Apparently you "shouldn't walk a dog if you don't want other dogs to say hello"

[daffodilandtulip]

I've posted similar before and I know I'll get the dog rights vigilante posters but I'm so fucking angry.

Walking along a footpath by houses with my dog on the lead. A larger dog comes bounding up with no owner in sight, snarling, clawing and jumping on my dog so I end up picking her up.

Dog owner appears and I ask the owner to call the dog off. Dog doesn't respond and is clawing at my legs. I tell the owner that he shouldn't have the dog off lead if he can't control it. He says the dog isn't doing any harm, he just wants to say hello. I said that my dog clearly didn't want it to so can you call your dog off. He tells me that he can do what he likes with his dog and that I'm a miserable cow. He finally catches the dog and calls me a stupid bitch.

And this is why retrospective dog laws won't matter. There needs to be checks/training/license from day one. Make it hard for people like this to get dogs in the first place. I'm so sick of not being able to go fucking anywhere without a "friendly" dog inviting itself. When will this end?!

that is absolutely ridiculous. You are literally the person I absolutely dread meeting on my dog walks.
dogs are by their very nature, sociable animals and they can't understand the nuances of human behaviour, older dogs etc.
i agree it is down to the owner and if I spot a clearly old dog or a dog that doesn't want to play, then I immediately call my dog back abd he has excellent recall. But he will bound over and see if your dog wants to play because he is a DOG following his natural instincts

You mutt would get a tick to the jaw then if I met you.

😂😂😂 at trapped and terrified.

Dear Lord the inability of some
posters on mumsnet to engage their brains beyond the boundaries of their own existence is hilarious.

My dog is neither trapped nor terrified. She’s old, arthritic and going blind. She likes a slow pottering walk where she can do a lot of sniffing. She tolerates other dogs just fine but if they come “bounding up” from nowhere and jump all over her she becomes distressed, which is a reasonable reaction I think. If I was partially sighted with back and hip pain I think I’d be pretty upset if a total stranger came racing up out of nowhere and started giving me enthusiastic hugs.

She’s on the lead because we walk near roads, a canal (that she would get into given half a chance) and livestock.

My job as an owner is to keep her safe and happy, pick up her shit and to keep to the laws pertaining to dog ownership. That’s it. There is nothing in there which relates to some sort of canine ethical duty for me to facilitate her interacting with your dog. She’s not interested and neither am I. Let us go quietly past and you’ll get a friendly good morning from me.

Can you understand now why some of us get so frustrated by dog owners such as yourselves?

My dog is not trapped, terrified or aggressive. (Until she's pinned to the ground and clawed at!) We were in a residential area. If she was off lead she could have been run over 🙄

She has plenty of off lead time in appropriate areas. I think that's half the problem. Dog owners can't be bothered to go on "proper" walks but still feel entitled to have off lead time.

just today a dog killed a smaller dog near where i live. well the smaller dog's injuries were so bad he needed to be put to sleep

As @Quirrelsotherface has already told us, thats because he is a DOG following his natural instincts, dog is a predatory animal, predators gonna predate.
We have to allow them to run free and follow their natural instincts otherwise they will be trapped and unhappy, I'm sure the owner of the small dog will accept that it had to be mauled and put to sleep so that the bigger dog can experience it's true doggy nature.

I sometimes walk my son's dog with him. At least twice a dog has bounded up, no owner in sight. Our dog is quite nervous around others so we were trying politely to shoo this dog away. Cue owner, "It's ok Jack. That dog obviously doesn't want to be friends with you" in quite a nasty tone.
No, keep your bloody dog on a lead and stop it annoying other dogs who are enjoying a walk and don't like being accosted by randoms whose owners can't take responsibility for them,

I hate stupid owners, if I see a dog on lead and my dog is off, I recall him and put him back on until the other dog has gone past, not because he’s unfriendly or aggressive, but because I have respect for other dog owners. If we see an off lead dog, he isn’t allowed to approach unless invited to sniff/play.

However, please do not pick your dog up if you’re faced with this again; you risk putting yourself in danger if the other dog jumps up to try to get to your dog, and your dog has a far better chance of escaping if you unclip their lead and let them run away.

