Mag-Pie
Well-Known Member
Hello everybody. I'd like some advice. It's been a tough week. And I'd like to apologize ahead of time for the long rant.
Here is a quick recap of my CC: Luther, is about 16 months old now, when I got him just a little over 2 months ago he had/has some dominance and fear-aggression issues, and was/is fearful and reactive with everything, on a bad day. Now, as I expose/socialize him to the outside world, and he's doing his pro training he is becoming more stable. With every day he is getting more confident and comfortable, but I am also finding our more about his other issues that I was not aware of. He is very wary of all new people, so I try to stay a good distance away from them on our daily walks, usually 10 feet is a good comfortable distance for him. And I always keep him on a leash, although he is off-leash trained (wears the e-collar) and always comes when I call him, I just don't trust other people and their possible reactions to him, nor do I trust him... I simply do not know him well enough, yet. For the most part as long as everyone stays away from him, and doesn't get too close he remains stable. He walks perfectly on a leash, heels, listens, etc. If you'd see him on the street with me, you'd think that he has perfect manners and is very well trained, and mentally stable.
Until now, I never noticed anything odd about his behavior to other dogs, but then again we never had many encounters... He has no problem interacting with the neighbors dog across the fence. They always seem like they want to play, doing the whole play-bows, and polite sniffing. On our walks he notices other dogs, usually across the street, and looks like he'd like to go over to them, but as we walk by he ultimately ignores them. I know he has not been socialized by his previous owners with other dogs, and frankly for the most part I do not care/want to have him interacting with strange dogs.
WARNING: Long drawn-out RANT coming up, please bear with me.
The other day on our walk, we went through a neighborhood park, we've been there before a few times and always had a nice walk. I've been walking him twice daily without any problems, usually structured walks, and a few minutes at a park. This time, at the park, a pack (2 or 3) of off-leash dogs charged at us, while their shitbag owners stood there chatting to each other and laughing… and not calling off their dogs. Everything happened so fast, I didn't even have a minute to think. The shit hit the fan, I could not keep Luther on the leash, I tired, after he started pulling, somehow I ended up with my ass on the ground and with a broken middle finger. I got soo mad, I got up and went total psycho, screamed and swore up and down at them fine folks… The park says all dogs must be on leash. But I guess that's just a suggestion.
Luther ended up taking off out of sight (to the edge of the park) after I dropped the leash, and probably once he heard me start screaming and get hostile. He knows when I am not playing. I think the pain from breaking my finger contributed to me going total psycho, I never broke anything in my life, and the adrenalin from all of this going down, made me lose my cool. Looking back I could have handled it better, but it is what it is. The off-leash “dog owners†got all offended by my behavior, (only one guy came up to apologize, while the others just stood there in the distance making comments, and so the guy ended up on the receiving end of me totally going off on him and his "friendsâ€). But never mind the fact that I did not provoke this, I was minding my own business and walking at least 50+ feet away from them, across the field, with my dog on the leash… But because their dogs wanted to be “friendlyâ€, that's all that matters. And here I was trying to do the right thing and stay away and control my dog so others wouldn't feel threatened. Luther was completely calm and minding his own business until the dogs started running towards us. FUCK THAT. I thought that I was pretty much prepared for everything while walking with him, but apparently not something like this.
Part of me cares and wants to understand how this happened, and if I was at fault? But another part says no, fuck that, they were at fault. Why would you let your dog charge at a person walking their dog, far away from you, a total stranger minding their business, sure your dog can be friendly but you don't know who I am and what type of dog I have. The stupidity of so many people, and their 'fuck it' careless and irresponsible attitude only shows me that I care too much, and I should be more like them. Okay, end of rant. I apologize for going on and on about this incident.
So, my finger is double in size, turning colors and it hurts, but I'm fine, haha. The finger is the least of my worries, really. After all that “fun†I went over to get my dog, who came back once I called out to him, and we walked passed all them fine folks and their dogs, who magically were under their control now. Luther and I went over to a bench and had a relaxing stare down across the field, until the others left. Luther seemed fine, laying down and watching people from a distance as he usually does. Then we went home. Next day, we went to the park again, because I didn't want him to have a bad association to a place we use to enjoy. And off course, again, there was a guy with 2 dogs off leash, across the field, and Luther ran off again when 2 dogs approached him. This time I didn't have a leash on him, since I have him on the e-collar (500 yards leash), and it's obvious that others have their dogs off-leash all the time. But, the guy was cool, and his dog ran off after Luther and ironically his dog's name was Luther too… I was calm and in control of myself, and got Luther back in no time. And then it hit me, I think he is okay with one dog at a time, but any time there is 2 or more dogs he freaks out and just runs away. I wasn't aware of this, since I never had such an encounter. But I was wrong, because then today, we're at a different park, and Luther is off leash, and a couple came with their dog off-leash, walking our way, and this time I yelled out to the guy to call his dog back. To which he replied, “oh he's okay, he's friendlyâ€. GRRRR!!! So his dogs runs up, and starts sniffing Luther, everything seems fine and all of a sudden Luther takes off, running down to the edge of the park, across the street and down the road and eventually stopped and sat down, waiting for me to go get him. Wouldn't come when called, or paged. FUCK! Needless to say, my nerves are shot.
