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??

Dogs should not be playing around fitness equipment.

Kids fall over all the time - not a huge deal.
The 'its just been friendly' in not acceptable for a dogs exuberant behaviour. Just say sorry next time and walk on, don't try to excuse your lack of control/attention.
Verbal abuse is absolutely not acceptable either and if you were a man I doubt the other dog owner would have carried on like he did.

Hi 👋 angry man with unleashed dog who has no fault in this at all and is justified in his aggression because rules don’t also apply to him.

dogs playing can knock little people over, my two have been sent to their bums on numerous occasions

No, dogs should absolutely not knock little people over. Because of entitled pet owner views like this, I can’t let my almost 2-year-old run around in our local park because he will get jumped by a dog and the dog owner will shrug it off ‘he’s just playing’.

OP, he shouldn’t have been aggressive toward you, but your dog shouldn’t knock people over. If my 2-year old ends in hospital with a concussion because of your dog bulldozing him into the ground then I couldn’t care less whether your dog was friendly and just playing, or not.

Not every apology is worth something.

In this case OP's dog hit a child, she didn't even saw it, she didn't plan to put it on the lead afterwards and her "apology" is that her dog is being "friendly".

That's signaling she doesn't take is seriously and is perfectly happy to repeat this sort of "accident".

Letting her dog "play" in close proximity of three young children (not her own) without verbally agreeing with the other dog owner is not an accident.

Oh op. Just keep your dog on a lead going forward .

I suggest you have another look at OP's two posts. Neither post mentions a threat to stomp on her dog's head, or any other threat.

There is no clear evidence in either of her posts this man behaved unreasonably, given that his young child had been knocked over by the OP's uncontrolled dog.

He had every right to be angry and to tell her to get her dog trained.

I would have been absolutely livid too. The fact that she made excuses for the wretched animal made it worse. She should have apologised for the dog's behaviour, shown concern for the child and acknowledged the father's right to be angry.

Had she responded appropriately, the child's father probably wouldn't have been so angry and she wouldn't have shat herself.

Her inability or disinclination to control her dog caused a small child significant distress and her subsequent failure to respond appropriately made a bad situation worse.

'As for the soiling, classic fight or flight. Your body perceived danger and tried to lighten itself as quickly as possible to make it easier to run away/fight. A very well known response to severe anxiety and not something that needs medical assessment unless it’s happening all the time'

Not a well known response to a spat about an unruly dog. The op needs a medical check up.

It’s a perfectly normal response to extreme stress or fear. Since none of us were there to see what happened we can only take OP’s word for how badly scared she was, but advising her to see a doctor because she pooped as a fight or flight response, is ridiculous.

Medical term. I know from experience. Glad you find it such a laughing matter.

No she doesn’t. Just do a little bit of research into the fight or flight response. It’s certainly not an ideal response but it doesn’t signal that she’s unwell. She obviously felt as if she was under threat and this was her body’s reaction.

There really are some genuinely childish plebs on this thread aren’t there?

It was very easy to infer from OP's post that she thought having a friendly dog off lead was fine as it wasn't dangerous. I was just pointing out that it was likely to create stressful situations.

It obviously touched a nerve with you though!

Its a fucking annoying response that should have evolved out of humans because it doesn't help in any way

This!
I absolutely hate the “oh he’s friendly, he just wants to say hello” BS. I don’t want your dog to say hello to me and I don’t want it to invade my space. Have some respect for others and their wishes.

Wait until it happens to you. Hopefully it won't but you never know

It’s not good that you were made to feel intimidated however, please realise that not everyone likes dogs.
Your pet may be friendly and well behaved but there are people out there (me included) who are afraid of dogs, after being bitten badly years ago.
Just because you like them you can’t be as entitled to believe everyone should feel the same.

I'm well aware of fight and flight repsosne this should not have had that reaction so she needs help with either anxiety or her bowels. Or both.

Such empathy !!

Oh I've had chats with dog owners who all think their friendly dog arent a nuisance, I've also witnessed an actual serious altercation where someone had been threatening. Never soiled myself. It isn't an insult to say she needs help with anxiety and bowel control.

Maybe she just needed this man not to be such a bully and to stop shouting while she got her dog back on the lead. He told her what had happened with the dog and she apologised. Where was the need to carry on shouting after that or the name calling as she walked away ? None of us were there and none of us know OP so why make assumptions about whether she needs medical help ?She updated to say this has never happened before, so clearly one off.

After one instance in her whole life ? Get a grip.

The man’s own dog was off the lead. So potentially adding to the stress ?

You might be aware of it but this reply quite clearly shows that you don’t understand it. You don’t get to decide what a stranger perceives as a threat in a situation you didn’t even witness. But sure keep on dishing out the ridiculous medical advice if it makes you feel superior.

When you are in the wrong its really best for all if you apologise and walk away asap.

OP can only control her own situation. Out of control off lead dogs cause altercations. If she wants to reduce the risk of having a nasty incident then there is a straightforward solution. The man could learn from that advice as well but he isn't posting on here