Dog owner angry because i walked away from his dog

[Mooo111]

I admit I'm a little nervous of certain dogs, I just think 'never say never'.
Anyway just before I was walking in the street and a pitbull type dog was off its lead walking past me. I moved to the other side of the pavement to let them past.
The owner (a young man) took great offence at this snapping, 'He's friendly, he wouldn't be off the lead if he wasn't, Jesus Christ!" Then walked off muttering obscenities.

I didn't respond just carried on walking. Has anyone else met this sort of situation? I'm within my rights to move out of the way of the dog if I want to. Of course owners will always say he/she is friendly but it can be intimidating when a dog you don't know runs up to you.

A couple of years ago I was walking a friend’s dog. He is a lovely, friendly little thing and totally ball obsessed. He loves people. He is very obedient, will walk to heel and has excellent recall. We always walk him on the lead on the street though.
He doesn’t much care for exuberant puppies though and will try and get away from them.
One day in a park a springer puppy ran up to him whilst he was chasing his ball. The owner wouldn’t/ couldn’t call the dog off. I was getting more and more stressed as the puppy was jumping all over my dog( which was trying his best to ignore it- all he wanted to do was chase his ball). In the end my dog gave a warning nip and the puppy ran away yelping. No blood was drawn, I stayed and checked.
I felt really cross with the puppy’s owner.

Not everyone likes dogs so YANBU. Just because their dog is 'friendly' doesn't mean everyone wants it approaching them.

It's the same with off lead dogs with no recall around on lead dogs. My dog is nervous of other dogs and off lead dogs approaching makes her anxious - but I get told their dog is friendly!! Well mine is nervous - recall it or back off!

You were doing what an allergic person would do. He is a prick. Don't give it any more headspace.

@Dontcallmebabylalala

The same could be said about many breeds. Something could go wrong in any dog's head, although that is pretty rare. It by no means that we should treat them like ticking time bombs. From what Samphire has said, she is a responsible dog owner. What more do you want?

Your dog is bound to cause a serious or fatal injury of something suddenly goes wrong in its head one day.

I would be horrified if your dog came close to me. And I love dogs.

Another goady, overblown reaction! You say you "love dogs", but you posted I’ll celebrate the day when dogs of this and similar breeds are finally banned. further up the thread - how can you say you love dogs when you want entire breeds wiped out because of your prejudice?

I notice you didn't respond to my post earlier in direct reply to you, asking which breeds you deem to be "of this and similar breeds" that you want to have killed. Or for that matter what breeds you, in your infinite wisdom & god-like knowledge of dogs, are considered "safe" breeds.

Some dog owner are just so in their own box. They know the dog, like dogs and dont get that other people are not always happy for any random dog to sniff around, poke their nose into your knee or your lunch etc. Also he might be sure that his dog is ok but there are people who let their dog off the lead and dont care about what the dog does.

You are perfectly fine to move where you want. I get how this has upset you.

@Prescottdanni123
Yes, every dog can bite. Not every dog can attack to death and certain types of dogs are very capable. I don’t want to see these dogs anywhere near me and my children. I value my children’s life more than someone’s taste for a certain breed. They are tickling time bombs. Anyone who thinks otherwise is in denial.

Actually every dog can kill, even the smallest.

What kind of breed do you think mine is? It's not on the dangerous dogs list, never caused a death in the UK, according to the yearly lists.

So...

@Allergictoironing
Prejudice?? I value the relationship you can build with a dog. But I will never, ever put a dog above humans life. My lovely kind fluffy and all excuses…(fill the gap) spaniel I grew up with once gave me a bite when I was a child. I didn’t need stitches but it scared me a lot. Was not my dogs fault but I don’t want to imagine what happens if there was another breed in the place of my dog. Things happen. Some dogs are biologically and anatomically stronger and genetically predisposed to attacks. There is nothing I can say to change your dangerous dog lovers minds.

He’s just a man thinking it’s OK to bully and belittle a woman in the street.

I was out with DH last week when we passed a man with a lovely big dog well controlled on a lead. The dog stopped and looked inquiringly at us, in the way dogs do when they want to make friends. The man said to his dog: “They don’t know you. You’re not friends with everybody, you know.”

That’s how it ought to be.

@SamphiretheStickerist

Off lead he was unreasonable. But I do get him being pissed off.

I have a "pit bull type" dog. He's a bull terrier. I keep him on a lead unless we are somewhere enclosed that actively encourages off lead dogs.

Every week, sometime every bloody day, someone will say "A pit bull. They're dangerous them dogs. Should be muzzled." etc etc etc.

