To say there's nothing remotely funny about being knocked to the ground by a dog

[laceysue]

While walking on the beach with DH and our own dog, (which was on a lead at that time) I was aware of this crazy spaniel who was charging all over the place (as spaniels tend to do), he'd already been up and greeted our dog but they didn't have a proper play as ours was then on the lead because we were getting near to the beach's exit. A few minutes later I all of a sudden felt a huge blow to the back of my knees, I just fell to the ground in a heap. The crazy spaniel then stood over me trying to lick my face. DH was trying to pull me up but I literally just couldn't move straight away. Anyway the spaniels owner came along saying sorry but laughing at the same time.

I really didn't think it was funny, DH thought I was exaggerating with my inability to get straight up,

[Armi]

No harm done, though. I can understand your rage, alarm and humiliation but you're OK, never mind the myriad 'what if....?' scenarios being postulated. It was an accident and the women probably didn't realise how devastating being knocked over by a speeding spaniel can be. Unfortunately things like this can be rather funny if you aren't the one affected - I recall seeing (from a distance) a speeding spaniel take out a kid on roller skates. I was convulsed with laughter, which doubtless will cause some people to now exclaim in horror at my callousness. It helped that the kid was laughing, too.

But I can appreciate that being an unsuspecting victim of this sort of thing would not be remotely amusing.

[MadisonAvenue]

Not at all funny. I cn sympathise. I was walking my dog last Summer and we saw a Dalmation which is quite often running out of control. His owner was walking ahead, listening to music through earbuds, and smiled and said hello (as she usually did) when we passed each other. My dog is a little wary of bouncy dogs so stayed closed by. The dog continued to bound around and then ran straight into me at speed. I didn't fall right over but stumbled backwards and jarred my knee, his owner saw this happen and was giggling. I just said that I didn't think it was very funny and that maybe she should keep an eye on what her dog is doing, and then limped away. I had a bruised knee and walking was painful for a good few days afterwards, so my dog missed out on his walks. I was lucky that I didn't fall right over as we were on a part of the common where some saplings had been cut down but several inches of ragged trunks had been left sticking out of the ground and I'd have landed on those.
I see her occasionally now and she puts her mental dog on it's lead and looks away if our paths cross.

I'd be mortified if my dog injured someone.

[deregistered]

I hate dogs and I don't think it's funny when people hurt themselves.

But I would still laugh at actually seeing the visual spectacle of this - sorry! I always laugh when people fall over/off treadmills/skid on ice. I have done all of these things and fully expect others to laugh at me!

[SirChenjin]

In all seriousness - what is funny about seeing someone fall over, when it can and does often involve pain and injury? I can understand laughing about it once you've checked they're OK and they find it funny too - but to just stand there laughing like a drain before you know they aren't hurt? Weird.

[KingJoffreyLikesJaffaCakes]

DS and I were once crossing a road and a dog came bounding across it growling at us. DS was terrified (I wasn't overjoyed, been bitten by far too many of the buggers - I'm always told they're 'playing') and the owner just laughed and said,

"Oh, did he make you jump? Ahahahahaha!!"

I did snap back that a growling dog running free was far from ideal but she got the hump.

She clearly thought that a dog scaring the crap out of people was funny.

[zeetea]

It's great that the dog was having the time of his life running about but if I couldn't be sure that my dog wouldn't be a nuisance to people then I'd keep him on a retractable lead. I would feel awful if my dog pushed someone over, and I would be annoyed if I was knocked down by one.

I was knocked down a flight of stairs by a Dalmatian off a lead when I was little (it was in woodland where steps had been built into the side of a hill).
I remember the owners laughing with my parents about it (?!!!) whilst I was still on the floor crying and hating them all because I'd been terrified and tumbled down a flight of stairs - even at 5 years old I knew then to control an unruly dog!
I fell in love with dogs after that, particularly Dalmations - it was the only one showing me any sympathy that day by licking my face. I remember when he rounded the corner at a full run before he knocked me over that he wasn't being aggressive - just wanted to say hello in his over-excited way.

Hope you're okay

[Purplepixiedust]

Did someone really say it was assault?!

[limitedperiodonly]

made me laugh even though I voted for him

[Ludways]

YANBU my mother was knocked over by a boxer dog in a park several years ago, an ambulance had to be called and she had to have it all reset etc. Her knee never fully recovered and she has since had to have her knee replaced. Stupid dog owner laughed at first too.

[limitedperiodonly]

I've been tripped by a dog on a retractable lead. Think on, you dog owners who believe they are infallible safety devices.

[zeetea]

Draylon I can't stand those videos either they make me feel ill - had to sit through Jackass the other day at a friends house, I was almost sick I can't understand why people find it funny to watch others in pain!

[LastOneDancing]

A spaniel type dog barged into my tiny - just learning to walk - toddler, and proceed to jump on him and lick his face. I had to literally pull the animal off by its collar and the owner said nothing. In a park on a hot day, lots of families.

Oh how we laughed because we knew this random animal was 'non-agressive' and falling over is hilarious. Oh, hang on - no we didn't as it scared the shit out of me and has made me really dislike dogs.

Any dog owner that thinks it's fine to let their animal sniff and paw at random people is a dick.

[zeetea]

I'm not a dog owner, but if I was and my dog was over excitable I would keep it at it's shortest around people but I could let it go when no one was around, which I thought is the point of those types of leads - but I have also seen plenty of dog owners letting their hyper pets run around on the full lead which it's obviously pointless and has its own problems.

[limitedperiodonly]

But this was a dog on a dog walkers' beach LastOneDancing. One where it seems OP had also let her dog off the lead to.

