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!

Thank you - a fair response from a dog owner!

Yes, if a dog runs at you -all bets are off, and you are allowed to do what it takes to stop it. Tough luck if the owner doesn't like that. They need to train and control their animals.

People are so blasé about their dogs. Thousands of people are hospitalised by dog bites every year… including me, and my dad, and several friends.

Mildly discouraging the dog without making contact was literally the most restrained you could have been expected to be. If a teenager had behaved the way these dogs do, MN would have called the police!

People have lost the plot.

No, you're not being unreasonable OP. No idea why the fuck people are voting you are. Selfish dog owners like that can get FUCKED. I fucking hate dogs. I fucking hate dogs off their leads. I fucking hate dogs jumping at me. I fucking hate dogs putting their nasty tongues and noses on me and my children. Dog owners who walk their dogs off lead without consideration for people who have no interest in being jumped and slobbered on, are pit crawlers. If you're reading this and you're one of those people who allow your dogs to behave like this, have a bastard word with yourself. Not everyone has to like your dog. Get over yourselves. Utter selfish behaviour.

You can learn whatever you like about dog communication, learn to bark Pachelbel's Canon if you want, it still won't stop most people reacting instinctively when an animal that could clearly cause them harm runs and jumps at them.

Can you repeat that 😆 didn't quite get how much you hate dogs.

A light kick (not enough to cause pain) is a perfectly reasonable and ordinary tactic to get a dog to do what you want. It's no different really from pushing a dog with your hand, which is frequently the only way of getting the animal to actually do what you want it to.

Higher levels of force against an animal you perceive to be a threat are also reasonable, and dog owners should be aware that (a) some people have very low thresholds for feeling threatened due to past experiences; (b) allowing your dog to make someone feel threatened is illegal.

I generally just shout at digs behaving badly in public rather than resort to anything physical, but of course the sort of owners who believe their little darlings can do no wrong (who are the sort whose dogs are badly behaved in the first place) generally don't take that too well either. But if you aren't going to discipline your dog, I will, and I won't be nice about it.

I'd report to the police - you were assaulted.

She assaulted you. I’d report that to the police tbh.
I am a dog owner, my dog has good manners although he was a bit of a menace when a puppy. Therefore I kept him on the lead.
I don’t blame you for kicking out at him. For all you know he could have been preparing to bite you - not everyone is a bloody dog whisperer who can read their body language.
I hope you’re ok now.

Again - victim blaming.

you get dogs everywhere - cities , beaches , forests.

No one is required to have “dog behaviour” knowledge so they can make enjoyable use of these PUBLIC spaces. to argue otherwise is to say that dogs are of equal standing as people in those spaces, which, I don’t think is too controversial to suggest, is not the case.

the example of the horse is also a straw man. The horse is contained within a field and you make a decision to walk through it. But Horses are also not usually just parading through our neighbourhoods unattended or along beach fronts. We don’t share our the majority of our public spaces with them.

again you’ve missed:

• OP / the jumpee doesn’t know it’s not a dangerous threat. that is the basic crux of it all.

it’s basically like suggesting - oh there’s a man being really handsy in the bar. But he’s not actually a threat - but the victim should be able to “know” that somehow - and therefore based on that decide whether or not she responds by telling him to FO, rather than being pissed that he’s in her space and not liking it and being able to act on that feeling alone. I don’t think you’d consider that an acceptable point of view - it’s basically victim blaming to say you didn’t read the situation.

I have had a dog attacked while out on a lead. If your dog rushes me or my dog I will kick first and ask questions later. I'm happy to go to designated off leash areas and let my dogs play with other dogs. But, I will not have an unknown animal approach. I think anyone who has been the victim of a dog attack will say the same. Don't want your dog kicked, then have it under control and not randomly running up to strangers.

Then don’t let your dog free to jump up on people?! I am so sick of shitty dog owners, they blame everyone else because they can’t be arsed to train their pets.

We quite often take walks along the paths of a seaside town in Ayrshire. I've never had a dog come anywhere near me to sniff let alone jump up at me.

Is it a demographic problem?

My mother won’t walk on the nearby beach any more because of dogs with no recall. She’d fall down if a big one jumped up on her. I don’t wear my best ballgowns to the beach but even so having a wet dog jump up and cover my jeans with muddy water is really annoying. I like dogs but there’s just so many stupid shitty selfish owners now. I do think something needs done at a national level.

You definitely wouldn’t throw me off a cliff and I wouldn’t think twice about kicking your dog to get it away from me
but I can’t see this happening as if your so precious about your dog surely you would have it under control

as for the stupid comment about you wouldn’t do it to a toddler of course you wouldn’t but it’s ridiculous to compare and think that a dog and a child are equal it’s a dog

Dog lover and owner here. It is totally unacceptable for dogs to jump up, but they do sometimes [mine still does occasionally] and the correct response it is to grovel profusely and offer to pay for any cleaning bill. The current infantilising of dogs as substitute babies is, I think, responsible for the entitlement and defensiveness of many owners......not everyone likes dogs and I am always mindful of this.

I’d definitely try.

Yep, I do always have my dog under control. He’s never off leash in public places. So try not to judge people when you know nothing about them. You know what they say about assumptions…

Yeah it is ridiculous to compare toddlers and dogs when it comes to behaviours and punishment. Mostly because kids, toddlers, all human beings (although it does appear there are some exceptions…) have awareness and a conscience. A sense of right and wrong. And a sense of public acceptabilities. Animals and dogs do not. They need their owners to put those things in place for them. So kicking a dog, with no conscience or awareness that it was doing something socially unacceptable, would be abhorrent. Equally as abhorrent as kicking a child, despite their increased abilities for awareness and intelligence and conscience. It’s insane to assume one living things life is worth more than another. Showing more than you realise there. Woops.

I ride horses and I carry a long whip.
Its not for my horse.

I’d definitely try.

Course you would.

Just as well you always keep your dog on a lead in public then, as it means the question of whether you're an internet warrior or a potential murderer remains unanswered. In my experience more people fall into group A than group B.

But your definition of threatening can be very different to my definition. As I said earlier I'm extremely cautious around dogs due to earlier experiences with one and I would think this dog was assaulting me by running up to me. I would be very apprehensive of one even sniffing around my feet - this is something the majority of dog owners don't seem to be able to comprehend. To you he's only being friendly but to me, it can be quite frightening.

Internet warrior 😂 is that all it takes in your book? But, on your other question, I guess you’ll never know

tbh my first instinct would have been to throw mud at her.

Just shows how many annoying dog owners there are!

Although it's a bit like the covid threads about all the sweaty runners breathing covid fumes over everyone at every corner.

I'd rather you stopped the dog jumping up at all, rather than dealing with the aftermath. Short lead in public spaces, and let off lead in very quiet spots? OK you can't guarantee there won't be an annoying human somewhere around but it's much less likely than eg on a busy canal towpath or beach.

Exactly, even as a dog owner, I love MY dog, I don't love yours. I have no relationship with him/her and no idea if he/she is friendly and certainly won't be taking a strangers word for it!

@BrownBookshelf Hmmm, I doubt it, judging by the OP’s posts. She did nothing apart from create a post on Mumsnet.

Edited to quote.