Walking close to people

[MalcolmMoo]

I’ve just come back from my morning dog walk. I was walking along a country lane, it’s a road but has bollards on it so no regular traffic, but wide enough for a car. I was walking right hand side with the pram and my two dogs up against the hedge side.

I then heard this out of breath person approaching from directly behind me. My first thought was someone was chasing me! But I looked behind and it was a woman in sports kit directly behind where the dogs were.

One of my dogs can bark at people she doesn’t know hence why I always keep her close to the side of the hedge as she feel safer when she’s between the pram and wall/hedge/fence etc.

This woman then proceeds to go between the dogs and the hedge! I was so shocked as there was the whole other side of the lane she could use! I quickly pulled my dogs to the other side of path as it was free, and she just said “hi! Thank you!” But I was so bemused! she’d of literally had to go within about 6 inches of my dog. Why would you deliberately try to go so close to someone else’s dogs? I always give dogs I don’t know as much space as I can.

Aibu that some people just don’t have a sense of personal space anymore? Surely you walk on the other side of the lane to someone else.

I had this on a pavement.
Child and dad walking towards us, I walked my dog as far in to the hedge as I could so she was nowhere near the child in case they were nervous (she was a softie but they weren’t to know) but the dad actually rammed himself and child down the side of my dog, I had to veer out so they had space. It’s weird because there was plenty of room for the dad to walk kerbside and the boy to be in the middle of us as they passed me, so it’s not like he was near traffic, he was about 8 years old so not a toddler, but the dad insisted on passing us up against my dog.
people are odd.🤷🏼‍♀️

Well, if she was breathing loudly and wearing sports kit, then she was obviously concentrating on her workout and just wanting to pass you as quickly as possible.

And she wasn't afraid of dogs.

It's incomprehensible OP. I just love it when runners dart full pelt out into the road in front of my car. They don't look, they presumably can't hear because they're wired for sound and they give not the merest hint or indication of their suicidal mission. Perhaps they feel safe in the knowledge that I'll be the one had up for manslaughter, or maybe they're just entitled, lobotomised fuckwits.

How odd! I always keep as far away from dogs as possible too.

You should always pass anyone on the left. Is it possible that you were blocking the left by the hedge, but she was automatically going for that side? I mean it is weird, obviously when people won't get into place I would personally go around them wherever has the most space (which results in lots of passing on the right where I live because we have lots of Europeans in the area so they pass on the wrong side), but I'm just theorising why she picked that side. I used to work with a guy who was a little bit rigid with these things (neurodiverse) and he was always struggling in bigger crowds because he was determined to only pass on the left regardless of anything else going on.

How weird
I go into the road if there is a dog on the pavement
Even the other side of you would be too close for my liking

Why pass on the left? Surely you walk to the left of the path, in the same way you drive/cycle to the left on a road. That way faster walkers/joggers can pass on the right of you, i.e. overtaking like on a road?

That's why places like railway stations have "keep left" signs on staircases and escalators!