Out of Control Dogs 😡😡!

[Heathercob]

Am I allowed to have a moan about a dog on the beach this morning that was completely out of control and not responding to the owners?
Was having a relaxing boxing day beach ride until it decided to try and attack Heather's fetlocks (ankles). Luckily Heather is a good girl, although I could tell that she was worried about it. When the dog finally went back to the owner, they didn't even put it back on the lead 😡😡!
I REALLY don't want to come off and potentially end up in hospital because someone doesn't bother to train their dog - especially at the moment with Covid about!

Used to give me the rage when I rode.

Never an apology.

None today either 😡!

Imo if you get a dog you are responsible for training it and controlling it. Your dog should never become someone else's problem and if it does (BC shlt happens) then you should apologize properly! Some people just don't think they are responsible because of the 'you can't explain it to a dog' excuse. They are actually quite intelligent and perfectly capable of learning acceptable and unacceptable behaviours! There are so many resources out there that people can use to make sure their dog is well behaved in public and people just don't bother, it's infuriating! I'm not a dog hater either! I have two! One of mine used to have a tendency to run off and bother anything in the vicinity to I started using a 10ft training lead until he learnt not to bother other people. It's just responsible dog keeping.

Out of control dogs are dangerous anywhere.

Yeah I cannot abide owners who don't manage their dogs. Pisses me off.

One dog owner used to blame me for getting upset and shouting at her to control her GSD. Sorry love but when I’m astride a highly strung Irish TB mare who is spinning in circles because your out of control dog is snapping at her heels, it’s hard not to lose my shit.

It also annoyed me that my mare would happily chase loose dogs in her field and scare the crap out of them, but when I was on her she was scared of them.

you need a nice long whip to hit the dog with. several years ago, a loose dog in our local woods attacked a horse from the local stables. dog chased horse on to busy road, horse killed, rider injured. dog owner vilified.
People are idiots.

Nothing surprises me OP.
We were on a beach over the summer and noted a huge doberman soiling on the sand. The owner then proceeded to pour a bucket of sand over the shit and just left it there, partially buried.
DH took him some of our poo bags to pick it up.
Some people are arses.
Hope Heather is ok.

My dogs are terrified of horses and bark whenever they see them. I always put them straight on the lead, pick them up and stand well away from the horses and I don’t want the dogs barking to spook the horses.

My dogs are a toy breed and horses are hell of a lot bigger than my noisy sods.

I hope your horse is ok and not too stressed (also, a picture would be much appreciated!!).

Heather's fine thankfully 😊! I could tell that she was worried, but she didn't do anything daft.

YANBU!
What a beauty!

You need a whip or something to hit them away. They'll be pissed off if our horse kicks them!

It's disgusting but so so common for people not to have their dogs under control. I dont understand the mentality of watching your dog, who you are responsible for, in a dangerous situation or making someone uncomfortable and not feel the need to stop it.

I spend so much time when walking my dog shouting "will you get your dog please..... will you actually come and get your dog, it's clearly not listening to you." I also shout "NO" and "AWAY" at the dogs. Seems to rally the pathetic owners.

Even taking a child for a walk is risky. I take my 2 dogs who are always kept on their leads when out walking and at least 2 or 3 times each week we come across dogs off of their leads and stupid owners not recalling them. I get really mad when they jump up at small children and I hear owners say 'oh they won't hurt them'.

@Heathercob what a beautiful horse - she’s got such a gorgeous face, that wide blaze is just beautiful.

This used to drive me mad when I had my horses. I once fell off, 3 miles from home, thanks to an out of control dobie who came running at us barking. I them couldn’t get back on my 17.2hh spinning youngster, and had to walk all the way back, having my toes trodden on every time a leaf blew past as he was so spooked. I was furious!

YANBU.
My dog loves horses and wants to play with them (MILs horses allow this).
We regularly see the same horse on our dog walks and have got to know the rider who has said several times that I don't need to put ddog on a lead as her horse doesn't spook and likes dogs.
I still put the lead on, move to the side and make my dog sit and wait until she passes us. It's good manners and absolutely not worth the risk to any of us (dog, horse, rider or me).

