More puppy info at the breeder’s website Shiloh Ridge Retrievers (SRR) or here

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After practicing off-lead heeling.

Very Nice

And a little running.

Thunder In The Lead

And a little searching for birds.

Trying To Catch A Scent
Still No Birds

The 2 brown dawgs made their way down the road to the point where they are normally put back on lead.

Wrong Way Storm!
Back On Track
Just About To The End Of The Road

Where the road curves, you can either go left into the forest, or right which keeps you on the road.     Jodi Stone thought maybe we put the dogs back on lead at this point because it is a busier road.  Yes and no.  It is not busier in terms to cars because we really are in the middle of nowhere.  There are other houses and cabins, but it isn’t on the way to anyplace so there are normally few people except on lovely fall weekends when people are trying to rake leaves and get their places ready for winter.  More people mean more dogs.  As is typical of a place in the middle of nowhere, people don’t tend to leash their dogs.  We have found that once we round that bend in the road, if there are going to be off lead dogs, that is where they will be.

Storm Still Wondering Where The Birds Went

This walk was no different.  I don’t know what it is about the 2 brown dawgs, but dogs always seem to want to run up to them.  It is one thing if they are friendly dogs.  However, more often than not they are not friendly and when the other dog gets up to the 2 brown dawgs, it looks them right in the eyes and starts growling and showing teeth.  Usually the owner of the dog is running behind calling, but the dog is ignoring them.  Well neither Thunder and Storm are going to put up with an aggressive dog in their face.  They won’t go looking for trouble, and have nice even temperaments, but once a dog tries something, they lose all patience.

Chocolate, the Bull Mastiff, views her surroun...
Image by photos for fun via Flickr

The first dog we met up with on this walk was a black lab.  He looked friendly with tail wagging.  He got part way to us and we stopped and waited.  He actually returned to his owners when called.  The people were raking leaves in their yard and they promptly got some rope and tied him up.  OK that was no problem.  We continued on.  We were almost home when out from a neighbor’s front yard, came a charging Bull Mastiff.

The dog belongs to the neighbor’s son and is an intact male.  He ran right up to Thunder and started to growl and show teeth.  Thunder did not care for that.  Thunder has a personal line with unfriendly dogs.  He is OK until that line is crossed and then he will let the other dog know that it should back off.  He growled and snapped back at the dog.  The mastiff probably had 30-40 pounds on Thunder, (he was big), but he backed right off.  Thunder is not one to pursue a fight and as soon as the other dog backed off, he relaxed a bit.  Thunder was on lead, so a gentle pull moved him several feet  from the other dog and luckily the other dog did not move toward Thunder.  Our neighbor called the dog and he returned to the yard.  Of course there were apologies and the usual, “he never did that before”, but for a few minutes it was tense because the other dog sure seemed like he wanted to throw his weight around.

We just don’t understand what it is about our dogs that attract all of these charging dogs.  I have even had small, aggressive dogs, come charging across the street when I have been walking Thunder.  (Small dogs don’t seem to bother him, except that they can get all the way under for sniffing.  :)).  Maybe it is because he is intact and they somehow know it even though they are quite a distance away?  It is a mystery.  I suppose we could chalk it up to Storm being an intact female, but it has happened enough times when Storm was not walking with us that I don’t think that is it.  Thoughts?  Ideas?

Don't Tread On Me

Luckily another weekend has arrived.  Waterfowl season is drawing to a close for us, so Storm is getting her chance to go this weekend.  She hasn’t gone at all this year and we are hoping she can get some retrieves.  Thunder will be miffed because he will be stuck home.  I hope to catch up on my blog reading/commenting since I will have some precious free time.  I have been trying to go back and reply to some of the great comments posted over the last few days.  I hope to catch up on that this weekend. 🙂

Have a great weekend!

24 thoughts on “Fall Walk–Part 2

  1. Thanks for the shout out! I don’t understand what the deal is with dogs charging up to other dogs, maybe they haven’t been socialized all that well.

    Sampson and Delilah run up because they are excited to meet other dogs, but like Thunder, Delilah will take no crap. She is the wrong dog to run up snarling and barring teeth to.

    You said the Mastiff was intact and Thunder is too, maybe it has to do with that? IDK.

    You are wise to leash them in that particular area.

    1. We only know the mastiff was intact because our neighbor said “if it was my dog, I would cut his ****s off”. So even though she said it never happened before, maybe the dog has shown some aggression before? IDK either.

  2. I really have to admire Thunder’s “line in the sand”. He protects himself and his own, but doesn’t escalate the situation. I truly admire that.

    I think you’re onto something with the idea that other dogs can sense or smell the fact that Thunder is an intact male; when Storm is present, they may also be vying for her. What is Storm’s reaction when this happens? Does she take up a protective stance along with Thunder?

    Enjoy your free time – I’m envious!! 🙂

    1. Since the dog wasn’t in Storm’s face, she was kind of waiting to see what was going to happen. She never growled, but I know from the past that she won’t put up with that kind of stuff either. Both of our dogs are bred for correct Chessie temperament, so while protective (as you noted and a Chessie characteristic), they are not aggressive. It is one of the things we like about the breed.

