Completely outrageous dog owner behaviour

Push her back. Hard.

Report local police. Owner has a dog in public uncontrolled. She has then assaulted you. Your friends is a witness.

Ring the police - she’s assaulted you

Other dog owner is in the wrong. Their dog was out of control and they then assaulted you when you dealt with their problem dog.
You're also not out of order for kicking out at a dog.....
FWIW I was accused of kicking a dog when all I'd done was put my leg out as a block between it and my dog/children. Dog was off lead in an area that dogs should be on their leads. Fortunately owner didn't bother coming anywhere near me......

I get what you're saying but my post was in response of a poster saying that you should SPIT ON THE OWNER

Not quite the same is it

Op if this happens again, if you stick your knee out, dogs can't usually jump at you and it is a good deterrent which doesn't look like you are kicking at a dog so less confrontational perhaps.

I have 3 dogs and use this technique when other people's dogs jump at me. I'd be quite happy for someone to do this with my dogs (who don't typically jump up at people because they've been trained not to) as it won't hurt them but does stop them jumping.

Really? This is your question? I live in the north of Scotland. Also in the UK. We’ve had like 4 days of dry weather.

The UK being a lot bigger than 70 miles…

Just like a dog might instinctively greet another person by saying an unwanted hallo, a person can also act instinctively by kicking out. I'm extremely cautious around dogs after getting bitten by a dog when I was a kid, a dog jumping on/at me to say hallo, invariably causes my to react instinctively be it by a kick out, run away or shout. I know you're not supposed to do this around a dog but hey ho, it's me being frightened. Control your bloody dogs

my walking route was along the sea front

I believe the sea can be rather wet at times, under the right circumstances.

Why what would you do?

In a swamp where they manufacture goady posts and click bait.

Dogs are so much nicer than people.

As I said on another dog thread owners have a strict liability therefore responsibility when it comes to their dogs behaviour both on and off a lead. The owner is 100% at fault for not having their dog under full control and you were not to know if the dog would become violent - although a future tip, kicking out at a dog can be perceived as violence by the dog and it could turns a docile dog into an attacking dog very quickly. You just never know.

The owner is a dickhead.

Where are you in the UK OP where it's been wet enough lately for a dog to get muddy paws?

I've been walking the coast path this last few days - about 70 miles in total. After the last two weeks of warm dry weather the ground is baked like iron in this recent dry spell.

If anyone round here did that they would be labelled the village weirdo tbh

This one post is proof that you should never really come to MN for advice.

I don't blame you OP untrained dogs are fucking annoying and the entitled owners are thick as pig shit. So what if it's not the "poor dogs" fault, I still hate the dogs.

This isn’t a “both sides” situation. Unwanted dog invading the space of a human, clearly out of control. Human very mildly discourages it without actually making contact. Dog owner assaults this person.

Both the dog and the owner were out of control and badly behaved. I cannot see what @Onepeople has done wrong. Personally I’d be reporting the assault to the police.

I absolutely would have kicked the dog and when the owner shoved me I'd have shoved her straight back. I don't give a fuck if your dog is just saying hello. I don't want muddy fucking clothes because you can't keep your dog under control. If I walked up to someone and wiped mud on their trousers they'd rightly be fucking pissed. So why is it any different for a dog?

I mean you were both in the wrong.

She should have had her dog under control or atleast apologised and removed it from the situation swiftly by recall or grabbing it. She was also totally out of line assaulting you.
However you did escalate the situation by kicking 'out' at the dog.
If the dog wasn't hurting you then you could have turned away and folded your arms to disengage or walk away. I'm not condoning either of your behaviour on this one. She's a shitty dog owner but you were unkind to an animal that wasn't aware it was doing anything 'wrong'

if your solution to bad behaviour is worse behaviour, you’ve missed it!

Dogs dont know better, adult humans do.

Dogs arent humans.. I thought that was what we are told so often...

A human adult deliberately behaving like a poorly trained dog is just Bizarre.

Whilst I understand dogs with muddy paws jumping up is annoying (have had happen to me) I wouldn’t kick out towards a dog just because it’s annoying. Kicking out towards an animal could result in harm to the animal which would not sit well with me. But then, I don’t dislike or hate dogs so 🤷‍♀️

The owner’s reaction isn’t ok either.

I am not blaming you for your response.. As a dog owner.. I keep my dogs on leads unless we are on a lonely beach (lots here) . KNEE to the chest of any dog jumping at you.if it is just a bouncy idiot..if it is snarling then ya.. kicking out at it is ok.

I love dogs and am a dog owner but yanbu to react as you did.

If you can’t control your dog don’t let it off the lead!

If someone pushed me in the chest after her dog jumped up at me she would seriously regret it.