I let my dog off lead on our walk as it's safe and his recall is amazing. At least once each week we have a cyclist who gives no warning of their approach resulting in me having to judge if it's safer to leave ddog or call him in, and several off-lead dogs who charge up to him and are a pain in the arse (ddog is blind in one eye so doesn't always know how close they are and despite asking owners to call them in there's always at least one who won't / can't)

I’m going to go against the grain here and before I start I will mention that I used to be a keen horse rider, from about 5 to late teens.

Most dogs have never seen a horse, they are not an easy thing therefore to train a dog to ignore.
Most yard owners would be not allow you to take a dog in to do some training and depending on where you live seeing a horse out and about may be a rarity.

it is common knowledge that dogs will attack sheep and fields that contain sheep are usually signposted and obvious so they are generally, luckily, very easy to avoid or walk through with the leash clipped on and short.

Dogs will often chase and harass horses much like sheep but unlike sheep they can pop up where you don’t expect them and because most dogs have never seen one they are a new and novel thing that the dog won’t have been trained to ignore.

I’ve come across horses three times with with my dog, the first time she was leashed at a fete and unbeknownst to me there was a horse there for pony rides and the owner was exercising it, my dog ran and spun with such force at the sight of the horse cantering its a miracle she didn’t injure herself.

The second time she was, thank god, on lead.
Usually, it’s a place where I have her off the lead.
The horse was in a spot where I walk at least 3 days a week and have done for the past 6 years or so.
You would never in a million years expect a horse to be there and I dread to think what would have happened had she been loose.

The third time I saw two in the distance, different area, i had time to quickly leash her before she spotted them.
Again, an area I very regularly walk, never seen a horse there and wouldn’t expect to.

It’s a very popular dog walking spot, it’s especially popular for off leash exercise.
This is common knowledge.

To ride a horse in a known, extremely popular dog walking area where you know large amounts of dogs will be off leash is irresponsible and stupid.

Dogs are predatory animals, they will chase animals like sheep and horses.
If I know there are sheep and horses in an area I will avoid or opt to leash her.

It really angers me when horse owners think they are entitled to ride in places where you wouldn’t expect them to be, places where you expect loose dogs to be.

Many people with dogs do not give a single shit. My son is disabled and very frightened of dogs. Every time we go for a walk, dogs run up to him and their owners are usually walking way behind them and are completely incapable of calling them back. They are also slow to react and collect the dog. I have had countless problems. They are also annoyed when I ask them politely to get their dog on the lead. It gives me the rage too.

I don't have a horse but I've got an 8 year old DS who is terrified of dogs because of owners like this. We live in a national park that is popular with dog owners and DS has been knocked over several times by out of control dogs who are "only being friendly"

I used to brush it off but it is happening with more frequency so now I just tell the owners that they are irresponsible.

@Hotchocolatewithcream

I’m going to go against the grain here and before I start I will mention that I used to be a keen horse rider, from about 5 to late teens.

Most dogs have never seen a horse, they are not an easy thing therefore to train a dog to ignore.
Most yard owners would be not allow you to take a dog in to do some training and depending on where you live seeing a horse out and about may be a rarity.

it is common knowledge that dogs will attack sheep and fields that contain sheep are usually signposted and obvious so they are generally, luckily, very easy to avoid or walk through with the leash clipped on and short.

Dogs will often chase and harass horses much like sheep but unlike sheep they can pop up where you don’t expect them and because most dogs have never seen one they are a new and novel thing that the dog won’t have been trained to ignore.

I’ve come across horses three times with with my dog, the first time she was leashed at a fete and unbeknownst to me there was a horse there for pony rides and the owner was exercising it, my dog ran and spun with such force at the sight of the horse cantering its a miracle she didn’t injure herself.

