A dog trainer has urged people to keep their distance if they spot animals out walking with a yellow lead because they’re ‘unpredictable’.
Adam Spivey of Southend Dog Training has been teaching owners how to correct or manage their pet’s behaviour through in-person training alongside his “non-nonsense” videos on social media.
As part of this, he has warned people to stay away from dogs being walked on yellow leads when in public – whether you’re walking with or without your own dog by your side.
In a video, he said: “If you see a dog with a yellow lead, this normally represents they’re nervous. Please do not make your dog approach them. Allowing your dog to run over to them does them no favours. Simply calling you dog back will make a massive difference.”
Expanding on this, Sarah of My Anxious Dog shared how her dog, Bella, started to make improvements in all aspects after she started dressing her in yellow.
She went onto create her own business selling various dog accessories in yellow in an attempt to help owners better manage their anxious pets when in public.
On her website, she said: “The more people know that a dog wearing yellow needs space, the less stressful life becomes for anxious dogs and their humans.
“A dog might be wearing yellow for a number of reasons. They could be reactive, fearful, elderly, recovering from an accident, illness or an operation. The last thing they need is to be approached or jumped on by other dogs who wants to play.”
Adam and Sarah, along with other animal enthusiasts, have been independently trying to raise awareness about ‘dogs in yellow’, while recognising that some owners may use different colours to signify their dog’s anxieties or other behaviours.
One user commented: “Didn’t know about this. Are there any other colours we should know about?”.
Another user chimed in: “Thank you for posting this, more people need to know. I have so much trouble walking my rescue around Canvey, feel like I am getting no where.”
A third user expressed: “I have a yellow lead that says nervous down it and people never listen it’s so disrespectful especially when my dog barks and the other owner has a go.”
Yet another user added: “We have a red one for no dogs along with a matching harness and it says it across it but people still let their dogs come up to him.”
One more user stated: “I have used a yellow and red neither of worked and every time I ask someone to call their dog back and they don’t! For safety we are muzzle training.”