my dogs should have been 'under control'. An argument ensued in which this woman screeched at me that I should have had my dogs leashed. I had no idea what had occurred prior and responded quite angrily. I asked her why she didn't have her own, smaller dog on a leash and she sputtered then denied the dog was hers, although it quite obviously was. I did, though I am not proud of it, ask her who the F she was to tell me to leash my dogs when hers were off leash and I think I *might* have told her to ahem... bugger off.
After she huffed and left, DH told me that she came around the corner of the cove with BOTH of her dogs off leash and that my shepherd had approached hers to play. The bigger of her two dogs chased down my poodle, pinned him to the ground and bit his neck until my pup stepped in and grabbed the neck of her dog and dragged it away. No blood was drawn from any of the dogs, but apparently DH and the woman struggled to call her dog off my poodle prior to my pup being involved. The woman was unable to physically pull her dog away from mine. DH called our dogs, but was hesitant to get close to the larger dog whilst holding Miss P. The woman was calling off her dog but getting no response.
The beach is a legal off leash area and we had checked whether there were any people within sight prior to letting our dogs off the lead, knowing that the pup doesn't always respond to recall. We have no concerns that she will be vicious, but we understand that not every one is happy to be approached by an off leash dog. In retrospect, we should have leashed the dogs as we approached the cove but the beach seemed deserted. I don't really know what I want from this, other than to get it all out!
Perhaps she was shaken by her dog attacking mine and not being able to call him off. I don't imagine the outcome would have been different if our dogs had been leashed and her hadn't. Anyway, if you got this far in my big spew of words you deserve a medal! I think I might be a bit shaken myself... love my doggers!
I think if it is a unleashed dog beach everyone has a right to walk their dogs there off the leash...as long as the dog is well behaved and socialises well with other dogs. If you know (aimed at anyone...not specifically you) that your dog may attack other dogs or you do not have control of your dog then it is your responsibility to keep it on a leash.
I do not think you are in the wrong for walking your pups off their leash, sounds like her bigger dogs were the culprits and you cant blame a dog for defending itself. Hope your pups are ok
Its often those that make the biggest stink are the 1s guilty of doing whatever it is they are complaining about.
If its a legal area- she has no right to complain. And you have learnt a lesson- as you said, next time you will leash them. She is lucky that she got off so lightly. If my dog got attacked I would upset to say the least.
She must have been shaken, but yelling like that straight away? Nah thats never gonna start a good situation!
Legal off-leash area - you didn't do anything wrong. She probably thought she had the whole beach to herself as well. Sounds like she was really frightened by the incident. If she knew she couldn't control her dog if an incident occured, and anything can happen at any time in a public area, then she should not have taken her dogs off-leash.
The off-leash area is for well socialised dogs and owners must know when their pets are O.K. socially to use the area. If you're not sure of your animals behaviour (because they are young etc) then don't take chances. Even walking yours on the leash in an off-leash area can become a problem (though not necessarily your fault, I just mean a problem if your kids get bitten or your dog gets attacked) if some idiot let's their dogs off-leash when they are not social enough. KWIM.
I hope this doesn't spoil any future outings for you guys. Sounds like a beautiful area to have for an off-leash area.
My advice is firstly, if it is an off leash area then the responsibility is on her to ensure she only takes dogs that are not aggressive and can be controlled while off leash. So no you did not do the wrong thing. Secondly I would consider taking your poodle to the vet as dogs can do a lot of damage to underlying tissue even if the skin isn't punctured. Thirdly make sure your dog gets a lot of good playtime with other dogs soon so she doesn't over react to this one incident and become fearful or aggressive. She sounds like an awful woman.
I had experience with an off leash beach earlier in the year. There were a couple there every day who's dogs ran crazy and annoyed everyone else's dogs without fail. I too yelled at them and told them they needed to learn to control their dogs (they were quite big dogs).
Thing is if it's off leash, she can't tell you off for not having your dogs on leash as it's no illegal. She sounds to me like she struggles to control her dog and likes to blame everyone else.
Did I do the wrong thing?
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She sounds like an awful woman.
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