To have ranted at this professional dog-walker?

[Collaron]

Beautiful day here today, went for a picnic and dog-walk with a friend. We were sitting at the picnic table in the woods, ddog under the table waiting for any crumbs or sneaky titbits. A dog-walker passes on the path with a flock of dogs - 7 in all - and one of them, a young spaniel runs over to our table and starts jumping around at me trying to get my sandwich. Dog walker call to the dog 'come here' but it doesn't come. I tell it sternly to 'get down!' I hate dogs jumping up but I was also worried that ddog might get defensive at it (it was obviously quite a young dog)
Dog then climbs on to the seat next to me and tries to snaffle food from the table. I get hold of the dog's harness and pull it back to the ground again saying sternly 'get down!' while glaring at the walker who is just staying put with his flock and calling out 'come here' in a lame way.

Finally the dog runs back to him and i'm turning back to my friend when the man calls out in a sarcastic tone 'okay now? Panic over is it?'
I turned back to him and said 'you should have your dog under control'.
him: He is under control!
me: You called it and it didn't come so it isn't under control is it? You shouldn't be walking so many when you can't control them.
him: oh for god's sake, i'm sick of people like you telling me my job! Your dog's perfect is it?
me: no he's not perfect but he's under control. When i call him he comes back to me!
him: (walking away, calling out) yeah, you're perfect aren't you
me: (shouting after him) you couldn't even apologise!
him: (turning back) why should I apologise? He didn't do anything you stupid woman!
me: He was jumping all over me you stupid git!
him: (walking away again) oh push off!
me: (shouting after him) I wouldn't let you walk my dog, you're not a responsible person!
him: I wouldn't accept your dog you stupid woman!
He walked away still gobbing off but I couldn't hear him any more

If he hadn't come out with the sarky comment I would have left it but I felt goaded to retaliate. Once he was gone I would have forgotten all about it but friend went very quiet and said she wanted to get back home. I apologised for the shouting and she said she was embarrassed and perhaps I had 'anger issues'.

Actually I do have anger issues but in this case I think I was justified?

Not a puppy!
It may get the dog walker into serious trouble.
If not the dog.
Yep. Yep. Can't argue with stupid.

islaboots

Whatever you say you won’t convince me that your dogs aren’t unruly and irritating to others, because your attitude on here shows a complete contempt for people who don’t want to be harassed by dogs, and a complete support for entitled dog owners and out of control dogs.

isla
what if this dog walkers next 'puppy/young dog' is a great dane or a Newfie? Will it still be ok for it to go bounding up and jumping up at people and will it still be their responsibility to control it for him?

Can anyone really control 7 dogs at once, on or (god forbid) off a lead? I don't think so. The reason the walker couldn't control the dog, was that he had 6 others!

Isla

But this dog wasn’t well-trained and you are saying its behaviour was acceptable, which means you don’t understand what unacceptable behaviour is.

Have you been online stalking wolfie?! Jesus Christ

what if this dog walkers next 'puppy/young dog' is a great dane or a Newfie? Will it still be ok for it to go bounding up and jumping up at people and will it still be their responsibility to control it for him?

I'm sure OP would have taken great pains to us know if the young dog was huge ...No?? She didn't so we can only assume the puppy was of normal size... I'm sure she will be back to tell us the puppy was a Newfoundland - any time now! 🤣🤣

I love Newfoundland BTW... The only danger with a Newfoundland puppy bounding up to me is that I would have taken it home... I'm sure the owner would have turned up before that happened tho... like all puppy owners...

*But this dog wasn’t well-trained and you are saying its behaviour was acceptable, which means you don’t understand what unacceptable behaviour is.

Have you been online stalkingwolfie?! Jesus Christ*

I have never once said the puppy behaviour was acceptable... read the thread!

I have no interest in Wolfie... I even defended her on the thread.. . I have had my eyes opened today... That thread is a few months old BTW. Before I was even on MN .... BTW for the less able that is not a thread from MN! Wolfies ridiculous views have made it onto other SM sites..

Weird you've been searching someone you have no interest in. How peculiar.
Litter mate syndrome can cause dogs to fight to the death.
An accusation of a dog being dangerously out of control can lead to it being seized and eventually destroyed.
Those things are truths.

