To have carried on running?

[OdettySpaghetti]

Went for a run this morning. Ran past a couple of women with offlead dogs (cockapoo and a frenchie) which chased me as I passed them. They were not aggressive, more like running alongside me. The owners shouted of them but the dogs ignored them and carried on following me. I kept on running - before long we (me and dogs!) we’re quite a distance from the owners who were miles behind shouting and running (in a fashion) after us. I ran my usual route, off this path and into a wooded cut through, dogs still by my side. I’m getting pissed off at this point as I know I’m coming to a road and will need to stop so the owners can get their dogs. Sure enough I come to the road and stop. The dogs stop too and just start sniffing around but because we’re now close to a road I feel I have to take the dogs back before they dart across it so I head back the way I came, fuming that this has messed my run up. When the owners catch up one says “if you’d just stopped running we could have got them ages ago!” I replied that their dogs are not my responsibility to which they replied “no need to take them close to a main road though is there? Where is your common sense?” So livid now I say “get your fucking dogs under control, next time I don’t stop at the road”.

AIbU to have not wanted to mess my run up?

I voted YABU because while I 100% believe that the dogs should never have chased you and the owners should not have had them off lead if they couldn't call them back, I still think the decent thing to do would have been to stop once you realised the dogs weren't going to return to their owners.

I don't understand how taking two minutes to return the dogs would have mucked up your run, surely it was more inconvenient to have to stop because of the road and return the dogs than it would have been to stop when you first realised they were running with you.

@IvyM
If you want to play the comparing dogs to children game, then parents who would let their children disappear out of sight running after a complete stranger would be called negligent, probably worse. I don't think very many people would sympathise with the parents in that scenario. But we're supposed to be performing 'random acts of kindness' to make life easier for these plonkers who can't keep their dogs under control?

Ah well, this is yet another thread where the OP has started a bun fight then cleared off. So there's a chance none of it happened anyway.

She was kind. She stopped before leading the dogs out on to a road.

The dog owners could have prevented the situation in the first place by having their dogs under effective control or on a lead. Or apologised when they finally caught up, rather than seeming to think that their dogs' wellbeing had been abdicated to being the OP's responsibility, and she was out of order for having inconvenienced them or potentially endangered their dogs.

@BoredZelda

you should probably learn to deal with them better without being arsey

Yes, yes, she should just quiet down and not make a fuss, like a good girl.

It's called being an adult. Occasionally annoying things happen which aren't our fault and you can choose how to deal with them. OP in this case chose to make the situation worse by not stopping and then swearing at the dog owners (like a massive bellend). Yes they were in the wrong letting the dogs off lead but fucking hell it's a sad day when you can't just be a decent person and help someone.

[quote Mummyoflittledragon]@WaltzingBetty
I didn’t criticise the op for being able to run. I said she is lucky. And that running is self actualisation. It is her and a lot of runner’s presumptions that people can run after their dogs to catch them and I framed it in terms of waiting for dog owners as a societally responsible thing to do and what I do.

My dogs don’t go off with every runner or dog and if they did, I wouldn’t be able to take them out as a walk for them is more of a run around as I can’t go far. But if they did, I wouldn’t be able to catch them.

In any case, your tone in other posts makes me think I’m happy inside my head thanks.[/quote]
No, you didn't say she was lucky, you said she doesn't know how lucky she is.
How do you know what she thinks or feels?

And yes we all know how you'd behave. You've told us. Twice.

[quote PlonkyWillyWonky]@DietrichandDiMaggio 🙄 if you say so...[/quote]
Well, what is the point of it?

It's totally their fault but as a dog lover I'd stop. I wouldn't want a dog to be killed or injured because their owner was a twat

@WaltzingBetty

You’ve repeated what you think are points more than twice on this thread. I didn’t know it was a crime. Or is it only annoying when other people do it?

@vivainsomnia

Good on you. I wouldn’t! You've made it clear already. Don't assume all runners agree with you though.

No And don’t assume that anyone who has an issue with dogs chasing them whilst they are out on a run, have a problem with children!

@Mummyoflittledragon

If you can’t run
Probably best you don’t take a dog prone to running… off the lead.
Probably a good start

Exactly

Does the OP have to stop to help, taking two minutes out of her run - absolutely she doesn’t have to

Regardless of the dog owners not being fast enough to catch their dogs if they run off, it would absolutely have been the decent thing to do - annoying yes, but decent of an adult who understands these things happen no matter whether people repeat to themselves “it should never ever happen”

Only mature people with reasoning skills understand shit happens

Only a non-runner would suggest 'jogging' on the spot.

