To have kicked an old man’s dog?

Of course you can? If a large, out of control dog is repeatedly jumping on you that's exactly what you should do.

Why do you keep pointing out that the man was old?

Sorry I meant to quote @Kariksalomna , although my points apply to a number of posts.

I think it’s deeply unhelpful to focus on whether or not the dog was being aggressive. It seems to me that many posters are doing that because they want to have a go at the OP and saying ‘but the dog wasn’t being aggressive’ is an easy way to do that. I think whatever the dog did, they’d excuse it as not aggressive, just wanting to play etc.

The OP should not have to tolerate being jumped up at , with the dog’s paws latching on to her, which can easily cause at least minor injury and damage to clothing not to mention alarm at what might happen next, what the dog might do to the smaller dogs if he got to them. I can’t believe I’m actually having to spell this out. She’d tried standing in the way and it had escalated and the owner wasn’t even there.

I come back to my example of a dog jumping up and giving me a series of small bruises on my arm just from its claws naturally latching on. No doubt these posters would say he wasn’t being aggressive, just wanted to play, but it’s completely unacceptable and I should not be expected to put up with it. In my case the owner was right there, calling it off (not very effectively mind) so I expected it to stop any second therefore I kind of just waited, but if it had carried on any longer, or the owner hadn’t been there as in the OP, damn right I would have been justified in kicking to get it off. We’re not talking about animal abuse, it’s a kick to get the dog off.

I think some people are really losing their minds. And as for questioning the OP’s account because someone else posted on Facebook about it so therefore the OP must have done something wrong, well, is that really a serious point?

If the passing woman was taken aback and said op was kicking and being aggressive then concerned to the extent she posted it on sm, at the same time op saying it wasn't actually attacking etc., then the picture you have in your head with a huge big beast dog scratching bruising her pinning her down with ops arms full of her little dogs 😂 is a little wrong and reality is a bit more nuanced than that.
The assertion that one should kick a non aggressive dog is wrong. Some posters are the pitch fork yielding type.

I really think that so many people don’t understand dogs. You need to relax and let them sort it out, it is safer for the dogs! If you are relaxed they will be relaxed. A dog that kills other dogs is a rare beast and you would be very unlucky .

Or perhaps until the dog had actually bitten her? Drawn blood? I’m not sure what this evidence of ‘aggression’ is that some posters are saying OP should have waited for before protecting herself. I absolutely despair at the garbage some people will talk in their efforts to blame the victims of crap dog ownership.

He was bruising and scratching her. Was she just supposed to stand there waiting patiently till he got bored?

Not sure about kicking the greyhound, was it jumping up aggressively or playfully?

If a dog jumps up the advice is to put your knee out so it bumps in to the dogs chest. However you were acting in the moment abd we

Yeah but dog wasn't attacking op. We'll have to disagree. I'm not one for advocating kicking non aggressive dogs.

I admit I'm not a dog owner op, but I'm totally on your side. The only dogs who should be off lead in a public place are those with brilliant recall. I am a bit sick of certain dog owners who think because they love their dog and wouldn't mind him/ her in there face everyone else should. My oldest DD is terrified of dogs and having dogs she doesn't know come bounding up to her isn't going to help. I also know someone who is severely allergic to dogs and it really limits his life. All because certain dog owners either can't or are too selfish to control their dogs.

It’s hardly violence. Dogs don’t think twice about showing or being shown “violence” when something they don’t want happens. Women shouldn’t either.

Agreed. A relative nearly lost her foot after being knocked over by a large dog which 'meant no harm'.

My dog is much the same. How she responds to a dog depends entirely on how it approaches her.

She has unfortunately been chased by large dogs three times while their owners failed to call them off. One time she launched herself into a lake to escape and she would never choose to swim. Fortunately she ultimately ran back to me for help so I didn't lose her, but that is one of the reasons she is now rarely off lead.

