A few months ago I wrote about walking our beagle, Kobi. If you’ve read that or some of my other posts, you might know that we have four dogs, but that Kobi is the only one I walk on a regular basis. The two golden retrievers and our younger beagle, Cricket, get most of their exercise by playing ball in our big fenced in yard.
I’ve been trying to rack up minutes for the Idita-Walk. Kobi had surgery last week and has still been healing so I haven’t walked him since then. This last weekend I needed to get some minutes so decided to take two of the other dogs, one on each day.
On Saturday I had taken Sheba on the rail trail just below our street, so on Sunday decided to drive to the next town and walk the same trail along Mascoma Lake, and take Cricket. Our rail trail is great – we have miles of trails converted from the old railroad beds into trails for snowmobiling in the winter, and walking, biking, or horseback riding in the other seasons. It travels and connects through several towns in our area.
Cricket’s walking technique is quite different from Kobi’s stop-and-smell-everything routine. She puts her head down, and goes into four paw drive. And I mean she GOES. She certainly gives me a good workout. She will occasionally stop to smell something, or to take a bathroom break, but other than she just plows forward. Walking is serious business to her and she gets down to it. I was lucky she slowed down enough so I could take some photos.
It was a beautiful day last Sunday, sunny with the promise of the oncoming spring in the air. The temperature was in the 40’s. I certainly expected to see other people out on the trail. It’s quieter in my town but by the lake is a more popular stretch. We soon ran into a big group of older couples who were walking along, laughing and taking photographs. Cricket can be a little shy of people so I always rein her in when approaching anyone. Of course, they all wanted to see the cute little beagle. They were obviously people who knew dogs though, as no one rushed in to pet her immediately, they approached cautiously and just put their hand out to see if she would approach. As she does with strangers in our home, she’ll go in for a quick sniff and then back off and bark. She repeats that routine, but usually settles down and lets people approach her. Never a snarl or growl, but she’ll soon let me know she wants to move on, so we do.
The next encounter doesn’t go so well. There are two women with two dogs, a large mixed breed and a smaller Shih-tzu looking dog. Neither of the dogs were on leashes. Cricket is always on leash, because my experience with hound dogs is that they will follow their nose given the chance, and I won’t risk her running away following some scent. I really didn’t think much of it, because Cricket has never had a problem meeting another dog. For some reason this time when the dogs approach her she does the opposite of what I expect, and starts barking, snarling and growling, pulling at the leash. As always I have reined her in anyway, so I am able to pull her away. The other good thing is that neither of those dogs were looking for a fight, they retreated (their people called them to them also), and I quickly apologized and moved on, dragging the crazed beagle with me.
My thought about this surprising behavior from her is that she was upset because those dogs weren’t leashed and she was. They could retreat, but she didn’t have that option if she needed it. I am pretty sure we have encountered people and dogs walking before, and she never had a problem. Most likely those other dogs were also leashed, and the only other difference would be that usually when she is walked we have Kobi with us also.
The only bad thing about our rail trail in this situation is that chances are if you pass someone once, when you turn around to go back, you will probably pass them again. There are no round trips on this trail. Sure enough, we encountered these people again, and the dogs were still loose. I yelled ahead a little and asked them to just hold their dogs and I would get by with her quickly. The younger woman got the large dog to her and held him. The older woman called the smaller dog in and I thought would hold on to him but she didn’t. The dog ran towards us and Cricket went ballistic again. This time the little dog also retreated and I hauled Cricket off as quickly as I could.
I don’t like to complain about people and their dogs. I haven’t always been the best dog person, I have had to learn as I go along. I’ve made mistakes. I certainly don’t have a problem with people walking their dogs loose if they are well behaved (and these two really were), even though there is a leash law in that town and it is a public trail. I’ve had dogs in the past that I walked loose. However, I always had a leash with me and usually leashed my dog when approaching others. Is it too much to expect that people at least use common sense? They saw how Cricket was when they passed us the first time, wouldn’t you think they would have at least held onto both of their dogs when they passed us again, or put them on a leash if they had one (at least the one woman did)? It seems to me they should have been concerned about the safety of their own dogs too!
