Threatened by a Dobermann

[OzzysWhiteHorse]

I was walking around a field yesterday (trying to get my steps in) and out of nowhere a big fuck off dobermann comes flying around the corner and stands there barking and growling at me. No owner in sight. It never actually touched me but was edging forward the entire time - heckles raised - teeth showing. It clearly wasn’t “playing”.

I was terrified, my instinct was to run but thankfully logic (or fear response?) kicked in and I just froze. Good job as I’m hardly going to outrun a dobermann am I.

I honestly thought I was going to be killed. Eventually an owner appeared from around the corner, grabbed the dog and apologised but said “she wouldn’t have bitten you, she’s all mouth” !!!! I was too shook up to respond.

I have since found out where it lives - although DH thinks I am being unreasonable to report it as it never bit me and “dobies don’t bite anyway, they were bred to act intimidating but they rarely actually bite”.

he’s a dog breed nerd.

I have no idea if this is true but AIBU to report anyway? I’m pretty sure if I’d have ran or made any wrong move the bloody thing would have flown at me

Out of curiosity I looked up some stats...

There were 6 fatalities as a result of Doberman attacks in the US for the period 2005 - 2017 compared to 284 for pit bulls and 9 for labradors:

https://www.statista.com/chart/15446/breeds-of-dog-involved-in-fatal-attacks-on-humans-in-the-us/

It's interesting how the number of dog fatalities here in 2023 are at least 167% higher than any other year over the past 22 years:

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1412413/deaths-caused-by-dog-attacks-england-and-wales/

Dog bites increased by 11% in England and Wales for the period 2021-22 https://www.statista.com/statistics/297447/dog-bite-victims-occurances-in-england/

and there was an increase of 21% between 2022-23 according to this article https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-68503779

That is interesting - I wonder how it compares with prevalence of the breeds?

ive never had a dog but love dobermans, they’re my favourite breed along with Rottweilers. that said this sound v scary for OP and yes definitely within your rights to report.

That is interesting - I wonder how it compares with prevalence of the breeds?

I wondered that but couldn't find reliable data on breed numbers. Obviously Dobermans will be less prevalent than Labradors though.

Not unreasonable it the context of what is theoretically a good thing to do but reporting it will likely achieve nothing. It is the equivalent of a cyclist reporting a dangerous close pass or cut-up on the road to the police, they will do nothing unless a death or injury has occurred. I do sympathise as I live in a part of the country where there seem to be many people with badly trained/socialised dogs they have no control over, and evidently can't or can't be bothered to train them properly. I put at least some of it down to the pandemic and people buying dogs for company during lockdowns, then being clueless as to how to look after a dog, then they go back to work and leave the dog alone indoors barking/whining most of the day annoying the neighbours. It is not uncommon when walking in open countryside to have someone's over-excited yappy dog charging up to me with the owner of in the distance in some puny pathetic wimpy voice trying and failing to call it back. I can mostly tell when a dog is being friendly/playful vs aggressive/threatening but I don't want someone's dog running under my feet and me tripping over it.

I’m not being silly. As other people have stated the offence is dog dangerously out of control. OP felt scared she might be attacked. Police should and will likely record an offence if OP reports it.

The dog wasn't dangerously out of control. Because it didn't attack anybody. Proving it was out of control would involve an incident and witnesses. Neither of which exist. I could claim found you or your husband aggressive after walking past you in the street and call the police, it doesn't mean they would give a shit unless you had actually done something.

Report it, if it does this a lot then hopefully police will have a word about being on lead.

You’re wrong.

The dog wasn't dangerously out of control. Because it didn't attack anybody.

The law disagrees…

“Your dog is considered dangerously out of control if it:

• injures someone
• makes someone worried that it might injure them”

www.gov.uk/control-dog-public

You all want to waste taxpayer money and police time, when it comes down he said she said. If op claims the dog is out of control and the owner claims it wasn't, who is to say who is lying?

Legally it's not true that "nothing happened". An off-lead dog was poorly supervised and intimidated a member of the public. Legally, that is an offence.

