To be verbally abused by this dog owner

[moana1234]

This is an extremely honest account of what happened to me this evening and I am still shook up over now. Out walking my dog with my 2 sons age 2 and 6 dog is very friendly & likes to play, we pass a dog with his male owner and 3 sons near some outdoor fitness equipment both his and my dog are off lead so my dog goes over to say hello both dogs are excited and run in a circle around the fitness equipment. I turned my head and in that moment it is alleged my dog ran and knocked over the man’s son who is obviously upset. I ask if that was my dog and if so I’m sorry and hope the boy is okay. To which I am given a torrent of abuse, the man shouts at me to get my dog under control and on lead. I said sorry she is very friendly and wouldn’t have meant to it was an accident and his dog was playing too. He continued screaming and shouting at me telling me to train my dog and if I didn’t he would train it for me... I was so took aback I asked if he was joking then when he continued shouting I asked if he would just stop so I could firstly put my dog on a lead (I really didn’t need to as she had come back & has good recall but I didn’t want to provoke anything) and secondly not shout round the children (my 6 yr
old was visibly distressed) I got the dog on the lead and as I was walking away he shouted arsehole. I am ashamed to say I was so stressed and upset I actually soiled myself and can’t stop shaking and crying about this. Was I in the wrong here??

You have no idea what this man would have done in another situation. He saw his child was in danger and acted accordingly.

OP's apology should have ended with "I am sorry this has happened, is your child OK?". Trying to minimise the seriousness of what her dog had done, instead of acknowledging the father's right to be angry, was inevitably going to fuel the father's anger.

Well it must have been a shock. You’re there having a nice walk and the kids are playing with the exercise equipment, and suddenly some drooling idiot dog comes screaming in out of nowhere and causes absolute mayhem, the feckless owner tries to make the usual bullshit “friendly” excuse. No surprises the guy gave her an earful.

Really not his fault the OP is such a snowflake that having caused chaos with her idiot dog, she got a dressing down and promptly powersharted her pants.

If it’s not dogs shitting everywhere, it’s dog owners. Sick of it.

Interesting view. My first post proposed EQUAL rights for dogs and children, I think this is as dog friendly as it can be. My son loves dogs and would run towards them and grab them, but I don’t let him because he can be a bit rough at this age and I think that dogs have a right to be in the park without getting hurt by toddler hands, even involuntarily. Yet somehow it doesn’t work the other way round and it’s ok for dogs to hurt toddlers involuntarily (and much more seriously). God make this make sense.

Edit sorry this was in response to @ThreadGuardDog

Firstly, I am really sorry it got so nasty, I have no doubt he would have reacted differently to a man.
I do think there is a tendency from owners who have friendly dogs that its ok to let them off in any circumstances and I wish owners would be more reserved and cautious about this.
In this situation I would have kept my dog back and assessed the situation a bit more but I think he was unnecessary vile. The chances are with 3 kids and a dog he didn’t want his dog running round but he should have had it on the lead really.

You should have put your dog on a lead when you saw them or at least stopped it running over to say hello.

Asking again is this workable? How do you define a “public places”? Urban parks obviously comes under the term “public places” and possibly enforceable but remote fields in rural areas not enforceable and arguably unnecessary.
Do we really need to put all dogs leads and muzzle them? I suspect it’s only a small but significant minority that are causing problems. What about responsible dog owners?

I'd like to see a law passed that makes all parks dog free... somewhere where kids can run around free without being knocked down.

You don't see cat owners taking their cats to the park and letting them crap in the flower beds... just saying.

I think it’s about personal responsibility. There are areas in our park where it’s signposted that dogs can be let off the lead, but I think it’s down to all parties in that area to take appropriate precautions if there are kids involved.

So where do dogs go that they can run around free then ? As I’ve said a couple of times, there is clear signposting in our local park in an area specifically where dogs can be let off the lead. Whatever happened to personal responsibility ? If you don’t like dogs, then don’t go into that area.

Yes. Ok, let's reorder.

She let her off lead dog approach the other dog near three other children without communication whether it is ok.
She didn't even see her dog knocking the child away.
She didn’t mention immediately calling it back and saw no reason to put it on the lead (even just to reassure the child the dog won't approach it again).

