To have not helped fallen woman?

[SquishyBones]

Went for walk down river bank. Two women walking ahead of us with two big dogs (looked like a Rottweiler and a Doberman). Neither of the dogs on a lead. One of the women fell over. The other woman was in stitches. The woman on the floor was struggling to get back up, all her stuff had fallen out of her bag and she was frantically searching for stuff on the floor. The other woman was not helping her, just laughing. One of the dogs (Rottweiler) was just stood there waiting. The other dog (Doberman) dived on the woman sending her rolling down the hill. Other woman was now howling with tears. The woman looked like she needed help but ...

A) two big dogs
B) two dogs known for being protective of humans
C) the other woman was acting like it was all a bit of a laugh.

Against my better judgement I walked on past. Turned around later to find both women on their feet but the “fallen” woman limping.

Totally confused by the whole thing. Feel bad for not helping but the scene was surreal. Would you have helped?

@fascinated

So are you meaning the dog would help the owner?

I don’t understand what you mean ... if you’re talking about the dog picking the woman up and getting her back on her feet ... then no (although some dogs can be trained to do this).

I’m talking about a dog getting concerned about a stranger approaching their compromised human and maybe lashing out to protect them.

Having been this woman...

I tripped and fell on the entrance to a shopping centre. My Dh and kids laughed, my bag and its contents went everywhere.

Two young adults/teenagers (I'd say 19/20?) Rushed to help, she picked up my bag contents and the cash that had rolled away and he helped me up. I was mortified. But also appreciated their kindness. Not quite forgiven my so called family 😂

I'd probably not have helped the woman in your scenario. In my scenario id have helped before I realised what I was doing.

A couple of weeks ago an elderly lady fell down outside my local supermarket, directly opposite the doctors surgery. Someone called the doctors for help and the staff refused to come out to help because of coronavirus. So if medical professionals in full PPE can’t come out to pick up a pensioner, nobody can blame you for not helping this random woman.

@AlexisCarringtonColbyDexter

Doberman and Rottweiler protective of humans

Well considering they are bred and used as guard dogs I'd say yes.....

Rottweilers were bred as cattle dogs and later used to pull butchers carts (sorry I’m a dog history geek 😁)

Dobies were bred as personal protection dogs.

That's quite shocking Raimona, so who did help the lady in this situation?

@Raimona

I work in healthcare. Actually, noone should be picking elderly people up off the floor apart from paramedics. If they had broken something, yanking them up can make the injury 100 x worse and it can put the helpers backs at risk. The paramedics have a special inflatable device that raises someone from floor to standing safely and without injury to anyone involved.

Was she wearing a big embroidered scarlet letter A on her top?

Any dog that has protective traits (of any breed), you should have a command that tells them they can be 'stood down' when a person who is not a threat approaches. Otherwise you haven’t trained or socialised them properly if they pose a danger to the public.

I was taught by my dog trainer that the dog should always look to the owner for guidance on any possible perceived threat. It must trust you to know which is which and tell them. You never want to dog to think for itself, because its fight or flight response could mean it bites a stranger or runs off into the road. Both potentially fatal for the dog. My dog can be protective but I have a command that tells her this is a friendly situation, so she relaxes and is safe and sociable.

Actually, noone should be picking elderly people up off the floor apart from paramedics
We dialled 999 and the ambulance refused to come because the lady wasn’t critical. They asked is she breathing, is she bleeding, is she conscious? Then they said we’re too busy at present to attend if she’s not critical. There’s a pensioner lying on the pavement in the rain with what appears to be a broken bone?! No, sorry but you’ll have to deal with it yourselves. So we used the lady’s phone to call her son and a couple of bystanders picked her up and lifted her into the car so he could take her to hospital.

I'd have walked off
They 2 unknown and unleashed dogs who known for strong loyalty to their human, even if your trying to help, they don't know that. I don't want them to deem me a threat
I have an american bulldog and in same situation I'd expect people walk on for the same reason

sorry, that sounded a bit like a dog owning lecture!

@Raimona

Urrgh thats so awful! Whenever we've called for this reason they've come out (not quickly, but they have always come) to do it.

I wouldn’t have helped because I don’t like dogs

I would offer to help, but can totally see why you didn't. I am also embarrassed to say that I would have been behaving just like her friend had I been in the same position. I would have howled with laughter.

No, because of the dogs..,,and Covid. I’ve helped two people after falls/accidents since Covid but neither had big dogs nor a friend with them. Her friend could have helped if she needed help.

I thought of the old joke. If you’re saving fallen women, save one for me.

I could barely read the OP from laughing

I was disappointed ; I thought this was a thread about Tess of the D'urbervilles. Then I discovered it was only about a couple of old dogs.

I wouldn't help. I'm afraid of dogs

I wouldn't have helped because of the dogs being off-lead. I equally wouldn't have helped if they were small dogs off-lead.

I would have stood a short distance away and asked if she wanted help. If the dogs were a threat, she would have said no. But the dogs might have been fine. Just because some doberman/rottweilers are known for aggression doesn't make the whole breed a bunch of slobbering, blood thirsty monsters.

There was me thinking by 'fallen woman' you meant a 'Jezebel'!

You have to keep your distance. If it wasn’t life threatening then social guidlines state that you need to be 2 metres apart....

I clicked on this expecting to see some sort of religious dilemma in a red light district involving a crisis of conscience. After all, WWJD! grin

Exactly, I was expecting you OP to be having some sort of crisis over your vocation in the Salvation Army; walking the streets of London’s east end, showing women of the night a new religious life or summat like that. Quite disappointed really.

I’d probably have called out “are you OK, do you want some help” from a distance but would have had the same reservations about the dogs and social distancing. I expect they might have turned down your offer anyway. I might have offered to call someone if it was serious but it doesn’t sound serious.

I'm afraid I probably would have joined the other woman and pissed myself laughing. If, however, the fallen woman (lols) had been alone I like to think I'd manage to pull myself together and give her a hand up, dogs or no dogs.