It's an off lead dog one.

[Maluki]

I walk my dog in the local park every day. There are sections where he is on lead and sections where I let him off. He is extremely used to people and dogs and generally very well behaved.

As we arrive at the park I always let him off lead and he does a poo. This is on a field area beside a path.

Today he did his poo in the field about 6 feet off the path as usual. I noticed a man in a suit approaching along the path. My dog then went back on to the path to wait for me and I leaned down to pick up the poo.

Very very unusually, my dog started to bark - he barked 4 or 5 times - and I saw he was now behind the man (who had walked past him). I was about to apologize, my dog almost never barks at people (he sometimes barks at really unusual things like a person wearing a sombrero or riding a tricycle, and this guy wasn't wearing anything unusual, except a slightly dishevelled suit on a Saturday morning). The man totally lost it at me. He started screaming that he had been bitten on the back of the leg by a dog, that my dog and dogs like him are aggressive and that it would bite my children and kill them (I didn't have my kids with me). He told me to get the dog away from him or he would kick it in the head. My dog is a bloody 10 lb cavapoo!

I appreciate that my dog should not have barked and that the man was triggered. If he had shouted to put it on a lead, before he walked past it, I would gladly have done so. My dog has excellent recall, and is completely reliable on the "wait" signal. He's actually a dream to get back on lead - but I hadn't called him over as there was no sign of what was about to happen. I do wonder if this man inadvertently spooked my dog or even kicked out at him in fear or something as it's so unusual for him to bark at people like that.

Aibu to think that the man, in his fear, may have inadvertently caused the dogs reaction? And that my dog behaved badly but it could have been avoided if the man had just called out for me to hold the dog?

The dog was walking slowly up the path (a tarmac path about a metre wide) on his usual route (man wasn't to know that). He did not run up to or approach the man; their paths crossed at the moment I was bending to pick up the poo. I do think there is a huge difference between a dog bounding up to a frightened person and a dog just wandering along his usual path and passing a person. He wasn't barking until after the man went past.

Since I don't seem to have been clear enough - the man was yelling that he'd been bitten on the back of the leg by a dog before, not saying my dog had bitten him.

I did reflect that if I had been a 6ft brick shithouse bloke, he might have been less aggressive himself, despite his fear.

I’d be terrified if an off the lead dog barked at me though I wouldnt shout at someone about it… i’d just be paralysed with fear!

All dog owners think their dog wouldn’t hurt anyone. And that is probably the case, but the other person doesn’t know that.

Nothing irritates me more than a dog owner who claims their dog is "harmless" or "friendly" as their dog is charging or barking at you. OP the general public don't know if your dog is harmless or not they just go into fight or flight mode. I don't understand why people don't have them on leads in public places.

We cannot conclude that he overreacted, being as we were not there/only have OPs version of events/don't know his background.

The legal requirement is that your dog should be under control, which it clearly wasn’t.

The law should be amended to be more specific, dogs are sentient beings so can switch in a second to not being under control.

A muzzled dog restrained on a robust lead held by a responsible and strong enough adult is the only dog under control.

Nothing irritates me more than a dog owner who claims their dog is "harmless" or "friendly" as their dog is charging or barking at you. OP the general public don't know if your dog is harmless or not they just go into fight or flight mode. I don't understand why people don't have them on leads in public places.

Oh I fully agree with this. Having seen my little boy attacked, I really don't like any dog off lead within a few metres of me.

The dog was walking slowly up the path (a tarmac path about a metre wide) on his usual route (man wasn't to know that). He did not run up to or approach the man; their paths crossed at the moment I was bending to pick up the poo.

Oh I would have hated this. So the dog at that moment wasn't under the control of the owner (owner was doing something else and not watching the dog) and off-lead dog was within a few metres, or even just a metre, of the man? No, that's not okay at all. OP, yabu.

Also I know this isn't the point of the discussion but I hate seeing dogs pooping in public parks. Even when the owner picks it up, it's hard to get every bit off grass. My kids have ended up with dog poo over their fingers before by being unlucky enough to crawl etc on the exact spot that a dog has pooped recently (the owner evidently tried to pick it up but remnants were left).

You put the dog on a lead when you can't give it your full attention e.g. when picking up poo.

You and your dog are the problem and not the man walking!!

I did reflect that if I had been a 6ft brick shithouse bloke, he might have been less aggressive himself, despite his fear.

I disagree. Fear does very strange things to people. He possibly reacted instinctively in the moment. Anger is a very human reaction when someone is frightened. Especially when the person gets over that initial 'frozen to the spot' moment and realises they are, in fact, ok.

I think in this situation the key is that your dog was off lead on a path.
We've got an eight month old Weimaraner so have a lot of experience of non dog walkers negative reactions, many of them bonkers!
We're lucky enough that our garden backs onto a lovely country footpath where we walk him all the time.
While we're on the path he's on the lead, he's only off when we get to the open fields.
I do think that the footpath is a place that joggers, children, dog walkers etc should feel safe. If that means I keep my dog on the lead until the fields so be it.
I also have him sit and wait while kids and joggers go by because I appreciate not everyone loves his slobbery kisses as much as we do.
What does feck me off though is people who don't even acknowledge that my dog sits and waits patiently while they take their time passing us!!

What is it with entitled dog owners thinking it's everyone else's fault and their dog HAS to be off lead? Dogs are dogs at the end of the day if they want to turn they will.

I also think that other dog owners saying their dogs have every right to be off lead in inappropriate places make it harder for all dog walkers.
It's becoming a very divisive situation as is evident more and more on MN.
A little bit of understanding on both sides will make life a lot easier for all of us.

