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?

"Your dog picked up on his wierdness/fear, hence the barking."

Bollocks.

No. When an out of control dog attacked my small children, took the hat of one of their heads and knocked the other one to the floor when he tried to protect her, I reacted (despite being terrified) with anger and violence and kicked the dog as hard as I could. It's owner was still over 50 metres away at this point.

Obviously that is different to the situation the OP described, but the fight or flight response when threatened by a dog approaching you uninvited, barking or otherwise being aggressive or behaving inappropriately will often be that the fight or flight mechanism kicks in, especially if someone has been subjected to aggressive behaviour by dogs previously. With two small children, flight was not available to me. But often fear responses are instinctive, not a choice and it is the responsibility of the dog owner to prevent such situations occurring by controlling their dogs and keeping them away from anybody who hasn't specifically stated they wish to interact with the dog.

@Nepmarthiturn i’m sorry that situation happened however your right that is a completely different situation to what OP described.

in your situation that WAS an out of control dog, in OPs situation her dog was not running up towards him.. her dog barked 4/5 times, dogs can sense If someone is dangerous aswell as scared, this man threatened violence.. there was a good chance this is why the dog barked because the dog knew what this man would be capable of..

under no circumstances is it ok to threaten violence towards an animal.

This is so disingenuous. There are multiple instances of dogs deciding they want to attack somebody who is not dangerous. My children were nowhere near the dog: it ran at us from 100 metres away entirely unprovoked. Dogs attacking and even killing random adults who posed no danger to them at all. Dogs killing children in their own homes even. All umprovoked. Dogs can turn on people for no reason, even their owners, even it they have "never done this before", as is always the claim. Hence the legal requirement that they must be undet control in public at all times: it is the owner's responsibility. If you want to take the chance with your family having one loose in your house/ garden that is your decision but in public spaces other people should not be subjected to the risk that your dog behaves "unpredictably". Barking at someone who was walking along a public footpath is aggressive behaviour so this dog should not be off-lead in any public area because it has now demonstrated that it cannot be trusted to behave calmly and leave other people alone.

How could the man possibly have known whether the barking would escalate into an attack? Clearly the owner doesn't know either, otherwise she would not have said the whole clichéd "it's never happened before", "out of character" stuff. The problem is that it's too late by the time a dog actually attacks someone, to then say "oh yes, it wasn't under control".

It only takes once, and then it is too late. Any dog that has already been approaching strangers/ barking at them has already exhibited the warning signs that it is not safe to be off-lead in a public area, so in this case there's even less excuse for continuing to walk it off-lead and subject others to the risk of it turning on them randomly. The fact the OP is defending what the dog did and trying to blame the person it intimidated shows exactly how irresponsible many dog owners are and why people are entirely justified to not want to have their dogs anywhere near them or their families.

What, objecting when you claimed for spurious tiny grammatical reasons that you could tell the OP prefers her dog to her disabled child? Is that the "kind of behaviour" that only dog owners show, that a non dog owner would accept?

What, in all honesty, did you expect my reaction - or any parents' reaction - to be?

I sincerely hope you have no idea of what it takes advocating for, supporting, nurturing, loving and caring for an autistic child. He is my fricking life.

I am taking the other people's comments on the chin or with a pinch of salt. They all have their reasons. But you, you crossed a line. You were cruel and vindictive. And why? Because my dog barked 4 or 5 times at someone who then went mad at me about it. Nobody was hurt. I have said I will put him back on lead in future when I pick up poo. I accept and always have throughout the thread that the person obviously felt threatened.

I did not deserve the unkind comment you made about my feelings towards my child. And that's the truth.

As many other posters have suggested I think the answer is further training OP and keeping the dog on the lead until you feel confident about that. The issue isn't whether you feel, or know you are safe around your dog it's whether others do and clearly in this situation the man did not. there is no question that the language used by the man and his response was disproportionate but here people are giving you solid suggestions as to how to avoid this situation in the future or more precisely, how to avoid causing fear or alarm while walking your dog. You might find that some people are more understanding than others but a lot of people are telling you they would find a barking dog intimidating and while you can't see that I'm afraid I think you need to take it on board.

But it is the law if your dog is a threat to anyone. It doesn't need to be "the majority of people". Just that one person felt threatened and you pretty much said you would have done something if the man asked you to, implying because he didn't ask you were happy for your off lead dog to be a nuisance.

No, that isn't the law.

A person needs to have 'reasonable apprehension of injury'.

A court will look at what is reasonable, which means looking at the specific details and context.

A small fluffy dog, at a distance, not approaching, barking a couple of times at a reasonably healthy, mobile adult, is not a reasonable cause to fear injury. Add in that the dog is well trained, recalls swiftly, doesn't wander far etc - no case to answer.

A bigger dog, on a lead but towing the owner around, outweighing the owner, lunging at people and not listening to the owner, not complying with cues... that could give people reasonable cause to fear injury, and might well be an offence a court would take action over.

Courts look at what is 'reasonable', its called the 'reasonable person rule' - what would the average reasonable person do/expect/understand... in a particular situation.

