Puppy jumping on exercising man

[disculpe]

Perfectly happy to be told I'm being U but I don't think I am. Took my 10 month old puppy (German shepherd) out for a walk this morning with my DS. As most puppies that age are, she is naturally cheeky and pushes the boundaries at times. She is pretty much always walked on a leash because most of the time it's too busy and if she sees another dog she will go mad and try to play as well as jump up on them, so we are careful to make sure she's not able to play with dogs who don't want to play, and so she doesn't knock children over in her excitement.
There is a field near us where we often take the dog on Sat and Sun mornings. It's always quiet on weekend mornings, not many dogs there, and we have been letting her off the lead to play ball there and teach her to come back to us without having to worry about other people or dogs. Was all going well this morning - she was fetching the ball nicely and when people walked past us along the path she completely ignored them and carried on being well behaved. Then a man on a bike stopped about 15 feet from us. He could clearly see us as he kept looking over. Then he started exercising, even though this field is huge and he could have exercised literally anywhere else, a lot further away from a woman, young child and unpredictable puppy. My dog ignored him, carried on playing fetch so I didn't put her on her leash because she was behaving. After about 10 minutes this man started doing push ups and something about that movement excited my dog and she ran over to him, putting her face in his and running around him trying to play. I'm not defending her behavior, I would never want her doing that to anyone and completely understand that German shepherds are big and can look intimidating, and not everyone wants a dog in their face. He started screaming and shouting at me about how I should control my dog, I managed to get her back on her leash and then shouted back at him that of all the places he chose to exercise was within a few feet of me when there was a huge area with no dogs in it that he could have chosen instead. Got my dog back on the lead and walked home with my son. When I got home I realized just how intimidating his behavior was - what sort of person chooses to encroach on someone's space like that? Especially a strange man getting uncomfortably close to a lone woman and child. I know I could have put my dog on her leash and found another spot to play ball as soon as he turned up but the stubborn bitch in me was like "I was here first" and I assumed that as he'd chosen to be there he wasn't too concerned about my dog. I messaged my husband (he's working away) the second I got back and he said no decent man would get that close to an unknown woman in a field when there was ample space elsewhere because decent men don't want to make women feel uncomfortable. So, AIBU for getting angry with him and for not putting my dog on a leash the second he pitched up next to us or was he BU?

As someone who usually says dogs should be on leads. I don't think YABU. you were there first, he could see a dog off lead running around. He didn't have to be in that space. If he'd just cycled down a cycle route and your dog had chased him it would be different.

Part of me thinks he was even scoping it out to see the temperament of your dog.

I love training outside. But I wouldn't train in the nearby vicinity of someone throwing for their dog if the field was big and empty .

And I do think OP should have clipped her dog onto a lead once someone else got there.

I absolutely despise the entitled opinions of some people in this thread.

"Us humans should be able to go wherever we please, regardless of how much it might convenience others!!" How can people not see how arrogant that is? The poor woman was letting the dog off the lead for a bit of play-time. Why on earth should the pup be restricted to a lead just because some idiot HAS to exercise on that spot? Yes, she could have moved away, but who's to say the man wouldn't have followed her to the next spot?

Sounds like fault on both sides really. It's a bit odd that the man didn't choose a different spot further away, you should have stopped your dog, but his reaction sounds OTT.

@ChamberofSecrets69
If she could of controlled the dog wouldn't really matter how close he was.

@ChamberofSecrets69 if anyone sounds entitled it's the OP! She got there first so she can do what she likes? Also why is the man an 'idiot' for exercising ??

Are you a similarly entitled dog owner @ChamberofSecrets69? If a dog is off its lead it should have perfect recall and be under control at all times - it shouldn’t matter if someone decides to do press ups 15 feet from it, your dog shouldn’t jump all over them - just as if a cyclist rode past, or a runner ran part, or a child kicked a football 15 feet from it.
Too many dog owners seem to think that they’re entitled to sole use of a wide circumference of public space - and no-one should complain if they ‘encroach’ on that space and their dog jumps on them (or worse). You see it time and time again on here - people being told to either walk, exercise or play where there aren’t dogs () or use ‘no dogs allowed’ areas - as if dog owners always abide by those rules (we all know they don’t)

[quote lollipoprainbow]@ChamberofSecrets69 if anyone sounds entitled it's the OP! She got there first so she can do what she likes? Also why is the man an 'idiot' for exercising ?? [/quote]
Sorry, where in my post did I say he's an idiot for exercising?

@SirChenjins

Are you a similarly entitled dog owner *@ChamberofSecrets69*? If a dog is off its lead it should have perfect recall and be under control at all times - it shouldn’t matter if someone decides to do press ups 15 feet from it, your dog shouldn’t jump all over them - just as if a cyclist rode past, or a runner ran part, or a child kicked a football 15 feet from it. Too many dog owners seem to think that they’re entitled to sole use of a wide circumference of public space - and no-one should complain if they ‘encroach’ on that space and their dog jumps on them (or worse). You see it time and time again on here - people being told to either walk, exercise or play where there aren’t dogs () or use ‘no dogs allowed’ areas - as if dog owners always abide by those rules (we all know they don’t)

And how do people train their dogs to have perfect recall if they're not allowed off the lead?

You really have to ask that? They could take them to a dog only area, or to training classes, or book a dog field, or if they can’t do that they can keep them on the lead.

