To expect people to stop their dog jumping up at me?

[NevertooearlyforGin]

I enjoy walking at our local beauty spot which is a very large forest and heath area, it’s very popular with dog walkers. The problem is I really don’t like large dogs running up to me and jumping up at me which seems to happen most times I go, usually the dog owner is some distance behind so they can’t see their dog jumping up at me.

This happened again today, and a large dog and two smaller ones ran up to me and jumped up, the big ones paws reached my armpits. For context I was attacked by an Alsatian at the age of 9 in our local park, I don’t assume all dogs are aggressive but I am nervous around large dogs.

Today I plucked up the courage to say something to the owner, I asked him to stop his dog jumping up at me because I am scared of large dogs. He was very arrogant and laughed at me and said then I’d ‘come to the wrong place.’ As if the countryside exists for dog owners and nobody else and I was being ridiculous expecting him to control his pets.

The area is managed through grazing by the local forestry commission (usually hardy breeds of ponies, sheep and cows), there are frequent incidents of animals being worried and often mauled by dogs, I’ve seen this happen and there are signs saying that animals that don’t have a string recall should be kept on leads.

AIBU?

Not even sure how or when the off lead trend started but it's ridiculous.

Brilliant. So my dog, who has never ever bothered anyone in his life, who enjoys his walks needs to stop them and play some mind games at home instead? Why exactly? I don't understand why I am 'sodding' anyone. What have I done?

Thank you! Where are these people living? I love dogs and would love them to come up to me and never do, I obviously need to move to where all these people live 😂

Can I ask how you are qualified to say dogs don’t need off the lead walks? Genuinely curious as to whether this is true.m, as it’s against everything I’ve seen before. Thanks

Sorry my previous post was to @threegoodthings

YANBU I go for walks with patients behind a large MH trust I actually think it's trust property . For some reason people think it's acceptable to let dogs off lead, who then jump up. I've told lots of them to put their dogs on the lead if the dog ends up getting injured or the patient it would be horrendous. I don't know why people would be so brainless.

It’s a nightmare. A former recent dog owner and current dog lover here. Even before the lockdown explosion of first-time owners I reckon I was chased every run by at least one off-lead dog with an inattentive or arrogant owner with no control over it, on the urban waterside promenade where we lived. A promenade where people take their unsteady toddlers because there is no motorised vehicle access and the rest of the area is busy streets with lots of junctions and traffic.
My last dog had very poor recall, I got her at two years old with none and made little progress. She was soft as butter, short on brains and not a jumper, but she was a bulldog so looked scary to a lot of people and many dogs don’t react well to them and she might have trotted up to them. I walked her there every day and she was always on the lead. There was a grassy rectangle off the promenade at one point and I would let her off there for a run if no one was around
I have no problem myself with off-lead dogs with total recall or owners who slip the lead on when they see other dogs on lead approaching, toddlers, or small children on scooters or livestock. The numbers of hopeless owners is horrendous though and the aggression if they are politely asked to recall their dog! If you are lucky you get told they are friendly, if it’s a man, as it often seems to be, you’ve a high chance of getting told to fuck off.
People walking their dogs with their eyes glued to their phones don’t help either. So sad too, not interacting with their dog. I loved walked my, all very different, dogs and chatting to them, stopping for smells, playing games with them etc. enjoying the views.

If things don’t change we could go the way of Portugal where I live now. By law dogs must be on a lead in public areas and highways. In some public areas they may be off-lead if muzzled as long as they aren’t a breed categorised as Dangerous or Potentially Dangerous. Now this is so widely ignored that you would probably never guess it, more so in rural areas, particularly on roads and streets, but I’ve no doubt if it happened in the U.K. it would be much more strictly enforced, largely because of all the understandably irate elderly people, parents of small children and owners of reactive dogs or puppies in training who have been knocked flying, scratched and grazed or traumatised by out of control off-lead dogs. There will be photos taken on phones, Facebook appeals and reports to the police or dog warden.

Dogs with good manners and their well-mannered owners will suffer the loss of the chance to run and play off-lead because of lazy, fuckwit owners. My lovely Dalmation (penultimate dog) was a joy to behold doing great arcs to rejoin me along the rural river bank and neighbouring open grass l’d walk her to every evening. She had perfect recall. What a shame for her to be stuck on a lead outside her own garden.

