Completely outrageous dog owner behaviour

[Onepeople]

Went for a walk this evening. We live by the sea and my walking route was along the sea front, popular with dog walkers. I am often bothered by dogs off their leads coming up and sniffing me, running round my ankles etc. I find it bloody annoying and inconsiderate really but, whatever.

Tonight though. Dog comes running up to me, leaps up and covers my trousers with his muddy paws. This annoys me and I tell the owner to control her animal. She gives the typical 'He's only saying hello!' response, which always makes me wonder whether I should go up to dog owners and slobber all over them as it's 'only saying hello' apparently. Anyway, the dog carries on jumping up at my so I kick out at it to make it go away.

Obviously in an ideal world I wouldnt have needed to do this. And I kicked out at it, rather than actually kicking it. I knew I wouldn't actually make contact.

Owner comes running up to me, suddenly showing a burst of speed she wasn't capable of when the dog was misbehaving. She screams 'Dont you dare kick my fucking dog!' then shoves me with two hands right in my chest. I almost lost my balance, but just about stayed upright before her friend dragged her away. I honestly thought she was going to punch me.

Not sure why I am writing this other than the fact that I am still a bit shocked and shaky.

I know that not all dog owners are like this, and that this woman seems to be particularly twatty. But God sometimes I hate them all. Bloody dogs and their bloody inconsiderate owners. Control your animals!

Next time kick out at the owner and her mutt.

I hate it when people sit on the fence and don’t say how they really feel 😂

Nah
dog a dog and it isn’t abhorrent to protect yourself no idea if it want to say hello or bite you
breed and size of dog is irrelevant through work the cwu did a presentation on the dangers of dogs and dog bites a guy lots the ability to walk properly after a small dog bites the bag of his ankle and his Achilles got infected
so the message and the moral of the story is keep your dog under control and away from people

I’m confused why you are trying to insinuate I’m assuming

as I clearly said I would only kick it if it come near me that’s the only reason I would and for it to come near me it’s out of control
I think you tried to assume

This.

It's my sad duty to inform you that I didn't actually invent the term internet warrior.

More nasty minimising, and even mocking.

Dogs shouldn't be out of control and shouldn't jump at or bother other people.

The 'other person' doesn't know what the dog is capable of, as so many news stories currently demonstrate. A dog running at you is a threat, maybe just to your clothes, maybe just to your joints/flesh (as in falling over) but maybe more seriously. If a dog runs at and knocks someone over, or even messes up their clothes, the owner needs to hang their head, not laugh and blame the victim.

Totally understandable - I know of several riders whose horses have been pestered and even bitten by out of control dogs who should not be off the lead.

Horses (like all equids) are programmed to administer a massive and sometimes fatal kick to attacking wild dogs, so dog owners need to beware. This is how zebra often deal with lions.

I think this is the problem when all the people who are on the entitled dog owners’ side say ‘oh but they’re just being friendly, wouldn’t hurt a fly’ etc.

I love dogs and personally am not bothered if dogs of the lead are running around/come up to me (albeit would be cross if one put muddy paws all over me and the owner wasn’t at the least very apologetic) but it’s not exactly difficult to appreciate that (a) not everyone likes dogs and some people are actually frightened of them and (b) for some people if a dog jumps up at them it could have really serious consequences. I feel for you Mischance. My DH is recovering from a serious accident and in a similar vein has a degree of anxiety around big dogs bounding around as his balance is affected so it’s a genuine concern that if one jumped up at him he would fall over.

Dogs are lovely, but anyone who has a dog needs to ensure it’s properly trained, and if it’s off the lead around other people, that they can trust it’s behaviour, and that it won’t go jumping up at people.

Devilrocknroller · Today 07:58
I’d throw someone off a cliff for kicking my dog. It is an innocent animal, sorry it doesn’t have the same cultural understandings as a human being 🙄Would you kick a toddler than ran up to you and drooled on you? They do that too you know.

Well, you'd be up for first degree murder then.

And how many approaching toddlers are likely to draw blood or seriously savage you? A ridiculous analogy.

Agree, expecting someone who has no interest in dogs to learn how to decipher body language is just a poor justification for dog owners not to have control over the animal they chose to own. I see the sense in it to some degree, because as proven by this and many other threads on the subject, there's so many owners who have no intention of controlling their dog, but who will get arsey with anyone who takes steps to keep the dog away themselves, but it shouldn't need to be like that.