I know he was not socialized properly by his previous owners, he has not had any contact with other dogs, so he does not know how to behave around them. I know I still have a lot of work to do with him, but I am pleased with the progress he's made in the short time I've had him. When I take him to training, and we're in group class with other 10-20 dogs he is totally fine, completely focused on his work. But every dog there has an e-collar on, is obedience trained and is engaged with their owner, so no one is running up to anyone. Whereas in the park, it's a free for all and the other dog owners think it's great for their dogs to go up to us, EVEN when I tell them to call back their dogs. Mind you these are NOT dog parks, I would NEVER go to one of those, just regular neighborhood parks with swings, benches, picnic tables, and open field areas, with signs that dogs must be on leash…
And I completely understand that frankly, most Cane Corsos are "too much dog" for the average person. This is a serious working dog with tremendous strength. Very few people really have the knowledge, facilities, or skills necessary to manage this breed. I am 5'7†and 120lbs, Luther probably weighs as much as me now, if not more. But in the 2 months I've been walking with him, I had no problems… we've encountered other off-leash dogs across the park before, but they never came our way… And besides this running away form other “friendly†dogs, who come by to sniff him, I am always able to handle him. He's definitely a challenge, and a work in progress; but aren't we all? I am committed to working with him, to rehabilitate his mind, but I am totally baffled by this. He seems like he wants to interact, but something happens to him in his mind and he runs off. It's like he gets overwhelmed and can't handle it.
It is obvious that many people on here are serious about their mastiffs, and I really like seeing that, while learning from their expertise and experience. This forum is truly amazing and helpful. So any advice for the future would be appreciated.
Also, what should I say to people when I see their off-leash dogs running towards us, since asking them to call back their dogs falls on deaf ears, and then I come out looking like the asshole with a crazy out of control dog. Yes, I do try to stay a good distance away from people, and now off-leash dogs, but they, now, come to us. WTF? I never thought that other people would be so willing to allow their dogs to run up to a stranger (who's not really friendly) with a HUGE dog. I would NEVER do that. I just don't get it, they must live in a different world, or state of mind then me… Thank you for your time, and for reading, if you made it this far. And I apologize for the length of this post, and my rant. I just wanted to explain the situation, and vent, I guess. Cheers!
P.S.
On a happy note, here is a collage of a few pics of Luther.
Here is a quick recap of my CC: Luther, is about 16 months old now, when I got him just a little over 2 months ago he had/has some dominance and fear-aggression issues, and was/is fearful and reactive with everything, on a bad day. Now, as I expose/socialize him to the outside world, and he's doing his pro training he is becoming more stable. With every day he is getting more confident and comfortable, but I am also finding our more about his other issues that I was not aware of. He is very wary of all new people, so I try to stay a good distance away from them on our daily walks, usually 10 feet is a good comfortable distance for him. And I always keep him on a leash, although he is off-leash trained (wears the e-collar) and always comes when I call him, I just don't trust other people and their possible reactions to him, nor do I trust him... I simply do not know him well enough, yet. For the most part as long as everyone stays away from him, and doesn't get too close he remains stable. He walks perfectly on a leash, heels, listens, etc. If you'd see him on the street with me, you'd think that he has perfect manners and is very well trained, and mentally stable.
Until now, I never noticed anything odd about his behavior to other dogs, but then again we never had many encounters... He has no problem interacting with the neighbors dog across the fence. They always seem like they want to play, doing the whole play-bows, and polite sniffing. On our walks he notices other dogs, usually across the street, and looks like he'd like to go over to them, but as we walk by he ultimately ignores them. I know he has not been socialized by his previous owners with other dogs, and frankly for the most part I do not care/want to have him interacting with strange dogs.
WARNING: Long drawn-out RANT coming up, please bear with me.
The other day on our walk, we went through a neighborhood park, we've been there before a few times and always had a nice walk. I've been walking him twice daily without any problems, usually structured walks, and a few minutes at a park. This time, at the park, a pack (2 or 3) of off-leash dogs charged at us, while their shitbag owners stood there chatting to each other and laughing… and not calling off their dogs. Everything happened so fast, I didn't even have a minute to think. The shit hit the fan, I could not keep Luther on the leash, I tired, after he started pulling, somehow I ended up with my ass on the ground and with a broken middle finger. I got soo mad, I got up and went total psycho, screamed and swore up and down at them fine folks… The park says all dogs must be on leash. But I guess that's just a suggestion.
