Off leash dog encounters, what to do when approached by an off-leash dog

Off-leash dogs, it’s every dog parent’s nightmare. You’re walking along a path quietly and then out of nowhere, an off-leash dog approaches you and your dog. What should you do? Is the off-leash dog friendly or aggressive? Where is the owner? Should I let my dog greet this dog? All these questions must be racing through your mind.

It’s never a good idea to let an off-leash dog greet your leashed dog

No matter how friendly or harmless the off-leash dog seems, you never know. Even if the off-leash dog was friendly, your dog may become frustrated because they’re on-leash and can’t play with them.

So what should you do? First thing to do is look for the owner and ask them to call back their dog. Nine times out of ten the owner will say something like “It’s okay, my dog is friendly” or “he just wants to say hello to your dog.” You may be tempted to let the dogs interact, but don’t. You don’t know what could happen. Besides, you don’t know this dogs medical or training history.

If the owner persists, tell them your dog is in training and you are trying to avoid all dog interactions for the time being.

Off-leash dog is approaching and you can’t find the owner

Maybe the dog got loose or is lost. Or maybe the owner just isn’t listening to you and calling their dog back. Now what should you do? Here are some suggestions that may work, though every dog is different and there’s no guarantees any of these will stop the approaching dog.

Give the approaching dog a training command – Tell the other dog to sit, stay or down. Sometimes this will work if the approaching dog is well trained and knows some basic training commands.

Body block your dog from the approaching dog – Stand between your dog and the approaching dog, in addition to shortening your dog’s leash to get better control of your dog. This may work though if the approaching dog is persistent it may present a challenge.

Stand with your dog behind a barrier – If you’re in an urban area or parking lot, standing behind a car may work. A tree or rock may also be a solution if you’re walking in the woods.

Throw dog treats – Throw and scatter a bunch of high value dog treats at the approaching dog. If that doesn’t seem to work, throw them at the dog’s face so he sees the treats and it get’s the dog’s attention. This is another reason why I always recommend you never leave your home without taking high value dog treats with you. You never know who or what you may encounter that you’ll need to use these treats for.

Make a loud noise – You can shout at the approaching dog. Or if encountering off-leash dogs on walks happens frequently, it may be a good idea to carry a whistle or air horn with you on your dog walks.

Some Final Thoughts

And what can you do to help your dog? Train your dog on hand targeting, i.e. touch. This can help get your dog to move where you want them to in order to get them out of a sticky situation. Train an emergency U-turn. Emergency U-turns are important when you want to quickly turn around to avoid an on-coming dog or any other situation in front of you.

Off-leash dog encounters can be a challenge with any dog. Now what if you have a leash reactive dog and this happens to you? That just made this situation significantly more challenging for you and your dog.  In an upcoming post, I’ll talk more about leash reactive dogs and some tips to help avoid other dogs when out on walks.