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?

And what is wrong with starting from a point of wondering if someone is disabled rather than expecting everyone not to be? There are many forms of disability.

Nothing and no one said there was

But there's nothing in the OP that indicates that. Simply rude entitled dog owners who gave the OP grief for not managing their dogs in line with their expectations.

This makes me so angry - dogs in public areas/parks etc. should not be
of their lead unless they are very well trained to recall.
Not the pets fault but a problem with lazy owners.
You were kind to stop your run (which I would have too) BUT not your responsibility to manage others pets.

'I asked him about it and he said since lockdown he's has no end of idiots letting their dogs run all over the place and being arsey about it, so fairly enough he decided to stop being the nice guy.'

Well tbf they don't need to have a dog with them to be idiots. Some of our local farmers have also put secure fences in place as people and their kids decided they could trudge through fields of crops whenever they fancied.

Are you trying to say disabled people, who can’t run shouldn’t have a dog?

Surely disability is completely irrelevant in these scenarios - unless you are Usain Bolt, an able bodied person won’t be able to catch up with a running dog either if you’re dog is prone to running off then keep it on a lead.

I have voted YABU, yes we all know the rules that dogs should be on leads if the owners do not have perfect recall and if this was something that happened regulary I would agree with you, however, animals do sometimes act in unpredictable ways and as soon as you realised that the dogs were going to continue running with you, you should have turned round and ran back to the owners so they could put leads on. I hope when you say you took the dogs miles away you are exaggerating, the owners must have been terrified seeing their pets disappearing off. People make mistakes, the dogs owners made a mistake, if you had acted reasonably it could all have been dealt with in less than a minute. So in my opinion, were you technically in the right, yes you were. Were you unhelpful and unkind, yes you were.

As a dog owner and a runner, if a strange dog is running at or with me, I slow down or stop. I don't want to be responsible for an accident and I'm not so focussed on my run that I can't / won't stop.

I also get a bit fed up of all these perfect dog owners whose dogs apparently have 100% cast-iron recall. The only ones I know like that are working dogs. No dog is 100% recall-proof, same as no horse is 100% bomb-proof.

Stuff happens. Accidents happen. Dogs do stupid things, no matter how good an owner you think you are.

...preparing to get flamed...

@JaniieJones

'I asked him about it and he said since lockdown he's has no end of idiots letting their dogs run all over the place and being arsey about it, so fairly enough he decided to stop being the nice guy.'

Well tbf they don't need to have a dog with them to be idiots. Some of our local farmers have also put secure fences in place as people and their kids decided they could trudge through fields of crops whenever they fancied.

True enough.

'if you’re dog is prone to running off then keep it on a lead.'

I don't think anyone would dispute this however no matter how often people say it it won't make it magically happen.

Surely the solution is to be kind and tolerant, jog on the spot thus not ruining the focus and allow the owner to grab the dog. Running off with it in pursuit is never going to be ideal is it?

@JaniieJones

'if you’re dog is prone to running off then keep it on a lead.'

I don't think anyone would dispute this however no matter how often people say it it won't make it magically happen.

Surely the solution is to be kind and tolerant, jog on the spot thus not ruining the focus and allow the owner to grab the dog. Running off with it in pursuit is never going to be ideal is it?

Then how do idiot owners learn? They won't change their behaviour or 'be kind' themselves unless there are consequences.

If having to chase after their out of control dogs makes them think twice then so be it

I tend to agree WaltzingBetty.

I've seen two runners bitten by dogs and have been bitten twice by dogs who 'are really friendly' twice.

My instinct in situations like this is to stop, turn my back on the dog and cover my face with my hands.

Not out of regard for the dog owner, but because dogs running up to me really frightens me.

Once, out of many instances of this over the years, has an owner apologised for their dog jumping up or chasing me.

Surely the solution is to be kind and tolerant, jog on the spot thus not ruining the focus and allow the owner to grab the dog. Running off with it in pursuit is never going to be ideal is it?

Or ‘be kind’ and train your dog properly/keep it on a lead/let it off the lead in a safe and enclosed space. I don’t see anything kind about letting your dog run free to chase after runners - which for the runner can range from being a fairly inconvenient situation to quite a frightening one depending on how they feel about dogs.

Urghh to all those saying you should have stopped your run / run back are clearly not runners!! I wouldn’t have stopped at all. If you are training why should your run be ruined

Dogs need to run off lead every day to stay healthy and they learn perfect recall by being off lead.

No they don’t. On either account. Another excuse for dog owners to think they can do what they like.

@Tillysfad

You're not wrong, just mean.

We can go back and forth but this sums it up. Absolutely.

You were inconsiderate then swore at them and threatened them. Yes, they did something wrong. You however lacked grace and decency. I despair of society sometimes.

@MiddleOfThePack

Thank god you and some other reasonable runners exist and are prepared to let common sense prevail and have knowledge about the unpredictability of many animals in annoying situations that sometimes happen.

@BoredZelda

Dogs need to run off lead every day to stay healthy and they learn perfect recall by being off lead.

No they don’t. On either account. Another excuse for dog owners to think they can do what they like.

absolutely

if you can't give a pet what it needs without inconveniencing others then maybe consider not getting that pet.

Of course the dogs should have been under control, but I'd have doubled back as soon as I knew they were joining me because I'm not an arse.

I was once on a mountain bike not going overly fast when a dog started trying to attack me and the owner screamed at me to stop. Once she grabbed the dog she said I hadn't realised they would encounter cyclists when it was a track that had cyclist signage every few meters because it was a cyclist forest route.

Seriously there are a lot of daft or entitled dog owners. As a dog owner you are responsible for your dog and yes they can be unpredictable but as a dog owner you do know if your dog is a runner chaser and therefore you need to anticipate runners etc because we all share the same space and humans tend to have priority over dogs.

@mumof2exhausted

Urghh to all those saying you should have stopped your run / run back are clearly not runners!! I wouldn’t have stopped at all. If you are training why should your run be ruined

Yes why would you slightly inconvenience yourself to help someone out.

@purplesequins

If people weren’t prepared to go through the sometimes agonisingly embarrassing and extreme patience you need to train a dog, go through hit and miss training to becoming solidly trained - so many dogs would be in shelters and not loving homes.

If people were just a tad more considerate and sympathetic to dog owners who are really trying their best to have a well behaved pet, life would be so much easier for all.

* If people were just a tad more considerate and sympathetic to dog owners who are really trying their best to have a well behaved pet, life would be so much easier for all.*

Yes. All dog owner are angels. Perfect saints. Just desperately being considerate all the time. Without exception. Those poor dog owners. Bless them. Just trying their very best. They should be rewarded with a medal perhaps

@Unsure1983

You were inconsiderate then swore at them and threatened them. Yes, they did something wrong. You however lacked grace and decency. I despair of society sometimes.

Exactly right. Some people are just the worst, probably the same ones that wouldn't give up their seat for a pregnant woman or let the person with one item go before them at the checkout! Where are the decent people?

'Then how do idiot owners learn? They won't change their behaviour or 'be kind' themselves unless there are consequences.'

They don't learn but as I said running off with dogs running after you is never going to help is it. You can't teach everyone a lesson! just deal with situations as they arise. Jogging on the spot to allow them to grab the dog is not a hardship surely.

@Reallyimeanreally2022

Not at all, I’ve encountered disgusting owners who nearly let their dog kill mine and ran off. Twice.

Hardly saints, simply in this case the inconvenience was a few seconds that could have really avoided a problem. Not that the OP doesn’t have a right to run the dogs miles away up to a road - she does and so she did.