To have kicked an old man’s dog?

I agree. Once you had picked up your dogs you could have walked away. The other dog would have gotten bored and left you alone. I think kicking him/her was too harsh.

It depends if the lady is a dog lover many of whom think that out of control dogs are just fine, just having fun, just being friendly

I can’t believe people are defending that old man , , my friend lost her Boston terrier that was mauled to death by an off lead dog . I witnessed first hand the trauma that those 4 children & their parents went through . To say they were devastated is an understatement . Their dog was only 10lbs and was super friendly , an absolute sweetheart . Their dog suffered horribly before she died , so all these irresponsible people actually defending that old fool is unbelievable . Get a grip she was only trying to get rid of that dog that should have been on a lead in the first place .

You did nothing wrong, OP. The dog may have been playful but greyhounds have a strong prey drive and that could have changed in a heart beat. I have had a very frightening incident with a greyhound in the past with one of my terriers. Even if you didn't have your dogs with you, why should you put up with dog jumping all over you? If a dog was climbing all over me and not taking a telling, I would become a lot harsher as well. If the owner didn't like it, he should have had his dog under control. How do you think someone terrified of dogs would react to a dog jumping on them and pawing them?

I have a year old staffy who is a very sweet, amiable dog but far too friendly and wildly excitable in new situations and around new people. When he gets excited he does not pick up on social cues from dogs or people AT ALL! He might not be as tall as a greyhound on his back legs but he is built like a battering ram and he could hurt someone jumping all over them. So he stays on the lead around other people or until he has calmed down enough in group situations to remember his manners. I would hate someone to kick out at him and hurt his feelings but if it did happen, it would be my fault as an owner for putting him in that situation.

I cannot believe some of the replies you are getting here! No wonder dog owners have such a bad reputation.

Without hearing the other side of the story I would say both of you were unreasonable with your behaviour. The lady who saw what happened probably has the most unbiased view and you sound upset on what she said which is telling.

So the person that had her dogs on leads is wrong and the person that lets his dogs run wild and run up to dogs on a lead is right and person with dogs on lead shouldn't take them for walks to allow loose dogs to run amok?? Wow. What a ridiculous viewpoint.

This. I love living in a country with sensible 'dogs on leads' unless in a dog park rules. No one has to be fearful in public. I really can't imagine that scenario with a small child as well. Some dog owners are thoughtless and selfish and should absolutely always keep their dogs on a lead unless that dog will never interfere with anyone else's day in a way they don't want it to.

The entitled man in this scenario is the only person at fault. He is actually putting his own dog at risk of retaliation by not controlling it. Someone might one day, inflict far greater harm on his poor dog if he isn’t careful of who it jumps at.

Of course you can kick a dog that’s bounding up to you. Why wouldn’t you be allowed to? If it’s approaching you putting you in fear or alarm you can do what you like. If the owner doesn’t want his dog to be kicked he needs to put it on a short lead.

This stuff isn’t complicated.

The only reasonable conclusion the casual reader could have to this post is that you are an irresponsible owner of a larger dog. Small ,especially small and elderly, dogs should not have to put up with being trodden on by great lummox hounds. Yes, it can, and probably would, cause them pain!
FFS…

I'm an absolute dog lover but you did the right thing. Especially with a greyhound and you having small dogs. We're meant to have control of our dogs, he had none. Friendly or not, it should be close enough if off lead and have good recall to return when he saw another walker. Mine are often off lead but I'm always on the lookout for others and put them on at a certain distance.
If you're in the mood for it, I don't know how it works but Facebook allows you to post anonymously. You could even just ask what was the dog doing so far from its owner, it can't have been under his control. Oh, depending on how much detail you want to give away, say the person they're talking about is a friend of yours and she only did it as it was going for her two, small, elderly dogs. That way you won't feel on overdrive defending 'yourself' while still giving the other side.

There's a difference between a 'go away' kick to protect your dogs/yourself and from giving the dog a beating. Imagine if it ran up on to a big, nervous dog? It'd have a really bad day and the owner would be entirely to blame.

100% agree. My son was afraid of dogs when younger (and he’s still not keen now if they’re very boisterous) and I was absolutely sick of owners telling me how friendly their dog was in an offended tone when I stood between the dog and my frightened child.

The unsocialised dog is the greyhound that doesn't know how to approach another dog. You talk about thousands of years of genetically bred behaviour - but that is exactly why dogs on a leash, even ones with great character, are often very uncomfortable when approached by other dogs - and especially bigger ones that are not on a leash.

If you know anything about innate dog behaviour it will be clear to you why that is.

You were so right to protect your dogs. If you had to use your foot to get the dog away so be it. Over friendly dogs are a nightmare. Mine is over friendly and never of lead around other dogs. Hope you and your dogs are OK.

This dog wasn't aggressive though and even if it was, the advice is the same.

The advice comes from almost all dog behaviourists, trainers and those in the dog world. It's the advice on my local breed clubs page. It's the advice the RSPCA, PDSA Battersea and Dogs Trust give...

It's standard advice that has been offered for decades: do not pick up you dog or child if you are being attacked, or harassed, by another dog. Animal friends say: You should never pick up your dog in an effort to protect them, as this will encourage the attacking dog to leap at you.