We were near to a road.

However, please do not pick your dog up if you’re faced with this again; you risk putting yourself in danger if the other dog jumps up to try to get to your dog, and your dog has a far better chance of escaping if you unclip their lead and let them run away
christ on a bike, you have to take your life in your hands to do a normal everyday thing like walking your dog.
It's a jungle out there😳

No: it’s not ridiculous at all to want to be able to walk your dog on lead without some entitled person impinging on your day by letting their dog “ bound over”. If you dread meeting people like us then do us both a favour and don’t meet us. Give us a wide berth and we’ll all be happy 🤣

In this case the dog is being used as a means to dominate the outdoor space, the owner clearly implicitly believes that her wants and needs trump everyone else's, if she decides that a particular dog is fair game then tough luck if the owner or the dog don't agree!
Agree with you. It's totally about the owner(s) thinking they can dominate outdoor space. They just dress it up as being that they care about the other dogs / they know other dogs well / their wants come first.
I'm sure that poster would look at mine on leads for a lead walk and decide they want to play based on the dogs' body language, however it doesn't matter what my dogs' body language says. If it's not time for off lead play, then they're staying on the lead and we shouldn't be pestered by silly owners who think they know best.

@WetBandits
I get what you're saying but in practice it'd be incredibly hard to watch your dog attacked by another and do nothing, one of mine is small and she's now getting old and slow, and she wouldn't be able to outrun many other dogs so she'd have to fight and if it's a dog bigger than her she's going to lose. The other is younger and bigger and stands more of a chance, she's fast and wick and would run - but then that puts her in danger from roads, other dogs and if she strays into a stock field, getting shot, she's a spaniel so once away and out of danger would likely get distracted by fur and feathers on her way back to me!

The smaller one got attacked by 3 off lead dogs before Christmas - all the same size as her and I got bitten but if I hadn't intervened she'd have been torn apart because the owner was too far away to be of any use, I got bitten trying to separate them but I couldn't do nothing and just stand there and watch my dog ripped apart.
In the same way I tried to get a dog off me horses leg a couple of years ago, it kind of worked because I distracted the dog long enough for my horse to wallop it with a hind leg and run away - poor dog was hurt but lucky to survive really, and it was totally the owners fault that my horse and their dog got injured that day.
Near me a husky dog was very nearly killed by 2 off lead dogs on the beach a few months ago, it has cost thousands to keep the dog alive and try and repair the damage - funded by a go fund me page that I believe is now a charity that helps owners in the same situation.
I think it needs to become really socially unacceptable to have a dog out of control (and by that I mean approaching other people/animals without invitation) and there be an absolute expectation that if your dog attacks another animal then you pay the vet fees, at the moment it seems that people can let their dogs attack others and cause injury and then just walk away with no concequences - we need to change that.

FFS. Control your dog and stay away from dogs that are on leads. The owner (for whatever legitimate reason has decided for that moment) does not want your dog interacting with theirs.

I don’t mind dogs being off leads. As long as their recall is fantastic.

The lovely gentle dog I walk has a damaged eye. It looks like permanent whale eye and this unsettles some dogs.

He is fine if they keep their distance. Not so fine anymore if they stay any longer than a cursory meet and greet or bound up to him from his blind side.

I try to discourage it now because so far he has been bitten (to varying degrees and in various locations by ‘friendly’ dogs) quite a few times now. So depending on the dog’s approach, he may be reactive.

He has a yellow bib, lead and scarf and still people keep saying their dog is ‘fine’ and let their dogs go near him. Then they moan because he growls or I call over to them to recall their dog.

Every time I get his confidence back some other dog bites or lunges at him and we go back to the beginning. He is yet to bite back but will growl to warn them off if he gets overwhelmed. Not great for either of us really.

The owners who allow this aren’t fine. Their dogs aren’t fine for not going back when called although I don’t blame them for their irresponsible owners. And we are not fine.

And it isn’t because the socialisation hasn’t been done properly. It isn’t because I am anxious.

