Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be furious over what has just happened?

652 replies

DippyDiplodocus · 15/01/2019 09:46

Out Walking our dogs and my 6 month old baby in carrier. I have four dogs and look after one of my friend's dogs while she's at work occasionally. My four are quite large, the biggest being big German shepherd size and the smallest is a pug (friend's dog).

Before I get flamed for having too many dogs, two were mine, two my DH's before we met, so obviously we now have four. We aren't the kind of people to get rid of dogs just because we had a child - dogs are family too and we treat them as such.

We live in the countryside, very quiet rural area.
Coming to the end of our walk over the fields (where I never usually see any other walkers) I see another dog approaching - muzzled Siberian husky with a bloke.
At this point I already have four on leads ready for the road back to our house and bent down squat position to put pug on a lead.

I thought man would stop when he saw me bent down but he carried on approaching. I was struggling to get wriggly pug back on lead so I called out to him "can you just wait there a sec so I can get this one on the lead?" - No response and continues towards us.

Still trying to get dog on lead and my dogs are now getting a bit twitchy and unsettled that this bloke is approaching them, so one of mine barks.
Just to add here, our dogs are all very well behaved but they are protective over me and DD and will act accordingly if they feel threatened.

Man takes no notice, I call out again and say "can you just give me a second?" Ignores me completely.

He decides to squeeze by my dogs and I with a stupid smirk on his face. He can clearly see I'm struggling and baby is now crying and the others are pissed off. One of mine pulled forward and I dug my heels in and sat back so as not to land on my daughter.

I shouted at him and called him a fucking arsehole.

If he could have waited one second, I'd have been out the way and that wouldn't have had to have happened.

FFS Angry I just despise people at times.

OP posts:
shitholiday2018 · 15/01/2019 12:13

I think if you are dog walking you need to be prepared at all times for other people walking past you. You can’t randomly tell someone else to stop their walk to wait for you. If there is an issue with the pug, he needs to be on a lead at all times. So yes, Yabu.

ChrisjenAvasarala · 15/01/2019 12:13

She can't just let her dogs loose on farmland. It's private property. If you're going to do that then you should have permission from the land owner. Especially as she admits she occasionally does not pick up after all of the dogs.

IknowTheBoswellJoke · 15/01/2019 12:13

darling, I never said the second quote.

Lweji · 15/01/2019 12:13

For what is worth, I understand why you didn't want to get rid of the dogs.
But, if your OH had the dogs before getting together with you, surely he was able to walk them around his work. So, he can still do it now.

HeadsDownThumbsUpEveryone · 15/01/2019 12:13

How is Iknowtheboswelljoke a bitch both are reasonable points to be fair

your chaotic setup

Well it is chaotic isn't it and it's only going to get worse when the 6 month old becomes a toddler who also wants to walk.

Do you have permission from the farmer/land owner to let your dogs loose in his field?

A very valid question. Around where I live there's lots of footpaths which lead through farmers land it doesn't mean that the dogs are allowed to run across the land. It simply means you can use the footpath.

Charlie97 · 15/01/2019 12:15

@Littlechocola why call people on this thread dicks?

Man, complete control of his dog out walking.

Woman, five dogs, not under control out walking.

and he's a dick and we are for saying stating the obvious! You've had a near miss OP so don't do it again. I would say as a minimum stop looking after your friends dog. You can't cope.

Original poster
DippyDiplodocus · 15/01/2019 12:15

If you're going to do that then you should have permission from the land owner.

We do have permission. We've been neighbours for years, but thanks for your concern.
Quick think of another way to stick the knife in.

OP posts:
LemonTT · 15/01/2019 12:17

Why did your husband and friend get dogs they can’t or won’t take care of? They did so without the guarantee you could walk them. They are irresponsible and shouldn’t keep pets if they can’t look after them.

The world doesn’t need to accommodate such a series of bad decisions. The fact that most of the time we do, doesn’t make you entitled to make bad decisions and to swear at people who decide not to accommodate you.

HeadsDownThumbsUpEveryone · 15/01/2019 12:17

Quick think of another way to stick the knife in.

Nobody is trying to stick the bloody knife in, but surely your not so blindly ignorant that you think this situation is sustainable. It's not fair on you, the dogs or your child. YOU need to change it that's all anyone is trying to say.

