To say you'll know if I hit your out of control dog

[Lovedogsbutnotyours]

Don't you just love it when you're in the park with your 4yo, 2yo and dog (who is, as a dog should be, well trained and under control) and someone else's out of control dog comes charging over and starts jumping up and grabbing at your ball thrower while the owners do... absolutely nothing? And then when the dog finally goes they don't put it on lead, but let it do exactly the same thing again five mins later nearly knocking the kids over.
Owners finally ran down when I pushed the dog away. Apparently I'm in the wrong for moving their dog away and he's "scared" of the thrower (least scared dog I've ever seen, he was having a whale of a time grabbing, tugging and barking at me) and I'm a bad mum for hitting their dog. Mate, you'll know if I hit your dog and if you can't control it I'll control it for you and will absolutely push it away from me and my kids. For future reference, the correct response is to apologise profusely the first time, put your dog on lead and get some training.

Stamp and shout at them loudly - the dog AND the owner 😂 - with the “go away grrr” sharp and loud and make it clear to the dog - and owner - that you aren’t playing!

I agree 100% and I’m a dog owner. I’m fed up with untrained dogs who bound over and are ‘just being friendly’. Piss off with your unruly dogs or I’ll kick it out of my way.

#NotAllDogs

@Lurkingandlearning
Often leads to injuries in dogs as well as long term damage. Intense exercise, then the sharp stopping, twisting etc.
Also, chasing balls gets dogs hyper and over stimulated and other off-lead dogs then come to join in the fun. Not saying they should but sometimes they do which seems to be the case in the OP.

The UK need the US model of separate areas of the park for dogs and humans, or separate dog parks. The parks near me are really only for dogs because there are big energetic dogs needing a lot of exercise there. Plus the hygiene issue.
It could be largely solved by designating certain parks for dogs or certain parks not for dogs or just allocating a chunk of the park for dog use.

@redboxer321is absolutely right. Or least makes sure you’ve got gold plated insurance

I don't blame you, I am a dog lover and get anxious walking my dog in case of attacks. Letting a dog behave like that is totally out of order.

@mapleriver glad your partner did that, I absolutely cannot stand seeing things on social media of dogs of a certain type attacking smaller ones.

Tbh, your subject heading is a tad misleading....a push isn't the same as a hit?

I am a cat lover, and dog tolerator.

I have never had any of these problems with dogs- sure occasionally they are slightly annoying, but in 60 years, I have never had a significant problem. Why do people get so worked up about such small issues?

Someone mentioned the US; I moved to the US a few years ago, and I wanted to say that I think it is really sad to be walking in the woods miles from anywhere and encounter people walking their dogs on leads. That is the law here- and what a pity that those dogs never get the chance to have a real run. It is good to see dogs playing freely in England, usually well trained (not perfectly trained, but well enough). Dogs are happier, feel less threatened, and are less reactive when off lead.

What about dogs of a certain type attacking larger ones? Our girl is constantly being threatened by small dogs when we are lead walking her. It goes both ways.
Irresponsible ownership is not determined by the size of dog.

That’s shocking. I’ve always known that if the event should ever arise where one of my kids, when little, could be in danger thanks to an out of control dog, I’d have no qualms booting the dog in the jaw. Don’t all parents want to protect their children?

I’ve got exactly the same situation with my little dog. She’s been attacked 3 times in the past when on her short lead by dogs not on their leads whose owners were too far away to see or do a fast response.
Recently a big dog came bounding up, I picked my dog up as she was barking at it and the other dog was jumping up me trying to get to my dog. With arms full, all I could do was to try and shove the other dog away with my hip and leg. I did not kick the dog but when the owners finally arrived they were glaring at me and muttering under their breath. Not a bad dog, just bad owners who hadn’t trained their dog to recall.
Had the same thing happen on holiday when I had my dog in my arms and the other dog was jumping up, scratching me and then bit me on the arm. My arm was bleeding, the owners were apologetic at least but they had zero control over it. It could have hurt a small child badly.

This is infuriating. I'm sorry it happened and the owner is an arse. My parents dog is lovely, really friendly but they let him do this and no amount of telling them makes them see sense.

I ride horses, the amount of out of control dogs that run at us and even bite the horses is insane. My friends horse has killed 2 with well placed kicks. Nothing to be done, she's protecting herself but it's awful. (and the police backed her up in case anyone is wondering).