  3. You Guys are so well behaved!! I don’t think I’d remember the rules to stay close if I saw something moving in the woods – doh!!

    Just as well your humans are alert to any encounters with other Dogs, we don’t want you getting attacked! Some Dogs growl at me when I walk past (on lead) – Big and Small guys and I’m just a fluffy thing, I just ignore them and carry on…..

    Have a fun weekend,

    Your pal Snoopy 🙂

  4. Great pictures Cindy!! Beau developed a bit of swimmers tail and will be re cooperating on the warm waterbed until I get back from deer hunting. After that… it’s back to work! I told him that he was soon going to be an uncle…. He just looked at me and went back to sleep… I guess that he is one of those Chessies that does not show a lot of emotion about having new nieces and nephews in his life… He will probably be a “BAH HUMBUG” Christmas type of dog as well… Until he gets a present or two! 😀

    1. Oh no! Not swimmers tail. 🙁 This time of year and all of that water can be a problem for doggie tails. Since Beau is one of 12 pups he probably had his fill of pups when he was one. 😆

    1. Remember Storm spent a lot of time with a professional trainer this past year working on off lead heel 6 days a week. Thunder and Storm work on their off lead heel all of the time because they need it for hunt tests. Their off-lead heel is actually better than their on lead heel when they are at tests. 🙂

  5. Great photos, and I admire how your dogs can heel off-lead like that!! I don’t know what it is about dogs charging other dogs while on leash (or not). It’s not like your dogs look especially intimidating or anything, and they sound so well behaved. In my experience, we’ve always had more problems with male dogs charging male dogs, regardless of whether or not they are intact, so maybe it’s a vie for leadership thing? I am not sure. One thing I always see is a lack of know-how from other dog owners, which is unfortunate. We always hear the “oh well he has never done that before ..”. Kylie is intact and we’ve never had trouble with her on her own, but there have been some scuffles if we have one of the boy dogs with her. So I see what you’re saying as far as Storm goes .. maybe other males, intact or not, view Thunder as competition to Storm. Silly boys …

    1. Their off-lead heel is actually better than on lead when they are at tests. We still have to work on their on lead heel but it is difficult to duplicate the hunt test excitement. 🙂

      Maybe it is a leadership thing? Interesting thoughts.

  6. Ahh – I would do the exact same thing and keep my dogs on leash in that area, too! My guess is that the incidents likely stem from something with the other dogs – pent up energy, poor social manners, territorial over “their space”. I’m just guessing because Thunder and Storm seem so well-adjusted. Good job keeping them safe!

    1. I do think at times it is a territory thing. But it has happened in parks when we were training. Out of nowhere comes an agressive off lead dog. Once during hunting season a black lab came clear across two parking lots at the DNR station (where they were checking birds) to run up to Thunder. It is like he is a magnet. 🙂

      We just always make sure to have our dogs on lead or a lead ready. Sometimes people wonder why the dogs are on lead when they are so well trained. Mostly it is so we can have control should a situation like the one last weekend happen. 🙂

  7. I am wondering if it is because Thunder and Storm are so confident? Maybe other dogs sense that and go into protection mode?? Just a guess.

    Glad to hear that nothing serious happened, but I know how you feel.

    1. This is something I had not considered. Maybe. We try to keep them from eyeballing other dogs, but when one takes you by surprise, that is not always possible. So maybe it is partly confidence.

  8. Oh my, I love your pictures here. It is so lovely where you live!

  9. Hi Y’all,

    I’m not sure togetherness (boy, girl) or intact have anything to do with other dogs running up. My Human gave me the big snip, snip and dogs still run up to me. Since I’m an only dog, I’m always alone.

    Based on something that happened to me earlier this year, I’d guess it might be more territorial when you’re walking past dogs in their yards. Dogs also run up to me when we’re out hiking in public areas. Those interactions rarely are more than curiosity.

    Y’all come back now,
    Hawk aka BrownDog

    1. It could be territory, but we also have had the issue in public places. It really is a bit of a mystery. This never seemed to happen with the Golden Retriever we had before the Chessies. (Of course it seems to me that people were more careful about having dogs off lead when we had our Golden.)

  10. I have never understood people who allow their dogs off-leash when they do not have 100% perfect recall and might aggress another dog. My dog is a social idiot who will chase a squirrel into traffic, and the only place he is allowed off-leash is the dog park, where he is safely fenced in.

    “He never did that before.” And they have some lovely real estate in Florida they’ll sell you real cheap, too.

  11. We have had that happen before but fortunatley it was a friendly dog but I still don’t like it.

    I have another thought to throw out there, wonder if the light eye of the Chessie has anything to do with it as well as territorial tendencies.

    My guys tend not to like black labs and I have noticed after all these years of being around Chessies it seems to be common, at least among the ones I have had the pleasure of sharing time with, not sure why.

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