To have kicked an old man’s dog?

yhink they were bring sarcastic

I think removing your dogs from the situation by picking it up was appropriate. It's better than panicking, it means the smaller dogs can't bite the bigger dog in panic, it means the bigger dog can't hurt the smaller ones. This greyhound may have been being playful, but greyhounds do have a prey drive! If the greyhound had hurt your dogs then the same people criticising you for picking them up would have been asking why you didn't get them out of the way in time

And re the dog "only being friendly" when jumping up. I know someone who had her hip broken by her own (lovely friendly) Labradoodle. It wasn't trying to hurt her, just being exhuberant and knocked her over. Even if the greyhounds intentions were friendly, if you were unsteady on your feet you could easily have been knocked over and, with both hands full of dog, unable to stop yourself falling. That's why it's generally considered bad dog ownership to let your dogs jump up at other people.

It's a good general rule. But there seems to be a view among big dog owners on this thread that might equals right, which is quite disturbing.

But OP's dogs were touching her torso! So if she shoved forward with her torso, she would be putting her small dogs in the face of the big dog, which would defeat the purpose of why she picked up her dogs in the first place!

If that doesn't make sense to you then I despair.

Completely agree

Why is it so hard to understand that because of their small size it might be very intimidating to little dogs to have large dogs rush up to them. A large dog can seriously injure a small one, even in play.

The OP also mentioned that hers are elderly so they might be frail and suffering with age related ailments. It's perfectly understandable why she'd want to pick them up to protect them.

My very small dog was friendly towards dogs of all sizes for years but now she'd prefer they left her alone - why? Because she had one too many encounters with dogs that rushed up to her, bowled her over and caused her to feel pain and fear.

It's not her fault or mine that she changed from a dog who was happy to greet and play with other dogs to one who now wants to avoid large, strange dogs. It's the fault of the "but my dog is only being friendly!" type of dog owner who can't recall their dogs and are too dim to realise they shouldn't let their off lead dog approach a dog that's on a lead.

My dog is now elderly, she has arthritis and is losing her sight and hearing, so having off lead dogs run up to her is very scary for her. She's still very eager to go out walking every day so I've changed walking routes and walking times to keep her safe, so she doesn't have to encounter the clueless dog owners and their untrained, rambunctious dogs. I'm not putting her through the stress of having idiot's dogs harass her.

Not wrong at all, loose dog growling at your small, old dogs? No brainer.

That wasn’t a “socialised” dog 🤣

Dogs have personal space.
Humans have personal space.
BEFORE a dog of human enters another dog or human's personal space it should have either

• the human's permission
• the dog's owner/walker's permission
• the human carer's permission should the human be too little/disabled to give their own permission.

(

This is where we need VAR 4 Dogs.

Did your leg connect with the dog? Or did the dog connect with your leg? The difference is crucial to the vote.

Her dogs were on leads though the other dog wasn't and it wasn't leaving hers alone. She's already said she tried to call it off and also tried to get the owner to call it off away from them, neither worked so she kicked it out of the way, it's not like she's booted the dog and injured it. That man's dog is clearly not trained to behave around other people or animals if it was trying to jump up this lady to get at her dogs so maybe he needs to put his on a leash out in public

I have a French bulldog and a big dog came and wasn’t friendly at all and properly growled and tried to attack her. I picked her up and held her against me while the owner ran up to me. No way would I kick his dog. Dogs can be utter twats sometimes and I just accepted his dog was having a bad day and walked on. I did mutter to myself but that’s as far as it went. I think unless there’s a proper fight going on you should never think kicking someone else’s dog is ok.

General rule where I used to walk my old dog, was if you saw someone with an a dog on a lead, you recalled yours until you were past, if you can't recall your dog then it probably shouldn't be off lead. It makes sense for everyone's safety, dogs included.
I had a friend with a batshit boxer, lovely and not aggressive, but far too in other dogs spaces, it ended up with a terrier literally hanging off its snout !

If the paws were on her shoulders she need only shove forward with her torso. If that doesn’t make sense to you I can’t help you any further.

Exactly my point. From what she has described, I disagree it sounds proportionate, but none of us actually know for sure. The most reliable witness is probably the woman who saw what happened, and she clearly didn’t think it proportionate if she shared it on Facebook.

I have a dog whose recall is hit and miss… so she’s on the lead / long line when we’re out. She’s a sociable little thing and can recall most of the time… but I can’t trust her nearly enough to let her off.

I’ve also rarely experienced such hot emotion as when another dog came up to her and pinned her. I’m not ashamed to say I adore my dog the way many people adore their children!

I didn’t kick the dog but I roared at the owner. I understand the panic and the need to get your dog to safety. The only thing I can think of is to throw treats for the off lead dog or carry a corrector (like compressed air)…

Not appropriate for training but in an uncomfortable situation that could escalate, I wouldn’t hesitate to use it (or tell the owner why!)

Self-defence should be proportionate, which it sounds like it was. OP said big dog wasn't hurt.

So you think OP should have butted the big dog back with her upper body / chest? She would have had to bend and put her own dogs right in the face of the big dog.

Make it make sense.

In your world force is always reasonable, regardless of whether it’s proportionate then? If you’re walking towards me and I feel arbitrarily endangered I can kick you, your kid, your dog? No?

Really, do you have no upper body strength other than your arms? This is why women need to lift weights!

Next time kick the old fella too and for good measure the busybody passerby who poked her beak in. You did nothing wrong OP.

So it's fine for other people to protect themselves but not OP.

Yes, and her question was whether it was reasonable in the circumstances. I don’t believe it was, based on what she has described.

How could OP push big dog back when her arms were full of dog?

This is the most arse about face comment!

You're saying that it's fine for a largely untrained dog with no recall and no manners to be off lead in a public area, but owners of elderly dogs being walked on the lead should only be allowed to do so if they rent private field?

Do you also believe people who don't want a greyhound jumping all over them are only allowed to walk in fields they've rented and not on public footpaths?