OH MY GOD!

I read a thread on here not long since on hitting dogs!

Today we have been to haigh hall for a day out as ted loves it there!

we had been walking for miles so we decided to sit down and let ted have a drink, a man was walking down with a weimaraner (spelling) puppy on a lead with his wife and child and he was yelling and screaming at the dog to stop pulling and kept hitting it with the lead, then he raised his hand up as if to hit the dog the poor little thing started cowering and lay down, so he started dragging it along, i was so annoyed, my partner had watched it also, so once wed done sitting down we started walking again and happened to bump into the man he let his dog sniff ted and i asked how old his dog was and to this i got
"4months but he wont live to see 5months at this rate"
so i asked what the problem was and he replied he pulls all the time especially if he sees another dog so i said calmly he wont learn if u keep screaming and hitting him and his reply to this was
"well he learned not to poo in the house after i hit him every time he did it"
i cant tell you how annoyed i was!! he then asked how old ted was and how id got him so well trained so i just told him id never hit him, id let him greet dogs on leads as we walked past and this has stopped him pulling every time we see a dog, as naturally they will be curious of other dogs passing by and told him about puppy training classes he didnt know what to say after this and stomped off! should i have done more???

Don't really know what else you could have done really apart from kidnap the poor little chap, hopefully you've given this idiot owner something to think about. The sad thing is this is just the sort of dog that will probably end up in rescue and have problems because he's scared of men or worse PTS because he turned on his owner. The thought of him being with this *&%$ is awful isn't it?

If you say nothing you may regret it

A few months ago I had to shout (cus silly Rox was barking) at a man who was both smacking his SBT pup and alternately shaking a noisy pkt above her head which really scared her. He was teaching her recall and smacking her when she came to him My first glimpse of her was when she was hiding behind a tree
This was happening in our local park, he had NO idea.
I called over some basic encouragement and suggestions, and he thanked me.
Now i see him with SBT and things are much much better, he smiles and waves every time.

Pippa SBT smiles too

A lot of people don't realise you can train positively.

I'm really not very brave but I've stepped in several times when I've seen people shouting at their dog, or hitting them in a bid to train them. Mostly recall. I normally try to get chatting (it's a very friendly area here) and then try to explain to people that praising works much better. Sasha attracts a lot of attention because I ask her to do things like sit to have her lead on and off, and to come back every so often. I make a big thing of it when I recall her and she comes. Other people have asked me 'how' I've trained her and I always try to explain about treats and rewards etc. Where I live it's still very much choke chain and harsh correction country. So I guess I stand out

One memorable experience was with a young girl. She had a very young pup who wouldn't come back. She called him, he came and as he didn't come the first time, she hit him I went over, asked about the pup and how old, what his name was etc. She was very chatty, asked me about Sasha and then said she was upset because the pup wouldn't come back. So I asked her whether she would rather come back to a cross mummy, or a happy mummy? She answered 'happy' and then her face sort of lit up.

I have zero people skills and anyone who has met me knows I'm as tactful as a housebrick. But I do believe that the majority of people will take in information better if part of a down to earth discussion rather than having a go

Lordy what a nasty man!

We took out 2 lil ones walkies this afternoon, id already been out with the 3rd dog, we had an adult weinmenara chased us, his owner stood one field away witha dog whistle which, obviously, this dog didnt respond to, so I clipped my older dogs lead on this dog and returned him to the owned, who did thank me but also had a talking to about letting dogs off in public places when they have no recall.... why dont people try training dogs?

I wish I'd met him too as I also use Haigh for many of our walks. Maybe two of us saying similar things would have had some effect although some people seem to think its soft to work in a positive manner. I wonder what he's like with his child? Mags

I marched up to what looked like the Family from Hell when the Boy started hitting his staffy with a lead because it had run off and gave them a handful of dog treats and a talk on positive training to teach recall. They tried to tell me to s*d off but I just kept going...and in the end they actually thanked me. It was probably just to get rid of me but at least they now know another way.