Please don't play the vulnerable lone woman card - none of us know the layout of the field to know whether it was reasonable if he exercised further away or not. You were being unreasonable not to have control of the dog and should have apologised profusely instead you made it about you 🤷‍♀️

YABU not to put your puppy on a lead.
YABVU to connect this with women's safety

You sound massively entitled. I'm actually angry that you would bring your personal safety as a woman into this and reference the awful murders recently. When you caused the situation. If a big dog was jumping up at me I'd shout too.

Please have some self reflection and think about how disgusting it is to drag the awful recent incidents into this to try to justify your own crappy lazy behaviour in controlling your dog. Honestly I'm astounded.

FFS - He was shouting not because he was ‘aggressive’ and ‘entitled’ but because what looks like an out of control Alsatian had turned on him.

Who wouldn’t be scared??

Are you a similarly entitled dog owner @ChamberofSecrets69? If a dog is off its lead it should have perfect recall and be under control at all times - it shouldn’t matter if someone decides to do press ups 15 feet from it, your dog shouldn’t jump all over them - just as if a cyclist rode past, or a runner ran part, or a child kicked a football 15 feet from it.

But dogs don’t learn ‘perfect recall’ unless they’re actually trained to do it. An empty field is exactly the place to let your dog off lead and practise. OP should definitely have put the dog on lead once the man turned up, which she acknowledged, but she wasn’t unreasonable to have her dog off-lead in an empty field for recall practice.

We let our puppy off lead when there is no one else around and put him back on if we see someone approaching. In the OP’s scenario I would have moved away and/or put the dog on lead as soon as the man arrived because I know my puppy would definitely have found him too distracting. But I would have been very irritated at someone choosing to exercise right next to us if there genuinely was a whole field available to use!

@FirewomanSam

Are you a similarly entitled dog owner @ChamberofSecrets69? If a dog is off its lead it should have perfect recall and be under control at all times - it shouldn’t matter if someone decides to do press ups 15 feet from it, your dog shouldn’t jump all over them - just as if a cyclist rode past, or a runner ran part, or a child kicked a football 15 feet from it.

But dogs don’t learn ‘perfect recall’ unless they’re actually trained to do it. An empty field is exactly the place to let your dog off lead and practise. OP should definitely have put the dog on lead once the man turned up, which she acknowledged, but she wasn’t unreasonable to have her dog off-lead in an empty field for recall practice.

We let our puppy off lead when there is no one else around and put him back on if we see someone approaching. In the OP’s scenario I would have moved away and/or put the dog on lead as soon as the man arrived because I know my puppy would definitely have found him too distracting. But I would have been very irritated at someone choosing to exercise right next to us if there genuinely was a whole field available to use!

I’ll repeat - They could take them to a dog only area, or to training classes, or book a dog field, or if they can’t do that they can keep them on the lead.

Neither of you are in the right.

Your dog is your responsibility and whatever someone else does it's your fault that your dog assaulted this man.

He sounds like a right arsehole. Yes it was a poor decision to be so close to you and he should never have shouted etc.

2 wrongs dont make a right.

Just learn from the incident.

Do yourself a favour and never ever post on here about a dog being unleashed.
This is an anti dog forum.

10 month old GSD's are pretty huge (I have two) so by calling her a puppy you seem to be trying to give the impression of some little pup gamboling around, which is not the case.

The 'I was here first' comment is childish, it was a public area. He was unreasonable in his interactions with you, but he had every right to be there and every right to exercise there, as did you. The issue only arose because you didn't control your dog.

@Moonface123

Do yourself a favour and never ever post on here about a dog being unleashed. This is an anti dog forum.

It’s an anti poorly trained dog/arrogant dog owner forum

I’ll repeat - They could take them to a dog only area, or to training classes, or book a dog field, or if they can’t do that they can keep them on the lead.

I don’t know any ‘dog only areas’ near me. Bookable fields and training classes are great but dogs need to practise in ‘real world’ settings too. It’s all about setting your dog up for success though. I’d never put my dog in a position where he’d have the opportunity to jump on people off-lead. Like I said, his lead goes on when we see people approaching. OP was silly to let her dog run around near the man when she knew full well the dog wasn’t fully trained, but she’s acknowledged that and admitted she did so out of stubbornness - that’s basically setting your dog up to fail! She wasn’t unreasonable to have the dog off lead in an empty field before the man arrived though.

By that logic, perhaps the man should have gone to the gym instead of using the field 🤷‍♀️

No she wasn’t unreasonable to have it off lead in an empty field - but it certainly shouldn’t have been off lead when someone else turned up and while it was still in training. Dog owners don’t get to experiment with ‘real world’ settings at the expense of other people using shared public spaces.

@FirewomanSam

I’ll repeat - They could take them to a dog only area, or to training classes, or book a dog field, or if they can’t do that they can keep them on the lead.

I don’t know any ‘dog only areas’ near me. Bookable fields and training classes are great but dogs need to practise in ‘real world’ settings too. It’s all about setting your dog up for success though. I’d never put my dog in a position where he’d have the opportunity to jump on people off-lead. Like I said, his lead goes on when we see people approaching. OP was silly to let her dog run around near the man when she knew full well the dog wasn’t fully trained, but she’s acknowledged that and admitted she did so out of stubbornness - that’s basically setting your dog up to fail! She wasn’t unreasonable to have the dog off lead in an empty field before the man arrived though.

@firewomanSam 100% agree

@ChamberofSecrets69

By that logic, perhaps the man should have gone to the gym instead of using the field 🤷‍♀️

Unless the man was going to jump over the woman and man while he was exercising then no, that’s not logic