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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To have carried on running?

718 replies

OdettySpaghetti · 02/10/2021 08:06

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?

OP posts:
MissCrowley · 02/10/2021 08:21

I don't run but I do have a dog. YANBU in the slightest. There's nothing that winds me up more than "cutesy" dogs being off lead and their owners having absolutely no control over them. Fuck them. Hopefully they'll keep them on a lead in future.

Honeyroar · 02/10/2021 08:21

Yes the dogs should’ve been under control but seriously- how difficult would it have been to have paused for a minute initially when you realised the dogs were following you and the owners struggling to catch them? Just jogged on the spot or something for a minute until they rectified the problem. It would have been the nice thing to do, even if legally you were right.

Popskipiekin · 02/10/2021 08:23

I think you ought to have stopped when they (the dogs) were running with you to begin with. Annoying, but a brief disruption to your run and on you go once they’ve been collared. Very odd that the dogs had such a poor recall- and I guess I would have at first assumed in your position that after I’d run some distance they would eventually go back to owners. But once that wasn’t happening I would have stopped rather than take them further away from owners.

DDiva · 02/10/2021 08:24

No it's not your responsibility to stop, they should have them on leads if they wont recall.

However it does sound like you went some way away from the owners. There must have been a point you realised the owners would not be able to catch up and you could have stopped to allow then to retrieve the dogs. You could have suggested they should have been on a lead then.

MoiraRose4 · 02/10/2021 08:26

I’m a bit torn on this one. I’m a runner and also a dog owner. A dog who I have trained and trained and trained, and whose recall is good most of the time, but sometimes he just pisses off and ignores me. I try really hard to pre-empt this and put him on lead when I see distractions, but again, sometimes he gets away from me. In those circumstances I would be hugely appreciative of someone who stopped for 2 minutes so I could catch up and get him. And I would apologise profusely.

So I think you could have stopped, but I understand why you didn’t want to.

PlonkyWillyWonky · 02/10/2021 08:27

Would it really have hurt you just to have jogged on the spot for a few minutes?
A bit of kindness goes a long way

ToCutALongStoryShort · 02/10/2021 08:27

Yanbu the dogs should have been on leads, how dare they blame you for them not controlling THEIR dogs.

TheWholeWorld · 02/10/2021 08:27

@Honeyroar

Yes the dogs should’ve been under control but seriously- how difficult would it have been to have paused for a minute initially when you realised the dogs were following you and the owners struggling to catch them? Just jogged on the spot or something for a minute until they rectified the problem. It would have been the nice thing to do, even if legally you were right.
I think the owners learned a valuable lesson tbh. A lesson that I don't think they'd have learned if she hung around waiting for the owners to grab their dogs.
Nomoreusernames1244 · 02/10/2021 08:27

I’d be pointing out that if I had been one of these dog stealers that are everywhere, their dogs would be long gone. Train them so they won’t be so easy to steal.

Let them share that on facebook. Be careful of runners trying to steal your poodlydoodle.

Thecatisboss · 02/10/2021 08:29

You were definitely not being unreasonable! The dogs should only be let off lead if they had reliable recall as a runner who has had dogs go for me when running as well.

MoreAloneTime · 02/10/2021 08:29

I agree, if you do stop and look after the dog the owners aren't going to learn to control them.

HelloDaisy · 02/10/2021 08:29

As others have said, you could have been kind and slowed down or run back towards them so they could get their dogs.

Kindness, tolerance and decency seem to be vanishing in society sadly…

MotherOfCrocodiles · 02/10/2021 08:31

I would have been scared if two dogs had chased me into the woods! Yanbu.

DobbyTheHouseElk · 02/10/2021 08:31

YANBU

This really annoys me when I’m running, the amount of dogs who try to join in, trip me up, jump up etc. owners laugh and say oh they are friendly they aren’t going to hurt you. I think FFS they will if I trip over them.

No recall, no off lead.

I like dogs, but I don’t like irresponsible owners.