It seems perfectly reasonable that a person would have a fear of injury if they walk along a public footpath and are accosted by an off-lead dog barking at them, when said dog is not next to its owner and the owner isn't even watching the dog let alone calling them back. That is not a dog "under control".

Your dog did nothing wrong. The man almost certainly did something that provoked the reaction and made your dog uncomfortable. Mumsnet is full of absurd dog haters, so there is no point seeking a rational response on these pages.

I am delurking again to repost a response to what @Apple wrote, since my earlier one was deleted.

I have been on Mumsnet for many years.

I have seen very few messages as spurious, cruel and vindictive as the one @Apple wrote earlier. I wrote in an earlier post in this thread, "I have an autistic child ddog is very good with". This person saw fit to extrapolate from the fact that I wrote "child" but "ddog" that I obviously care more for my dog than my disabled child.

I assume you had my response taken down because I swore at you. I would swear at you again.

Look, I get that you don't like dogs. You probably have good reasons. You might think I am the worst dog owner in the world. But when you snidely suggest about the mother of a disabled child that they love their child less than their dog, based on the evidence of one letter in a post, do you honestly not pause and think "Am I being a bit shitty here? Is this a proportionate response to the issue being presented, or am I going a bit over the top?"

The post you made reflects terribly upon you and I hope you feel the shame that you should.

Your dog did nothing wrong. The man almost certainly did something that provoked the reaction and made your dog uncomfortable.

Eh? So because the dog wasn't behaving, you assume the issue is with a person? Not to mention the fact that the owner wasn't even paying attention and didn't see..?! I've heard it all! 🤦‍♀️

When a dog raced up to my 6 month old baby's pram and dived onto him, snarling at him, did my 6 month old baby provoke that reaction too? Get real.

It seems perfectly reasonable that a person would have a fear of injury if they walk along a public footpath and are accosted by an off-lead dog barking at them, when said dog is not next to its owner and the owner isn't even watching the dog let alone calling them back. That is not a dog "under control".

Precisely.

No. When an out of control dog attacked my small children, took the hat of one of their heads and knocked the other one to the floor when he tried to protect her, I reacted (despite being terrified) with anger and violence and kicked the dog as hard as I could. It's owner was still over 50 metres away at this point.

Jeez how awful. I'm so sorry that happened. A dog attacked my child too and I had to physically wrestle it off him with my bear hands while screaming at it. I will never ever forget that, or what dogs are capable of. The idiot owner said 'it's the first time he's ever done anything like that.' Yep, there's always a first time.

there was a good chance this is why the dog barked because the dog knew what this man would be capable of

You can not actually be serious.

Your attitude in your further posts, op, is exactly the kind of behaviour we who don't want to be bothered by dogs see on a regular basis from dog owners. In light of your further comments, I feel all the more you were being very unreasonable in the incident in the op

I agree - I don't think the OP is wiling to see things from the other point of view.

I'm with you OP ❤️

Surreygirl, you do realize this is the poster who said the terrible thing to me, and is referring here to the fact that I swore at her in response, in my now deleted post?

You might want to rethink your response unless you agree that what she said about my disabled child was reasonable, proportionate, and merited.

If you read my posts you will see I have
A) agreed the person was scared
B) agreed what I can do to avoid this next time, ie keep him on lead when picking up poo

What more do you want? Blood?

Who have I mocked? Nobody.
I just disagree that my dog needs muzzling.

You are absolutely fundamentally wrong in what you said to me.

I can't believe I have to say this, but, I used "ddog" because he was the focus of the post. I mentioned my child in passing in this post. Apart from anything else it would have been grammatically clunky to write "I have an autistic dchild ddog is good with".

Yes you touched a nerve because, like many parents of disabled children, I have had to cope with my son's agony and distress in education, watch him battle depression, reduce my work hours to support him, nurse him at the brink of suicide, watch all my hopes and dreams for him be distilled into just hoping he will keep on living, and then a wazzock comes along and dismissively says something so ridiculously cruel that it takes your breath away.

That's why.

Sorry OP, your dog looks sweet, but I'm with the man on this one.
After being bitten several times by neighbourhood dogs as a child, then being badly bitten by my own dog as a teenager, I was terrified of dogs for years. When walking, I'd look round the corner before I turned in case there was an off lead dog and would make a detour if I saw one from afar. I was constantly on edge. I would have absolutely shit myself if a dog barked at me like yours did.
I'm much better now and have a dog that I love. He's the second I've had and loved as an adult. I had to get over the fear before I passed it onto my children, because I didn't want them constantly scanning for dogs when out. It's an awful feeling.
My case might sounds extreme but it's more common than you'd think. Nobody would have guessed I had this fear, I'm not a nervous person. But for all the many thousands of dog bites that happen every year, there is a victim of them that has been impacted.
It's not fair on these people who are just trying to live their lives, to be barked out or approached by an off lead dog. So, his reaction seems OTT to you, but when you are terrified any reaction is possible.

Your dog was not under proper control, caused fear in a human being, and your response is to victim blame by saying that the scared man must have been giving off weird vibes.