To have kicked an old man’s dog?

Agree with these posts on the dog.

How is it her fault that another dog owner let their dog off the lead, it was out of control and attacked her dogs?!

When a dog is on a lead, it should not be approached by an off lead Dog. Why do you think her dogs weren’t socialised?
To be approached by a bigger dog went on a lead causes a small dog stress and they react to protect themselves. It doesn’t mean they’re not socialised.

Please stop beating yourself up - you acted on instinct with a situation you didn’t start - I would have probably done the same!

A properly socialised dog has been trained not to jump up people or approach other dogs. They shouldn’t be off lead otherwise. I have dogs and I’m so fed up of other peoples untrained dogs being allowed to run around off lead, especially when they can’t even be recalled properly, and people thinking I’m supposed to be fine with it or find it cute.

I think most people would regard a large dog jumping on a person from behind and putting its paws on her shoulders as dangerous. I know I would.

That was in reply to someone who wrote about "attacked by one that’s off lead and out of control."

But it did happen: her dog was injured. That's because the other dog, off lead and out of control, attacked it. Bounding up and stamping on a small elderly dog IS attacking it, from the point of view of that elderly dog and its owner.

I agree that her knowing and doing everything that has been suggested except carrying a means of defence such as a spare lead or a spray-can of compressed air (which would be hard to use while also holding two dogs up out of reach of the aggressor-dog) should have been a help, but clearly none of them worked against this canine menacing her and her dogs. She was herself damaged by the greyhound, and her dog already had been.

It's hard to see why kicking it was so unforgivable: what other means of defence had she left?

The root cause of the problem is the
man letting his dog run far away and up to people/other dogs. Everything that happens after that is on him for being a crap owner. Especially an owner who says “he’s friendly” like it’s a get out of jail card.

It wasn't showing dangerous behaviors though, I think you're forgetting that is key.

You defended your dogs and yourself. Anything that could have happened to the dog is the fault of the feckless owner.

No, just that mine had bitten hers. I did let my dog go once the dog fight began as they were both big dogs so I didn't want to find myself in the middle of it. There were plenty of third parties around to confirm that mine was on a lead and hers wasn't, but she didn't try to claim it was.

It's clear that the elderly man had no control over his dog whatsoever. In the eyes of the law he was therefore in charge of a dog that was "dangerously out of control", which is an offence.

You should report this incident.

Walking away should have been the first thing she did to be honest.

How is walking away going to help? Surely the greyhound would just regard that as part of the game?

It has the opposite effect, it's basic dog psychology, if you don't remove yourself, an excited dog that has approached you will focus all it's energy on you/your dog, it was pawing at her dog and hit it on the head, hurting it, because she was standing there allowing it access, if she had given a firm NO, then turned and walked her dogs away it would not have been able to do that, it is also giving a clear signal to the dog that you are not interested in playing with it.. dogs aren't mindless beasts, they understand commands and dog and human body language, it may have followed, and may have tried to interact, but in the process of walking you can block it from getting near your dogs, if it is not getting any excitement in return most the time it will just give up and move on to the next poor person minding their own business, I've had to walk TOWARDS an owner before to help them get it back, but the movement and blocking stopped it getting access to my dogs.

Standing there shouting, kicking out, dancing around with your dogs in your arms, turning round in circles (I've seen people do this so many times to know exactly how OP reacted) it is just a massive game to an excited dog.. it means absolutely nothing to their dog brain apart from fun, and will cause them to jump, pounce, act nuts basically unless there is an owner nearby to grab it, which there wasn't, it can cause the picked up dogs to act more aggressively too from a position of elevation/safety. That dog would never have jumped up OP if she hadn't have lifted her dogs in the air, it escalated the situation enormously, which is why she had to use violence to end it. Lifting the dogs should be a last resort if you think it will save them from being bitten/attacked, which was not the case here at all.

I've had dogs all my life, and one of my dogs now has been jumped on so many times by idiot dogs of idiot owners that he has zero tolerance for them anymore, it's a shame as he used to love all dogs, but now he will snarl, snap and see off any off lead dog that pester him, most people follow the etiquette rules around dogs on leads, but we still come across idiot's like OP did, and 9/10 times turning your back and walking away causes it to quickly lose interest, sometime I have to shout at it too (normally performative so the owners get the message), but only once in 30 years have I had to be violent to a dog and that was actively attacking.

