Rudeness!

Yes she is an idiot. I would step in front of my dog the next time, and tell her in a even firm tone of voice, with eye contact, that I will do what is necessary to keep her ill mannered dog out of my dog's personal space.
 
How annoying! Like Mafia, I've found that the vast majority of agility people are phenomenal about dealing with DA/DR. They've all seen it, and many have dealt with it personally. Agility events are the one place where I've never been made to feel like a bad person for having a dog with those issues. If you stick with it, hopefully you will discover the same once you move beyond the basic classes.

I would absolutely mention it to the instructor, and if she won't manage the situation better, I'd be prepared to protect my dog from the rude behavior. Step between the dogs, put a foot out (don't kick, obviously) to stop the other dog's charge. I've also been known to toss food at the other dog. It may suck for that dog's training (charging dogs = food), but it will distract them and keep them away from my dog, and that is my responsibility.
 
I do step forward and attempt to protect Ben. I really don't think he should feel like he has to protect both of us. What was very unfortunate was that I was busy talking to another woman in the class, on uneven ground and when the dog rushed us, she knocked me sideways and got to Ben.

From then on I kept him FAR away. It is just not something you expect when you have informed people of your dogs reactivity.
 
First, that lady is RUDE!! We've established that though, lol. Ozzy is very DR when he isn't properly introduced to a dog, and I've gotten several rude comments from people at the Nature Park when he snarks at dogs in his face. I don't apologize, I just say "he doesn't like other dogs in his space" had one woman ask why he was there if he doesnt like other dogs. Had to comment that I didn't bring him to socalize with other dogs, I brought him because he enjoys the river and running around. He was on leash during this encounter and the other dog was off, even though the rules are dogs have to be on leash.

Also, Red, you very much remind me of your chosen breed when you say things like that!
 
Oh my gosh, I admit, I went to a dog park with Roly on a long lead and wasnt paying attention and Roly approached another dog that snapped at him. I aplogised over and over. 'Oh sorry, im so sorry, is he ok? sorry again!'
That was very rude of her, especially when you werent doing anything wrong.
Even if Roly got bitten that time, I still would have aplogised more times that necessary!
 
Well, I sent my trainer an email. I figure that way, if she feels to shy to confront this woman, I am then within my rights to say something....

Here it is.

Hi Kath

I hope you had a good weekend and survived the soak! I know I have 2 very cabin fevered dogs right now!

I have been mulling over an incident that happened at training on Thursday. You were on your way to the car and had no way of seeing what happened so I thought I would bring it to your attention.
Gabbi's owner (I forget her name) came into the arena, being dragged by Gabbi, who was totally out of control.
She allowed Gabbi to rush Ben in a very rude and over the top manner. I tried to get in between the two and prevent the inevitable. Unfortunately, Gabbi hit my hip and on the uneven ground I could not block the confrontation.

Ben is very dog reactive and he growled and snapped at her, never making contact, but enough to warn her off. Her owner proceded to call Ben a cheeky little something or the other, I didn't quite catch it. I tried to explain to her about Dog Reactiveness but she rolled her eyes and sarcastically asked me if that is what we are calling it now days.

Gabbi then went on to rush the collie who reacted to her the same way as Ben did but with contact.

For people who are trying to sooth dogs with stress towards certain stimulus, it is not a good environment to be in. It seems to me that this woman in question has no control over her dog and does not wish to gain any. She does not even try to be a co-operative member of the class and is nothing but disruptive.

I feel that the situation needs to be taken in hand, especially seeing as there are two reactive dogs in the class and Gabbi's constant yapping really does remove all concentration for our two.

I know it is a very difficult situation for you to be in and I have seen you try hard to get her to focus. I was just wondering if you could perhaps have a word with her about DR/DA and how her dog is not helping the situation. I really do feel she should be responsible for keeping her dog in it's own personal space.

I really do enjoy the classes and I hope to join your club after the assessment, I just fear that won't happen if Ben continues to feel threatened in the training environment.

