26/08/2025
Dear Dog Owner of those males…… (from my heart this one!)
We had a wonderful summer, had some great encounters, made new friends and had some lovely new experiences with Kiran. He deals well with many, many things in a sociable manner – but he is a proud male who will ignore dogs that ignore him and invite ladies who will want to play with him. By no means is he perfect (and he still has his traits we need to account for). But what he really struggles with are these examples we encountered the last few weeks:
- Gorgeous huge male Retriever charging from the car park over the dunes (no collar/lead) and the owner mingling behind with a dummy. Although we were moving away, this Retriever saw Kiran and followed us merciless and at speed, with the owner unwillingly to follow quickly. Finally catching up (he had to as we blocked his dog in following Kiran) he queried if Kiran was reactive.
- Energetic and lively Springer and Cocker having a doggy party without their mistress. Then they spotted Kiran at a distance of 100 meters (owner not in sight). Silent staring, preying, creeping slowly towards us. We moved away and they continued to follow us in that manner, whilst cocking their legs and marking all the time. Owner finally catching up listening to a podcast and bellowing at her dogs.
- Cheeky and bright Cockapoo (one of those adolescent ones who enjoyed a bit of risk taking) mingling around whilst his owner was debating about something obviously very important with his human companions. Cockapoo spotted Kiran and whilst Kiran was gently guided away, Cockapoo silently, prey stance, staring, hard wag followed. Then that leg lift right in front of Kiran. By that time the owner was roughly 50 meters away.
- Strong but frustrated (?) Golden Retriever teased by a ball whilst owners stopped passing us to interact with their phone. Golden Retriever looked lost, until he saw Kiran. Straight and fast, hard stare, head on, tail lifted towards us. Then that horrendous growl as the owners caught him.
It was Kiran who was barking and lunging as these dogs who approached him and had past his threshold (thankfully we could redirect Kiran at some point and settle him very quickly). Now the question, is it correct that he is labelled as a dog that is in ‘need of help’ by those owners trying to catch their dogs?
As a behaviourist I frequently need to assess such situations and often I have to explain to those desperate owners that
a) It takes two to squabble
b) It isn’t always the one that is barking and lunging that is the initiator!
Please note, that many dogs who can’t deal with dogs, are frightened and/or are guarding their owners - and they need guidance.
My plea here for those other owners: Observe your dogs and engage with them when exercising them. Only then can you truly see (of course only if you are interested!) if in fact it isn’t your dog that is provoking a response, and you might need to intervene sooner to prevent this from happening.
