rude policeman!

I have to let this out... As D was busy today, I have to walk Happy alone this evening in the area near our home.  As usual, we met the village dogs and they joined us for a walk, today there's Maria and RJ.  We were happily moving along when, from afar, I spotted this 'rude' policeman with his Malinois dog.  I quickly leashed Happy.  He must have seen me too, because, he stopped in the middle of the bridge (which we have to cross) with his arms folded and his face soooo stern, was like daring me to come forward.  (I wished I have a camera then, so I can take his photo and show it to you.)  Seriously, at that moment when I spotted him, I wanted to turn tail and run away from this nasty guy with a bad attitude, but too bad, he saw me and I weren't about to let him have the satisfaction of feeling smug about it.  (D & I had a bad experience with this policeman.  I'll tell you the story later, first let me tell you what happened this time.)  Instead, I  plucked up my courage and walked towards him with my 'don't mess around with me' walk.  When I almost reached the bridge, he spoke in a very stern manner and voice asking if I am going to cross the bridge, I said yes.  You know what he said to me?  Unbelievable!  He  instructed me to move to the side of the bridge to allow him and his dog to cross over first!  Well, he had ample time to cross the bridge way before I even reached the bridge earlier on! Instead, he chose to stop in the middle of the bridge and waited for me in order to 'get' me.  Poor thing, hope he gets a life soon.  He was very fierce towards me, probably due to the fact that I didn't leashed all the dogs.  This time round, I weren't about to be caught off-guard and be affected by his rudeness and fierceness, I weren't going to let him bully me!  No way Jose! I said in a calm voice, telling him that Maria & RJ are village dogs. (I can only leashed Happy who is mine, which I already did 50 metres away upon seeing him).  I didn't even bother to move to the spot that he indicated earlier.  (After our encounter with him the last time,  I am prepared to verbally retaliate if necessary).  The last time we met him, he was very rude and fierce too.  He reprimanded us for not leashing Maria and that my leash on Happy should be kept tight at only one metre length while passing him and his malinois!  Utterly ridiculous!  To think that he is a professional who trained police dogs, it's hard to believe that he doesn't understand basic dog behaviour. Yet he lectured us on how to handle our dog!  Dogs can sense their handler's reaction and any tension on the leash is felt by them,  the moment you get nervous, tensed up and tightened the leash, they sense it, and it will caused them to react negatively, especially when meeting another dog.  Tensed handler = Tensed Dog.  Professional dog handlers/trainers have always advised that when two dogs meet on leash, it is always good to loosen the leash to let your dog have enough slack to manuever and speak his doggy body language and at the same time to feel secure, knowing that they have enough room to avoid meeting the other dog if they choose to.   In the natural canine world, meeting head-on is a no no... too rude and aggressive in doggy language.  They will always walk in a curved path to meet dogs that they don't know, the size of the curve varies with each dog. In a tight confined space with no room to manuever, some dogs are known to just curve their body in meeting.  Also, when the handler kept a tight leash while dogs meet each other, it will caused the dogs to strain forward (this is a natural reaction), thus resulting in a very aggressive body posture which could results in misunderstanding by the other dog and caused negative reactions.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention, there is another policeman with his dog who patrol this area too.  I think they take turns doing that.  This other policeman is a nice guy, friendly and kind, we like him.  He does not put on any airs with us and he even talked to me the other day while Happy and I were on our way home from our hike.  We encountered him and his Malinois once on our evening walk on a narrow path.  RJ and Maria was with us then, we told him that they are village dogs, he was nice, he said he understood.  We moved on without any confrontation.  I wanted to write him a complimentary letter!  Will probably do so once I get down to it.  On the other hand, the rude and proud policeman who puts on airs just simply tarnished his own cum the reputation of the Police Force!  What can I say! (Loud sigh!)