Top Tips on the Beach

💛On Sunday I went to the beach with Jess 💛

Now, that might not seem too unusual to most people, but it is for us. Firstly it was Sunday, a busier day. Secondly, the beach is not that appealing to her as she loves to sniff around the fields and hedgerows … so yes, on the line of seaweed, she did find something interesting and stinky to roll in!

Down the steps we go, she is on her lead and then on a long line.

Up comes a dog, off lead, I would guess around 6 months old. The owner and family were sitting within a couple of metres of the steps …  very close so everyone that came on the beach was of interest.
Dog runs up and bounces around Jess.
Chap calls. Calls again … dog is now running circles around Jess.
I stand still.
He calls again. Rushes up and repeatedly tries to grab the dog.
Jess clearly moves to avoid him, the human.
After about the 10th repetition of calling and grabbing at the pup, I carry on walking very slowly to try to get Jess out of the way. She didn’t have a problem with the puppy, but she didn’t appreciate the chap grabbing down towards her.

Long story short, finally the puppy was back with dad and put on a lead, but still sitting right next to the steps to the beach.

Why am I telling you this?

Because I think the basics were missed ending up with the owner getting frustrated. It was totally avoidable.

Here are my top tips on how to avoid such a situation developing:

✅ Risk assess the situation - if you have a new puppy, then don’t park yourself close to the entrance to the beach, give them a bit a space to watch.
✅ Use management - the dog  did not have the ability to come away from another dog, so pop a line on so that you have a chance to both practice and manage the dog away from the situation. The puppy was clearly learning some great moves in how to avoid his owner!
✅ Take some time to understand the body language of your dog and any other dogs that your dog meets - the signs were clear, Jess was not really interested in the puppy, and she was 100% demonstrating how she felt about the man.
✅ Respect other dog owners - which brings in all the above.

It only lasted a couple of minutes, and after that we had a lovely walk. Lots of other dogs there, many off lead, she was not really interested in them, and they just passed by easily after a quick nod hello.

☀️ And as you can see it was a beautiful day ☀️