Muddy paws dog jumped on me on walk, WWYD?

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I was walking across a park yesterday and two spaniels bounded towards me about 50 yards away from their owner. I could tell they were going to try and jump up at me so I avoided eye contact with them and told my dd to do the same.

Unfortunately one still did jump up at me multiple times and left mud on my clean trousers.

I shouted at the owner to please keep her dogs under control as one had got mud on my trousers. Not in an aggressive or rude tone though.

In my opinion if you don't have sufficient control over your dog to stop them doing this they need to be kept on a lead in public. The owner didn't seem very bothered and I think there is zero chance of her preventing this happening another time to someone else or possibly even to me again. I feel pretty annoyed about it.

I think there are some owners who either don't think it's a problem when their dogs jump up at strangers or who just don't care.

What would you do if this happened to you?

It's an unusual degree of anger for something that would be much more healthily shrugged off (see threats to expend time and energy publicly shaming owners).

Seems like a good idea to me. If feckless lazy inconsiderate owners aren't going to do anything about their dogs behaviour , then public shaming is definitely the way forward. Not much anger required. Just a quick photo, a few clicks, and voila. Online they go.

Of course, lazy rude inconsiderate dog owners can avoid this happening by acting as decent considerate members of society. The choice is theirs.

If someone invented a (legal to use) doggy taser or a device that would make dogs avoid me I would buy it right now. Just back from my 5k walk on the circuit in our park. Bear in mind there is a dog run half a km away but no, all the dogs on the planet were there and criss crossing the walkway, off lead of course. Owners yapping with each other in the middle of the circuit oblivious.

I am sick of it now. There are just too many dogs around for the size of the facilities in urban areas. And as for dogshit. OMG.

Spaniels are not tiny lapdogs 😂.

they can be boisterous, strong and very bouncy. I’ve got a spaniel mix and she’s kept on the lead with in busy parks because I couldn’t trust her not to get hyper when she sees people.

im not too bothered about muddy paws on clothes but I understand totally why people hate jumpy dogs especially when you have kids/other dogs with you.

Nothing. I might think it was a bit of a pain but not really worth getting get up over

I own two dogs and I hate other people's dogs jumping up at me. I don't know why people think it's ok. One of my dogs isn't interested in other people and just walks past so he is allowed off lead. The other one loves people and would jump all over them given the chance so the only time he is off lead is on a big field when there's no one about.

It is rude to allow your dog to jump up at people.

I have found the tips useful. Turn your back on the dog Say no sharply. Thank you. Shame tips are needed though.

I did also find the taking a photo idea interesting. I would never post it but wonder if the act of taking a photo would give the owner a message.

There was a huge dog in the park this week, running everywhere with a very large object in its mouth which was hitting people from behind as they walked. It could genuinely have hurt a small child. The owner did apologise when I got thwacked at the back of my legs but this was really bloody dangerous.

When they come to get their dog back I would smear their coat / trousers with mud and say ‘I just wanted to say hello’. Well they really shouldn’t be walking through a park if they don’t want to get muddy, should they?

PLENTY of dogs are kept on a lead all the time. If they have no recall, they have to be.

@FacingTheChallenge

Yes, of course everyone gets annoyed by small things. And, yeah, if it happened and the owner didn't apologise, I'd think they were an entitled arse, but I'd move on. And if I posted about it on AIBU, unless I'd never been on this site before, I wouldn't expect 100 percent agreement.

And it's not about disagreeing with the OP. I do think, unless this is a windup, this is an unhealthy amount of anger over not only the incident, but the replies.

I'm tempted to get more aggressive with people who simply don't give a shit about their dog smearing you with mud

I'm tempted to unleash verbally to try to incentivise owners not to do this.
Maybe I'll put some posters up saying this owner will let their dog jump up at you

Would be good to publicly shame the owners as a way to stop them being so antisocial

If I walked up to one of you who isn't fussed by this and smeared you with mud when wearing your work clothes with a meeting to go to later on I hope you'd still be fine with it!

I get that you embrace being covered in mud and want that for me too. I hope you take a regular full spectrum worming pill 😆

are you also the entitled person who blocks my driveway every day for 15 mins (double yellow lines, dropped kerb, to collect their child from school?

I am quite happy for dogs to jump all over me, I love them. One of my neighbours tells me off for not kneeing his dog in the chest before it jumps at me, as apparently I’m encouraging it 😅

However, I have a dog myself, who does not jump on people, and I would be mortified and apologetic if he did.

