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!

Tell it to get down, very firmly and bring up your knee, if you have to. Not cruel and is how the owner should have trained the dog in the first place.

Surely just walk on, not attempt to kick an animal thats being overly friendly?

Because it's fairly obvious if a dog is being friendly or threatening. This dog got you a bit sandy (on a beach) and you think kicking it is the correct response and then wonder why the owner got angry.

Dogs might not be human but they are definitely part of the family. My dog is a pain in my ass and tbh I wouldnt mind if he moved out but I still love him a lot more than some actual blood relations.

This is the key. I used to walk every day on my own at lunchtime when I was working. I had many experiences like the OP. If you don't make eye contact the dog largely ignores you. Although I'm not sure that some dogs don't see people on their own as prey!

I haven’t a clue if a dog is bring friendly or aggressive. Why would you assume anyone did? Not everyone chooses to spend time with dogs. I just know it has no right to be jumping over me and if kicking it gets it to go away, kick it I will. This is all perfectly legal. The dog isn’t allowed to harass people.

I’ve heard that one a million times before I actually would say the opposite somebody who could Say such a thing about a group of people most of whom are scared of dogs I think they need to be looking inwards to themselves as they are the mean nasty not very nice people. Imagine thinking that you are nicer and kinder than other people just because you weren’t scared of dogs how utterly ridiculous!!

Off to order an air spray.

Take a walking stick with you and if needed just put it between you and the dog.

No both dog owner and poster didn't behave badly. The dog owner did. How very dare the owner be so blasé about her dog ruining someone's clothes. Sorry but I'd have had her in a head lock if she dared lay a finger on me.

I dont think kicking animals is legal actually.

So you can't tell the difference between a snarling aggressive dog and one who's bouncy? Big clue, the aggressive one will be biting you
Its no different than watching the body language of humans either. You dont have to spend time with dogs but theyre everywhere nowadays so either chill out or walk elsewhere. I agree btw about dogs being off lead and not being controlled but unless you're being attacked its not an excuse to kick an animal.

I assume OP will be able to wash her clothes and was likely going to wash her clothes anyways. So no harm done and no need to kick the dog then? Some people just want any excuse

When my children were young they were ds in pushchair (6months) DD 6 and DS 7. We were at a nature reserve that was family friendly (think indoor and outdoor play) we were walking around the lake (I had wellys on as it was really muddy) all of a sudden two big dogs *vovered on mud) rushed at me and the children my daughter is screaming as the dog , think German Shepherd size, barrrels into her. So I with three children alone and I'm not about to put my hands near an unknown dog start booting dogs away from my children who are all screaming at this point. Owner comes running at me (big guy 6ft+ im 5ft 4 ) shouts on my face about 'kicking' his dogs. Who are still trying to lunge over my kids, and im still trying to fend off whole he's shouting at me!
Cue lovely park ranger coming along... He stands between us tells guy to leash his dogs and if they are a jump up risk and don't have a responsive recall then he has to keep them leashed. And my response to use my covered foot rather than hands was the right technique. He huffed leashed the dogs and stormed off.

She said she kicked out at the animal.
She did not kick it
You also do.not push two hands into persons chest if they haven't pushed you first.

What happend to keep dogs under control or a lead.

Why do some dog owners think that letting theirv dogs run up to complete strangers and startle or frighten them as a friendly gesture

I know this can be typical dog behaviour and dog means no harm..But unwanted and unwarranted , furry friend attention is not adored by everyone.

A dog jumping up at you is automatically not under control, and always dangerous first and foremost as they are animals. Train your dog properly or dont have one, and and dont whine when it is rightly treated as a threat by anyone who doesn't want an animal on them.

I have personally witnessed a dog switch from jumping up at a kid friendly to having hold of his hand pulling him to the ground in a split second. Kid did nothing. No warning. No body language to read. Within seconds of arriving.

I dont' know how it wasnt' put down, because I know it was reported and there was an investigation. But it was quite a long time ago, I was the same age as the kid, so it might have been easier to get away with back then. Wasn't a major injury, but a lot of bruising and a deep entry from one of the teeth.

That’s awful. But a dog doesn’t have to use its teeth to be dangerous. A dog jumping up could very easily knock someone to the ground. Until very recently I was on blood thinners. A knock to the head could have killed me.
I wish we could have some sense of perspective on threads like this. I have dogs. I love my dogs. No member of the public is obligated to love my dogs. They shouldn’t be bothering people when out on a walk. No one should be being jumped up at or raced at by dogs. Dogs should be under control in public. It is the law.

The dog owner should have moved her dog
However instead of going directly to the very confronting "control your dog" op should have said something like. Could you please take him away from me. And after the suposed "only playing comment" -I say suposed as I have been a dog owner for 7 years and not once have I heard another dog owner say this if their dog jumped up"
Then go more firm however I would still not go to control your dog. More like "get him away from me now"

Kicking "out at" the dog is where the op is utterly unreasonable as she may have been lucky to not kick the dog however had she done so it could have caused a lot of pain to a defenseless animal.

Her points of "didn't kick him" no but you intended to when you kicked out towards him -you got lucky by not making contact.
And the point that we would not do so if it was our husbands.
Well for most of us our husbands/partners are not defenceless and I promise you op if you had "kicked out at" one of my children when they were young and defencelsss I would have stopped you. As it was my job to protect them. I won't say I would have showed you as it would depend on the situation but had you laid hand on my child I absolutely would have put myself between you and pushed you away from my child and that would not have been asault it would have been resonable force.

In short op needs to learn how to communicate her wishes for dogs to not be near her in a different way and the dog owner needs to train her dog to not jump up and move her dog away when people don't like them close.

Oh and I voted YABU as kicking out at a defencelss animal when you are inconvenienced is not ok and that shows op in a poor light.
This does not mean I feel it is ok for a dog to jump up or for the owner to not move the dog away. However op escalated with her choice of words and her intention to harm the animal.
I draw a hard line towards abuse of animals and kicking out at the animal is intention to harm.

However for this voting we need an everybody sucks option

I adore my dogs. But i know dogs can be intimidating and frightening to some people. My brother has profund special needs and is petrified of dogs. He may well lash put if a dog jumped up at him. If my dog runs over to someone and jumps up and someone kicks out in panic, I will blame myself not the person my dog frightened.

This is absolute nonsense. Saying "control your dog" is too confronting?? The dog was literally already on her! The de-escalation ship had sailed. The situation had been escalated to DEFCON 1 already - and not by the OP!

could have caused a lot of pain to a defenseless animal

What defenceless animal? Oh you mean those animals that are strong enough to knock people over, that are faster than most humans, that have sharp teeth and strong jaws, that are constantly in the news for having killed people? One of which was currently jumping repeatedly on her?

op needs to learn how to communicate her wishes for dogs to not be near her in a different way

No. People not wanting dogs to be near them is the default. Assume that nobody wants your dog near them until they explicitly tell you otherwise. Then you won't be in a situation where people need to kick your dog in self defence - using, as you say, "reasonable force."

Even when I had my own little terrier I managed to go about my business not covered in mud, hair and dribble.

I thought that was normal until I came on Mumsnet and met all the anti dog people. Who ARE all these people who can't seem to walk down the street without finding themselves in a 'galloping' pool of drool and dander.