My yorkie was attacked not long ago by a border terrier. Since then he's been afraid of most dogs (slowly getting better but it has taken months), and will run in the other direction if he sees one he doesnt like the look of, miles away, or just screams if he is on lead and they fly up to us. Don't let bad experiences like yours lessen your dogs confidence.
Whilst I would normally insist that you continued to socialize with all breeds, everywhere you can to keep your dogs confidence and social skills where they should be, yorkies are obviously often a lot more fragile than many other breeds and dont tolerate being bounced on / rolled over etc by others. Sadly due to their size lots of dogs won't even take warning growls, snaps etc seriously, if given.
It does depend where in the UK you live. I am fortunate that if I want to avoid parks, there are places I can drive or walk to. Sea walls, farmers fields, woodlands, places like this - you will often see SOME dogs there, but it isn't as busy as a park. I often find where I walk my dog if I want to avoid others is also the same with other owners - they too want to keep to themselves, and often their dogs arent too good with others so they get them under control and you can pass and carry on with your business.
I also find if another dog is too much, then the only thing to do is pick mine up out of the way. This is against protocol, but i don't care - i will do what it takes to keep my dog out of harms way. Obviously you dont want to instill a fear in to your dog about other dogs approaching, so you don't do it with every dog you see, but any you feel are not respecting the space, size, and fragileness of your dog. |