“It’s okay, my dog is friendly”

“Well my dog isn’t...call your dog!”

This might be a familiar scenario to some of us with either very friendly or very reactive dogs.

There’s the owner of the friendly dog who allows the dog some “off-leash” freedom because she is a good dog and enjoys running free. Then there’s the owner of the aggressive dog who sees the off-leash dog approaching and braces for the inevitable Cujo-explosion.

The trouble arises when the two meet and after a few unpleasantries are exchanged the dogs and their owners unhappily go on their way. One of them thinking “My dog is a friendly dog, why should I keep her on leash because he can’t control his aggressive dog? Why would anyone ever want a dog like that anyway.” The other owner is thinking, “How rude. Can’t she see that I am struggling to control my dog? How can she just let her dog run up to us like that?”

You get the picture?

So, what’s the answer? Well, the law says that dogs must be under leash control unless they are in a designated off-leash area. So friendly dog owner, I’m sorry but you are in the wrong. And honestly, most owners of dog-aggressive dogs would much rather have a friendly dog. But we got what we got and so we try to make the best of it. Keeping our dogs safe and under control, same as every other dog owner. And although our feisty friend may not be Lassie, we love him anyway--right or wrong.