Well, at least us non-runners realise that stopping what we're doing for a few minutes isn't going to make us spontaneously combust

If you really can't stop your run for a few minutes to help someone, what do you do if you need to wait to cross the street or there's someone blocking the path because they've fallen or are dealing with a crying child etc? Explode?

@Reallyimeanreally2022

Even people who can’t run fast will need to go through the tricky business of training a dog on recall.

Such an ableist condescending attitude

As a dog owner myself, I can see both sides...

People shouldn't have their dogs off-lead unless their recall is 100%... But also, dogs are stupid. Basically threatening to have their dog killed on the road isn't okay.

Unless you are literally running from an attacker, stopping for 10 seconds so a dog owner can clip a lead on their animal, isn't going to ruin your run.

We all have to live in this world. Let's not make life harder for each other.

Probably irrelevant to the original post, but a few posters have mentioned that they can't stop on runs, even for a moment. Why is this? Is it just because you're worried about your time, or is there another reason?

(Genuine question, as someone who runs regularly up to 1/2 marathon distance)

If everybody in this scenario stopped or ran back to the owners, they are never going to learn. Hopefully they were taught a lesson and will keep their dogs on lead in the future.

Oh god this whole thread is a rerun of "cyclists vs pedestrians on tow paths" with the main culprits changed 😂

Yanbu. We trained our dog not to do this the minute we had a hint he wanted to chase. If your dog doesn't have good recall then keep it on a lead.

@SamMil

Probably irrelevant to the original post, but a few posters have mentioned that they can't stop on runs, even for a moment. Why is this? Is it just because you're worried about your time, or is there another reason?

(Genuine question, as someone who runs regularly up to 1/2 marathon distance)

The way some of them have gone on, clearly they'll explode if they have to stop unexpectedly

[quote Leibham]@Reallyimeanreally2022

Even people who can’t run fast will need to go through the tricky business of training a dog on recall.

Such an ableist condescending attitude[/quote]
If you can’t run, then honestly…. Is training a dog something you should be doing?

Separate from the runner issue.

Really? I’d feel bloody nervous training a dog if I couldn’t run

@icedcoffees

Before I became a runner I’d have said the same thing.

Now that I know how much physical and mental energy goes into running properly I’m afraid you’re shooting yourself in the foot with that post.

[quote Reallyimeanreally2022]@Mummyoflittledragon

If you can’t run
Probably best you don’t take a dog prone to running… off the lead.
Probably a good start[/quote]
I said in the first line of my first post the dogs are on lead when I cannot guarantee recall. I also previously stated they have been trained to return and not chase after joggers or go off with other dogs.

I was talking about a hypothetical situation in my last post as there are plenty of disabled people, who often appear able bodied.

The salient point is that runners have no idea of the disabilities or capabilities of other humans. Able bodied people make all sorts of assumptions. You, for example, just made two having not read my last post in relation to my first.

Sure as heck wouldn’t have taken my bolted toddler out if I hadn’t have been able to run

As I would presume same applies to dogs in training or indeed dogs prone to running after runners despite being trained

HRTFT but from your OP (and at the time of writing you've not adding anything else), YANBU.

I am a keen runner and my run time is precious. I DO NOT want to have to accommodate selfish dog owners during my run.
I have already had to line up enough stars to get out as it is so some breezy instruction on how I should behave to make it easier for someone else pisses me right off.

"He just wants to play" - nipping at my ankles
"He's friendly" - nipping at my running tights
"If you stop running he'll stop" - running along side me jumping up

I spend much of my life considering others - my work, my children, my elderly relatives. That's fine and the life I chose (apart from the ill relative), it's not too much to ask to have ONE HOUR when I can just run and be free.

nb. the vast majority of dog owners are kind and courteous where I live and I make sure I thank them if they step aside to let me pass.

[quote Mummyoflittledragon]@WaltzingBetty

You’ve repeated what you think are points more than twice on this thread. I didn’t know it was a crime. Or is it only annoying when other people do it?[/quote]
My points have been general comment last about the OP's situations. Not repetition of what I would do. Because this thread isn't about me.

However sure - if you have a comment on a specific point I've made them feel free to make it. It's a discussion thread - that's how they work