Handling Loose Dogs

It's a common scenario these days: you and your dog are enjoying a walk; your guard is down; and, suddenly, a loose/off-leash dog is headed your way! Perhaps they were in their yard without a leash on, found a way to scoot out of their human's door/car door, or they were on an off-leash walk in your neighborhood or the park (or other, public, leash law space). Whatever the reason, you've found yourself in the position of navigating a "what the heck is gonna happen now?" situation.

It can be a very stressful situation for you and your dog - you can't always know what intentions may be behind that strange dog rushing your way and things can happen SO fast. There are are a variety of ways you can handle this situation when it comes up, though:

• A lot of efforts focus on the oncoming dog as you'll see in the list below, but there are a few options you can utilize to prevent the situation from becoming a scenario you have to figure out:

  • Walk in neighborhoods, parks, or greenspaces that aren't frequented by loose dogs (I know, this can be hard to find) and head out during non-peak hours if you can determine when those are.

  • Especially if you're really worried about how your dog will interact with a loose dog, try to select spaces for walking that will give you a good line of sight, so you can see things/dogs coming more easily and provide you and your dog with solid exits.

  • Teach and practice U-turns with your dog.

  • Turn and walk a different direction at the first or earliest sign of trouble (even if you weren't planning on going that direction).

  • Cross the street when safe and possible to give yourself some space.

• Additionally, you can teach your dog a few different skills to limit the panic and stress of the situation:

  • Moving behind you/your legs on cue

  • Ducking behind you and between your legs in a "middle" or "peekaboo" position

  • "Grabbing your collar means good things" (prep your dog for a situation like this by making a collar grab something your dog is super ok with so that you can comfortably grab your dog's collar in a loose-dog situation to guide your dog behind you or away from the oncoming dog)

  • "Oncoming dog means tiny training session" - when you see a loose dog coming, you might start a short, intense training session to distract your dog, keep your dog's brain busy, or even indicate to the oncoming dog's human(s) that you and your dog are busy and training (and they should collect their dog). In some cases, training with your dog and simply continuing on as if nothing is amiss may have the other dog losing interest and moving on to something/someone more exciting or closer to home (their human or their house).

• Calmly shout to the other human (if they're around) to grab their attention - "Call your dog" or "Leash your dog" may work or, in a pinch, "My dog is sick." These could encourage a quicker response and pace from the human, but the emphasis is on "calm," since shouting can sometimes rile up the oncoming dog or even your own dog and make matters worse.

• Throwing food or treats at the oncoming dog may catch their curiosity and help them pause to investigate.

• If food doesn't work, you can try tossing other items in the other dog's direction (not AT them, but in their direction to ward them off) - sticks, pebbles or rocks, wood chips/mulch, etc.

• There's a myriad of things you can spray at or toward the oncoming dog to halt, slow down, and prevent their approach:

  • Silly string spray

  • Compressed air (like the can you'd use to clean your keyboard)

  • Spray bottle with water

  • Citronella spray

  • Spray Shield or Pet Corrector

• When it is safe to do so and it's possible (especially if your dog is friendly and you suspect the oncoming dog may be excited and coming in hot for a greeting and play), you might drop your dog's leash to give them more freedom of movement and behavior choices.

• You could carry an extra leash that could serve a couple of purposes.

  • You can swing the leash vertically in front of you and your dog in a windmill motion to act as a barrier between you/your dog and the oncoming dog.

  • The extra leash could also be used to quickly loop around the neck of the oncoming dog when they're close enough or lasso them; this can be a way to catch them and hold them at a distance or, if you attach a carabiner to the handle of the leash, you can quickly loop the leash around a light or sign pole, bike rack, or nearby tree.

• Similar to the above, a hiking stick or umbrella can be used to get and keep space between the dogs. Something physical like this might be a better option than body-blocking with your leg or body if you aren't sure of the oncoming dog's intentions.

• If you can, walk with another human; while you're working on making a quick exit with your dog, the other person can serve to distract the oncoming dog and block their approach until their human catches up or until you're far enough away with your dog that the loose dog gives up or moves on.

With a lot of us living in urban spaces that are densely populated with other pets, you're

bound to run into a loose dog at some point. Overall, work to stay calm and focus on deescalating the situation. I know it's super tempting to get stern, yell a bunch, and get scary to ward off an oncoming dog; but I have a couple of sensitive dogs myself and I KNOW they can interpret a situation when I'm shouting or erratic (even if just passionate about what I'm talking about) as a life or death situation - which puts them on edge and their behavior becomes much less predictable. Try to breathe, focus, work on not adding more tension and stress to the situation, and get to safety!

Afterward, please remember that you're human, as well! You might completely forget about all of the options above when you're in the moment - and that's ok! I have had multiple clients over the years tell me they're worried they made things worse or caused their dog's reactive behavior or created a new fear in their dog by mishandling a loose dog situation; my response is always that the blame game is not helpful and what happened happened. Remember that we're here and happy to help you out if you notice changes in your dog's behavior - just reach out!