Encountering Stray Dogs on Walks: What to do?

[RalphSchafer]

Good day Adrienne, 

A few days ago while walking my dog, I encountered a stray dog that was off leash and apparently escaped from a yard. This is the second time in a few months this has happened. In both instances, the dogs were friendly. However, it took some "work" to get my Golden Bailey to resume walking again due to the distraction of a stray dog wanting to engage with him.  In both cases, the dog became distracted and wandered off. 

That got me thinking. Did I handle this correctly? Is there something I should have done? And, most importantly, what if the dog was aggressive and tried attacking my dog? 

What do you do in these instances? And, especially in the case of an aggressive dog? Hopefully, I never encounter the latter case of an aggressive dog but I want to be proactive and well prepared for any eventuality. 

Any advice or guidelines would be greatly appreciated. 

Regards, 

Ralph Schafer

 

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Hi there!

I hear you, this has happened to me several times. We don't have many strays where I walks dogs, but we have neighbors with dogs who sometimes escape their yards. Some are friendly, others are fearful/territorial, others I don't know what their clear intent is, so I always use the upmost caution. 

 

 In these cases, my personal "go-to" approach is to carry extra treats in my treat bag and "treat bomb" the dog. In other words, I will aim to scatter the treats in the dog's direction hoping to distract him (several treats end up bouncing off of him) and that he realizes that we "come in peace."

 

If we meet the dog several times, with time, rep after rep, I even see a change in his body language, from being /territorial/fearful/aggressive to calmer, and even happier anticipation. 

 

However, this won't work will all dogs. That's why I like to carry with me a can of Spray Shield which was crafted by dog trainer Grisha Stewart. It's sprays citronella in a sudden burst which stops dogs in their tracks. I used it on a group of Chihuahuas one day which had bitten the ankles of another dog (another neighbors' dog) walking by, and they turned around and headed back home. 

 

 I have never tested it though on a large dog with a serious intent to harm, there may be chances it may not work. Hopefully, we will never make such an encounter!

 

I also make sure the dogs I walk have some training in attention heeling past dogs

 https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/heeling-attention-heeling/

and use emergency u-turns if the dog is heading our way.

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/emergency-u-turn/ 

 

I have personally found that once we distance ourselves past what the dog perceives as his territory, the dog will go back to his property and we'll then use a different route.  However, I aim to walk dogs in areas I am pretty familiar with and that I know there are no stray, aggressive dogs. Had to sometimes drive to some areas if there were dogs I didn't trust around other dogs. 

 

Edited to add: I was notified of an earlier post, but can't see it anymore. Feel free to use the info provided on dealing with stray dogs in your blog, you can quote me as Adrienne Farricelli, dog trainer and author of Brain Training For dogs (link to this website). 

If you haven't already, you may be interested in joining our affiliate program that allows you to monetize on your blog. If interested contact: [email protected] or visit this page for more info: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/affiliates/

Happy training!

Best,

Adrienne 

 

[RalphSchafer]

Hi Adrienne, 

Thanks for that great info (as always).  It actually happened to me again today (I must have jinxed myself) before I had read this response.  I had spotted a pair of stray dogs running together on my walk today, one Husky and another larger dog.  Two larger dogs or more running together is the nightmare scenario, so I did an u-turn and went in the opposite direction towards an area with more people (in case the dogs came by and I needed assistance). On the walk, I was fortunate that I spotted the dogs off in the distance before my boy Bailey had noticed them, and fortunately the dogs didn't see us. 

The dogs later passed by the house after our walk so I noticed they didn't have a collar or tags on.  Animal control was not available today (Saturday), so I informed the authorities, however the Husky (gorgeous dog) seemed friendly as he paid no mind to my dog barking at him through the window and I witnessed a few elderly people ride their bike or walk past him and he paid them no attention. 

I'm going to start carrying extra treats and I have found a citronella based spray on Amazon, so thank you. I'm also to work on attention heeling and emergency turns in the meantime. 

And, thank you Adrienne for the permission to use and reference your info for my blog. I reference you often from other articles I find on the internet that you have written, as I find they are the best source of information.  I am affiliate for Brain Training and I have actually purchased and test-driven most of the popular dog training programs out there (over a half-dozen of them) and yours is easily the best program and the best value, so I recommend it with confidence. 

Cheers, 

Ralph 

 

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Sounds like a good plan!

Huskies are notorious for escaping their properties (they're escape artists), so I wouldn't be surprised if this dog managed to figure out a way to escape, bringing along the other dog with him. I am glad you were able to avoid them. 

In general huskies don't tend to be territorial or aggressive, they're known for making lousy guard dogs. Given the opportunity, the may invite thieves for a movie and some popcorn 😉 However, as always, there are exceptions to the rule and a guy in a store once told me his husky was very territorial and he was concerned about his behavior towards guests. 

Thank you for the kind words!

Best,

Adrienne