The second time she was, thank god, on lead.
Usually, it’s a place where I have her off the lead.
The horse was in a spot where I walk at least 3 days a week and have done for the past 6 years or so.
You would never in a million years expect a horse to be there and I dread to think what would have happened had she been loose.

The third time I saw two in the distance, different area, i had time to quickly leash her before she spotted them.
Again, an area I very regularly walk, never seen a horse there and wouldn’t expect to.

It’s a very popular dog walking spot, it’s especially popular for off leash exercise.
This is common knowledge.

To ride a horse in a known, extremely popular dog walking area where you know large amounts of dogs will be off leash is irresponsible and stupid.

Dogs are predatory animals, they will chase animals like sheep and horses.
If I know there are sheep and horses in an area I will avoid or opt to leash her.

It really angers me when horse owners think they are entitled to ride in places where you wouldn’t expect them to be, places where you expect loose dogs to be.

Unless it's specifically a gated, labelled, dog park (like the sort you have in big cities) YABVU. There's a common near me that's popular for dog walking. Several bridlepaths crisscross it. I witnessed two husky style dogs attack a horse being ridden by a young woman. The dogs drew blood and couldn't be stopped by their ineffectual owner. After the attack was over, horse led away bleeding, I witnessed the same woman continuing to walk her dogs off lead. I grabbed my young kids and left, she clearly wasn't able to control her dogs nor give a shit about hurting others. I'm afraid some dog owners ruin the reputation of all. I like dogs but I don't trust them at all and dislike it if they approach me off lead, especially when owner is nowhere to be seen.

I like dogs. I walk around some lakes where there are loads off leads. Most people call the dogs back if aim towards you but I was walking through my housing estate to go and visit a friend on her drive
For xmas drink. Decided to wear black opaque tights. I had headphones on and it was quite dark. Suddenly this dog came through my legs from behind. Scared me a bit but was fine about it. Had a laugh with lady who said sorry. She continued to walk behind me and 5 times the dog did it again and jumped up my tights twice. Even by main road he was off the lead . I turned in the end and asked if she could put him on lead. She laughed at first just saying he was friendly but I said I didnt like it and was worried ruined my tights. She swore under her breath and said to the dog the nasty lady said got to go on lead. Felt like having a row with her but didnt.i did see her a few days later from distance. The dog was off the lead again.

Gated dog parks aren’t really a thing in England, are you in America?

What I am trying to say really, is that horse owners need to be mindful that most dogs will at the very least chase horses, many will injure them, exactly the same as many will with sheep.

Therefore, they should be mindful where they hack.
Was the beach in the OP a beach popular with dog walkers or a dogs banned or dogs on lead only beach?
If it was a lead only or no dogs beach then no, I don’t think OP was at all unreasonable, the dog should have been leashed.
But if it was a beach where dogs are commonly loose, the chances are high that even a dog that normally has good recall will chase and it isn’t sensible to take a horse there.

Without knowing where horses are likely to be it’s very, very difficult to train dogs to ignore them or keep dogs away if you have a dog (like mine) that would lose herself and chase.

@Hotchocolatewithcream This is a horribly entitled attitude. If there are bridleways, then horses are absolutely fine to be there. Doesn't matter that you haven't seen one before.

I say this as a dog owner, but if your dog does not have perfect recall then you need to work on it until they do. Or else keep them on a lead and only let them run loose in a dog field or similar. This isn't just about horses, but what if you happened to unexpectedly meet a deer or similar?

OP I third the suggestion of hacking with a long schooling whip. Depending on the horse and situation, turning your horse towards the dog and encouraging the horse to run at it also often scares the dog enough for it to run.

Oh here we go again..
Yes, some dog owners are shit. What a revelation. Let the dog bashing commence.
🍿🍿

Dog owner and ex rider here, you’re not being unreasonable at all. Alas some people are just selfish dicks. My toy breed is scared of other big dogs (esp huskie /malamute types & German Shepard’s) and we live in a city, so only rarely see horses. But when we do, he is leashed, & made to sit quietly by my side (or in my arms) until they pass. It’s good training for him and lovely to see beautiful horses go by.