You can google if you want to learn more about it.

Personally, I advise heading toward the owner if the dog is aggressive and there's nothing you can do to get it away because chances are if you walk away the dog will follow and then you're putting more distance between the dog and the only person who can control it by putting a lead back on it. Why would you do that? Surely you'd want the dog to return to the person who has its lead? It's pretty logical really.

You did the right thing.
I hate it when people let their dogs off the lead AND THEN HAVE NO CONTROL OVER THEM!!
Then claim that their jumping often biting excitable dog is really harmless!
Your little dogs could be a toddler, baby in pushchair, in the countryside a sheep in lamb or an elderly person who is knocked over and breaks their hip.
If people cannot control their dog/s immediately (and very few people can) the dog should be on a lead.

OP of course you have every right to keep your dogs safe, but as you've discovered, picking them up doesn't actually achieve that. In principle it makes sense to focus on how you can increase your control and calm down the approaching dog. Picking your dogs up decreases your control because your hands are full, and it teases the approaching dog because the other dogs are just out of reach, so although it's an instinctive thing to do it makes things worse on both counts.

To de-escalate the situation you need to calm down the over excited dog, not increase his arousal. For whatever reason, the dog's owner wasn't doing this, so I would have tried to do it for him.

Could you have have focussed on getting control of the approaching dog? If he was close enough to kick, was he close enough for you to grab his collar? Could you have thrown a handful of treats in his face to distract him? Do you carry a spare lead that you could loop through his collar or round his neck by looping the lead through the handle to make an improvised slip lead? I'm not saying that you should try these with a genuinely aggressive dog but they might well work with one who genuinely just wants to play but doesn't know how to read the signs that your dogs don't.

Oh, Op. you’re getting a lot of sanctimonious and holier than thou bullshit answers here, but you acted perfectly reasonably in the spur of the moment. Elderly small dogs do not tolerate bigger bouncier dogs getting all up in their business, and it’s understandable as they could easily be hurt, and one of your little old guys was hurt by a big, stupid and clumsy dog. ‘Playfulness’ is not an excuse, a dog may be elderly, have painful arthritis, sight or hearing impairment, a congenital joint problem, a heart problem and a whole host of other reasons why they won’t want a big, lumbering hound being ‘playful’ around them. It’s deeply selfish and inconsiderate to not take this into consideration. This was not a you problem.
The dog obviously had no recall and was poorly socialised, and as a long dog being walked in woodland that is an issue in itself as it could go off after anything, next time it could be a mother deer with a fawn, livestock in a nearby field, a squirrel or rabbit that darts across a road. Dogs need to learn not to be stupid for their own safety.
You did nothing wrong.

Nope.
Keep your dog under control- if it cannot be recalled get it on a lead and keep it on.
Dogs are entitled to go out for a walk without having other dogs up in their face.

You were both somewhat in the wrong. The man should not unleash his dog if he can't control it. We shouldn't kick animals, but if you genuinely felt your pets were in danger you probably acted from instinct to defend them. But tbh this sounds like the kind of dust-up that will inevitably happen from time to time with dogs.

You are in the right trying to protect your dogs. The man should have called it back to him and not assume it's okay, you don't know if it's coming to attack yours. He is responsible for his dog, he should keep it within range of himself so you would know it has some semblance of training.

I'd be putting in a comment re his dog pelted up to yours, looked massive/you thought it might hurt your elderly dogs, so yes, you stuck your foot out and will be reporting it to the dog warden (fat chance, unlikely you even have one!).

I'd be very worried if a much bigger dog ran up to mine. A much smaller one did the other day and went berserk at my very friendly ones who tried to run away but idiot terrier with zero recall was hanging onto my dog's arse! I was furious, owner couldn't get it back, my DH put his leg out to try to remove it, no kicking and she went mad. It was her dog hanging off mine who tried to run!

I'm currently reinforcing recall because mine can go deaf and I absolutely think it's awful if they run up to another dog, it's just not fair on other dogs/owners. If they are in a situation where I think they won't recall, they stay on the lead, don't care how friendly they are.

I do think that of you let your out of control dog off lead, you have to accept they might have to deal with some natural consequences. You have to take the rough with the smooth when it comes to having a bit of freedom. I'm sure the greyhound would happily take the risk.

It's dog owners with your attitude that cause a lot of upset for other dogs and their owners, because they can't be bothered to train their own dog well and then get defensive and start blaming the innocent onlead dogs, minding their own business, for not being 'socialised'.

Any dog who runs up into another's dogs space, can't read signals to back off, jumps up at people and has poor recall, is the dog who needs further training and socialisation - not necessarily the dogs walking on lead beside their owner.

There can be any number of reasons why a dog might be on lead, in this case the OP's dogs are small and elderly.

Irresponsible dog owners seem to think it's ok for their dog to rush up to intimidate and hurt onlead dogs.

Responsible dog owners know not to let their off lead dog run up to an onlead dog.

It's clear which category you, and some other posters on this thread, fall into.

Nope. If you can’t control your deadly weapon, then keep it on a lead. You are the worst kind of dog owner.