It is because he keeps getting bitten or pounced on and it is because some people are irresponsible and can’t keep their dogs under control or recall them. Because they are friendly.

He isn’t miserably tethered either. He is happy trotting along minding his own business like the old soul he is. We hire a dog field for him to socialise with a dog he knows and is comfortable with. This dog will play alongside but won’t unsettle him or ever bite him.

That costs £15 an hour and is worth it but the owner can’t afford to do that at least twice a day.

After the third attack, we wondered if we should maybe just keep him at home but he was miserable.

I’m with you @ChypreNovice .

And I am grateful for owners who leave us be. I really am.

Yanbu. A few years ago a dog ran up to my dd and licked her face, terrifying her. I was furious, the owner told me I was being ridiculous, the dog "wouldn't hurt her" and was only "saying hello" That is not the point!! Yes dogs will approach - owners should recall before they jump/ lick/ or any other physical contact, they should not assume that just because they think their dog is safe, that it's ok for it to make physical contact with other people and other dogs.

My own dog I only ever let off the lead in beaches, woods etc and he had excellent recall. Never on footpaths, parks etc

Dogs should be under full control at all times.

If its not on a lead its recall should be first class and you need to paying FULL attention to your surroundings because your responsible for its behaviour.
Absolute bain of my life - over entitled dog walkers.
😤🤐

Wow this is hilarious !
My dogs ( three of them ) don't need your off lead dog up in their face thank you , they have each other to socialise with , are on leads until they arrive at the hired dog park and are not miserable until the off lead dog needs to socialise ! There are plenty of dog meet ups for socialising , imagine being so entitled to assume that on lead dogs are miserable and need your dog to make their lives better !
Mine stay on their lead thanks to a off lead dog in the woods that chose to attack my three , so now they dislike loose dogs ..

I agree with you OP.

Mine stay on their lead thanks to a off lead dog in the woods that chose to attack my three , so now they dislike loose dogs
It appears that dogs which are habitually off lead are prone to becoming too dominant and then attacking other dogs.
These predatory animals need to be constrained to a certain extent so that their most damaging instincts are kept in check.

I don’t mind dogs being off leads. As long as their recall is fantastic.

This how I feel. I regularly come across two off lead collies with one or other of their owners and they never bother us, they stay beside their human when told as if they were on a lead.

It's not the lack of lead, it's the the lack of control and the ridiculous protestations and excuses that it's fine and needs to be everyone else's problem.

Just point of information for people with 'friendly' dogs, if your dog harasses a dog on lead and is injured in any way, you have zero recourse to the owner of the on lead dog. Because your dog is not under your control.

@Clymene based on the personality of such walkers, I can't imagine they would agree! (You're right though, I'm just imaging the situation.)

Your dog is poorly trained and bad mannered. They are not the same

I'm sorry do you know me and my dog?! You scary person.

My dog is put on a lead near livestock, near horses, on roads, in parks. He is let off in large rural areas where he approaches other dogs in a natural dog-like way. I said in my very first post that he has excellent recall and if we see a nervous dog, an elderly dog or a dog who doesn't want to play, he is recalled and he listens.

What I don't appreciate is owners with rods up their backsides because he goes over. They are the equivalent of cats bum face people on MN. There are many on this thread. You say that people who let their dogs act like dogs, within reason, are entitled..

Well a few on this thread think they own the equivalent of doggy royalty. DO NOT APPROACH his Royal Fluffy Highness. Honestly hope none of you live near me! Don't think so as we have lovely interactions with dogs and owners every day.

gypsytrampandthief
Something similar happened to one of my DC too.
The owner said the dog was being friendly, their dog is small, and DC didn't seem to mind.
I pointed out that my DC is used to several medium to large dogs in the family, the fact DC wasn't bothered is irrelevant and I'm fed up with owners of small dogs thinking their dog's size makes it acceptable to have an out of control dog off lead.

@LolaSmiles yes! A man on a mobility scooter walks his Yorkshire terrier completely without lead, through the park and residential areas. He can't get off the scooter. The dog has jumped on my toddlers many times, knocking them over - but obviously it's just friendly.