When he asked her to (yes, in a shouty way), she said : I said sorry she is very friendly and wouldn’t have meant to it was an accident and his dog was playing too.
That's not an apology. That's a set of lame excuses. I wouldn't be surprised if someone started shouting hearing that.

People are sick of dog owners not controlling their dogs and babbling about "friendly" as if it meant anything.

I'm not totally unreasonable.

I wouldn't expect a responsible dog owner to have to wear a muzzle... although it might stop them from saying the annoying 'Fido's just being friendly' after the mutt's put its muddy paws and drool over you.

It doesn't.

So where do dogs go that they can run around free then ?

Nowhere.

Think of the pavements... No more having to scrape dog shit from your shoes.

I 'understand it'. Everyone would be soiling themselves every day the amount of wound up people you see having altercations.

If someone 'soils' over a run in with someone over their nuisance dog they need some help to develop strategies to cope and also maybe inco pads until they've been checked out by a hcp.

I understand that's your opinion but it's objectively inaccurate. The fault lies with the owner of the dog who caused harm. You're fine to be outraged by it but it's fact.

We have a dog. Its never off lead around kids and she is very calm and good natured.

Dogs should be on lead where other members of the public are around, only off on a beach/fields where you can clearly if there are kids approaching.

So just parks. How is this going to be enforced? I think muzzles are unnecessary if on leads.
A few years ago I went a NT place a very large fenced dog free area around the house, heaving in dogs on leads and off leads no one enforcing it. No one is even able to enforce dog fowling.
I completely understand that out of control dogs are at best a bloody nuisance at worst can be dangerous but surely there has to be a middle path between all dogs on leads and wearing muzzles and allowing dogs galloping around the local park on a sunny Sunday afternoon eating everyone’s picnic and knocking people over. I also personally don’t think dogs should be allowed in shops like JL ans don’t think dogs want to go in JL. But cafes etc well behaved dogs what’s the problem.
I don’t think we should underestimate the pleasure dogs give to people (not just their owners) and the health benefits often derived from them. I regularly walk mine and being a rare breed I get lots of comments and questions about them I live alone I enjoy the interactions but it’s also very obvious that those who talk too me many don’t own dogs also enjoy the interaction
I know it’s popular on here to take the extreme view on everything but in my experience taking the middle road is often the best way forward.

You and a few other posters are suggesting that OP offered up the fact that the dog was only being friendly as an actual apology. If you read the OP that’s not what happened. She apologised immediately and asked if the child was OK. The conversation about the dog being friendly came after that, and she was still being yelled at while she was trying to put the lead back on.

OP approached with her own children and this man had his own dog off the lead. So why does the necessity to put it back on the lead not apply just as much to him ?

OP says it’s only ever happened once. And clearly everyone is different so that’s why you don’t see it happening every day. Doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen, and it doesn’t signify illness. Your insinuation that OP has some sort of a mental health problem and needs to wear incontinence pads would be hilarious if it wasn’t so insulting.

Christ, I don’t know where you live, but around here we take doggy bags and use them.

And likewise the man should have put his own dog on a lead when he saw OP approaching,

Dog, or really Dog Owner licensing cant come soon enough.

In particular owners or potential owners need to have it imprinted on their minds what is and is not acceptable behaviour for their dog.

Trust me, there is no pleasure in dogs. Yes, most dog owners are alone because of the doggy smell...

Quite simply this could enforced with the use of rifles. This is MN. It's extreme.

Wait til the poop trolls discover and descend on this thread.

I could say I’m tired of people calling my dog over crouching down waggling their hands in his face making squeaky noises touching his enormous ears (which he doesn’t really like) and then complaining he’s jumped up at them complaining he’s muddy or licks them. Ignore him and he ignores you talk to him try and attract his attention then don’t moan if he comes over jumps up etc.
Or my other very human uninterested dog who people insist on trying to touch because she’s “soooo pretty” even though she very obviously doesn’t like it and are asked too leave her alone.
But do you know what I accept that it’s not a perfect world many people don’t understand dogs and there are dog owners who don’t train their properly.

Trust me I’m not alone because of the “doggy smell”! 🤣
There is research that dog owners are less likely to develop dementia. Apparently it’s because 1. They exercise more and 2. They interact/socialise with people when walking the dog one of proven way to reduce your risk of dementia and slow down its progression.