Weird man dog walking or AIBU?

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I was walking my occasionally reactive jack russell cross late this evening as we'd been busy all day (he had been out earlier, just needed once more round the block).
A man walking his dog went to say hello to mine without asking, I had headphones on but stopped to warn him not to reach out as my dog is not always friendly.

He then proceeds to tell me my dog should be in a muzzle. No, because he is on the lead and there's hardly anyone around. I made a joke of it and said, well sometimes it's useful that my dog bites when I'm out on my own at night. (He is always under control on the lead, it's just I live in east London).

The weird man then has a go saying that he doesn't think I own the streets. Im so flabbergasted I can't reply, it's late and I want to go home. But now I'm angry he said that, I bet he wouldn't have offered an opinion to a man with a Staffy that it should be in a muzzle and that he didn't own the streets.

YABU - he was right and I don't own the streets.

YANBU - He was being weird and should keep his opinions to himself

I don’t think Jack Russells are legally required to be muzzled. Silly man should have kept his dog away.

While jr don’t need to be muzzled, they’re nippy and the fact that you have to tell people he might bite- I kind of get what he’s saying but he should have just kept going

Any dog that bites and is known to bite should be muzzled regardless of breed.
Unfortunately most small dog owners don't bother as they're small.so they think its OK not to

If your dog bites then it should be muzzled when out in public, you aren’t a special case because you are a woman.

It would have been ok if the man hadn’t allowed his dog to approach. The problem isn’t the JR who was on a lead and under control. It’s other people thinking it’s acceptable to let their dog approach without asking.

Dogs that bite should be muzzled regardless of breed, that’s not a difficult concept.

The man was being unreasonable by interacting with your dog without asking first.

Nor is keeping your dog away from other dogs unless the owner says it’s ok to approach.

Headphones…. I don’t think are a good idea when walking alone.

Agreed, nobody is saying otherwise, but OPs dog should still be muzzled, glad you now agree. Also she didn’t say the guy let his dog approach, she said he approached.

Agree.

He did have a dog, off lead, but that wasn't a problem. Happy to chat until he accused me of owning the streets. Hilarious as a woman out late on her own. I'm glad my dog would defend me 😊

People shouldn’t approach dogs on leads without checking with owner first .

So did your dog actually try and bite him? It doesn’t sound like he attacked you on approach, struggling to see what the dog needed to defend you against.

When did vicious dogs become 'reactive'? I'm seeing that word a lot.

He shouldn't have gone to touch your dog without permission, but you shouldn't be walking round with your headphones in when you have an unmuzzled dog that's prone to biting.

No biting or aggression from anything except him!