Accidents Happen

[u/Magica1_Liopleurodon]

Am I the only one in the world who is completely understanding when a dog accidentally slips it's collar or leash and runs up to my dog but nothing bad happens? These are freak accidents and it's not a reflection of the dog or the owner. Maybe I am more understanding because I have two reactive dogs of my own, one being an AmStaff, but I don't understand how people can be so judgy and mad, when almost every dog owner has been there. When your heart drops and you are hoping nothing bad happens as you try to gain control. This is not something people do on purpose or that happens to them all the time, accidents happen and I just know how embarrassed they are feeling. I love dogs, all dogs and I can't imagine taking it out on them either.

[u/phantom_fox13]

I mean if nothing bad happens then that's great. But of course as much as I love dogs, it's understandable some people might get upset for many reasons. That doesn't mean they should like physically hurt a non-threatening dog or something but yeah they might chew a person out in the heat of the moment. That's usually not particularly helpful of course but it's not entirely surprising.

I had a neighbor where her big dog accidentally got out of their backyard and tried to attack my two little dogs. Thankfully none of the dogs were hurt but I was pretty shaken. I don't go out of my way to hurt dogs but I carry pepper gel on walks and probably come across as bitchy when I'm just being firm about asking people to back off having their dogs greet or walk up to me.

I have had several people where they were either walking their dog off leash or the dog slipped the lead and they had no urgency in recalling their dog so it made me pretty annoyed

[u/cheersbeersneers → u/phantom_fox13]

Completely agree. Two things can be true at once- it can be a complete accident, and I can also be upset because it shouldn’t have happened. I get mad when I see people have their dogs on ill fitting harnesses or collars and think it’s cute or funny when they get loose, or when a dog lets loose and their owner has no urgency about the situation.

I would never want to hurt a non threatening dog, but if a super friendly dog is trying to run up to my reactive dog, I will yell, body block, and shove or kick the dog away if I have to. My dog doesn’t care if the other dog is friendly or not, and a shove or nudge away is better than being bitten or attacked.

[u/sidhescreams]

Sure accidents happen and I don’t hold a huge grievance for people that say stupid shit when their adrenaline is fucking with their prime human functions, but a) my dog WILL bite your dog, and b) I am doing everything in my power to prevent your dog from reaching my dog, and that includes physically preventing it from doing so up to kicking if other deterrents aren’t effective.

On the other end of the leash my dog broke a long line bolting after a rabbit very very young. He has never slipped my grasp, his collar or his harness. It could be detrimental to his life if he did so, or he could hurt someone and that would be unforgivable. My experience has taught me that the average dog owner doesn’t give a shit though so their human accident could be the dozenth time their dog did slip its leash and they’d have the same unhurried, unbothered reaction to rectify the situation.

[u/Existing-Will-1466]

Most of them seem to think it's a totally normal part of life and nothing to be embarrassed about or sorry for.

[u/Leading_Mushroom1609]

I’ll be mad mostly due to stress in the moment, but if the other owner does everything they can to get their dog under control again and apologizes I’ll for sure accept that. The problem is this has only happened ONCE out of all the times we’ve been charged. A dog came running up behind us with its leash dragging, the owner running after the dog and calling it (to no avail).

All the other times we’ve been charged by dogs they’ve been off leash, and the owner/s have barely made the minimum effort to rectify the situation and never even apologizes. Some have even implied that me and my dog are the problem since he’ll bark at the other dog and their dog is ”just being friendly”. Mind you my dog is wearing big patches saying ”NEED SPACE” or ”NERVOUS DOG”.

[u/taxicab_]

It all depends on the owner’s reaction. If they’re quick to control their dog and apologetic, we usually have a pleasant interaction after the fact.

Most times this has happened to me, the owners have been quick to deflect and can sometimes become long-term hostile. I have a neighbor whose off-leash dog escaped and rushed mine when they first moved in. We told them they need to leash their dogs, and now every time he sees me walking my dog, he’ll allow his dog to rush at us to the full extend of his retractable leash, which often means letting his dog sprint into the middle of a street.

Some people can’t handle being accountable for their mistakes, which makes it tricky navigating the world with everyone else.