Of course police responses vary wildly and OP may get no joy (the same applies to sexual assault and burglary, unfortunately) but that's not a reason not to report.

Report it to your local dog warden.

Several years ago a dog got out of a house when the owner opened it to let some visitors in. Me, dp and dd who was in a pushchair at the time were about 25 feet away on the opposite side of the road but it made a bee line for us and was barking aggressively at us.

The female owner just stood in her garden meekly calling it and made no attempt to actually get the dog. I believe she was actually scared of it herself tbh.

We reported it and the dog warden visited them. Apparently the partner of the female owner wasn't happy the dog got out as it was running in and out of the road. Hopefully they put the dog away properly before opening the door after this.

Reporting it might make the owner think about keeping the dog on a lead in future plus it builds up a picture. It might turn out you aren't the first to report her.

The dog was off lead and intimidating - Dobermans have a high bite force, I think around the same as GSD...so a lot of potential to cause an injury.

You felt threatened because that dog does have potentail to do a lot of damage. I would put a complaint into the dog warden.

I am afraid it is mostly women that act irresponsibly with their powerful dogs off lead and Mumsnet responses are showing how they don't understand that it is not acceptable to scare people on a walk.

No but realistically OP is going to have to embellish her story further if she wants the dog warden to take any notice. They aren't going to act on a report that a dog barked at them but didn't attack.

Well the dog warden in my town did.

We had a crazy German shepherd on our road - owners left him out in the front garden, where he prowled around, waiting for other dogs to go past, whereupon he went berserk (luckily behind a wall and gate but it was scary and passing fogs would scoot out into the road to get away from him).

I contacted the council but was told I needed to speak to the police, but at the same time neighbours sorted out a letter, telling the owners it wasnt safe.

Multiple reports about the same mutt will eventually garner a response, however slovenly the dog warden.

We all need to be more proactive and less tolerant about problem dogs making our lives a misery. They are ruining our public amenities, and the ignorance of the law on this thread suggests that a good many people, including owners, don't actually realise that we have a right to go about our business without being cornered and terrified by someone's out-of-control animal.

To all the ‘nothing happened’ posters:

If I waved a knife and threatened to kill you, then my DH came and persuaded me to stop and go home, would you say nothing happened? Or would you consider the threat I made and the fear I caused you to feel to be something that did happen?

Please report this.

It's an offence to have a dog that's dangerously out of control in a public place - and if you're in fear that a dog will bite you, that 100% counts as out of control. Don't let other posters on here try and tell you otherwise.

Nothing actually happened though did it. You were afraid of what might have happened, none of which actually did happen. I'd move on...

Also a Doberman owner and I completely agree. I also don't let either of my dogs (also have a Belgian Malinois) off leash when they are off my property/in public. To me, they're my sweet little boys who'd never hurt anyone and they're extremely friendly. But to a stranger, they might look very intimidating and I would never want to make anyone feel unsafe or uncomfortable.

Hmm but the closer analogy would be if you walked past me, and I thought you looked a bit big and threatening, and I worried that you might do something to me, but you didn't.

I would hope if your dog is anxious of people who freeze that you don't allow it off lead. I would love for all dogs to be kept on leads at all times. I've grown up around dogs but if one came towards me baring teeth & snarling I would be terrified. No way would I walk breezily by incase I was giving it anxiety.

Another person who witnessed what happened?

Why are you so defensive?A dog on a lead is not much of a threat. A dog off lead is a risk to others. A dog off lead that is growling/snarling at someone is a much greater threat or just plain scary.

Surely you can see the nuance? Hence the Law?

And to be clear - I absolutely ADORED my dog. He was a Terrier, so was only off lead on beaches out of season that had cliffs he couldn't climb. Even then he was always on a lookout for somewhere to explore.

I don't care about your terrier or your attitude, moral superiority, or claim I'm defensive. None of it is relevant.

Nobody witnessed it for all you know op is a big fat liar. With all the dog threads recently it's probably a troll anyway.