Randomly insulted in village about my dog's 'behaviour'

[madbatarse]

I should preface this by saying we live in a fairly small village in South West - so this behaviour probably goes with the territory to a degree. We have 14 mth old dog who is still quite puppy like & boisterous: very sociable & wants to make friends with everyone. Twice now the same person/couple have shouted at me across the street that my dog is out of control, a disgrace & I should not be walking her through the village roads. My dog is always on a lead & has never gone anywhere near them.....it is totally unprovoked, random insults. First it was the husband on his own & then the couple together. I am a responsible dog owner & realise not everyone wants a dog coming up to them (or a lead or otherwise) so I always restrain & control her to not be nuisance - except for her 'regulars' (most everyone else) who make a point of coming over to talk to her. I walk her on my own during the day & now feel intimidated (& frankly a bit scared) about encountering these people again. Should I just change my routine &/or try to ignore them or AINBU having a go back next time he/they have a crack & tell them what I think of their unprovoked insulting rudeness? Thx ppl

It’s not ok for them to be hurling insults at you across the street, no. What is your dog doing that gets them so riled up? By 14 months they should be able to walk along a street pretty calmly.

Were they also walking a dog OP? Was there any close up interaction with them before?

They do have a dog but there has never been any interaction, certainly no punch-up, they have kept theirs well away from us. She is a bit hyper I agree for 14 mths despite extensive training - just pulling to want to meet ppl but always restrained unless encouraged & never allowed to get to anyone to annoy

Just smile at them and don’t react. Your fully under control, on lead dog is no problem to them and none of their business. Treat them with the indifference they deserve.

Are you using a gentle leader/halti to keep her under control? I don’t think it’s any of their business btw, but it’s better to get it sorted while she’s young.
Allowing/encouraging all the other people to come and greet her isn’t doing you any favours either, she needs to be focussed on you while you’re out walking so I’d be putting a stop to that until she’s calm enough to walk sensibly.

What was she doing when they said those things?

Does she bark and try to lunge at their dog even though they're on the other side of the road? You could try training your dog to sit when other dogs are approaching and give him a treat so that he concentrates more on you than the other dogs.

A lady that I know had a really boisterous puppy that wanted to say hello to all the other dogs but it used to jump and get so excited that my dog didn't like it and would start barking. We agreed that when I saw her she would get her dog to sit and I would walk quickly past with my dog so that her dog learned that not all dogs want to stop. I saw her recently and her dog was so much calmer and just sat and watched us walk past.

Try shouting back and ask them what their actual fucking problem is. Stupid twats.

It doesn't matter if your dog isn't walking perfectly with you – if she's restrained and not bothering their dog, they have nothing to have a go at you about.

And either way, shouting insults across the road is unacceptable.

My go-to in situations like this is to stop walking and say, at a normal volume:

"I don't respond to that tone of voice. If you'd like to have a conversation with me, come here and we can talk."

Maintain eye contact, and either they'll hear you and respond accordingly, hear you and walk off, or they won't hear you and be forced to come closer to hear what you're saying.

Regardless of the outcome, you keep your cool and set the terms of your engagement.

Depends on what the OP's dog is doing though.

You need to learn to ignore idiots like that. Probably the same people who drive at 40 mph on motorways "to be safe" then continue at 40 mph through a village...

I wouldn't shout at them. I would be tempted to ask if they could explain what the problem is though, as your dog is on a lead and no bother to anyone else.

You say your dog is boisterous and sociable. This suggests that perhaps she is disturbing people. It's kind of like when people on MN say their child is spirited!

What does she do that makes you describe her as boisterous? Whilst her sociable behaviour is cute to you it may not be so to others.

The pure fact that she doesn't behave as if in the obedience ring at Crufts seems to offend their sensibilities. Some useful hints & tips here though so thx

A normal, bouncy puppy wouldn't attract those kinds of comments though - so either these people are just odd (which is very possible!) or she's more out of control than you realise.

Has someone else in the village got an identical dog that is allowed to run loose?

It sounds much more like badly behaved humans/random nutters to me. Who shouts at a dog that isn't bothering anyone?

If they keep doing it I'd make a note of every time it happens, and film them and report them to the police for harassment.

Oh my gosh, this is weird. I could have written this, except that I'm in a village in the north west. I have a 14 month old giant breed dog, obviously in adolescence so of course she is quite boisterous. Yesterday she was being lead walked and I was on the receiving end of a nasty comment from a woman walking a Cocker Spaniel. My girl was on a lead, she was nowhere near the other dog.

I'm so sorry that you've been through this experience too. It is very weird to receive abuse for walking a dog on a lead. Like you, I am respectful, always give people space. I understand that my girl is intimidating, but I'm really shocked that others have experienced similar.

I have no idea what to suggest you do or how we ought to react if the situation arises again.

I think I would be inclined to calmly say, “she is on a lead and under my control, please can you tell me why you are so offended by her?” Let them try and justify their behaviour as I certainly don’t see anything wrong in yours.

How extraordinary you have experience the same - thank you & I feel your pain! Ours is also a giant breed (Pyrenean) so maybe it's a size thing ....despite me trying to explain she was still an adolescent, hence the boisterousness.

Mine is a Pyrenean!!!

Hahaha maybe that explains it then - they are nutters aren't they lol 😀

It doesn't suggest that at all.

OP's made it clear her dog was restrained, on the other side of the road, and that no other dog owners in the village have an issue with her dog's behaviour.

Nor has she described her dog's behaviour anywhere as 'cute'.

What's definitely not 'cute', and is far beyond 'boisterous', is fully mature human beings yelling insults at a stranger from one side of the road at the other.

It's hard to know - if she's leaping around like a crazy thing at the end of the lead barking her head off then you really need to sort out some proper training IMO. She won't just magically become much better behaved because she gets older. I'm sure she's absolutely gorgeous but i don't think you're doing her any favours.

Pyrenean's are BIG dogs which unfortunately means that what's tolerated in smaller dogs just isn't tolerated with them.