An interview with Kim and Ted for Respect The Lead

The Respect the Lead campaign continues to gain awareness and coverage. Before the end of 2020, Dog Furiendly came on board as a media sponsor, the number one source for dog-friendly adventures. The team has since been busy, updating the resources, getting to know your dogs, promoting local walking, and trying to aid those lockdown puppies who haven’t had a chance to socialise as much.

As a fellow dog owner and campaigner, I thought it would be great to hear from others about their experiences in their own words. Here is the first, in what I hope, will be a series of interviews about owners and their dogs, walking with leads, and what they think about Respect the Lead and the campaign in action!

Interview with Kim, and her dog, Teddy.

Zoe: Thank you so much for agreeing to this interview to help raise awareness of what my campaign is trying to highlight.
SO firstly I would love to know more about your four-legged friend!

Kim: Teddy is a 16-month-old black and tan longhair miniature dachshund. He caught parvovirus when he was 17 weeks old but fought long and hard for two weeks and survived.

Zoe: Is he your first dog?

Kim: Yes, my first family dog of my own.

Zoe: Can you tell me what happened on the day in question?

Kim: Teddy was on lead, he has always been on a lead, as when he was a lot younger despite our efforts of recall training from day one whenever he saw a dog he wanted to rush over and play with them, even if the dog was uninterested and for that reason, I was worried one day he may run-up to a reactive dog and I feared the worst. I made the error of always assuming off-lead dogs are friendly. We were in Horsham park and we were standing to the side waiting for our daughters to finish in the play park area, Ted was about 10 months old and a Jack Russell terrier approached us off-lead his owner was some way away in the distance on his phone, the dog approached us and sniffed Teddy and with that lunged into Ted quite abruptly and proceeded to attack him, I panicked and lifted Ted (who did not react, not even by barking) up by his lead which was attached to his harness and held him up high, the dog tried to jump and claw up my legs to get to Teddy so I pushed into the dog and tried to walk away with Teddy. The owner did rush over and said that he had never done that before and called his dog away and apologised. I did note, however, that he did not put the dog onto a lead.

Zoe: How has it affected him now?

Kim: Teddy went on to have a similar experience to the one above shortly after this, and since then has become extremely fearful of new dogs that approach him and get too close to his space. He will react to most small dark-coloured dogs and most intact male dogs. So far he is almost non-reactive to female dogs regardless of their size and breed. He is extremely reactive to black dogs with pointy ears such as Scotty dogs since following a further attack from a one-off lead. Ted is very nervous about being approached by an unknown dog now and takes a lot of reassurance. He is very fearful of dogs charging at him and will often react if they do so. He is reluctant to play with any dog like he used to. He does, however, remain happy comfortable, and willing to play with the dogs he knew BEFORE he was attacked including intact males that he was familiar with.

Zoe: How has it affected you now?

Kim: It has made walks extremely stressful for me, I am constantly on the lookout for what dog is around, and whether there are any unsupervised dogs without close-by owners, I have had a number of people are extremely rude to me when I’ve asked them to simply call their dog away as it is stalking my already nervous dog. I feel anxious to walk Ted alone now and fearful of any dog off lead that isn’t controlled easily by its owner. I don’t walk Ted alone anymore as a result of the attacks he has sustained. I am always on edge, carrying behavioural spray in order to deter any growling or aggressive dog away from Ted, I also carry treats that I can now throw for any dog or dogs that may circle Ted and aren’t called away to keep them back and give us space.

Zoe: Have you heard of my Respect the Lead campaign?

Kim: Yes, unfortunately, I hadn’t heard of the campaign until my dog had become reactive, however, I did have an awareness that if a dog is on a lead it is best to always ask first before letting your dog approach as there is always some reason as to why the dog is on a lead. I am trying desperately to raise awareness within my area and have had many people ask about his lead etc, and the posts posted on social media have allowed some people to message me privately to say thank you for making them aware. Some, however, have not been so respectful and haven’t hesitated in telling me that I shouldn’t be walking Ted in public areas and that just because their dog may have little response to their name or poor recall they are still in control of their dog.

Zoe: What do you feel could be done to raise awareness among other dog owners about good lead etiquette?

Kim: Social media posts constantly. I have received some awful backlash being called “negative” “assuming all off-lead dogs are out of control” which both of course I am not. Despite the negative feedback, I have actually seen some people out on walks who have recognised Ted and instantly put their dog back on a lead or called them away saying they knew of us, I also had one lady say “This must be Ted” and she stopped to ask his story. Since Ted has become reactive it has really educated me further about the reasons WHY a dog may be on a lead, it may be nervous, reactive, have a poor recall, may eat anything and everything, may be injured or partially sighted and I feel it is so important to ask first “can my dog approach your dog” and always get that clarification (I feel like this is relevant even with off lead dogs instead of assuming all dogs will get along).

We try to raise awareness on Ted’s Instagram account @teddy_paws_dotty_claws as it is a great platform to raise this awareness further. I would absolutely love to do an article on the effects of people allowing their off-lead dogs to approach a dog such as Ted and the implications it has on training and moving forward, particularly if the experience isn’t a good one. I do feel that despite the odd reaction from Ted where he just feels threatened that we are nearly always in control of Ted he is on his lead or extendable lead we are making good progress with him ignoring dogs he once would have reacted to post his attack, I do feel, however, that those with little to no recall for their dogs are the ones who are simply not in control of the situation.

I do feel a lot comes down to the mindset of “my dog is friendly” but it is imperative to raise awareness that NOT ALL DOGS WANT TO BE FRIENDS, INTERACT or be APPROACHED for whatever reasons and feel that social media platforms are probably the best way to get that message across.

Thank you to Kim and Teddy for contributing and taking the time to talk to me and sharing photos. You can find Kim & Teddy on their Instagram: @teddy_paws_dotty_claws

Get in touch with your experiences, we would love to hear from you.

If you and your dog have also had similar experiences, or perhaps positive contact with your dog when meeting others on a lead, or the Respect the Lead campaign has changed your daily walks, get in touch via email [opens new email] or message me on my Facebook page to be featured.