Meeting strange dog not on leash

LinLin

The other day I was out walking my dog near a sawmill. Suddenly a big (easily >100 lb) German shepherd appeared, not on a leash and the nearest human probably a football field or more away and obviously not watching his dog. Because of the noise of the mill he wouldn't have been able to hear if I'd shouted.

The Shepherd trotted right over to us, and my heart raced not knowing what he'd do. My dog invited him to play (I discouraged him but he didn't listen). When they started romping, of course the started getting tangled in the leash, so I just dropped it.

Eventually I got the idea to start walking away. My dog followed, and shepherd-dog followed. My dog finally ran over to me (I think he had had enough) but shepherd still wanted to play. I got my dog's lead again, told the shep to 'no - go home' as authoritatively as I could, and just walked away. My heart was still racing.

Question:
Was it a good idea to drop the lead? I couldn't think what else to do.

Cali

Since your dog and the shepherd were playing, I would say so. If the lead had been tense your dog could have picked up on the tension and reacted differently. However I probably would have tried to make the dog go away sooner. Not only do you not know the behavior of the shepherd, it's also impossible to know if he's had all his shots, etc. His owner should be more responsible and keep him leashed if he's not going to pay attention. I'm glad everything turned out ok for your dog though ;]

Criosphynx

Yup. I agree with Cali. A tense leash is bad mojo, and also had there been a fight, your dog could defend himself better if not restrained.

Generally tho, I tend to run dogs like that off, no matter how friendly they seem Don't be shy about it, run 'em off

Mikey

Agreed totally-if it's a friendly dog-like at our dog park if I haven't unleashed Mikey I drop his leash because otherwise he's giving bad signals and being a butt. But just walking him normally if a dog came up off leash -like Crio said unless the dog was acting like a teddy bear I'd run him off.

Oh and how to do that? Yell and advance on him-well sorry that's how I'd do it-Crio may have better advice-she's very good at dog speak and what to do's "

Criosphynx

Lol, put your hand out (like a stop sign) and basically advance on them stomping your feet. It doesn't always work tho....I had a lab, that everything I did would not faze him. He eventually play bowed and they played for like ten seconds and he was done and ran off LOL

PamO

I agree with the other posters. Dropping the leash was ok because they were being friendly together and playing. However, what if it had turned nasty? If your dog is good at going submissive in those situations then it would probably have been ok. Perhaps the best thing would have been to urge the other dog to go away sooner. In the winter I've got big leather gloves that make a very loud sound when clapped together. That noise along with stomping toward the other dog works well.
Pam