I look forward to this Thursday as the homework looks like good fun!
 
Just caught this thread now... Oh I DO know what its like!!! Dekka is so small and cute people seem to discount her fear of strange dogs in her space. That and the fact that she is so well behaved and doesn't even seem to notice other dogs until they get in her bubble.

I had one guy in an obed class I would drop in at with a tall leggy hound thing on a harness who was clueless like this lady. We would be working on group heel and he would let his dog pull (duh its heeling.. at your SIDE.. stupid guy). His dog would run up Dekka's rear. I politely told him more than once Dekka was DR, he said "Oh don't worry Clover is friendly, she would never fight." He didn't get that his dog was scaring Dekka. I would try to cut across the ring but he always seemed to end up behind me. You could see he thought that I was one of those over protective owners and that such a cute little dog couldn't really want to fight his huge hound.

Well I didn't notice he was behind me again and his dog got right up behind Dekka and Dekka whirled around and Snarked big time. Interesting thing is that HIS dog Snarked right back!! After that the instructor took him aside and explained (again) about dog's personal spaces.. and he was better after that. He was really shaken that his dog WOULD fight.

I hope your instructor can say something to the lady... thats no good for your dog, or the others in the class.
 
It is so annoying having to contend with people who just WON'T get it! I also hope the instructor speaks to this woman.
It is just not good for the two dogs that are fearful.
 
Dekka said:
Just caught this thread now... Oh I DO know what its like!!! Dekka is so small and cute people seem to discount her fear of strange dogs in her space. That and the fact that she is so well behaved and doesn't even seem to notice other dogs until they get in her bubble.
Click to expand...

That's exactly what happens with Summer!

Summer is super behaved in public, very people friendly. You can walk her in a crowd with tons of people and dogs and she never leaves my side. So yeah, people are shocked that the dog that just walked within a foot or two of their dog snarks whenever their dog invades her space.
 
That sucks and sadly there are so many people like that woman and her dog out there. Those of us with FA or Reactive dogs develop a very fine tuned radar for such people and their dogs.

Hopefully your instructor will do the right thing and deal with this situation.

As an instructor it is my JOB to control those kinds of situation and more importantly REMOVE those types to an other private or semi-private class until their dog is under control AND the owner understands what their responsibilities are. What can be real shame, is those people who NEVER get it, they never take responsiblity, they never understand and they has no desire to understand, although they can improve IF they start trialing (agility) because they end up getting 'told' often enough lol. But it has been my experience that the worst offenders don't compete once they're trained well enought or they quit soon after competing. Yes agility people are very understanding..........but there is a limit.

REALLY looking forward to hearing your instructors response and more importantly what they do............

Good luck
 
I'm glad that you said something to your instructor. You and Ben have every right to have a class in a safe environment for him. I would be pissed, too.

On the other side of things, Bailey and I went to the dog beach yesterday (it's an enclosed space (other than the water!) and the dogs are offleash). As we were leaving, he went up to greet (politely) a chihuahua. The chi snarked at him. Bailey backed off right away and came back to me; it was no big deal. The woman proceeded to commend her dog for "protecting himself." She was upset with me/my dog, lol! Some people are just clueless about dog behavior.
 
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Her response to me:
thanks for your mail. I'm sorry about your horrid experience.
Gabbi and Annie have proved to be a bit of a challenge and I have been wondering for a while how to manage the situation. I have decided in the short term to see her on her own.

I'm afraid 'characters' like Annie and Gabbi are unfortunately the norm in agility and Ben and you will have to toughen up to this at some point ;-))

Cheers
Kath

My reply:

Hi Kath

Thanks for the return email.
Yes, unfortunately there is always that type. The reason I approached you about it first and thought it best to have a word with her was that I felt it was not my place to say anything in your class.
I usually have no problem standing up for the both of us, I just did not want to make the class experience, which is loads of fun, unpleasent with bad feelings.

Thank you so much for the attention you are giving to this.
 
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