Harassed on a walk

[MooseBreath]

I just got back from a walk on a public footpath along a field with my dog and DS (13 months). This path is in a very open area and is frequently used by dog walkers, which are rarely on a lead as they tend to run about the field together. My dog, though not on a lead, was walking to heel on the grass rather than the path.

A jogger ran towards me and when she approached, she slowed down and changed directions so that she was walking alongside me (my dog was still on the grass to heel). The woman pulled out her phone and started filming me stating that if my "dog's shitty nose so much as touched her knee that she considers that harassment and she would use any means to get him away" from her.

I stopped walking and asked her to stop filming me and said that my dog has no interest in approaching her, then carried on walking a bit quicker, with my dog still by my side.

She continued to film me and walk alongside me saying she's "sick of everyone and their bloody dogs". I asked her to please stop following me, to which she said "I can walk wherever I please". I responded repeating my request to stop filming me and leave me alone. She followed me for a further few minutes, filming the entire time as my dog did nothing. Eventually the woman turned and left in a huff.

I wanted to turn and go home, but I certainly didn't want her to know where I live. AIBU to call 101 and report? It seems silly because she didn't touch me, my baby, or my dog, but she wouldn't go away, and I was worried that my dog might so much as follow a scent and set foot on the path. I don't know if she's done anything illegal, and I don't know if police could do anything, but I know how unsafe I felt.

I’m a dog owner.
Your own dog might be placid but if you came across my friend’s dog, he wouldn’t be placid. If there are other people about nearby, albeit other dog walkers or pedestrians, you should put your dog on the lead.

You weren’t being unreasonable having the dog off at the time when everybody else was but as soon as someone without a dog or other walkers with their dogs on their lead come along, that’s the time to put your’s on one too.

How does anybody else know your dog is placid.

I had a woman in our little town field shout to me asking if my dog was friendly last week. Mine was on the lead and until she showed up, he was off lead. When I saw her and her greyhound and whippet, I quickly put mine on lead.
However, after saying my dog was friendly, her whippet took all of all 2 seconds to run across the field straight to us and without hesitation, started snarling and snapping at my poor golden, who laid laid on his back all submissive!

She shouted sorry but it was too late by then!

The crazy lady in your OP however, was obviously being unreasonable.

Evidently one of the more rabid dog-hating MNers.
And bonkers on top.

Are your comprehension skills lacking?

You need to escalate this clearly. Some ideas below-

Call an ambulance next time on 111. Tell them you have mental health concerns about a member of the public and they need to come immediately.

Re the police tell them you are being stalked as they take this much more seriously than being sworn at in public.

I think you can get a civil non- molestation order. This is like a restraining order. If this is breached you can call the police and she will be arrested. Speak to a solicitor about getting once in place. You’re likely to need evidence of her harassment so from now on get your own camera out and film her every single time you have an issue.

In the uk most of the time people don’t have to ‘leash their dogs in the park’

And people saying dogs should never be off lead in public are, frankly, batshit 😂

@GhostWalker That's two who have it pegged!

You can be filmed in public places,
Harassment is only considered as such if it is continuous and you will need evidence so next time get your phone out and film her.

We have had an issue with neighbour harassment and the police do very little, it seems, unless you are physically harmed. However they did speak to our neighbour once we had quite a lot of footage.

You should phone 101 on each occasion and keep the police ref number to refer back to on each subsequent call.

Don’t be silly. If it was under control, it would be on a lead.

I feel for you OP. I have several of these kinds of crazies round my way and the police do nothing either. Even when the woman across the road was out slashing her husband's tyres they didn't come out

Do you have a scary man you could take with you who could threaten her to leave you be.

(Side note might not be legal!)

I do, but I don't want to intimidate anybody, nor do I want DH going down for anything (because sod's law says that he'd be arrested for harassment).

What a terrible position to be in OP. Please don’t feel you need to continue defending yourself or your dog to any of the fools on this thread who are trying to argue that you’re at fault for a crazy person harassing and scaring you and your children. There’s been some good practical suggestions made by the reasonable posters on how to deal with this going forward. Good luck.

If the dog was genuinely under control (and walking to heel counts as under control), there is absolutely no reason for the OP to put it in a leash in these circumstances if she doesn’t want to. Well behaved dogs are in the minority these days but they do still exist.

It’s not reasonable or rational to rail against owners of well behaved dogs - they aren’t the problem. It’s the muppets who allow their dogs to approach other people / dogs or run around out of control in public spaces who deserve the reprimand. Plenty of dog attacks happen while the dog is on a lead - it isn’t the mark of a responsible owner. You have to use your common sense, because problem dog owners don’t.

This woman clearly needs help, Op. That’s not your problem, but it’s a shit situation all round. You shouldn’t have mentioned the dog though, obviously it must be your fault if you have a dog!

How awful. Have you tried totally blanking her as if she doesn't exist?

Given that this is a known issue and that two people have been able to identify this person from a frankly quite vague post, I would bypass the councillor and go straight to your MP. That will concentrate the minds of both police and councillors...

@CatMadam derailing the thread to fit your own view and agenda is becoming boring now. It's been stated multiple times dogs can be under control without leads and it is not a legal necessity to have your dog on a lead in public.

Please try to focus on the woman who is stalking the OP.

@Ulysees Yes, she still stalks and films.

@AttillaThePlum I have sent the same message to my MP that I sent to the councillor. My MP is useless though, so I doubt anything will come of it.

According to PDSA: "In public places, you must keep your dog ‘under control’. Generally, this means close to you and ideally on a lead. If they’re not on a lead, they need to be under control in another way, such as paying attention to your voice commands" So it is not cut and dried and dog owners need to check with their local authority.

Dog owners absolutely can have their dogs under their control if they are well trained.

BUT this is completely IRRELEVANT to OP and this thread.

Sorry OP this sounds awful for you. Is there a local facebook group where you could post and tactfully ask others of their experiences. The police are more likely to take it seriously if there is a strong local opinion on it.

Do you know the woman’s name? You could write to the local GPs and say you are concerned for the mental health of x patient and they are behaving dangerously. If she tackles the wrong person they might not be as patient as you.

You could use an alternative FB profile so she can’t trace it back to you.

"Call an ambulance next time on 111. Tell them you have mental health concerns about a member of the public and they need to come immediately."
DO NOT do this! 111 is not the emergency services and can't just send an ambulance because you want one.

Most likely she does have mental health problems. The police should be doing something about it but clearly they aren't.

There was a woman near me that was smashing cars up in a public lay-by that she claimed she owned. She didn't own it.

Locals did a honey trap and set up cameras in the car and filmed her. It immediately stopped. She highly likely was very unwell, by that's no reason to accept thousands of pounds of damage. She escalated. First no one knew why, then she came out ranting, then came the threats of personal attack. Who knows when the baseball bat would be bashing someone's skull in. Regardless of her mental state there's no free pass to act illegally for months on end.

People was scared to be walking near her house. Get a body cam so she can't see your recording and say nothing to her. Just gather the evidence. These people think they self proclaimed police. The police need to them them the reality check that they are actually the baddies.

You can't give her therapy and quite frankly any one would be insane to try to "help". She needs help from the police.

@Winterpinks I do know her name, so I will contact the GP tomorrow.
@Computercalendar I wouldn't ask for an ambulance or call 999 - there are people in far more desperate situations than me.

OFGS