Was I rude/wrong in this situation?

[clankist]

Was out walking my two seven month chihuahuas today. I have treated them like dogs from day one and they are very well trained. They walk off lead absolutely fine and don't bother other dogs at all, however if a dog comes running over to them they will bolt.

Today I was walking them off lead and there were two big golden retriever with two women who were chatting. We were quite a distance away but one of the retrievers started barking and running towards me/my dogs. I put my hand out in a 'stop' motion as it got closer. I said, 'stop' and when that didn't work I said 'no'. That didn't work either and my dogs started to run away.

I moved away from the dogs and began to call for my dogs but the retriever kept following me so my dogs were standing watching at a distance but wouldn't come over due to the dog being next to me. I shouted across to the woman, 'can you please get your dog?' No reply and she continued talking.

I moved away again, calling my dogs and the dog followed me again. I looked at the lady and shouted, 'can you get your dog?' She didn't move.

I moved away again and the dog followed once again, at this point I was exasperated and said a little sternly, 'will You move your dog!?'

She came over and said, 'my dog isn't anywhere near your dogs' rudely.

I said, 'yeah because they ran away terrified due to your dog coming up to them. If your dog is off lead it shouldn't be running up to my dogs'

She went to say something but I just held up my hand and said, 'thank you'.

I then continued my walk with my dogs and the lady met another dog walker who then started pointing to me and shaking their head.

Did I do the right thing to deal with this situation or was I too sensitive? I just think you shouldn't have your dog off the lead unless you know they will not approach any other dogs without permission.

Putting your hand up in front of someone's face when they are talking is rude, yes.

Well you know that wasn't my question.

Surely if you canna trust your dugs nae to run aff then you dinna have them aff their leads either? 🤷🏻‍♀️

And I didn't put it in front of her face, we were a distance away.

Completely disagree. The only situation they run is when a random dog approaches them by running up and barking. I don't think it's much to ask dog owners to not allow that.

It's in the title of your post "was I rude." In my opinion that was rude.

The general rule is that if dogs are off lead then other dogs can approach them to play.

If you see dogs on lead, then you stop your dog from approaching them. Off lead dogs can play with each other.

If your dogs are a flight risk around other dogs then you need to keep them on a lead. If they had been on a lead, and that dog ran at you and your dogs, then you could shout to the woman to get her dog etc. But your dogs were off lead.

I don't think your dogs should be off lead if they might run off. You can't legislate for the behaviour of other people and their dogs.

Both sets of dogs were off lead so i would expect them to interact, and as an owner i would be confused by your reaction, as your dogs were off the lead and also weren't responding. I wouldn't have acted how the woman did but you were very rude!
If your dogs were on lead then this would be a different story.

But you can't 100% guarantee that won't happen, and that your dogs won't bolt. So they should be on a lead.

And yes, putting your hand up at someone's face is rude.

Yeah I mean it seems unnecessarily risky to not use a lead when you know they will bolt when approached.

People so often minimise their own involvement in these sorts of confrontations and exaggerate the poor behaviour of others. I think that that you are here, asking for people to validate your behaviour, you are already uncomfortable with how you acted.

I think you were both BU.

I'm not sure why you thought telling a strange dog "stop" "no" would work, and putting your hand up to someone talking is rude.

Your dogs shouldn't be off lead if they don't have great recall, and if their recall is impacted by other dogs being present then they should be on the lead. When the golden retriever started to approach, instead of holding up your hand and then resorting to saying "stop" you should have immediately put your dogs back on the lead.

Off lead dogs around here are assumed to be okay to interact, if your dogs aren't happy with that they should be on the lead.

If they run away when approached then you need to have them on a lead

Sounds like your dogs need to be on a lead if there are limits to their ability to be recalled by you! I don’t think you sound rude though, I can’t abide dog owners who need a prompt (or multiple prompts) to get their dog back under their control.

Dogs should only be off lead if you have 100% control.

the woman should not be letting her dog approach you. She didn’t have her dog under control by either lead or voice command.

Your dogs shouldn't be off if they bolt op. That's dangerous.

But no, other people's dogs shouldn't approach either without the ok from you

Your dogs should not be off lead if they will bolt. Off lead dogs play or are recalled if another dog approaches.

Context required. If you were in a field, park or country setting I would have just walked a different way. If you were on a pavement or close to a hazard you should have your dogs on a lead as should the other dog owner.

You don't have full control of your dogs, so they shouldn't be off lead.
Yes, you were rude, both in the way you spoke to the woman, and for expecting her to solve your problem for you.

Surely the etiquette is if your dogs are on lead then you wouldn't expect off lead dogs to approach at all, if they are off lead then I would expect that other off lead dogs approaching them wouldn't be a particular issue. Personally do train my dogs to wait till I tell them to go over regardless of on or off lead but it certainly wouldn't be a huge concern to me if another off lead dog approached them.

As yours don't have reliable recall and run off then I don't think they are trained enough to be off lead TBH.

Dogs should be on leads unless they are in an area that caters for them such as a dog park or that the owner can 100% guarantee their dogs recall.
I say this as a dog owner.
Too many people allow their dogs to pester other dogs and humans.

Im restricted to where I can walk my dogs as they are constantly pestered by other dogs and ignorant owners telling me they are only saying their unwanted hello. I have a blind and partially deaf dog that finds this worrying.

Oh and yes you were really rude.

YABU. Your dogs shouldn’t be off lead if they might bolt -they aren’t well trained. And it’s rude to put your hand up to someone. But the other dog wasn’t under control either.

If you don't want other dogs to come up to them, you need to keep them on a lead.

She should've got her dog though when you asked

You shouldn't have put your hand up in front of her face.