To have kicked an old man’s dog?

[itsme189]

This morning I was walking my 2 very small elderly dogs on lead in the woods near me where it’s nice and cool for them.

they love people but they don’t love when dogs run up to them and get all in their face, valid I wouldn’t like that either. If a dog on or off lead just walks past or gives them a quick sniff they don’t mind. I always tell people not to let their dogs come right up to them.
Theyve never bitten just growled and I just don’t want to risk anything.

there was an old man walking a large greyhound type dog off lead and he’s miles away from it it runs at us very fast so I stick my leg in front of my dogs and the dog doesn’t stop runs straight into my leg. He then excitedly throws his foot on top of my smallest dog he squeals in pain and my other dog starts growling and showing teeth.

so I picked them up and then the big dogs starts jumping up at me to get to my dogs so I kick it away.

Old man then starts screaming at me for “abusing” his friendly dog and a lady walking passed then said to him “I saw her kick the dog”

and now I don’t know if I did too much but I was so overwhelmed and worried it would become a fight and there’s no way my old boys would do well in that situation. To make it worse the lady made a post about it in our local Facebook group (luckily no pictures) and everyone’s saying awful things but they only know one side!

For the record the dog was not hurt didn’t even squeal!

I don’t understand why you needed to kick the dog, were you concerned it would injure your dogs? I didn’t think greyhounds were aggressive?

A greyhound-sized dog should NOT be jumping up on anyone, for any reason. a child or an old person could be knocked down and badly hurt.

A woman giving it a kick to get it away is a perfectly reasonable response (and I'm the owner of medium-large dog, so not someone who hates dogs)

They can have a very strong prey drive and be quite dangerous around small dogs.

No.

Obviously.

But unless @itsme189 wants to encounter some old bloke with his uncontrollable dog - what option does she have?

Not sure taking a spare lead to capture the unruly hound would work frankly.

This is why I have indoor only velcro cats.😽

It doesn't sound like you kicked it very hard. Leave the Facebook group and change your walking route for a bit.

Actually YES!!

Thinking about this - that's why I don't go for a walk anymore. I'd rather poke my eyes out than walk along the "cycle" dog walkers path.

You didn't kick it. You moved it out of the way with your foot

I also don't condone kicking dogs, but you were literally just trying to protect your dogs. If the man couldn't control his dog, then it shouldn't have been off leash. I say this as an owner of two large breeds.

I keep our well trained dogs on leash in public, purely because it means they are close to me, should an off leash dog run towards them, or a child grab one by the tail or something. I know that's an unusual example, but I've seen a child deliberately pinch a dog and I don't want my lovely dog being put in that sort of situation.

This is totally on the man for not having his dog under control.

It’s the case only because, as seen in this thread, many people atomically jump to ‘how dare you kicking the dog’ wo putting the responsibility on the person who doesn’t control their own dog.

If there was as much social pressure to keep your dog under control and not let them run towards people/other dogs than there is about not licking a dog, the OP wouldn’t be to,d ‘to just walk her dog at a different time’ never mind she migut not be able to or it’s then too hot for the dogs etc….

As a dog owner he was 100% in the bloody wrong, and all the idiots on here who think the dog was 'playing' and 'socialising' are just as stupid .. the dog's intentions are irrelevant, having your dogs on lead is a clear signal that you don't want off lead dogs to run over to you. Anyone letting their dog do that is a fucking half wit and shouldn't have a dog.

But I don't agree with how you handled it, you should have stood your ground in front of your dogs by holding them behind you and circling round, the second you picked them up you lose all control and you create chaos.. this should be a complete last resort for if your dog is being attacked.

Whenever this has happened to us, and it has happened many many times over the years, I lead my dog/s away, sometimes back towards their stupid owners, if my dog is being pestered/hurt I would physically block them, either grab the other dog and let go of mine, or if my dog was being attacked I would physically grab hold of their dog and hurt it as hard as I could, zero fucks given.

The problem here is it doesn't sound like the dog was aggressive, and you panicked which escalated the situation.

Greyhounds are trained to chase after a "fake" rabbit for money.

If it's an ex-racer (and who knows, there isn't a big flashing halo over them) it's prey driven and should be muzzled.

And you think it’s a good answer?!?

Ridiculous isn't it? I had a pair of Manchester Terriers, lovely dogs but a breed know to be aloof. They bond with their family but would cheerfully step over dead bodies out and about. They only wanted to know each other and didn't bother socialising with other dogs and any dog that pushed it would get a warning snap. Other people didn't exist, they would literally grey rock people trying to cal them over. Yet apparently this is a behavioral problem the whole world is being expected to accomodate! Not every dog wants to play with strange dogs. It's a preference, not a problem. Why some people think they should be able to force their dog on other people and dogs is beyond me.

And if the dog isn’t just playing but is aggressive, you … put yourself in front of the dog and put yourself in arm’s way at the same time?

That’s a serious question from someone who’d be terrified in that situation (so I’d just hold still, praying for the owner to do something. You know the famous Freeze reaction).

That dog should never have been let to run towards the OP full stop.
Telling the OP she didn’t react well is not here nor there. The first step is getting your dig under control. Otherwise you fall into victim blaming.

Yup.

All dogs should be muzzled in public.

Jumping at doesn't mean attacking, does it? I'm imagining an excited jumpy dog. Obviously that shouldn't happen, but not fair to kick a dog to correct bad behaviour.

If it was a "teeth out and jumping to bite at the op and her dogs" that's a different situation. But I feel like the op would have said that, if that's what happened?

This.

YADNBU

His dog was not under control so he was breaking the law.

Kicking/kneeing a dog for fun obviously wouldn't be ok, but as your only defence in that situation, it was proportionate and reasonable.

WanderingStar26
I’d turn partially away from the dog with my arms folded.

Um... but what do you do with the two elderly, frightened dogs in your arms, at this point? Because that's what the OP was coping with: both arms fully occupied and a large out of control dog leaping up at her trying to get at them.

Was he doing that to make friends with them even though they were snarling at him and clearly not inclined to be his fwends, or to attack them? Who can say. Greyhounds do kill smaller dogs quite often, though, so alarm about them from smaller dogs' owners is justified in general.

If she hadn't picked them up the situation would have been no easier: two small, frightened dogs on the ground, the greyhound interested primarily in them. He isn't going to give a damn about her turning her back or crossing her arms, because she is not what he has his attention on.

Yes.

Can you explain in small words why it isn't?

It's my answer (whilst fending off my very gentle cat who can't catch a fly).

Did you see my earlier post? Maybe scroll back a bit.

No, you were not in the wrong. You were fully in control of your dogs, he was not in control of his. You were only protecting your dogs. The woman who stuck her nose in should mind her own business, nosey cow.

Reply to the post anonymously asking why the dog was so close to someone that obviously didn't want it there and where was the owner whilst the happened. The dog was out of control and therefore the owner was breaking the law, thankfully the dog only recieved a kick rather than coming to harm from an aggresive dog or car which seems inevitable if the dog is allowed to behave like this regularly.

Jumping does mean attacking to me.

But then, been there...still got the scars from the "he's just excited/being friendly" fuckwit of a dog with a cunty owner 50 yrs later...

I also have a small elderly dog and in the moment you did what you needed to to protect your dogs. I’ve had to intervene a number of times when out of control big dogs with no recall have come charging over to mine fortunately yelling or shooing them away has worked but if it didn’t I’d do what you did if there was no alternative.

Not kicked it? What’s difficult to understand? Turn your back, walk away. You became the aggressor by kicking the dog, you could have made it worse.