Sometimes we don’t all speak the same lingo. Here is a classic example of how a simple phrase can have two different meanings. The misunderstanding can have dire consequences!
Side 1:
I’m walking my dog, Oliver, along the sidewalk when I see a woman approaching me with a cute little mutt. Oliver loves other dogs, so I’m sure he’ll enjoy meeting this one. We both speed up since he’s getting excited.
As we get closer the woman shouts, “My dog is leash reactive!” I’m not sure what that means. Her dog is reactive to leashes? What an odd problem! I wonder how it manages to walk on its own leash? Well, I’m happy to oblige her, so I unclip the leash from Oliver so he can run over and greet the cute little pooch.
It turns out that her dog is a little snarky, and tries to start a fight with poor Ollie! He starts running circles around this horrible little mutt, and I do my best to try to catch him. Sheesh! She should have warned me about her dog’s bad manners.
Finally I’m able to grab poor Oliver and clip his leash on so we can get away from this nightmare. This dog has no business walking around the neighbourhood.
Side 2:
I’m walking my dog, Roger, along the sidewalk when I see a man approaching me with a big black dog. I’m relieved to see he’s got it on a leash. Sometimes people in this neighbourhood let their dogs run loose, and it’s terrible trying to deal with them.
He gives me a big grin and looks as though he wants to bring his dog over. Oh no! I give him a warning that Roger is leash reactive so we can give each other a wide berth. Roger isn’t good with other dogs, so I do my best to keep him under threshold when we go for our daily walks.
I watch in disbelief as he unclips the leash. I can’t believe it! Didn’t he hear me? Of course Roger starts going berserk when his dog comes up to us. The man starts chasing his dog all over the place. Doesn’t it have a recall? There’s nothing I can do but hope he somehow gains control over his dog.
Finally he grabs it and puts it back on a leash. What a relief! This is such a stressful end to an otherwise delightful walk.
I always wondered what leash reactive meant!
People use strange words. Where do they learn to speak!
I like being very clear. “STOP! My dog bites!” or “STOP! My dog has fleas!” I think the initial “STOP!” can be harsh and probably sound rude but it is clear and gives the person approaching the information you actually want them to have. Having a leash reactive dog I can really sympathize with this situation.
I say things like – sorry, my dog has bad manners OR sorry, he doesn’t do well with other dogs. Looking forward to training that might not necessitate either of those! 🙂