Nothing, and I don’t wear white trousers when going for a walk, ever

It’s annoying, but honestly, not exactly the end of the world.
A random toddler dropped his ice cream on me in a cafe a few months ago. I did mutter something under my breath about keeping him under control.
Dogs and kids, can’t take them anywhere.

Exactly this big cuddles for the dog!

@Wilson

Right, but part of the point is that the people who allow their dogs to behave this way, particularly those who are unapologetic, aren't going to respond to public shaming. They won't care, unless you're maybe in a very small community where everyone knows everyone. So if you're someone who's very bothered, what makes more sense is to come up with a real solution, i.e. pet corrector, yelling no, etc., rather than expending a whole lot of effort and energy on someone who's highly likely to remain unbothered.

As enjoyable as this debate has been, I have to go finish preparing for dinner guests tonight.

Maybe they will care. Maybe they won't. The possibility of them not caring isn't a reason for to not do it. It may end up providing a little database of their anti social behaviour if it's a regular occurrence.

I've had dogs but due to arthritis it's no longer practical. I've noticed that there are more dogs from overseas that need to be properly trained. Dogs shouldn't be jumping up or approaching strangers. There are people who're frightened of dogs or vulnerable to being knocked over. My last dog was a border/bearded collie who was noticeably less well behaved when she was with me than with my dh. After he died I had to retrain her to be more obedient.

If you're walking across a park or common on a fine day to meet friends in the pub or a cafe you might well want to wear a smart pair of trousers or a dress. It's reasonable not to have a dog jump up at you.

I'm a dog lover and owner, but that is really annoying. If your dog is jumpy and bouncy, then their recall needs to be PERFECT or they ought to be kept on a lead. My dog is only tiny but he's super jumpy; he thinks every single person he meets is a new best friend which just isn't the case, so we never let him off the lead.

We're training his recall in enclosed, private spaces and he comes back when called but it doesn't stop his excitement at meeting new people so I wouldn't risk it. He's going to be on the lead for life, and will only be let off when we're in private spaces.

🤣 That's made my day 🤣

Nothing you can do really - not nice, but happens

All the people saying "I'd just shrug and carry on" etc - would you be the same if someone with a child allowed the child to run ahead and wipe their muddy hands on your clothes ?

Because a child is entirely comparable to a lap dog.

I have already said this on Mumsnet, but when walking I always take a walking pole with me. This pole like most others has a metal spike on the end. If a dog starts to approach I find just raising the pole showing the metal tip usually makes the owner call their dog away. I have never used it to hurt a dog but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t.
I also raised my pole when a cyclist came riding fast towards me on a narrow pavement. He screeched to a halt. Clearly he was expecting me to jump into the road out of the way.

The very simple fact is that dogs with ineffective recall should be on a lead. The number of dog owners who do not understand this, or do not care, is staggering. And I have no idea how you make them understand / care. You cannot reason with stupid.

I'm short and once had someone's dog jump up me so hard that their front paws went over my shoulders and the dog's face has smacked me in the mouth. It feckin hurt! Have also had to dry clean a coat that was covered in mud thanks to jumping. It's incredibly annoying.

I do think dogs should be kept on leads unless they are well trained to stop/return to owner when called. I live in the countryside and we have issues with people travelling out to walk their dogs, chasing sheep, separating lambs from Mums, leaving gates open, leaving shit in fields that can and does lead to cows miscarrying etc

Dogs are like kids, though. People think that theirs is special and hence everyone should be happy to be accosted by them.

I do love dogs. I just don't want strange ones being pushed on me, especially if muddy!

I’ve had both kinds of dog. My elder dog was only allowed off in VERY specific, limited situations (at the end of a loooong walk, somewhere that I could guarantee he couldn’t escape from and no other dogs were) meaning he was probably off lead in 10-15 occasions the whole time we had him. His recall was terrible, no matter how much training he got there was just always something more interesting than us.

Current dog, honestly I could throw away her lead and it wouldn’t bother us. She runs ahead but we call her to heel when anyone approaches, we do clip her on the lead but it’s really just for show as she walks to heel without it when asked.

One size doesn’t fit all. We were both responsible dog owners in both instances.

Uncontrolled dogs are a risk to everyone, but especially the dog themselves.