AIBU or did this guy overreact to our dog approaching him?

Men can act as aggressively as they like then, if there's a reason behind it?

He had three young kids.
You had a dog you knew 'but sometimes has bad recall if she sees someone she knows.'

Your dog jumped up. Threatened his family's safety.
You are the asshole for sure.

Yeah dogs are allowed on the beach but that doesn't mean it's okay for dogs to harm people and cause chaos.
You are responsible. You need to have your dogs behaviour sorted.

Its not upto the world to avoid your dog. It's upto you to control your dog and train it. If its not safe off a lead.... Don't let it off a lead.

How would you feel if something jumped up to you and attacked you. And someone tried to justify it. It's just not okay.

You are acting entitled, like you are allowed to hurt people and they should just let you.

No. If your dog behaves dangerously, and you're out in public. You're an arse.
You have a lead. You have access to be able to go to a beach so you could be spending your time training it. There is just no excuse apart from an entitlement issue and disregard for other people's safety.

How could anyone define an animal touching you with its claws as anything other than an attack?

Easily?

From reading through the thread it’s quite clear you’re refusing to actually take responsibility for the incident.

If your dog did not have 100% recall with everyone, including friends and family, then your did NOT have 100% recall and should never have been off lead.

People are saying you’re the one BU because you’re not acknowledging that the incident was your fault. There would have been zero reaction from the man had you had your dog under control - those are the facts.

If he, or his child, has a phobia of dogs then the reaction, although unpleasant, could not be seen as unreasonable for that person because they are in a state of distress…which it sounds like this person was.
It would be interesting to hear the encounter from his perspective.

For yourself, I would suggest the you stop trying to defend yourself from the indefensible and accept that you created the situation. No one left happy but it was entirely your fault. No off lead until you have 100% recall at all times.

On the question you actually asked - you’re completely unreasonable.

It’s not a dog beach, it’s a public beach that allows dogs. It’s perfectly reasonable for a member of the public to be on it and not want a dog to put their paws up on them.

aggressive reactions to that situation aren’t reasonable either - but this individual isn’t the one that started it. The dog (and therefore their owner) did.

For future reference, rock solid recall is just that. Rock solid. Not ‘only when it’s a stranger’, or only when no food, or only on a good day.

Regardless of where you are or the size of dog your dog was not under your control and should be on a lead.
You don't know what hidden issues this person has.

18 years ago I was mauled by a dog. It was unprovoked and I could of lost my arm if someone hadn't come to help. I spent time in hospital and many months of therapy to use my arm again. That's an attack.
A dog touching you is not. This dog did not attack the man. It sounds like a perfectly friendly dog but in my opinion dogs should on leads at all times in public.

I

What exactly is a "dog section" of a beach? 🤔 I think you're slightly entitled. However, yes, the guy majorly overreacted. You're both unreasonable

This would really annoy me. As the stranger. Not you.
My dog is really reactive. I'd love to have him off the lead, he has perfect 100% recall. But I can't.

It annoys me that even though I do everything I can to keep my dog and other dogs safe, there are irresponsible dog owners who think it's ok for their dogs to come running up, sending my dog into a panic and me desperately trying to keep dogs apart.
Then, just like you, they think we're the unreasonable ones!!! Have a word with yourself. Nobody or no other animal has to like your dog. Keep your dog on a long lead if you're in a public place. You are bang out of order. Hire a dog field if you want your dog off the lead!

Your dog should be under control or on a lead. If your dog did that to me it would likely have dislocated my knee and possibly my hip depending on the force as I have a condition which affects my collagen. I have a dog and whilst being a barky little shit at times , outside he is not off lead anywhere around people or other dogs.
However the gentleman shouldn’t have reacted by kicking your dog so pretty much everyone IBU in this instance.

Think the OP has got the message.

Dogs don’t tend to claw people. I can imagine exactly what this “attack” looked like. Like a small dog scampering up to some one, jumping and lightly tapping its knee to say hi before running off again.

Tbh it’s a bit of a non event. But get it that it could be annoying if you don’t like dogs, have best clothes on (not that you would on the beach) or were nervous/had a child who was nervous of dogs. yes dogs should be under control and not running up to people but all these people defending an aggressive man are insane. He’s likely to do far more harm than a small friendly dog.

No such thing as a friendly dog. Can you not see their teeth and mouths? And nasty feet? And hear them panting? Never mind the smell. Not friendly not cute. Not even puppies. Maybe ever so slightly cuter than a rat so not much. Ew.

Of course there are friendly dogs. You always post on these threads and I always advise you to seek therapy and living with your level of fear must be really tough. Please seek help so you can go out and enjoy yourself without this huge fear of dogs, which tbh are mostly friendly.

Yes, I would suggest you should've had your dog on a long lead until a bit older and you were more confident. Seeing off lead dogs on beaches when the dogs do not have good recall infuriates me. I do understand there has to be a first time to be off lead at some point- we aren't there in public areas with ours yet and he is 18 months old.
Yes, the man's reaction was completely disproportionate. I would be fuming if someone reacted this way to my dog. But, as you can see on this thread, lots of people get angry at dogs behaving this way and lots respond disproportionately with aggression to a mn post. Some people, like some dogs, can behave out of control. Best to keep your family as safe as possible- from both.

God the drama from you is unreal.

Definitely needs help, going by other dog posts.

You need to keep your puppy on a lead OP. As a responsible owner unless you have 100% total control over your dog, it should not be off a lead in a public space. You knew you puppy had "bad recall with people it knows" hence you have intermittent control.

The size of your dog is mostly irrelevant. Size doesn't mean they can't scratch, nip, make clothes mucky, are less fearful, less allergenic. And as a member of the public, its really not our prerogative to decipher all this with an unknown dog.

Its your job as an owner to prevent any interaction of your doodle with the public unless invited.

Judging by her responses, she definitely hasn’t

It doesn't matter if your dog is 4kg or 40kg, if they don't have good recall, you don't let them off the lead in public places. Same with jumping up at people, you don't let them jump up at folks. You don't know if people out & about have dog phobia's and they'd probably lash out at the dog if they did and if your dog bites them, there could be serious consequences for you & the dog!

There's a woman who lives in my street that has a Chi. That dog is vicious! She walks it on a long lead, without a muzzle. She knows it's tried to bite many people, myself included. The time he went for me, i was just walking passed and didn't even acknowledge the dog and he went for my feet. But it's ok tho because he's only little (sarcasm)

The dog putting their paws onto his knees IS jumping!! Whether the dog jumped once, twice or more is irrelevant. It jumped at someone, end of. If the dog didn't jump at him, it couldn't have put it's paws on his knees.

You would have been in BIG trouble if your dog did this to me. I have anger issues as well as another mental health condition and I hate dogs trying to hump my leg, climb up or slobber because the bloody owner can't control them

He did overreact but I have a 3 year old who is now terrified of dogs because a dog did exactly what yours did - jumped up at her. The owner stood laughing "oh, she's dead friendly, she wants to say hello......". I've now got a 3 year old who hides behind me at the sight of any dog.