DistanceCall · 15/01/2019 12:17

He may have been a dick. But going out with 5 dogs and a baby is insane. Take turns.

slashlover · 15/01/2019 12:17

Had same situation with a cyclist who almost cycled into me and my dogs, wouldn’t wait till I got out of the way.

Cyclist almost cycling into you is nothing like a calm, muzzled dog on a lead being walked past.

Similarly, everyone posting about how an off lead dog ran up to them, is completely different to this scenario.

Original poster
DippyDiplodocus · 15/01/2019 12:17

surely he was able to walk them around his work. So, he can still do it now.

Yes and circumstances change. Now in a different work position and hours are variable. Not a problem currently as I am at home.

OP posts:
PlatypusPie · 15/01/2019 12:18

Might he have thought you were squatting down to unleash your dogs and the pug was just the first ? Didnt want to wait until you had finished faffing about and risk all 5 of them bounding about. In which case, sensible of him to get past you and away as soon as possible.

Original poster
DippyDiplodocus · 15/01/2019 12:19

I don't know @PlatypusPie I doubt it as we were heading towards the road and would make logical sense to be letting dogs off there, I would have thought.

OP posts:
Kittykat93 · 15/01/2019 12:19

I think 5 dogs plus a baby is way too many. Why on Earth are you also walking your friends dog when you already have four of your own to handle??? Crazy.

Saying that, I think the man behaved like a dick. I would have stopped for you to put the small dog on a lead and get yourself sorted. He was rude, and by smirking that's obvious to me he wasn't deaf or listening to music, just a twat.

Original poster
DippyDiplodocus · 15/01/2019 12:19

Wouldnt*

OP posts:
ElevenSmiles · 15/01/2019 12:20

OP are you mad...Gob off to a complete stranger...could have been a nutcase.

InsomniacAnonymous · 15/01/2019 12:21

Did he respond to you shouting that he was "a fucking arsehole"?

ExplodedPeach · 15/01/2019 12:21

@DippyDiplodocus It seems like the whole situation could have been avoided if you had put the dogs back on the lead before you got to a confined space?

thedancingbear · 15/01/2019 12:21

It's extraordinary, isn't it, that on MN it's fine for a woman to shout verbal abuse at a man, because he does something discourteous that inconveniences the OP (and I agree he could've waited a few seconds)?

Unbelievable place this, sometimes.

Original poster
DippyDiplodocus · 15/01/2019 12:21

@InsomniacAnonymous he did not.

OP posts:
ChillUrBeans · 15/01/2019 12:22

A hand held up is a universal sign In Greece a hand held up is bad manners. So yes it is a universal sign but not really meaning the same thing. I only know this because Greek woman asked us once what English people meant telling children to watch their manners, when we explained it meant please and thank you she said that was not good manners in Greece. She told us that she knows now that people holding their hand up can mean "just give me 5" but that is not what it means in Greece.

You have no control over the mans behavior and I come across lots of very irresponsible dog walkers, the same as I come across lots of people with twatty behavior generally sometimes BUT you didn't have control of your one dog and you make matters worse for yourself by taking a dog that isn't yours out with you as well.

Also when the situation was out of control on your end you then decided to verbally abuse the bloke - now if he was a real twat he could have rounded on you, whilst you were alone with out of control dogs and a baby, on your own, in a secluded area. Regardless of who was right or wrong up to this point you put you and your children in a situation that could have been dangerous and for that I think YABU.

IknowTheBoswellJoke · 15/01/2019 12:22

I'd also think that walking that many dogs is bound to end badly as they are more likely to enter a 'pack mentality' if they feel threatened. And if OP starts the frantic calling out to anyone who dares to walk near her, then the 'threat level' is being upped by her own dramatic aura.

Original poster
DippyDiplodocus · 15/01/2019 12:22

@ExplodedPeach I acknowledged this in an earlier post.

OP posts:
Lweji · 15/01/2019 12:22

Not a problem currently as I am at home.

Clearly, it's a problem. Because you're the one struggling with four (plus one) dog and a child. Encounters like this are likely to happen again.
Stand up for yourself and make him (and your friend) responsible for some of the dog care.

Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.

Join Mumsnet Log In

This thread is closed and is no longer accepting replies. Click here to start a new thread.