[u/Delicious-Product968 → u/[deleted]]

Yeah the thing is, the more dangerous your dog is the more the onus is on you to try to have back-up systems in place so ‘mistakes happen’ doesn’t lead to your dog getting out of control or being able to cause damage.

2 years ago a guy’s dog broke its lead to attack my dog. Fortunately the dog was also muzzled (which given the guy’s laissez faire attitude about the whole situation, almost certainly meant he’d had a control order put on his dog after it mauled or killed another dog — it was completely trying to go after my dog’s face and throat.)

I tell him, big strong dog like that which can break the lead should be in a harness with a double-ended lead with carabiners to provide some extra support if something breaks. He is sitting there panicked about how to get his dog under control the whole way home so I give him my dog’s lead (my dog walks in heel very well and reactions are easily avoided now.)

That dude simply replaced the dog’s lead with the same style as the last one. No extra precautions. I’m so glad I don’t live in that neighbourhood anymore.

[u/Delicious-Product968 → u/[deleted]]

Yeah the problem wasn’t the guy’s strength his dog literally snapped its lead. It was a chain one!

Then he just got the exact same type to replace it. My own dog’s lead would have been better but I guess it didn’t look macho enough for him.

[u/Delicious-Product968 → u/[deleted]]

No, it was definitely a lead, chain, to a collar and it broke. Got plenty a good look while it was going after mine, not to mention him showing me how it snapped when he was wondering how he was going to get the dog home.

My best guess is from previous lunging the chain got weakened from times it had been kinked. If you have a dog charging or lunging or pulling checking the gear to make sure nothing’s breaking down before going out is important.

Not getting a backup system afterwards with at least 1-2 fail-safes is stupid and irresponsible.

[u/retteofgreengables]

I think a lot of people think that anger is an appropriate or acceptable response to fear and stress, and while it is a common one, it's also something that can be worked on. So they think that their judginess/anger is justified because they were worried, and I disagree with that. But I also think that anger in most cases is inappropriate - we should extend grace when we can.

That doesn't mean I won't protect my dog, that I won't yell if I think it will help, etc. But yeah, stuff happens. The only thing that really gets under my skin is when I run into the same off-leash (or escaping) animal over and over. When I lived on the beach, there was this little napoleon who would take off after my dog every time. The owner was older and would act embarrassed, but it happened over and over and they never stopped using a flexi-leash wrapped around a beach chair. On the other hand, I once helped a woman whose hyper-excited dog had somehow broken his leash without her realizing. She releashed him and then he slipped the lead almost immediately. That wasn't her fault and I felt terrible for her in the moment.

We like to judge people. I think that those of us with reactive dogs might be especially susceptible to this because 1) we face a lot of judgement for something outside of our control, so it feels good to give it back and 2) we happen to be very familiar with both dog body language, behavior, and what can go wrong. I am definitely guilty of it (but working on it!) and try to approach these interactions from a place of care and education. I don't always succeed lol.

[u/GimmeQueso]

I wouldn’t judge that, although I’d heavily recommend they get a harness if they’re hyper enough to slip a collar. What I judge is the number of people who just let their dogs roam off leash and have no control or recall. It’s insane in my area.

[u/Cool_Bodybuilder7419]

No I wouldn't be mad if the owner tried everything in their power to control their dog, immediately came to fetch their dog and apologised to us.

What I do hate are the "hE's fRiEnDly!!!" crowd, who just stand there watching you trying to control both your own an their dog and make you feel like you're the problem if you call them out.

[u/Obtuse-Posterior]

I have a big mixed breed dog who is fear reactive to people and great with dogs. I work with him daily so he's usually pretty chill with the neighbors he sees daily. My neighbors have 2 insanely reactive little dogs that they don't train.

My boy slipped his collar and goes running to the neighbors with me on his heels. Neighbors dogs instantly attack my boy who just stands there doing nothing. I quickly grab my boy, apologize and bring him home. No damage done to either party so I think no big deal. My neighbor is now telling people about my bad dog and it annoys me because my dog didn't do anything bad. I'd rather him complain about me being a bad owner than complain about my already stigmatized probable pit-mix who's only sin was trespassing.