And tbh a fair amount of dog owners don't have a grasp on dog body language and behaviour, a wagging tail means bugger all in isolation, you've got to take into account the rest of the body language, a wagging tail just means the dog is aroused, has had interest piqued. I've had more than one person shout over that their dog is friendly, when it's body language is telling me - and my on lead dog, it's anything but.

I used to have a horse, on these threads over the years I always wondered what the reaction would be if I'd just taken him to a public space, got off and let him do his own thing, and he was a very friendly horse, loved a bit of fuss and the potential for some treats, and then instead of going to get him as he charged up to someone just shouted over "It's ok - he's friendly!!" And let him get on with it, in fact he had a habit of reversing into people to get his arse scratched, potentially a dangerous situation, liked to rub his head on people too, quite possible to knock someone over, but, it's all ok because he's just being friendly?

What about a pet python? Ok to let that go and investigate who it likes? Wrap itself around them? It's ok, he won't squeeze - he's friendly!

I just don't understand why people would choose to get a dog and then expect everyone else to entertain it for them, and there's so much more available now to do that, to meet all of their physical, social and entertaining needs without them needing to approach anyone who happens to be in the vicinity.

Yes... my old horse wasn't scared of them... he just didn't mess about.
If they were nipping at his heels he'd kick them without breaking stride.
Cue squealing dog and outraged owner.
I never even apologised- horse was defending himself. Owner's fault entirely.

You sound unstable, posting random death threats on public forums.

You also seem woefully uneducated about human development, for someone who has a lot to say about it. Toddlers (1-3yo) have very little grasp of social norms and right/wrong. It’s for parents to teach those over the course of childhood and to ensure that they don’t get into danger on the way. In fact the human brain isn’t mature with regards to risk taking, executive function etc until 25.

A death threat? A hypothetical situation, responding to a hypothetical response, with an obvious inflection for dramatic effect. Extreme much.
I’m not suggesting a toddler has the same cognitive functions of an adult, just more than that of a canine… given how educated and superior you feel you are, I wouldn’t have thought that concept and understanding would be too hard for you to grasp, much like hypotheticals. Yet here we are.

Ehhhhh the mumsnetters who can’t determine reality from dramatic effect.

The OP never mentioned being in fear of being “viciously savaged” or anything close. So my analogy is fine. You’ve added extreme layers that didn’t exist in the original situation.

I think I see the ridiculousness here…

No, but you are the person who referred to me as one. Hence my comment. Do try to keep up.

Owner of two dogs - I would be mortified if my dog jumped up on you. But my dogs are never off lead around other people. I understand that people don’t like dogs, don’t want dogs near them and react badly if approached by one. Which you did. The onus was on her.

You are the very reason this awful dog behaviour goes on!! How dare you say walk in the other direction!! That’s on the owner if the dog gets kicked or pushed away, I carry a large umbrella with me as I’m terrified of dogs. Any owner that doesn’t move their dog straight away I will happily move with my umbrella, if they cared about the dog they would have it on a lead ! All dogs should be on Leads at all times. I don’t want to be bothered by anybody’s dog!

Happens all the time round here. I'm sick of getting jumped on by "friendly" dogs. It might be friendly, I don't know that, and to be honest I don't care if it is or isn't. It shouldn't be jumping on anyone.

Owners should be able the control their dogs and if they can't the dog should be on a leash at all times.

People who are scared of dogs will do anything to get them away as quickly as possible & that’s why all dogs should be on leads and then people wouldn’t be scared and the dogs wouldn’t get moved away when dog owners don’t want them to problem solved.. leads

Exactly this!

Oh I’d love to live where you do if no dog bothers you, it’s a daily occurrence where I live!!

Definitely need something done it’s awful & out of control. Entitled dog owners everywhere

I agree with this. I’m kind of annoyed because I have spent so many stressful walks training my dog through puppy hood and beyond to not go up to people or dogs and it seems many don’t bother. SHe needs off lead exercise so I always took her to places where I could see for a fair distance to make sure nobody else was around - as well as walking her at strange times of the day or when it’s raining so it’s quieter. We’ve walked in very muddy fields as I know there is less chance of others being around and have gradually, through use of a training lead, exposed her to busier and busier places to proof it all. She now automatically comes back to me and walks to heel when there is a human or dog around or simply if I ask her too. This took me months and months of training and stress and worry to get her to this stage!
She did slip her lead once and jumped up at a stranger when she was a puppy and I apologised profusely and couldn’t stop thinking about it all day!

I live at a very dog friendly seaside town, on the edge of dog friendly moorland.

Mmm, that's because you're the person who behaved like one, both the creation of the term and your actions happening before I commented. Hopefully that's not too complex for you to understand.