Went for country walk with my uncle, public footpath across farmland. Uncle is in his late 60s, lived and worked on farms when he was young. He always carries a wooden stick that he calls his 'snake-stick' in case he needs to move cattle away from a gate. As we were crossing a bridge (clearly signposted as a public right of way) a large dog ran up to us and sank its teeth into my uncle's leg, completely unprovoked and with no warning, no growling or anything. Uncle grabbed it by collar, half-choked it until it let go, then started hitting it (hard) with his stick. Dog was yelping and trying to get away, I told Uncle to let it go as i was worried he'd hurt it or worse. He said dog needed a 'good thrashing' to teach it a lesson. Woman then appeared, said dog was hers and shouted at us, turns out she lives next to bridge. They had a massive argument, dog ran back to its house, woman said she'd report my uncle to RSPCA for being cruel to dog, uncle said he'll report her for letting aggressive dog on the footpath.
I don't know what to think... my uncle insists he was in the right and says dog needed to be taught a lesson or it might hurt someone or bite a child, said people nowadays are too soft on dogs. I felt a bit sorry for dog, he said I'm too soft and would think differently if i'd been raised on a farm like he was. AIBU for thinking he shouldn't have given it a thrashing?
BTW the bite wasn't deep as he had cords on, but it left bruise and little blue puncture marks where teeth went in.