OPs dogs are reactive too, and her nervousness about approaching dogs will not be helping that, so she needs to find a much better, safer, strategy for dealing with unwanted attention, and learn how to calmly de-escalate, rather than follow her instincts which actually escalated things, it shouldn't happen at all but it just does unfortunately and as a dog owner you need to be prepared to deal with it effectively.

Totally agree. I see so many out of control dogs, often in places where dogs are not even supposed to be offlead. It makes me so angry.

I have a rescue who can be nervous of other dogs. He has not shown any aggression but he makes it clear he is not happy. He really hates dogs running up to him. He is always on lead as he has no recall and has a very very high prey drive so he can't get away when another dogs gallops up to him. I am sick of asking owners not to let their dogs do that and then, more often that I would like, getting a sarcastic or even nasty comment.

A few years ago I had a dog who loved all people and dogs. Then on a walk when he was on lead a dog ran up to him and just started biting his side and back. Thankfully he was not hurt as he was very hairy and the other dog's teeth obviously did not make contact with his skin but after that he was very wary of other dogs and would growl and snap if another dog ran towards him. It totally changed the way he was with other dogs and I always had to be on high alert for other dogs. All thanks to a useless idiot dog owner

You pick up your dogs, as you did and you turn away from the other dog, you can put a leg out, but you absolutely cannot kick the dog. That is animal cruelty and the dog was jumping, not growling or attempting to savage.

Your reaction is massively over the top.

Absolutely this. I adore greyhounds abd was thinking of getting a rescue one a few years back. All the charities I researched said muzzle and lead in public as part of their general rehoming policy (muzzle to begin with until dog feels settled) . This was non-negotiable as they have such a high prey drive. if I had adopted one it would have always been on-lead unless I'd hired a private field. I choose to foster cats instead lol. I also dislike dogs running up to me when I'm out walking & if a big one jumped up at me I would definitely say something to the owner. No dog should be jumping all over another dog or a person when out in public.

How is walking away going to help? Surely the greyhound would just regard that as part of the game?

Why did you jump straight to being aggressive to the dog? Why didn't you give the dog a command to stop, to sit or any other thing that would stop it.

Read the OP's posts. She tried that, and also tried getting the owner to call the dog back. Neither worked. So was she supposed to leave her dogs within the reach of this one?

Irrelevant. OP's dogs are not going to get into this sort of situation where they may be kicked to keep them away from other dogs, because OP keeps her dogs on leads.

The dog shouldn't have run up to you, but picking up your dogs makes it worse!! Lots of dogs jump up when the thing they are interested in is suddenly in the air. It makes a tricky situation worse.

Why did you jump straight to being aggressive to the dog? Why didn't you give the dog a command to stop, to sit or any other thing that would stop it.

I am a dog owner, and although my dog is perfectly behaved other dogs aren't always. My dog has been trained to deescalate situations himself, but if he struggles/knows that his usual approach won't work, he looks for guidance to me for further instructions. I read the situation and the body language and intention of the dogs and respond accordingly. This was a playful dog, that was over zealous, I would have given a firm verbal command. In this situation I would have given verbal commands to the greyhound to stop/sit/leave it and given non verbal commands to my own dog at the same time so he would know how to extract himself from the situation.

Always teach your dog non verbals/hand signals. Handy for if they go deaf in old age and for when you need to deal with situations where you need to give multiple dogs different instructions at the same time

If your dog has no recall it has no business being off a lead hers were ON LEADS if a dog charged me and my dogs id kick it too its a natural reaction .

No dog should be off lead. End of. There are plenty of dog parks these days where dogs can go off lead. But in public spaces, no. Too many lazy or just downright stupid owners who can’t pre-empt situations or control their dogs. Not wrong OP. I’d do exactly the same.

I agree with this.

The man was at fault, clearly. But there was no need to kick the dog.

Also, if you put your leg out to block the dog, how on earth did your dog end up “squealing in pain” because the other dog put its foot on top of your dog’s head? The description sounds overegged to justify booting a dog that had annoyed you.

Two things can simultaneously be true: the old man shouldn’t have his dog off the lead without proper control, and you shouldn’t have kicked a dog who was just being a bit exuberant.