Isla
Are you being deliberately ignorant? I said what if the NEXT dog is a... would that be ok?
Op said what this dog was in her first post, unless you missed that too?

I thought the new law that just came in this spring was that you could only walk 4 dogs max per person

Is it a law? There seems to be some confusion whether it's a regional thing or countrywide. In any case someone has to police it - quite a few people have more than 4 dogs and the majority or pro dog-walkers I come across have more than 4. If they're walking in a park or the countryside there's not likely to be anyone official to enforce it.

I can just imagine the reaction to someone trying to tell this idiot (or the other other massive idiot on this thread) that they're breaking the law!

It was out of control and it tried to eat their food. Dog walkers take too many out. One bit into my daughter's jogging pants and made holes in her knickers and bottom - she was running in woods near us (as an adult). They just take too many dogs on and then don't control them when they are out there.

I wonder if we should all carry stun guns so that if owners or walkers break the law we can just temporarily stun the dog to keep it away from touching and licking us?

He sounds horrible! And so determined to put you down even though he was in the wrong..

Also enjoying "flock of dogs" though

Your friend sounds a bit of a wet blanket. Some people just can't bear any confrontation so I don't think your reasonableness or otherwise can be judged by her. You were right to stand up to the kind of "man" who thinks "stupid woman" should ever play a part in a sentence.

Xenia

Owners can be just as bad, unfortunately! I once had a lab puppy take an entire chunk out of my trousers. The owner was standing right next to him and didn’t even offer to reimburse or apologise. I would’ve turned down the offer, but there should have been an offer! I suppose you weren’t offered anything from the dog walker?!

Flock of dogs is definitely my preferred collective *blackteas!

I wouldn't call my friend a wet blanket though, she just hates confrontation like many people, is definitely of the 'leave it, not worth it school. I still can't decide - even tho the idiot was completely in the wrong - whether I should have taken him on.

I called friend this morning to apologise again for the slanging match. She said what really upset her was the way the man turned back towards us after walking off. She suddenly realised how vulnerable we could be if he turned really nasty.

@Daffodil Wow. You hate it when kids go into a panic when they see dogs. Just wow. It's not a choice.

DD1 loved dogs, all dogs, even massive ones.

DD2 was terrified, and couldn't even walk past a dog. Not a learned behaviour, not encouraged by me, just complete and utter irrational fear and she was too young to be reasoned with. It is unacceptable to me that some people feel that their right to not control their dog is greater than my DD2s right to go into a public place without experiencing mortal fear.

Thankfully she is now a bit older and due to a careful programme of introduction to dogs she is mainly fine, and we now have a dog of our own who she is very bonded with.

This is, however, the reason I keep our super friendly spaniel on the lead around where children will be - she thinks everyone wants to be her best friend and that's just not the case.

I think you were fair enough tbh!

We all went to the beach today. 2 young Labradors and a spaniel came over and pestered us. One even sniffed at the bag containing our lunch. Their owner was a little behind them but caught up, eventually, and removed them. We all lived to tell the tale. The End.

YWNBU. Bloody dog walkers are largely relatively inexperienced as to how to handle animals and taking far too many out to make a fast buck.

I had one swear and rant at me after a large German Shepherd he was walking off lead pounced on my lurcher (on lead) then stick its head in DD’s buggy scaring the fucking life out of her. Apparently this was my fault for having been talking on my phone. Not his for being an utter twat. I raised my phone to take a photo of him for police and he ran away, not before calling me a silly bitch. Wonder if it could’ve been same guy.

As to your friend - perhaps you just looked like you’d lost it and it was this rather than what you actually said? Only as you mention anger issues. From your description she was over reacting though.

I’m a huge dog lover mine gets any suitable leftovers is allowed on the sofas if not occupied by guests and is one of the family. He listens to me without fail in the house and is brilliant. Outside he can be difficult he’s a rescue and gets overwhelmed he also gets scared when dogs he doesn’t know jump on him. He’s kept on a lead so I can control him and I ensure he’s no bother to anyone. It would terrify him if another dog bounded up like this to our table. It’s not just people that will be affected by these unruly dogs it’s other animals. Before being off dogs should be well trained. Dogs have blips but owners should apologise for this. It’s a major hate of mine I do everything to ensure my dog bothers no one to yet others let their dog harass anyone.