AIBU to argue with guy who threatened to kick my dog

[LRA170]

AIBU to argue...my young sprocker was off his lead and bounded over to a guy and his dog barking and play bowing...obviously wanting to play. His dog was on a long retractable leash. I called my dog back but he was not listening so I ran over and yelled at him and he did stop but carried on barking. The guy said ``I'll kick him I'll kick him" I said hes not being aggressive and he said Hes tried to bite my dog twice....untrue...he was asking to play...He said I should keep the dog on a lead if I can't control him. By this time I had put his lead on him then as he walked away I said "have a nice day a**hole" Im so upset....yes maybe I should keep him on a lead but hes normally very good and is a friendly pup. 20 months old and still in training. AIBU to be trying to train my dog without a lead. We go to obedience classes and start agility this week.

Right, we're off to play peekaboo! My dog is only interested in toys and food at home. When out and about, a passing fly is more interesting. In the summer, he plays with the swifts on a meadow near our house. He chase around as they skim just in front of him then swoop away leaving him looking longingly after them.

I have a new training game which I am going to play in the spring, when the days are long enough to actually see him!

I may start wearing gloves, on the off chance I need to stick my finger up a dogs bum. Not. The Akita that nearly killed my dog was at no risk of me fingering it.

The finger up the bum is a silly suggestion. It's impossible to do and even if you managed it would be ineffective. The only thing that has been shown to work is compressed air in the dog's face if you happen to have compressed air with you. Failing that breaking the eye contact between the two dogs might help by e.g. putting a large bag or coat between them. You should only attempt any of this if you think it is safe to do so, it is very easy to get bitten when dogs are fighting even if the dogs are not aiming to bite you.

Just an update from me....I have apologised and he was nice about it...No lecture phew!!
Also trying the peekaboo thing and the "stop stay" and am trying "keep close" when walking as "heel" falls on deaf ears. Hope he doesn't get fat on all the liver cake and sausage we're going though. He was very keen and responsive this morning once the Kong came out
Thanks everyone....I think this post has run its course and I hope it has helped other dog owners see things from other people's perspective. Will stop waffling now and wish you all a good day 😀

Yay! Glad things are working out.

Well done OP! Sounds like you are making progress! For what it's worth there are three separate commands that is worth training separately. Heel work usually asks you'd dog to stick to your side until released, then there is recall work and then some people work on a command which keeps the dog loose but within a certain perimeter of the owner (I call this command 'where I can see you' and when I say it my dogs know they have strayed too far).

Thanks booboo....Will definitely work on these. I'm so glad I posted....Learnt a lot.

My command to keep my lab in my sight is "wait" - works a treat

Chirrup "wait" works for my lab as well, he always responds to it by stopping what he's doing and looking at me expectantly. It was the first command I taught when he was a pup, very easy using his dinner as a reward .
Useful when he starts to head off towards on-lead dogs etc. I shout "wait" then point in the direction I want him to go. Also useful to get him to stand still if we're on a cycle path and a boy racer is heading towards us.