Our 7 month old working cocker Ollie has been well socialised with friends dogs and we’re going to the local park with a group most mornings and he seems to have fun.

I know to let dogs sort out their relationships and not to interfere but I find myself having to step in when another 2 year old working cocker has a go at Ollie. It goes beyond normal horseplay to the extent that the older dog is baring teeth and biting ollies neck.

My main problem is with the owner who shows no control over her dog other than a very non-committal, “oh stop that”. Other dog owners will now come over and grab her dog away as she continues to sit gossiping.

The main advice I’m after is at what point do I have a go at her or kick her dog in the teeth?

Ignore the dog. Concentrate on the owner. You know what you need to do. Go properly equipped…..

I could find out where she lives………..

Speaking as the owner of a rescue dog who had a tendency to do that to other dogs I took control of the situation and have worked hard to socialise and train our dog and would expect the owner of the spaniel to do the same. If they don’t take control of the situation then I will. I would then have a ‘chat’ with the owner of said dog. As a dog owner one of my pet hates (no pun intended) is the phrase, ‘he’s only playing’.

Phone the local dog warden.

our one is very helpful when a little bastard jack russell attacked our cocker in the street after it’s idiot owner let it out unattended. (luckily the builder working next door grabbed it but it proceeded to attack him as well)

Yes – dog warden. Was very helpful a few years ago when one of our dogs was attacked by an irish terrier leaving my wife with bite marks and our dog with cuts all over him.

Cheers folks. I’ll have a word with her first but I’ll keep the dog warden as my last resort as the rest of the group are quite nice and don’t want escalate it too much.

I was hoping more would say kick it in the teeth. Its an evil shite for a cocker.

There’s an ancient black lab which shares walk times / routes with my dog. She always, always has a go at my dog whilst the owner stands there looking bemused. A proper go too with snarling and teeth.

I figure if my dog is too stupid to run away from a 12 year old lab, he deserves everything he gets 🙂

Seriously though, it used to pee me off that the owner didn’t intervene but the dogs know each other, know what to expect and the weaker one can always avoid the stronger one if he / she really wants to.

Pepper spray