It's not the same as your situation which was presumably somewhere you wouldn't expect loose dogs.

OP, how did you train your dog to behave and return to heel while off lead btw?

[limitedperiodonly]

too not to

[Quoteunquote]

It's so easy to train a dog, and so lazy not to.

The owner is lucky it was you and not someone elderly who could of easily ended up with life changing injuries, hip replacement or worse.

[limitedperiodonly]

But don't you need space to do it unquote? Isn't there are time where you have to let your dog off the lead and trust him to answer your call? Do they do it the first time or is it a learning process? Would you like dogs to be kept on lead all the time?

My answer to that question is 'no' btw and I don't have a dog.

I think a regular dog-walking beach is an ideal place to train a dog. And I'd expect anyone on it to realise that accidents might happen. Especially if they have gone through the process of training their own dog to the stage where he can be safely let off the lead and mine was just learning.

[catsinthecraddle]

"how did you train your dog to behave and return to heel while off lead btw?"

the same way you train then not to run away and get run over by a car, the same way you train them not to accept food from a stranger, or not to jump on someone to steal their sandwiches.. What do you think!

If they misbehave one day, you have at least the decency and brain not to laugh at someone on the floor because of you.

[catsinthecraddle]

limitedperiodonly

I have 2 dogs at the moment, and I can assure you they have NEVER knocked down a stranger! You chose a safe place when you train a dog, to ensure no accident happens.

I don't expect to be thrown on the floor anywhere. If my own dogs feel I am being attacked, I can guarantee you that they will defend me.

[laceysue]

limited it was very easy. Me and DH trained her between us when she was very young. Rewarded her with treats every time she came to heel. Ignored her, as in turning our backs to her when she didn't do it. It's all about putting a bit of effort in each day. She's never ever knocked someone over. She comes immediately when called. She's a pleasure to take out.

[CateNoviceBaker]

There used to be a very excitable red setter who bounded into people in the woods where I walked at the weekends.
Every week we would come across this unruly red setter and he often barrelled into people (me & DH) jumping up in greetings and generally uncontrolled. It started to really get on my nerves as the owners just thought it was sweet/cute and playful. I agree it was playful and it was probably cute when the dog was a puppy but it wasn't a puppy anymore and red setters aren't small dogs. So, after this happening too much times I took things into my own hands,on extinct and when the dog got within touching distance to me I squirted water from my water bottle right in the dogs face. The dog yelped in surprise and rolled back and into a ditch. The owners weren't happy as the dog recovered and trotted off unhurt. The owners shouted at me for 'hurting their dog' I pointed out that the dog was fine and that perhaps if they trained it then I wouldn't have to deter it from leaping up at me. I pointed out if I were a child then their dog would no doubt scare them silly.
My actions worked and the next time I saw the dog it just walked up to me wagging his tail and didn't jump or run into me.
Dogs that are untrained are dangerous even it they don't bite.

[limitedperiodonly]

My parents had sight hounds. They're not great at recall and were not to be trusted around anything smaller than a cat so they were kept on the lead and usually muzzled even then because they were strong. When let off the lead in places where it was reasonable to expect off-lead dogs to be, like a beach for dog walkers for instance, they were allowed off the lead, one at a time, with muzzles on.

I now have a rescue cat. He was previously an indoor cat but he likes to go out. I'm training him to walk with me because he cannot be trusted out alone.

He answers to his name and a rattle of the Dreamies. He has always stuck to the pavement but we did have a hairy moment last week when he ran in the road. Luckily the driver stopped. That's after about six months of training. I wouldn't have expected him to do it. I think it was because he was excited by the high wind. So now we don't go out on windy days.

He has no fear so would not run from a dog. I look out for them and pick him up when I see one coming. They are always on leads because it's an urban area.

But I wouldn't blame someone whose dog grabbed him and killed him because he didn't get out of the way. That's not normal cat behaviour. It's just my cat. The same would go for a driver who accidentally ran him over.

I don't understand why people who have dogs seem to be advocating the shrinkage of dog-walking spaces - either on lead or off. That's what always happens on these threads.

I find it strange that it was started by a dog owner whose own dog was off lead at some point in a dog-walking area. I wonder how she trained her dog and if there were ever any mistakes along the way.

[FlowersAndShit]

I'd probably laugh too. It's an automatic reaction - people falling over just looks funny. I'm not laughing at their pain - I'm laughing at the act of falling. I don't give a flying fuck if that makes me immature or an idiot, I can't help laughing.

[Quoteunquote]

But don't you need space to do it unquote? Isn't there are time where you have to let your dog off the lead and trust him to answer your call? Do they do it the first time or is it a learning process? Would you like dogs to be kept on lead all the time?

No I can say quite happily and truthfully in the last 40 plus years of continuos dog ownership, working dog training, I have never had a single dog even approach someone without my permission, let alone jump up.

As a dog owner you are entirely responsible for everything your dog does, so if you are not 100% confidant you cannot instantly control it in every given situation then you either apply yourself to failing your dog(not the dog's fault) and put in the time and energy to train your animal or you keep it on a lead.

My dogs (and any learner dogs that come to visit) walk behind me with their noes as close to the back of my knees as possible, for several reasons, I like to be the individual who makes the decisions about any interactions we have, I like to be the first one in a field as I tend to be the one who is there to check the stock, and why would I want to look at dogs arses all day.

Your dogs should be totally focused on you and be hanging in atisipation of an opportunity to be of service.

Your dog should be space aware to run free, and have already learnt the correct way to interact,

Most people don't bother to learn anything about dog communications and think dogs are born speaking english.

Out of interest how do you recall your dog?