I get protective. He is, as are most if the breed, walking cuddles, happy to meet people, never aggressive. Don't get me wrong, I don't trust that it rely on that. He's a dog. And dog's and people can be unpredictable. But I do dislike the assumption that he's a "pit bull type" and bound to be aggressive.

Here he is, filthy having had a blast playing with his ball in a dog park. He was drinking, attached to the back of the car, and some bloke walked up to me and started shouting about him being dangerous and out of control! Like the man you met, OP, I took exception and told him to fuck off.

Well he is lovely- used to have an EBT but people are more wary of them because of how they look, get it’s annoying but it’s understandable. I don’t think you can conflate the OP’s situation with the one you describe, she didn’t shout at anyone, she just crossed the road. I have the opposite problem with my dog who looks cute so people approach him, he’s not at all friendly with people he does not know so feel like I’m constantly saying “best not to stroke him/let your tiny child stroke him because he doesn’t like it”

His reaction demonstrates very clearly why you were right to cross the road. Any reasonable person would have not even batted an eyelid.

@Frozenlikeablockofmarble

He’s just a man thinking it’s OK to bully and belittle a woman in the street.

I was out with DH last week when we passed a man with a lovely big dog well controlled on a lead. The dog stopped and looked inquiringly at us, in the way dogs do when they want to make friends. The man said to his dog: “They don’t know you. You’re not friends with everybody, you know.”

That’s how it ought to be.

Yep!

It is completely unacceptable for any dog to be walked along the pavement off the lead. No one else knows or gives a shit at how brilliantly you have trained your dog to walk to heel. They can see a dog is under control if it is on the lead though.

The guy was a dick with a chip on his shoulder.

@Philisophigal

When I'm supreme leader, people found walking their dogs off a lead in a public place are banned for life from owning dogs.

I totally disagree with you, however, my friend is deputy leader of a county council and also has her own ward to deal with (including a beach), and she jokes that if dogs were banned it would reduce her workload by about 90%.

I love dogs and have had a few over the years

I absolutely can’t stand people that say “don’t worry, my dog’s fine”

You’re not in the wrong here

@Allergictoironing
Please answer to one direct question yourself. Is the recent tragic death of a young toddler girl worth your whataboutery about how it’s never dogs, it’s always owners and your attempts to suppress me with your dog breed quizzes? If it was illegal to own this breed, this girl wouldn’t have died. Period.

I often have dogs come my way when I am sat on the grass in a park. Sometimes I am eating lunch which I guess makes me even more attractive for them. But generally people either dont even know wheere their dog is and if they do, they seem not to care at all. I dont feel like shouting at them to keep the dog away from me would make it any better so I get up so they dont get into my face or whatever I have in my hands /lunch, crocheting baby stuff, book.../ and hope for the dog to go away .

Some owners are idiots. I was walking on my own once and a huge dog came up and was booffing me from behind and pushing my hand. I ignored it as I was nervous and the owner yelled out "Never mind dog name, some people aren't very nice"

@Bananabutter

YANBU. Any sane person would walk away from those type of dogs.

thats a judgemental post, my mothers shih tzu, is the nastiest dog I have ever met. I have never met a nasty bull breed !

Most people who have these scary looking breeds are lacking elsewhere in their lives.
Zero reason to own a large attack style dog, loads of breeds out there that are soft mouthed and can be managed by their owners.

Trouble is, many dog owners expect random strangers to love their dogs as much as they do and lack any understanding towards those who don't.

There is a reason certain legal breeds are highly sought after for illegal Dog fighting and others are not.

You were quite right to be cautious and also absolutely right to walk away. Getting into a conversation in that situation would be pointless.

Ridiculous and proves some owners are twats secind thread today like this

MY late dm was petrified of dogs didnt like them near her or off leads no matter what the size and would ave done the same-dnt worry about the twat

Yes that is true, if that dog was of a breed that was classed as illegal then that child wouldn't have died. Unless the parents had bought a different large adult dog, of a different breed, that wasn't yet on the banned list e.g. a German Shepherd, or a Husky/Mamlute, or a Chow cross, or a standard English Bulldog, which may or may not have attacked the child.

I wasn't trying to suppress you at all - I asked a simple question about what breeds YOU considered dangerous and should be banned.

The problem is, any large & most medium breeds of dog have the potential to cause death if they attack. There have even been cases of babies & small children being killed by small terrier breeds in the UK.

Though I can find no records of any deaths caused by Bull Terriers - the breed owned by @SamphiretheStickerist, the dog you state is "bound to cause a serious or fatal injury ".

I should add that I voted YANBU, I'm no apologist for badly behaved dogs or badly behaved owners.