Or was he? Argument with dog owner.

[Notsuretoputit]

I’ve just been for lunch at a cafe, and was admittedly in a bad temper because I’d left to find my car battery dead, so went back in to order a taxi.

Anyway, on leaving the second time my path was blocked. The path coming from the cafe to the street is lined with thick bushes on either side, and a man, presumably waiting for someone who was in the cafe, was standing with two small dogs, one of which was on an extendable lead on the other side of the path to its owner, blocking the whole path with the lead.

As I walked up he smiled sort of apologetically and shrugged. I said ‘can I get past please?’ and he said ‘I’m trying to pull her back’. It was a small dog, he could’ve easily got her back if he’d wanted to. Anyway, he pulled her half a foot back and said ‘just walk around’. As I walked around, the dog inevitably jumped up. I said ‘totally ridiculous’, and he said ‘how’s that ridiculous?’. I said ‘come on, you’re blocking the whole path’, and he said ‘it’s a little dog, calm down’.

I know I was in a bad mood because of the car, but WIBU?

YABU - the dog did no harm and you should’ve been more patient
YANBU - it is irritating that he shrugged helplessly as if his dogs are so cute no one should mind them blocking the path and jumping up

As an aside, this attitude from some dog owners (and I’m a dog lover) is really grating on me at the moment. We have a large park with signs everywhere saying to keep dogs on the lead, and so many don’t. My toddler nephew was nearly knocked off his feet a couple of weeks ago by an off the lead large dog being called over the park’s footpath from one owner to the other, and they just shrugged and shouted sorry, same as when off the lead dogs approach you and instead of an apology and putting them on the leads they just say ‘ah he’s harmless’.

Drawing isn’t one if my greatest skills 😅

@Ohffsbarbara

youd kick a small dog because its owner is a twat.

you nasty abusive bully.

take it up with the man, don't kick a non agressive dog FFS

if you kicked my dog you'd be very sorry.

You have two sets of issues, people who want to allow their dogs safely off lead and people who seem to have a very strong over reaction over a dog just being a dog

A dog has no business being off lead in public unless in a dog field or when it has excellent recall and is under the control of its owner at all times. If all dog owners were responsible about this (and about picking up after their dog) there would be far fewer issues.

The public is more intolerant because of the surge in dog ownership by those lacking the time, patience, knowledge or inclination to properly socialise and train their dogs to live in urban and suburban environments.

So he went from smiling and apologetic to being rude? Could the tone of your voice been unpleasant and/or aggressive and he responded accordingly?

Was he nailed to the ground?

if you kicked my dog you'd be very sorry.

Really? So if your dog jumped up at me and I kicked out at it - what would you do?

Id really like to hear this…?

Welll.. that’s myy point. He could’ve moved himself and dog one, or moved dog two. He made no attempt to do either.

You sound exactly like the shitty dog owners people talk about.

YANBU @Notsuretoputit. Dogs should not be given space over human beings. He should have had the lead shorter and I don't blame you for snapping. It's really annoying to have to manoeuvre yourself round animals in the street that their owners CBA training to be well behaved.

@PutASpellOnYou

'Dogs off lead' is good by me, but only if they're reliably trained to completely ignore dogs ON leads.

shes not being cranky, she's protecting her dog, from being hurt/scared/annoyed by the badly trained dogs.

it doesn't matter how long they've walked there, they can run around with the other off lead dogs & sort themselves out.

but ON lead dogs need to be left alone.

He wasn’t apologetic verbally, he was just smiling in a ‘what can you do’ sort of way. If he’d have said ‘sorry’ and moved it that would’ve been fine.

But yes, I was definitely curt when I realised he was just going to stand there until I asked to get through.

Some people shouldn’t have dogs. He is one of them.

@Ohffsbarbara

Don't try turning this on me. You're the abusive bully who would kick a small harmless dog because you wouldn't speak to the owner. Kicking animals doesn't make you 'hard' it just makes you an abusive bully. And a wet one at that.

@CutthroatDruTheViolent

i sound like I'm a shitty dog owner because I object to the other poster kicking small non agressive dogs?? Riiiight

You just said “if I kicked your dog I’d be very sorry”. That sounds like a threat.

Im merely interested to know what you would do exactly?

If you cannot control your dog and it jumps up at me I am well within my rights to kick at it in self defence. Even small dogs have sharp teeth and can inflict damage, especially on a child - damn right id kick out at it.

Entitled dog owners like you who treat their dogs like babies and think they have more rights than humans are exactly the type of dog owners I loathe.

Surely you could have climbed over that Bush or simply limboed under the lead, providing you have decent flexibility

😂 Youre right. Next time.

Well I voted YANBU. He should’ve reeled his dog in.
That pavement looks pretty wide though! But you have the right to walk past without having to speak to the bloke/ dog whatever.

“he thought I should pet and coo over the dog”

Which as a self confessed “dog lover”, you totally would have done. And you wouldn’t say “coo” either.

Another post dog-bashing but claiming to be a dog lover 🙄

I love dogs, have owned big powerful breeds and small toy breeds… I still don’t expect to be forced to squeeze round them on pavements because the owners can’t/won’t manage them properly.

It is wide, but the dog was on one side and the owner the other.

Don’t be ridiculous.

Would you say “coo”?

Thought not.

What’s the issue with the word coo? 😂

What?

Are you referring to the phrase ‘coo over it/them’?

… because everyone knows that it doesn’t mean actually making a cooing sound.

: to talk fondly, amorously, or appreciatively
The family cooed over the baby pictures.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/coo

It's the attitude. It's not the dog or what the dog was doing, it's the attitude of some people that the world revolves around them.

It's like traffic crossings; most people when they see that traffic is stopping will briskly walk across, usually putting a hand up in thanks or some other acknowledgement but sometimes you'll get someone who just dawdles across - as if they have all the time in the world and to hell with everyone else. And I don't mean, someone who is injured, disabled, elderly or otherwise unable to walk briskly across - I mean someone who just has that attitude of 'I matter more than anyone and your effort, time or inconvenience belongs to me'.

So it's not whether the dog was blocking the path it's that the guy just didn't care - he couldn't be bothered to inconvenience himself by getting the dog back, in his mind - you should be the one to step over a lead, get jumped up on because he matters more.

So I get it and I understand what you mean. It's not the situation, it's the attitude.