My favourite walk this morning was disrupted by a bit of argy-bargy
I went late - I'm usually around the reservoir around 6 or 7 AM. There's a few early birds but not many and it's a wonderful start to the day
Anyway I was walking along behind a couple walking a young dog. Their dog was off lead and had no recall. The signs instruct people that dogs should be kept on leads. Every dog they met walking in the opposite direction was chased and nipped. The nips were generally playful but more than one dog yelped. During one altercation of theirs I caught up and tried to walk past swiftly.
Unfortunately the young dog saw mine and started chasing him. Mine was at that time off lead. In my defence I always let him off lead at that point so that he can go and have a swim. A lot of dog walkers do that and there's a kind of unspoken agreement that if we're going to break the rules, the dogs have good recall and don't bite.
So my dog was chased and bitten really quite severely - a couple of playful nips then a proper bite which had him yelping. I was cross and I told them plainly that their dog should be on a lead. I did not swear or shout or be abusive.
Well the most massive altercation happened then. I did actually think I was going to get thumped. Screaming abusive woman in fits. I actually think she was a bit mental. I didn't say a word BTW (after having told them to keep it on a lead, which was possibly a mistake).
What would you have done? Would you have just grabbed your dog and scarpered quickly? Should I just have shut up and not said anything?
It's normally such a wonderful and serene walk. Lots of comradely dog people and horses and birdsong and stuff.
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AIBU to tell a couple walking their dog to keep it on a lead?
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Thesearepearls · 25/08/2018 14:06
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