Interference!

Today's pictures have no connection to the topic at all, they were taken last week while OH was off and we took the dogs to the beach each morning.
Alas, once he went back to work I then returned to my routine of taking Bailey (above with Custer) and Jaja (below) to the beach first thing, and then Custer to the park.

I 'was' enjoying my park walkies, often it was so quiet I had a chance to do some training with Custer without distraction, but then somehow we got walking with others.  Must admit alarm bells did start to go off, I should know by past experience that daily walking with others rarely ends well, as everyone has their own opinion on how to (if at all) train dogs.  Often you can end up walking with someone who has the most lovely timid dog, who is always good with other dogs.. and an owner who simply 'assumes' your dog to be the same.  This scenario is fine, until the other owner then decides your dog does not need correcting or keeping in line? as of course, the brief hour or so they spend with you gives them all the information they need to form a judgement.
(yes, this has happened to me before with my last dog too)

So, after 3 days this started to happen.. instead of leaving the walk (which I should have done) Custer was enjoying playing with the ball and other dogs, so I did and said nothing (anything for a quiet life) but Custer was becoming a bit on the unruly side, which is fine for a dog who is submissive and good with other dogs, but NOT for a dog like Custer...

I should have taken more notice of the 'tuts' and grumbles when I did correct him - why people find the need to do this I dont know, if they dont like the way I train my dog, dont walk with me.
Sure enough disaster was waiting... along came a small breed puppy, now I knew this was not going to be good with Custer, he will either try to dominate or play, neither of which is good with a very large Labrador and a small puppy.  I grabbed the line he was on and told him to leave, owner and puppy headed straight for us, the chap with us announces to the now apprehensive puppy owner 'Its okay, he's fine with other dogs'?? erm.... excuse me? he knew this how? after a couple of meetings? so he let the puppy off lead, headed straight for Custer who of course then lunged at it........... due to the line he was on, total disaster was averted, BUT this could have been worse. The other walkers did not even see a problem with this incident?  They did not seem to realise what could have happened.

Very upset by this I was ready to leave by the next exit anyway, and was realising that I had lost control of my own dog (again).. when worse was 'almost' to come.. along came some more walkers with two very very LARGE dogs, one of which was a new rescue dog.  Now, this time I knew exactly what would happen, they headed straight for us.. this would have been total disaster and one of the dogs would certainly have been hurt.
This time I took charge, leaded Custer up and marched out of the nearby exit, leaving the other walkers still appearing to see no problem at all?

Is it just me? are other dog owners totally unaware?  can they just not read other dogs?  or is it simply people who feel the need to take charge of a situation they know nothing about, making it ignorance.

The annoying thing is the same people are in the park at the same time every day, it is not a large park so I simply cannot avoid them.  I cannot go earlier as I take the other two out, and later there is another set of walkers who have been there on the park since time began, and I know their dogs are certainly not suitable for Custer to upset.

So, today I came back from walkies number one in the car, put Custer in the car and took him to the beach too - I thought it would be as quiet as earlier, I got that one wrong - of 3 directions to walk in all 3 of them were full of dogs, owners and children.  So, I picked the quieter of the three routes and went for it.  As it happened Custer did very well, was easily distracted from the one dog we came into contact with, I only let go of his line once so he could play in some water, but that was fine.  Hopefully I will get back control again, and one day we can mix with others....... but not on a daily basis.  The beach is good, seems most people there are happy to walk with their dogs on their own, and do not see the need to interfere with others.  Also when the weather gets better (which is worse to most people) that cuts down the walkers, especially on the beach as it gets a bit muddy and folk dont like that.

One day I might be able to walk them all together that would be good, and a lot easier for me. BUT, Bailey although a lovely boy, does have his dominance moments and does have to be watched with other dogs, he is very friendly but will take up an opportunity to dominate given the chance and with him being so large too, I do not feel I can manage both him and Custer just yet.  Especially as they are still competing a bit, see they look like little angels above dont they? but Custer wont let Bailey in the car without a song and dance each time, and that's with OH to yell at them - not something I want to deal with, especially not whilst driving.
Jaja is no problem at all at any time - but, he was adopted by us as a puppy born into rescue, we took him at 14 weeks with no baggage to sort out at all.  All I have to watch out for are rabbits, but he can be called off them, which is very impressive for a Lurcher.