I am concerned that Cricket behaved this way. I know that 3 out of 4 of our dogs lead pretty sheltered lives. That was the one thing I didn’t anticipate when getting multiple dogs….that training would be more difficult, because finding one on one time is a challenge when you have that many. I don’t walk the three dogs that much because frankly, as much as they enjoy walking, they enjoy being at home too. My hubby and I are homebodies. They love to play ball. I walk Kobi because he needs that exercise (doesn’t hurt me either). We walk the Goldens in the summer sometimes so we can take them swimming. The three also don’t care much for riding in the car, so keeping them at home mostly seems to keep everyone happy.
I am also questioning if those women thought I was in the wrong there, because my dog did not behave properly. Or were they wrong to not have their dogs on leashes, especially the second time we passed them? I am not even 100% sure if the fact that they were loose is why Cricket reacted the way she did. Though my hubby agreed that was probably the case. Cricket does, however, have an attitude. I believe sometimes small dogs try to make up for their size with big attitude. Cricket has been known to get into it with her siblings.
My question is have we done our dogs a disservice by not socializing them better, or is it okay if they mostly just stay at home anyway? I certainly won’t walk Cricket on that stretch of trail again, I can keep her closer to home on the trail where we don’t usually see many other dogs or people. Kobi should also be healed up enough by next week to walk with me the rest of the time I complete my Idita-Walk minutes. If I want to walk her in the future, however, I need to get to the bottom of this behavior. Is Cricket a dog that is considered “reactive”? I have read some on other blogs about reactive dogs, but don’t really know a lot about it. Once again, my dogs are challenging me. Just when we think we have most things figured out, I am back on the computer reading and researching, trying to find answers and solutions. If anyone has any thoughts or advice, it would be greatly appreciated!
In our municipality, it’s the law that your dog be under your control at all times. I know there are probably some people who feel that they can do this off-leash, but I think in reality many people can not – which ultimately leads to some very frustrating situations!
There are also the types of people who believe that the rules apply to everyone but them! Or that they know how their dog will behave in certain circumstances, and they really don’t. I was surprised by how Cricket acted, so that’s a good example right there.
Well, we are a big walking fitness family, so we have been out walking since the day we arrived at this home at 9 weeks old. We have a nice fenced yard to play in as well, but getting out and seeing other scenery, smelling other scents is good or dogs and we love it. Since we dog sit for several dogs, we often have a 3rd dog on our walks with us. The dogs that stay with us are more like your 3 and rarely are walked, just play ball in their yards. I think if they could speak human they would all say that the best part about staying with us is the walks because they all love it! Even the ones that are nervous types are totally mellow after a couple days. The other thing we noticed is that they all have problems when we encounter other dogs, they get real defensive, even with our friends and they don’t seem to know how to really stop to smell the roses (or peemail) on the walks. They usually do their business right away and then just go full speed the rest of the walk maybe stopping one more time to pee. Buddy who stays with us a lot has learned to stop and sniff and pee like a bizillion times like we do but the other dogs still don’t but they are only with us 1-2 times a year. Dogs love playing ball and it does wear them out but it doesn’t stimulate them like a walk does. That is my GBGV take on it.
Thank you for your take on it, Emma! I appreciate the input, and everything you said makes perfect sense. It really goes a long way towards explaining Cricket’s behavior. A little variety in their exercise is good for people, to not get bored with it, so why not dogs? And today I went to take Kobi for a walk, and Cricket came running to the door wanting to go! So it could be she would enjoy walking more often than I thought she would. I just need to take the time to work with them and get them out there more.
It is good dog walking “etiquette” to keep your dog leashed when encountering other dogs. Everyone should follow that rule, especially in a town where there is a leash law. I have seen dogs that aren’t leashed gang up on the one that is leashed. I also think Cricket may have felt like she needed to protect you, so she gave some warning barks. I also don’t think that you’re doing your dogs a disservice by keeping them home most of the time. They are very happy dogs and get plenty of exercise. With you and your hubby being homebodies, it just makes sense.
Thank you, Sheryl! Glad to know I wasn’t the only one thinking that way.