Was this woman unreasonable - dog weeing in public

[MelbaToast]

This afternoon I was out walking my dog. He stopped to pee against a lamp post, by the side of the pavement (which I thought was a sensible place for him to pee). As I stopped a woman walked past me and gave me an absolute death stare. I asked her politely what I had done wrong and she gave me a lecture about how antisocial it was to let him pee there and suggested I take him into the road to pee "where there aren't people and children walking". I was a bit surprised as I have seen people allowing there dogs to pee in this place before but as this is my first dog (and he's a puppy), I wondered if there is something that I have missed along the way.

YABU as you have not provided a puppy picture!

My dog prefers peeing and pooing in grass, but she occasionally cocks her leg near lampposts. It's never occurred to me that someone would be upset by this. Mind, she pees about a teaspoons worth about ten/twenty times per walk (pee mail per previous poster)
She'd be outraged if I asked her to use a potty/nappy.

@Lifeover my male dog squats to pee, he's not the first male dog I've had who did it and I was surprised because I thought males cocked and females squatted. Who knew

@GloGirl DOGS SHOULD BE TRAINED NOT TO POO ON THE PATH

I do kind of agree with this... but then we're lucky enough to have plenty of grassy areas on the route we walk

Yanbu you should have a portaloo with you at all times, complete with paw print toilet roll 🐾

Ha meant yabu.theres my joke ruined!

God, my dog has to piss up EVERY. SINGLE. POST we pass. A walk that should take half an hour lasts forever.

Take no notice OP, the majority of dogs do it (male ones anyway).

She was being ridiculous. He's a dog. It's what they do.

www.terracastproducts.com/dog-pee-causing-city-lampposts-topple-heres-can-prevent/

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/derbyshire/2938749.stm

DH used to work as an environmental consultant. He can talk about urine all day. Literally all day. I try and get him out of the house to inflict on other people at least once a week.

GloGirl
DOGS SHOULD BE TRAINED NOT TO POO ON THE PATH

I had dogs for most of my life, and I agree. It's not that difficult to train them to keep it in on pavements, just like house-training them is easy enough. Most of mine have moved over into the gutter automatically after the first couple of months, and always if told to.

And if you absolutely can't train the dog not to use the pavement, that is what dog-poo bags are for! (Economy nappy-bags are cheaper, but they tend to be more see-through and some people find that difficult to cope with.) There are plenty of rubbish-bins meant for them so that you don't have to carry it with you for the whole walk.

On the other hand, I see no point in preventing dogs from peeing against lamp-posts unless she is planning to lick the lamp-post?

I have five large dogs. when we go for walks they are allowed to pee where ever they need to, (as long as they don't go onto private property or attempt to pee on somebody or their belongings -including vehicles). I clean up any poop and make sure all my dogs are well behaved. We keep respectful distances from people and other dogs unless invited to come closer.
Any fool trying to make you feel bad for allowing your dog to pee is the unreasonable one. Where do they think wildlife and free-roaming pets such as cats, go? You and your pup did nothing wrong at all.

When my dog was a young puppy we were on our way back from a walk when she stopped for a rest by sitting down on a bit of grass by the pavement.

A woman can rushing out of her house from across the other side of the road yelling 'are you going to clear that up?'

The dog was clearly sitting flat on the grass. I don't know of any animal anywhere that sits with it's bum flat on the ground when it poos, which is what I assume she thought the dog was doing.

People can be strange.

Yabu for asking her what you had done wrong.
Practice your return death stare and don’t ask strangers for validation

SerenDippity are you my neighbour?

I don't understand why if you can't toilet train your dog you don't have it in nappies 😂

Sorry I totally ommitted he was ranting about a dog who had pooped on the pavement once, a week ago - and he kept pointing at the spot. It had long gone!

I agree, a poo on a pavement is definitely not ideal and if your dog is in a habit of it, especially with a bad constitution try and limit it or carry a water bottle. But everyone is going to be surprised by their dog once in a while, I am not going to walk mine in the road for 14 years.

Feed them well and it should limit the muck they leave behind.

@surfingtheweb

Seriously? They'd chew a nappy off in a minute.

@GloGirl yes seriously, aren't all dogs toilet trained? Only go in pubs or public loos when out on walks, flush & wash their paws???

"Seriously? They'd chew a nappy off in a minute."

Hoho, not the case, sadly. Where I live (E Asia), it is extremely common for people to never train their dogs to pee outside. They pee on puppy pee pads in the house for their entire life. So when the owners take them to cafes or whatever, the dogs wear nappies.

People are thoroughly amazed that I take my dog out daily and that he doesn't pee inside. They think it's cruel.

@GloGirl - DOGS SHOULD BE TRAINED NOT TO POO ON THE PATH

I do think that's a pretty reasonable expectation. Neither of mine poo on the path. Obviously, when they are puppies and still in the training process, there will be accidents.

That aside, all you with male dogs don't know how easy you have it with wees. Bitches generally squat to wee. Many people don't know that so if they see a dog squat, they assume poo. And of course, I'm not picking up the non-existent poo. I keep getting filthy looks from people when my dogs squat in the grass and I don't pick up the wee.

I've actually taken to asking the dogs was that a wee or a poo and then declaring that as it was a wee, there's nothing to pick up. So my choice is to appear deranged or socially irresponsible. I usually go for deranged.

She’s a nutter. Ignore

I’d let my dog pee where ever she likes on a walk.
so long as it isn’t someone else’s property, (I’d discourage a car), she can go wherever, it’s fair game.
Humans have been polluting the planet for centuries with thoughtless building practices and taking up all of the green space.
A Dog peeing on a lamppost is so inconsequential.
I’d have laughed at her I think.

I try to prevent any elimination in the street, by using a collected brisk walk. One of my dogs only pees once or twice a day and he’s big, so it is a lake when it happens. Sometimes you just can’t stop them.

Haha @Isthisafreename - me too! I have a bitch and she will only squat on grass (I don’t think she likes the splash back). And when she does squat, I do say (loudly enough for anyone nearby to hear), ‘good wee wees ‘ - just in case anyone thought she was having a poo.

I’m not sure you can train dogs not to pee on lampposts, it’s just what they do isn’t It? I personally think spit/smashed glass and human waste (it has been known round here) on the pavement is much worse than dog wee.

Could be worse... I have a spaniel who when he was a puppy accidentally cocked his leg and weed all over my DHs legs. Must have got confused between jeans and a lamppost.

I did laugh though 😂