I don’t see why some good dog owners get very defensive about these threads. Good dog owners and dog lovers have more to lose than non dog owners; surely very few haven’t experienced the very same problems that are being complained about. If they are lucky enough not to, do they really think everyone else is making it up?

Dog People: If some great big twat of a dog jumps up at me and puts his sharp claws on my skin and covers me in mud, what should I actually do to make it fuck off ?

a) Kick it in the cock
b) Punch it on the nose
c) Hang it by the collar on a branch
d) Something else ?

If your dog is off lead then there's no way it will never have bothered anybody. It may not be jumping up and attacking people but its off lead presence will bother people. If it's just trotting along beside you then why not just have it on a lead? Because it's not trotting along beside you is it.

YANBU. He’ll be laughing on the other side of his face if his dog bites someone!

I am every so sorry. But if me and my dog are nowhere near anyone and all parties are minding their own business, it literally isn't my problem. He's not. We normally play ball. He goes on his lead on the way to the fields and back.

Quite a few entitled dog owners on this thread, aptly demonstrating exactly the very problem about which the rest of us are complaining.

We do not care how “friendly” your dog is: we do not want it to jump up on us. It’s an invasion of our space, often results in dirtied or damaged clothes and this desire is entirely reasonably!

Not all dogs have cocks, your answers are flawed.

Well, kick it in the tits then I dunno.

Would love to know what the right reaction is to make it get down immediately and not do it again.

That's lovely. But just because your dog has never as much as looked in the direction of a human doesn't negate the fact that in general, dogs off lead are at best an irritation and at worst a danger. This thread isn't just about you and your dog

And I've said it is where exactly?

I don’t think one dog owner has said it’s okay to have their dog jump up on you? From what I’ve read on this forum they have all said it’s not okay and they have trained their dog not to do this or put them on the lead when people approach? I’m really confused by your post

Where are they then? Whose said it's ok for a dog to jump up someone? I must've missed that post

Fair enough @FromWalesAndBackAgain - I’ll rephrase.

There are some serious dog apologists on the thread. Like @GloriousGlory , for example - my exchange with her about a different dog issue, where she suggested the solution to an inconsiderate neighbour causing nuisance noise by allowing their dog to bark for over an hour, disturbing everyone’s peace (and my concentration while I tried to work from home), was for me to buy noise cancelling headphones - not actually complain. Completely ridiculous.

This

Thing is the people who wouldn’t allow this are not the problem and people who allow their dogs to run wild leaping all over people just don’t care what you think or feel op sadly it then reflects on dog owners who do take responsibility, train their dogs etc. I have a bouncy retriever, who absolutely would jump all over someone, however he is always on lead in public places.

he gets lovely long walks in the countryside and free runs on private dog field’s whilst we train his recall and sort out the jumping up. They have to learn but to learn you do have to exit the house, but that does not mean they can just be allowed to jump on someone. He’s a big dog, and could easily knock someone over. I get there are people who don’t like dogs and don’t want them near but that doesn’t mean my on lead controlled dog isn’t allowed out for a walk. Mind games are great we use them if it’s pouring down or just for fun but they don’t replace physical exercise and the right to be allowed to walk our dogs wherever we like. Blame inconsiderate dog owners don’t lump us all in together.

There should be fines for allowing your dog essentially to assault other people. If I pushed over a 3 year old, for instance, that would be an assault. Why is it OK for a dog to be allowed to do this? Dogs jumping up at people isn't just unpleasant, they can cause scratches, falls and other injuries.

Almost as ridiculous as knocking on a door when the dogs barking and you think it's alone 😂!

Did you think it would answer and apologise?

The world does not revolve around you working from home.

Mine jumps up. He loves you even though he’s never met you. So I keep him on a lead when we’re out walking. I really don’t understand why dog owners can’t get this.

@GloriousGlory your insistent focus on a small point in my post, in which I mused whether it had been left at home (but going to knock in the hope it had not, so that I might get the owner to control his animal to stop it disturbing others) kind of typifies the dog apologist attitude. As does that owner’s response - he obviously didn’t give a fuck either about how distressed his dog was or how much noise it was making. Never apologise, never explain, eh?

The world does not revolve around people’s dogs - despite what many owners seem to think.