AIBU in expecting the owner to manage her barking dog?

[Dogneutral]

I had come to the end of a run on our local bike path. A woman was standing in the exit with her back to her dog, which was off the lead on the path. He stood and barked at me so I couldn't go forward. I said "stop" loudly, which made it worse. She told me he was friendly but didn't do anything to stop him barking at me.

Instinctively, I then shouted "stop" at him again and she told me that was making it worse. I was really annoyed and said something about it being traumatic to be barked at if you have had a bad experience with a dog. We were clearly both really pissed off with the other and it didn't feel like a pleasant or constructive exchange.

I'm pretty neutral on dogs and wouldn't say I was generally afraid of them, though I have been bitten by a strange dog long ago. But I found it really unpleasant to either just stand there or push past a barking dog. I don't know what she expected me to do, but she clearly thought I was unreasonable. I would have liked her to hold her dog back and let me pass - which is what I would do when I walk my mum's dog which can be quite reactive.

YABU It's not a big deal to be barked at by a strange dog
YANBU She should have taken responsibility and held her dog back so I could feel safe to pass

Here we go! Todays dog hating thread 🙄

YANBU - we all have to share public footpaths and part of that social contract is to make sure your dog is under control at all times. A dog barking at someone and stopping them from getting past means they are not under control - lead or no lead.

Is it? I love dogs and I didn’t read it that way. It’s pretty crap if a strange dog bars your exit on a public path. Frankly it’s an owner-bash if anything, not a dog one…

But do you agree or not? OP YANBU this is shit behaviour, she needs to control her animal. However on this occasion this was an owner problem rather than the dog who was just doing his dog thang.

I have a dog, you aren't being unreasonable. She should be redirecting her dog to look at her and not bark at strangers, it's not fair to expect people to be happy with being barked at and it's not a good idea to push past one who is!

Can't understand owner's who are blinkered to how fucking irritating ddog barking is.
*I have 4 very quiet ddogs. Including 1 known for loudness!! She def isn't...

Def not being unreasonable, I move my dog to the side if a jogger, cyclist comes past.

Actually today's "this happened to me and I was really shaken up" thread. As I said, I'm not a dog hater and I willingly walk my mum's dog for her.

You could do me the courtesy of giving me your view of what needed to happen for us both to feel OK in this situation.

Or you could just reach for the eye-roll emoji and dismiss me as an unreasonable dog hater.

Sounds like one of the many shitty dog owners out there! So many people have cop on with their dogs and are responsible and it’s so annoying when you come across these people that are clueless and entitled! YANBU at all. She should have made room to let you past and had some manners.

But what should I do in that situation? She did put him on the lead eventually then I literally had to walk slowly behind them all the way to the main road, (which felt really uncomfortable - like I was stalking them) and he barked at me the whole time. I can see that shouting at him didn't help but have no idea what else I could have done.

I thought it was a fairly natural instinct to hold your dog/put it on the lead (or both!) when a situation like this arises! I don't own a dog but occasionally take one of my family member's dogs for a walk, and that's what I do when something happens.

The owner needs to be trained!

Yelling stop at a dog is completely the wrong thing to do, you're just going to get it more excited by your loud voice. Unless it has been taught the word 'stop' in relation to barking then it will also have no idea what you're yelling about. You might as well yell 'play with me'. Much better to just calmly say 'hello there' so the dog knows you're not a threat.

That said the owner should have put the dog back on the lead and moved it out your way. Nobody wants an unknown dog barking at them especially after all the news in the papers about attacks.

My known - for-being - loud ddog was just verbally abused by 2 poodle /doodle mongrel things... She looked away and didn't react as she is marvelous.. I usually tell ddog I am so glad she is so well behaved.. And walk away!!

I think, the thing with shouting at a barking dog is that the dog just feels like you're joining in. Owner should have grabbed dog immediately, put on a lead and allowed you space to walk past - friendly dog or not. I don't see what you could have done differently other than maybe ask her to move the dog but, judging by your post, she probably wouldn't have cared. Decent dog owners would have fixed this before it became an issue for you.

To be fair to the first response, this thread will no doubt turn into a massive dog and dog owner slagging off session. Not because of the OP but because that's the way of dog threads on MN.

It might have helped if you had asked her to put it on it's lead so that you could confidently pass.

It would have been helpful if the owner had realised that you were nervous, but she didn't.

It's not a dog hating thread, it's a wanker dog owner hating thread!

From a non-wanker dog owner.

He was stood still - didn't move towards you or act aggressively. So wasn't preventing you going past.
A bark is simply that a bark. Dogs bark for all manner of reasons the vast majority of which are not because they are aggressive.

The dog literally did nothing wrong.

You then shout at it 🤷🏻‍♀️ dogs don't understand Stop.
Of course it barked at you again!

You could have asked the owner to hold onto it. Or put it on lead. Or explained your nervous of dogs. You had loads of options but you chose to shout 🤷🏻‍♀️

So YABU.

You’ve assumed a lot here that wasn’t in the original post…

The whole point of the thread is that I could see shouting hadn't helped so not sure there's any call for the 🤷🏻‍♀️

I’d have said ‘excuse me, could you grab your dog please?’ And then wait pointedly until she did.

Just another entitled crap owner sadly.

Just the other day I had someone pop out from behind a hedge and ask me if I could call my dog as they had a nervous dog on a lead. I hadn’t seen them coming as the hedge is huge and to be fair they were really short. I called my dog to me, he came straight away because he’s well trained and obedient, they went on their way and I went about my day. No harm done to anyone because I’m a responsible owner and not an entitled arsehole. Well not usually.

@GwinGwyn what have I assumed? 🤷🏻‍♀️
I have literally taken it from the original post!!! 🙄

I don't think you are unreasonable @Dogneutral to expect to go about your business without having a dog shout at you. I wouldn't expect a human to shout at me, so I wouldn't expect a dog to do it either.

I am a dog owner, and I don't like it when my dog shouts at me, let alone anyone else.

I would suggest that next time, just ask the owner to put the dog on a lead while you pass. If they don't, you might add that it is making you uncomfortable. You don't have to justify why. If the dog is shouting at you, you have every right to feel uncomfortable, and it is the owner's problem to solve, not yours.

You do love a 🤷🏻‍♀️, don't you?