Luther ended up taking off out of sight (to the edge of the park) after I dropped the leash, and probably once he heard me start screaming and get hostile. He knows when I am not playing. I think the pain from breaking my finger contributed to me going total psycho, I never broke anything in my life, and the adrenalin from all of this going down, made me lose my cool. Looking back I could have handled it better, but it is what it is. The off-leash “dog owners†got all offended by my behavior, (only one guy came up to apologize, while the others just stood there in the distance making comments, and so the guy ended up on the receiving end of me totally going off on him and his "friendsâ€). But never mind the fact that I did not provoke this, I was minding my own business and walking at least 50+ feet away from them, across the field, with my dog on the leash… But because their dogs wanted to be “friendlyâ€, that's all that matters. And here I was trying to do the right thing and stay away and control my dog so others wouldn't feel threatened. Luther was completely calm and minding his own business until the dogs started running towards us. FUCK THAT. I thought that I was pretty much prepared for everything while walking with him, but apparently not something like this.
Part of me cares and wants to understand how this happened, and if I was at fault? But another part says no, fuck that, they were at fault. Why would you let your dog charge at a person walking their dog, far away from you, a total stranger minding their business, sure your dog can be friendly but you don't know who I am and what type of dog I have. The stupidity of so many people, and their 'fuck it' careless and irresponsible attitude only shows me that I care too much, and I should be more like them. Okay, end of rant. I apologize for going on and on about this incident.
So, my finger is double in size, turning colors and it hurts, but I'm fine, haha. The finger is the least of my worries, really. After all that “fun†I went over to get my dog, who came back once I called out to him, and we walked passed all them fine folks and their dogs, who magically were under their control now. Luther and I went over to a bench and had a relaxing stare down across the field, until the others left. Luther seemed fine, laying down and watching people from a distance as he usually does. Then we went home. Next day, we went to the park again, because I didn't want him to have a bad association to a place we use to enjoy. And off course, again, there was a guy with 2 dogs off leash, across the field, and Luther ran off again when 2 dogs approached him. This time I didn't have a leash on him, since I have him on the e-collar (500 yards leash), and it's obvious that others have their dogs off-leash all the time. But, the guy was cool, and his dog ran off after Luther and ironically his dog's name was Luther too… I was calm and in control of myself, and got Luther back in no time. And then it hit me, I think he is okay with one dog at a time, but any time there is 2 or more dogs he freaks out and just runs away. I wasn't aware of this, since I never had such an encounter. But I was wrong, because then today, we're at a different park, and Luther is off leash, and a couple came with their dog off-leash, walking our way, and this time I yelled out to the guy to call his dog back. To which he replied, “oh he's okay, he's friendlyâ€. GRRRR!!! So his dogs runs up, and starts sniffing Luther, everything seems fine and all of a sudden Luther takes off, running down to the edge of the park, across the street and down the road and eventually stopped and sat down, waiting for me to go get him. Wouldn't come when called, or paged. FUCK! Needless to say, my nerves are shot.
I know he was not socialized properly by his previous owners, he has not had any contact with other dogs, so he does not know how to behave around them. I know I still have a lot of work to do with him, but I am pleased with the progress he's made in the short time I've had him. When I take him to training, and we're in group class with other 10-20 dogs he is totally fine, completely focused on his work. But every dog there has an e-collar on, is obedience trained and is engaged with their owner, so no one is running up to anyone. Whereas in the park, it's a free for all and the other dog owners think it's great for their dogs to go up to us, EVEN when I tell them to call back their dogs. Mind you these are NOT dog parks, I would NEVER go to one of those, just regular neighborhood parks with swings, benches, picnic tables, and open field areas, with signs that dogs must be on leash…
And I completely understand that frankly, most Cane Corsos are "too much dog" for the average person. This is a serious working dog with tremendous strength. Very few people really have the knowledge, facilities, or skills necessary to manage this breed. I am 5'7†and 120lbs, Luther probably weighs as much as me now, if not more. But in the 2 months I've been walking with him, I had no problems… we've encountered other off-leash dogs across the park before, but they never came our way… And besides this running away form other “friendly†dogs, who come by to sniff him, I am always able to handle him. He's definitely a challenge, and a work in progress; but aren't we all? I am committed to working with him, to rehabilitate his mind, but I am totally baffled by this. He seems like he wants to interact, but something happens to him in his mind and he runs off. It's like he gets overwhelmed and can't handle it.
It is obvious that many people on here are serious about their mastiffs, and I really like seeing that, while learning from their expertise and experience. This forum is truly amazing and helpful. So any advice for the future would be appreciated.
Also, what should I say to people when I see their off-leash dogs running towards us, since asking them to call back their dogs falls on deaf ears, and then I come out looking like the asshole with a crazy out of control dog. Yes, I do try to stay a good distance away from people, and now off-leash dogs, but they, now, come to us. WTF? I never thought that other people would be so willing to allow their dogs to run up to a stranger (who's not really friendly) with a HUGE dog. I would NEVER do that. I just don't get it, they must live in a different world, or state of mind then me… Thank you for your time, and for reading, if you made it this far. And I apologize for the length of this post, and my rant. I just wanted to explain the situation, and vent, I guess. Cheers!
P.S.
On a happy note, here is a collage of a few pics of Luther.