She is also wary of and sometimes reactive to large black dogs because two of the chasing incidents were a large black lurcher (same one) and there have been multiple big "friendly" black labradors that have hurt her by bouncing on her and barreling her over.

She was absolutely fine with other dogs prior to these incidents but now it is very difficult to turn things around. It is a work in progress that is very much not helped when it happens again and again.

I used to own a big dog and never understood the way owners of little dogs reacted to him given he was a harmless doofus. Having a small dog has been eye opening.

Kariksalomna
R people actually defending that the dog should have been kicked?

Yes, I am. It needed to be prevented from its course of behaviour, and no other deterrent action had worked. It was causing physical harm to someone who was unable to hit it with a spare lead or blast it with compressed air (which it seems would be perfectly acceptable and which have been advocated) to deter it from its continuing assault on her, even if she'd had such weapons with her, because her arms were full of her small, frightened, angry, elderly dogs against whom it had trespassed and one of which it had injured. At that point kicking it is self-defence even if it were not defence of a small and injured animal. And it worked: the aggressor went away.

In any case, since it had leaped on her and had its front paws on her shoulder from behind at the time, any kick she was able to take at it would have had about a 30-45cm travel to it, which is hardly going to do actual damage.

It was not actually biting; big deal. If it had knocked her to the ground, as it seems perfectly likely that it might have done, can you guarantee that she would not have broken a bone in her fall, burdened as she was with two small dogs which meant she had no arm free?

No, sorry not sorry, I think OP matters rather more than the dog in this instance.

Agreed and to add, a dog that bounds up to and bounces on a dog that clearly does not want to interact with it, is not well socialised dog. It is a dog that has no manners. Something like the kind of man that approaches a woman in a bar and refuses to take no for an answer.

Yeah to that but the dog still shouldn't have been kicked. .. Owner of the dog is wrong regarding off lead, but also op is wrong regarding actually showing violence to the dog. R people actually defending that the dog should have been kicked? Not oh but it jumped on op, poor op was surprised I'd do the same, itsfight flight mode etc etc, but the simple question, should the dog be kicked in this scenario when it wasn't being aggressive as in showing teeth, barking wanting to bite?

My dog , now age 9, has been well trained and socialised from being a puppy. He is very happy meeting and interacting, both onlead and offlead with other calm, polite dogs. However, he will correct (growling, snapping etc) at any uncontrolled dog that rushes at or jumps on him. He is not afraid of them, he is irritated by them and lets them know they need to back-off.

I voted you were unreasonable to write such a goady thread title.

I saw her reply after and acknowledged exactly that. I don’t know why she didn’t provide more detail in the first post, but for me the latest post changed things significantly and she didn’t have much choice.

I think of it as...if it was a horse the dog jumped at, what would it do - A)Bolt B)kick.

That's their natural response to t treat.
A dog jumping for any reason is not under control. end of.

I would have probably done the same in that situation - having been bitten by a dog as a kid.

Its not like she walked up to the dog and kicked it. There is a significant difference.

And I doubt the guy would report it, as then the WHOLE situation will be explained and he will not come off well.

I agree regarding dogs on lead - I have a bouncy dog who loves to play and I will put him on lead at the first sight of another dog because it isn’t worth the hassle of trying to mind read how the other dog owner feels about it. That said, it would take a lot for me to kick another dog, I encounter them so frequently I can see what is play vs attack.

I can only assume you went into fight vs flight mode - you have to ask yourself were you irritated and reacting on that basis (in which case it was definitely wrong), or whether you were genuinely fearful for yourself (in which case that’s your threshold crossed and while others might minimise it, the body reacts quite strongly and instinctively in fear settings).

nope nope and nope. If your dog has no recall then it shouldn’t be off the lead. If your dog goes bounding towards other dogs it shouldn’t be off the lead.

I absolutely agree with you OP. I have a dog who doesn’t like others always on a lead. If I have said my dog doesn’t like others and you have then allowed your dog to still come up to mine I am going to defend my animal. If you can’t control your dog it shouldn’t be off lead.