To think you shouldn't give someone's dog 'a thrashing' if it bites you?

[GuestCat]

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.

Was the dog owned by the owner of the land the path was going through? If so, they need to segregate their dogs from walkers etc. In any case, your uncle was perfectly reasonable to hit the dog until it backed off, but not to continue to hit it so once it had done so.

I agree with the uncle, and if it had been one of my large dogs, I would certainly not have been pissed off if someone gave it a beating for biting.

Animal cruelty is hurting an animal because it gives you pleasure, which is not what your uncle was doing.

Liara, you honesty think a beating is the correct path to discipline a dog that bites???

Not necessarily if it is your dog, but if it is a dog you don't know, yes, fair enough.

The dog must learn that it isn't dominant on a public right of way, and if it bites and gets away with it it certainly will come to behave like it is.

I live on a farm in an area with millions of dogs, and if walkers stood their ground and stopped dogs instead of getting frightened of them, there would be fewer issues. As it is, most dogs learn soon enough who they can scare and who they can't, and have a tendency to come out and bark/nip at people who are scared and keep quiet/back off from people who have been known to give them a pop on their nose if they get cheeky.

I grew up on a farm. I don't condone dog cruelty but honestly, i understand where your uncle is coming from.

Animal cruelty is hurting an animal because it gives you pleasure,

Wrong! Animal cruelty is hurting an animal deliberatley or through neglect. He hurt the animal deliberately, not in self defence but to "teach it a lesson".

Well the dog should be reported ad destroyed really. The owner should have thought herself lucky. I would still insist it was reported Imagine if that was a child it had attacked.

FGS! Dogs dont bite because they havent been beaten enough! They bite for a reason- one that can be fixed through training or one that cant and requires euthanasia. Beating a dog teaches it to fear you. Fear in a dog is a very dangerous thing. Fear creates aggression. A dog who is scared will defend what it perceives to be a threat, especially if it is on its own land, which to him is supposed to be his safe place so he has nowhere to go to esape the threat.

Defend against what it perceives to be a threat.

I'm with the uncle.

My brother got bit when he was about 8 by a dog completely out of the blue when it should have been on a lead. My dad basically kicked it in the neck/face and it let go and ran off. Nasty gash on my brothers leg so for me the dog got what it deserved. He was petrified of dogs for years after that.

That dog might have learnt the lesson of his life after what your uncle did. Hopefully he'll think twice before sinking his teeth into someone else. If a dog bit me and I had a stick handy I'd do the same, even after the event.

Dog needs to be put down before it kills someone. Definitely report it, as others have said it could have attacked someone less able to fight it off. I don't blame your uncle one bit, poor guy must have got an awful shock.

I'm with the Uncle, 100%

Thinking about it... walking across a field on a public footpath in the country and relatives allegedly committing alleged animal abuse. Does it not remind you of the sheep chasing children thread from a few weeks ago?

Can't help thinking we've been here before.

Well, the OP and her uncle were walking across a bridge when this happened, Compos.

I'd have given it a heavy kick between the eyes.

I think your uncle crossed a line when he continues to hit the dog 'to teach it a lesson' - I am all for yelling and hitting and kicking and whatever other act of bodily force is required to get a biting dog off me, but continuing to hit the dog with a stick while holding it so it cannot get away? No, not on.

And yes, the dog should have been better controlled and not allowed out by the sounds of it.

Unless the dog wanted to chase the sheep-bothering children away and mistook the uncle for one?

If your uncle had the dog under control by holding its neck, he didn't need to beat it. That will not 'teach it a lesson', it will make the dog more defensive.
The dog needs to be enclosed at all times though... it is clearly very afraid of strangers.

yeah if I was the owner I would have given the "uncle" a heavy kick between the eyes

If a dog attacks somebody, they are entitled to defend themselves. If he hadn't carried on hitting the dog it may have attacked again. He was totally within his rights to do what he did.

There is fault on both sides here:
The dog / owner are in the wrong for having it loose and allowing it to attack.

Your uncle is in the wrong for continuing to beat the dog after it has let go.

The law is VERY CLEAR. Much like if you are attacked by another person, you are allowed to use reasonable force to halt the attack and make your getaway but once the attack is over and the aggressor (human or canine) halts the attack then you are NOT allowed to retaliate or attempt to get your own back. On a human this is assault, on the dog it is a fairly clear case of animal cruelty.

The 'teaching the dog a lesson' line is bullshit. Once the initial attack is over the dog will no longer associate the continued attack with it's initial attack, they simply cannot reason that the two events are connected and one is as a consequence of the other - so your uncle is also wrong on that count.

All the posters saying if dog had bitten their child they would have responded - this happened to my father he was in the village post office with my sister aged 1 in a buggy. A small dog bit her totally unprovoked so he lashed out and kicked it off. The dog lovers in the village were up in arms I kid you not. He didn't care though but found the unquestioning pro dog feeling in that situation very weird.

I adore animals but I would have done the same as your Uncle. Then I'd have reported the woman. It doesn't matter whose fault it was that the dog decided to attack. It was a public right of way and you have a right to defend yourself against attack. Why should you be torn apart because you love animals and don't want to hurt them? You beat it away, teach it not to randomly attack people unless it wants to get hurt.

Then you go after the fool idiot who let the dog behave that way.

The op stated "the dog was yelping and trying to get away" - so in my opinion the uncle was using excessive force. If the dog was continuing to attack then yes his response was necessary, but this situation does not sound like it.

This should be reported to the police and appropriate action taken against the dog owner.