InpatientGardener · 02/10/2021 08:31

YANBU and if their dogs chase runners I bet they would also chase horse riders and then theyll have more to worry about than their dogs getting onto the road.

MiddleClassProblem · 02/10/2021 08:32

Majority of dogs at some point would feel concerned that they weren’t in a decent range of their owner. It may be that the dogs thought that they were traveling in the same direction so they wouldn’t lose them, all is fine. Sometimes, depending on the dog, it’s better for an owner to change direction to show the dog they will be left behind/going the wrong way because if you are following and not keeping up it can seem, to the dog like you are either joining in or that you will get to them, it’s ok.

Basically, you did the right thing. Their recall should be better and if their dog doesn’t think in that invisible line to their owner way, they should be on lead or a long line. And the owner should understand dog psychology better because if they do think in the invisible line way, if you keep coming closer they will never see the line limit and have no reason to come back. Not that a dog with good recall should be behaving like this, just that it’s a tactic if your dog isn’t responding.

But it also requires the dog to look back and/or the owner to signal a change of direction.

I bet if you had stopped or run back to the owners they wouldn’t have put them on lead until you were clear or the rest of the walk and it would have happened again.

Indecisivelurcher · 02/10/2021 08:32

Personally I would have stopped to let them catch the dogs.

SudokuWillNotSaveYou · 02/10/2021 08:32

I’m a bit surprised the posters recommending that since we’re “decent” people, OP should have done some “kinder” solution that expects zero responsibility from the owners. So that’s it now? We’re decent, so everyone else can be an arsehole? Because it seems like about 50% of MN threads are started by people who live their lives like that and have finally realized it won’t work forever. How many OPs start or feature, “I’m terrible with confrontation,” “I’m such a people-pleaser,” “I didn’t want to cause a fuss,” “I was so flustered over (potential minor fallout from not being a doormat),” and so on. Exactly how many men do you think, when someone has been a irresponsible prat (like these dog owners) and fucked something up for them (like OP’s run), think, “Oh, well, I best make it as easy for them as possible since I’m a decent person.” So why the fuck do we have to?!

Ostagazuzulum · 02/10/2021 08:33

Yes they should have good recall etc but it was arsey if you not to just either run back or stop so they could grab them. Give them half a chance.

esloquehay · 02/10/2021 08:33

The dogs are clearly not your responsibility, and people who don't have adequate control of their dogs off lead really piss me off.
However, would it have really inconvenienced you so very much to have stopped running for a short period of time?!

YourFinestPantaloons · 02/10/2021 08:34

I wouldn't have even taken them back. You were very good to do that OP!

I've had dogs running next to me a few times and the owners shout "Stop running!". I just shout "nope" - I'm not breaking my built up momentum because someone else is a fucking idiot

IamJuliaJohnson · 02/10/2021 08:34

I hate dog owners who have no recall of their dogs/ no understanding that dogs need to have good recall.

But they’ve already messed up your run, so I think from your description I would have stopped as you went into the woodland and calmly but politely stated that if the dogs won’t recall they need to keep them closer and that in future you won’t be prepared to disrupt your run.

But as a runner I think you do have to be reasonable about stopping sometimes. I get it, I hate stopping mid run, but as the fastest moving thing on the footpath in general you do have to yield sometimes.

Dazzledrop · 02/10/2021 08:34

I’m not a big fan of dogs and completely agree with all the PP’s saying the owners should have been able to control their dogs.

That being said by not stopping for 10 seconds in the first place when you realised what was happening you actually created a bigger problem for yourself… regardless of the principle of the matter sometimes it’s easier to just do the generous/accommodating thing and then you wouldn’t have needed to run back so far.

Lovemusic33 · 02/10/2021 08:35

The dogs shouldn’t be off the lead if they have a rubbish recall, why should you have to stop when it’s their untrained dogs that have run off. You should be charging them for exercising their dogs, sounds like they had a good run 🤣

thedancingbear · 02/10/2021 08:35

These people are arseholes, OP.

They should train their dogs to have proper recall.

You did the right thing. Thank you.