A year ago I'd have laughed at this and said he was a dick, having loved animals all my life. However, I was bitten by an ON-lead dog earlier this year walking down the footpath of a nearby street and I would now get equally annoyed and anxious if an off lead dog ran up to me barking at me. Being bitten can have a serious effect on people. Whilst I still love animals, I am much more cautious and don't trust them in the same way anymore.

I interpret a dog barking at me as aggressive. If your dog barks at me, I will respond to that aggression, possibly by shouting at you aggressively, possibly in some other way.

If it seems to me your dog is likely to attack me or my family, I will defend myself and my children as strongly as I can. This may cause you or your dog physical harm.

All this is natural. Like you and your dog, I'm an animal. We animals behave like this. It's built in by evolution.

In the light of this, you might think it advisable to keep your dog as far away from me and my children as you can, for the dog's sake as well as your own.

"Cet animal est méchant; quand on l'attaque, il se défend."

Next time put your dog on a lead while you pick up their poo. If you don't have eyes on your dog it could be argued you don't have them under control. Unfortunately the dog started barking at a stranger whilst off lead and you didn't have eyes on them even if it was for a few seconds.

Don't think on it any more and next time just mitigate another person's concern by using a lead for a moment.

They exist in our society and people need to learn how to behave around them, just as they learn how to behave around roads, wasps, and other hazards.

If your dog is a hazard it should not be unmuzzled and off a lead in a public place.

Roads have specific rules for the obligations of drivers and pedestrians. Wasps do not belong to anybody and do what they like. There is a law however, that a dog must be under the owner's control in a public area. If you can't control your dog and guarantee it won't behave aggressively, make unwanted approaches to other people or bark at them then you should muzzle it and put it on a lead. And exercise it off lead on your own property or in a designated, fenced off dog exercise field designed for that specific purpose. It is not for members of the public who do not like dogs to have to "learn how to behave" around your dogs to placate them when you aren't controlling them properly so that they do not bother other people, as is legally required.

The dog did not run up to anyone barking.

He didn't run anywhere.

He and a person walked past each other. For all I know, the person kicked out at him as he walked past! He did something unusual as my dog walked past every other person we met in the walk, ignoring them totally, like he normally does.

My mistake was to take eyes off the dog for 3 seconds while I picked up poo. Because of that I didn't see the actual pass or what happened to spook the dog.

People might want all dogs muzzled and on a short lead, but it isn't against the law to walk off lead (yet?) So I don't accept that it is unreasonable for me to have done so, given that my dog is not intimidating, is well socialized, has excellent recall and sticks within about 5 metres of me at all times.

The walk in the park is mostly fields and woodland. We walk on the path for about 20 metres on entering the park as the fields are often waterlogged at that point.

Once ddog was attacked by an XLbully that was off lead. We encountered him in woodland and I instantly knew from the owner's gasp on seeing us, and his attempt to grab his dog's collar that we were in trouble. He missed the collar and his dog launched an attack on mine (then a puppy). It was completely silent. It just ran, pinned my dog, and went for his neck.

Fortunately for me, and ddog, that dog had a muzzle on and was not able to open its jaws wide enough to bite ddog. Without the muzzle, ddog would have been dead. To me, that is a dog that should not be off lead. That owner knew the dog was aggressive to other dogs, hence the muzzle. It also taught me that serious dog attacks are not always about barking. That dog never made a sound, just launched a prey attack.

He was in a big field next to the path. You can't permanently keep a dog on a lead in public. They need to be able to run and sniff about. I get it on a high street etc but they have to be able to come off lead somewhere.

That is what designated, fence-off dog exercise fields are for. And your own garden. There is no need to subject random members of the public to off-lead dogs.

I am absolutely not muzzling my 10 pound cavapoo who has never harmed, growled at or snapped at a single person. That is ridiculous.

Dog's are just like us and they get a 'sense' about a person and I think your dog got a bad feeling about that guy.

We don't usually run at, bark at, jump on or bite people we have a "weird feeling" about though, do we?

I'm sorry but you came on here to ask if you'd been unreasonable.
Yet you haven't even acknowledged people saying you were.
You've said this was totally out of character for your dog but not everyone knows that.
The best outcome from these ever increasing threads would be for you to recognise that you were a little bit remiss for your dog wandering off while you picked up the poop.
It's now become a thread about dog owners and non dog owners. Doesn't help the issue

This thread is getting a bit ridiculous.

My dog didn't run at, jump on or bite the person. He barked at him 4 or 5 times.

Obviously my dog is dangerously out of control and needs muzzling. I should probably have him euthanized.

Thanks to those who have suggested putting him back on lead while I pick up the poo. I think I will do this (he always poos at this particular place, just as we enter the park, so that's easy enough).

I was actually asking if it was unreasonable to think that the man may have inadvertently triggered dogs' reaction, and how to prevent it given that I don't entirely want dog to lose his ability to react when things startle or scare him, because obviously if we had buglars or a fire, or if someone was attacking me, I would want that barking.

Thanks to those who have suggested putting him back on lead while I pick up the poo. I think I will do this (he always poos at this particular place, just as we enter the park, so that's easy enough).

There you go. Problem solved.

I was actually asking if it was unreasonable to think that the man may have inadvertently triggered dogs' reaction, and how to prevent it given that I don't entirely want dog to lose his ability to react when things startle or scare him, because obviously if we had buglars or a fire, or if someone was attacking me, I would want that barking.

And multiple posters have repeatedly tried to explain to you that it is not the man's responsibility to "learn about dogs" or placate your dog or not "trigger it" or have to try to not "startle it". If you want your dog to share open spaces when other humans will be you need to be able to control it, therefore it needs to be on a lead because your post demonstrates that even people who claim they have "perfect control" of their dogs clearly do not if they start barking at strangers.