Control your dogs people.

My response tends to be "good thing we're not where I grew up else I would have shot your dog by now".

I absolutely launched one when it jumped on my pushchair
the danger if you lightly push it away it’ll come back or go for you

The legal position is that you can use reasonable force to protect yourself against a dog in the same way you can a human

Some former neighbours very nearly ended up with a dead dog

I usually carry a small pen knife when I’m out walking my dog in the woods (on his lead). If an off lead dog gets too close he risks getting injured and I no longer care. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Do you honestly imagine you'd be able to open up a penknife while you or your dog were being attacked by an out of control dog? Or that it would be of any use?
We were viciously attacked by an off lead Labrador that grabbed our 16 week old puppy by the head and almost killed him. You have literally a split second to act in that situation. Believe me when I say a small penknife is a much use as a wet newspaper for fending off a dog attack.

@CoubousAndTourmaIet yes totally agree with you, I was just thinking of small as the OP mentioned a Pom.

Ah, okay.

I admit I was probably being defensive over the big dog hate here and her singling out "mountain dogs" for a bit of a bashing 😞

If you’re feeling unsafe and you need to move the dog away then there isn’t much else you can do but try to push it away. I have 2 large labs, one of which we can’t trust not to enthusiastically run up to kids and people so we always put her lead on if we see them.
On the whole we walk them in quiet places where they can be off lead and we can see far enough ahead to know if we need to put their leads back on - beaches early in the morning and in winter, forests, farm land, etc etc. we don’t take them to parks, not fun for them or us!
We had an incident last year where my husband was walking them early in the morning around the fields near where we live, it’s very quiet. Both dogs off lead. Suddenly out of nowhere a dog ran out of the woods and started to attack our dogs, one ran off terrified and hid but one didn’t and got bitten badly, my husband was desperately trying to get the attacking dog off ours but she then started going for him - jumping at his face and bit his arm. He had to literally pick the dog up from behind and throw her to be able to then get hold of our dog who had been hurt and try to protect her. He could hear the owner shouting but couldn’t see her, eventually the dog ran away into the distance and disappeared.Bear in mind they were in the middle of nowhere and the owner had no idea where her dog had gone!
We knew who the owner was so DH went round and knocked on her door. She said the dog had ran off chasing a deer and had managed to get across the golf course and to us which was a huge distance without her managing to recall her. DH said he wouldn’t report it but he would expect the dog to be muzzled and under control if he saw it again, and so far she has been when she has been walking her-but her husband continues to run around the farm land with her off lead and she has attacked multiple dogs around the village! I absolutely dread the day I encounter her alone as I wouldn’t be able to protect my dogs and I honestly think she will kill a dog one day, she’s suspected of killing several sheep last year. DH didn’t want to report but if it had been me I absolutely would have.

I literally would kick a dog as hard as I can if I feel it is going to be a danger to me or my kids. I'm terrified of dogs and I can't be dealing with feeling threatened. I don't give a fuck about the dog or its owner - I can't be feeling scared in a public space.

YANBU but you are being hugely unreasonable to use a ball thrower.

Was in a cafe today where a dog (on a lead) by the cafe door kept barking loudly and jumping up. DD(6) was trying to get out of the cafe to join her sister in the play area outside but was terrified by the loud barking close to her face. Dog owner got super defensive and kept saying “it’s no worse than a baby crying and she was once a baby”. He couldn’t understand that it’s not just that barking and jumping is annoying but that it is really scary but if you are a child nearly the same size as the dog. I tried pointing out that he might feel intimidated by a 6 foot tall dog barking in his face but he just kept telling me how he had the dog under control so she had no reason to be scared and she should just walk past. A stranger intervened and asked if he would just move the dog out of the way so she could get past but he refused. His dog wasn’t the problem- everyone else in the cafe was.

DD was so upset by the dog and feeling told off by the owner that she ended up crying at the back of the cafe until the dog had left while her sister played by herself. She likes dogs but is sensibly wary after being knocked over several times by out of control dogs in public and we have been told in the past gems like “the dog won’t hurt her so you need to teach her not to be scared” when a dog is jumping and knocking her over.

I like dogs but selfish and entitled owners who can’t be bothered to train them give dogs a bad name.

I don’t blame you OP - some people have no idea
and treat their dog like a child