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AIBU?

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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:
Lougle · 15/01/2019 09:56

5 dogs and a baby? That's a bit nuts, tbh. What would you do, seriously, if another dog set upon any one of your big dogs? I have a big dog (GSD X Retriever) who is 42 kg, and whilst he is extremely gentle in nature, if he wants to pull, it takes all of me and some to hold him back. How can you control 5 dogs when 4 of them are large breed, if anything happens?

Dixiechickonhols · 15/01/2019 09:56

You can’t see air pods usually due to hair or hat. Stupid smirk could have been him smiling at you as he passed no idea you were talking as you were bent over.

thaegumathteth · 15/01/2019 09:56

What would you have done if you’d come across another dog walker when they were all off the leads?

Hont1986 · 15/01/2019 09:56

He sounds like a twat, he probably thought he was quite the big man making life difficult for a woman with a baby. I'm glad you shouted at him as he clearly is an arsehole.

Or maybe he was just walking his dog Confused

ILoveMaxiBondi · 15/01/2019 09:57

You need to either take fewer dogs with you or train your dogs to sit and behave until told to move forward.

Productrecall · 15/01/2019 09:57

It's only her interpretation that he smirked, and given the confrontational and sarcastic response to my initial q (it is quite possible that he hadn't heard, fgs), and that she was flustered and fuming with him as he approached, Im not sure how accurate an assessment that is.... Hth

RiverTam · 15/01/2019 09:57

good lord, the excuses people will come up with for twatty behaviour.

He was a twat. Only had a to wait a few seconds and all would be fine.

Morgan12 · 15/01/2019 09:57

Yep he was definitely foreign and deaf. Or a wanker. Either or.

Original poster
DippyDiplodocus · 15/01/2019 09:57

@MadMum101 yes - it is an enclosed space, as you exit the fields there is a walkway, one side has tall metal railings with the spikes on top and the other side is a wall, which is the perimeter of the farm. So no, it's not an open field.

OP posts:
ILoveMaxiBondi · 15/01/2019 09:58

Or both. You could seriously hurt your baby if those dogs had lunged.

bilbodog · 15/01/2019 09:58

Sorry op i think everyone is being mean - he should have stopped, at least conversed with you or something. Hes a twat. Sounds lik e you had all your dogs under control to me.

feelyourpain46 · 15/01/2019 09:58

It would have been courteous of him to wait 5 seconds

Dixiechickonhols · 15/01/2019 09:59

5 dogs is too many to walk at once. Some councils are restricting numbers walked aimed at dog walkers.

pandechocolate · 15/01/2019 09:59

Everyone commenting about airpods - fair enough, highly possible, but this kind of highlights why it's not ideal to completely block out your surroundings when walking your dog.

I was out recently with my dog in a very large country park, and a man quite a distance away lost control of his dogs - both of them slipped their (clearly poorly fitting) collars. I called my dog back to me as I could hear him really shouting for his dogs, so assumed the worst. Thankfully both dogs were very friendly, and it turned out, not his so he was just taken back.
But it could have gone the other way, and I prefer to know if an owner has little control of a dog that is bombing about (if they are screaming like a mad person at their dog I normally avoid the pair of them).

MadameButterface · 15/01/2019 09:59

I love when people ignore occam’s razor and decide that something utterly ridiculous is the case, yeah op how dare you assume he was just being a twat, it’s much more likely that he was completely deaf/had invisible airpods in/did not speak english AND ALSO did not understand that the gesture of a hand held up palm facing means ‘stay back’

Lol

Quartz2208 · 15/01/2019 10:00

Yep he probably had headphones in and wasnt paying attention to you and didnt hear

EhlanaOfElenia · 15/01/2019 10:00

She shouldn't be out with that many dogs and a baby???!!! How the fuck is she supposed to walk the dogs and look after her baby if she doesn't? Big dogs need long walks, if she did it in batches she would be spending the whole day walking! And she was walking in a rural area where there aren't usually any other dogs.

The holier than this attitude on these threads is bloody disgusting.

OP, he was an arsehole. Don't let him get to you though.

recently · 15/01/2019 10:01

He might not have heard you. He might not have understood. It is your responsibility not to take out all the dogs together if you can't control them, not anyone else's.

ChrisjenAvasarala · 15/01/2019 10:02

Sorry but if I'm out walking, I'm not wasting my time hanging back for someone to sort their dog out.

If your dog does not listen when recalled, or will behave badly when people walk past then it shouldn't be off the lead.

What would have happened if all 5 were off the lead and he walked into that field a few minutes earlier?

You knew you were walking into an enclosed path. You had let the large area they run around in. They need to all be on leads before you enter a narrow enclosed space. Waiting until you're in that enclosed space where you cause an obstruction and force others to squeeze past your to wait around is irresponsible.

Original poster
DippyDiplodocus · 15/01/2019 10:02

For what it's worth, as I said in the OP, my dogs are very well behaved. They recall well, every single time and are happy around other dogs and are well behaved off lead. One of them does tend to feel threatened by people approaching straight towards him that he doesn't know, hence him being on a lead and getting a bit twitchy when this man was approaching.

Had the man stayed back for a few more seconds, I could have moved to the side with all dogs on leads and he could have passed with no problem.

I can hold all of the dogs with no problem, even when pulling, the same cannot be said for a crouched position, which would be the same for anyone, I would have thought.

OP posts:
Dixiechickonhols · 15/01/2019 10:02

I walk a couple of hours a day with 1 dog with AirPods in. Can’t see them at all due to my bobble hat. Most times I smile and say hello or briefly chat to people I see but I walk rurally usually where I don’t see many people and can be lost in my own world (one of the main reasons I like walking)

Pachyderm1 · 15/01/2019 10:03

He was a pain and he should have stopped - a decent person would have. But also - he was in full control of his dog, but you weren’t.

You’re walking too many dogs, esp when you’re also in charge of a baby. If your ability to have them all completely under your control is dependent on other people giving you time or space, you don’t have complete control of them at all times. You need to find a walking solution that doesn’t involve you being in charge of 5 dogs and a baby.

AhoyDelBoy · 15/01/2019 10:03

You’re the problem here. You sound like an idiot. Can’t be bothered to elaborate on that as PPs already have. Nuts. The entitled nature of your post has made me really mad tbh.

Bowchicawowow · 15/01/2019 10:03

My DS walks our dog listening to music. I can’t see what is wrong with that?

MrDarcyWillBeMine · 15/01/2019 10:03

Sorry OP- you aren’t capable of walking so many dogs alone with your DD - clearly!

No ones fault but your own!!

YABU and if your DD got hurt that would be on you!

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