Page 18 | To have kicked an old man’s dog?

itsme189 · 2026-07-08T11:37:31+00:00

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!

nomas · Today 22:05

itsme189 · Today 21:47

I am happy to admit that in the moment I did not have time to think about all the many options I did not have treats, no corrective spray, sticks or spare leads. This is all good advice for the future.

im not going to keep repeating the same points if people aren’t going to read my previous posts. So here they are -

I shouted for the owner ALOT
I shouted LOUD at the dog a lot
My dog got hurt by said dog so I picked them up to protect them and prevent my other dog who was now in protective mode escalating the situation. He is the most chill out of the two unless you hurt his brother.
I turned my back on said dog and it jumped on my back and it was strong if I moved forward I would have been taken to the ground with both dogs.
I kicked backwards in blind hope it would get off me, I think I swiped a leg and it ran off.
it did not wince, cry or squeal and ran off fine at speed.
The witness did not try to help in anyway and only got involved after the dog ran off.
for that one poster no I have little upper body strength or any not really for any medical reasons I just walk for exercise and don’t life weights and I don’t see how that should be a requirement to walk 2 dogs who barely weigh a stone between them

my one dog is fine the other has a cut on his mouth/chin I have a vet assistant in the family so she popped round on lunch had a look and gave me some stuff to clean it with and told me to bring him in if he had any further symptoms luckily he does not.

Said vet assistant describes my dogs as people positive and dog neutral. They don’t absolutely love other dogs they know how to interact with them and they also don’t hate other dogs only ones that cross boundaries and don’t listen to warnings.

Not that it really matters but I have multiple scratches from the dogs claws on my shoulders/back and the start of a bruise on one shoulder. But I’m fine just got a bit scuffed up. A little unfortunate I was wearing a summer dress if I had a jumper on I doubt I’d have any marks.

i have no disdain for big dogs we have all sorts of dogs in our family. I would have been just was annoyed if it was a Jack Russel (although it wouldn’t have been able to reach much haha)

Not that it really matters but I have multiple scratches from the dogs claws on my shoulders/back and the start of a bruise on one shoulder. But I’m fine just got a bit scuffed up. A little unfortunate I was wearing a summer dress if I had a jumper on I doubt I’d have any marks.

It absolutely does matter, don't minimise the harm to you.

I would be tempted to take a picture and upload it in response to that Facebook post.

nomas · Today 22:07

FalseSpring · Today 21:50

Many years ago I was walking my dog on a lead in a public park when another came bounding up to us. My dog was very reactive and I shouted for the other dogs owner to recall their dog but their calls were ineffective. The stranger's dog pounced on mine (maybe in a friendly way but I can't be sure), and my dog reacted badly, was aggressive and bit the stranger's dog seriously enough for it to require stitches as it's ear was hanging off. The stranger called the police and tried to claim vet costs from me but failed miserably as the police told her she was the one with the out of control dog and so she was in the wrong for having a dog off a lead without sufficient recall.

You were definitely not in the wrong and the other dog should be kept on a lead at all times if the owner doesn't have effective recall in all circumstances.

That's terrible, and glad the police sided with you.

Did she try and claim your dog was out of control or not on a leash?

Allisnotlost1 · Today 22:10

BuildbyNumbere · Today 21:47

And training your dog doesn’t stop it getting attacked by one that’s off lead and out of control.

Show quote history

Indeed, and fortunately neither of those things happened here, but there are still ways to minimise harm and it’s useful to know them rather than rely on everything always being as it should be.

Allisnotlost1 · Today 22:19

itsme189 · Today 21:47

I am happy to admit that in the moment I did not have time to think about all the many options I did not have treats, no corrective spray, sticks or spare leads. This is all good advice for the future.

im not going to keep repeating the same points if people aren’t going to read my previous posts. So here they are -

I shouted for the owner ALOT
I shouted LOUD at the dog a lot
My dog got hurt by said dog so I picked them up to protect them and prevent my other dog who was now in protective mode escalating the situation. He is the most chill out of the two unless you hurt his brother.
I turned my back on said dog and it jumped on my back and it was strong if I moved forward I would have been taken to the ground with both dogs.
I kicked backwards in blind hope it would get off me, I think I swiped a leg and it ran off.
it did not wince, cry or squeal and ran off fine at speed.
The witness did not try to help in anyway and only got involved after the dog ran off.
for that one poster no I have little upper body strength or any not really for any medical reasons I just walk for exercise and don’t life weights and I don’t see how that should be a requirement to walk 2 dogs who barely weigh a stone between them

my one dog is fine the other has a cut on his mouth/chin I have a vet assistant in the family so she popped round on lunch had a look and gave me some stuff to clean it with and told me to bring him in if he had any further symptoms luckily he does not.

Said vet assistant describes my dogs as people positive and dog neutral. They don’t absolutely love other dogs they know how to interact with them and they also don’t hate other dogs only ones that cross boundaries and don’t listen to warnings.

Not that it really matters but I have multiple scratches from the dogs claws on my shoulders/back and the start of a bruise on one shoulder. But I’m fine just got a bit scuffed up. A little unfortunate I was wearing a summer dress if I had a jumper on I doubt I’d have any marks.

i have no disdain for big dogs we have all sorts of dogs in our family. I would have been just was annoyed if it was a Jack Russel (although it wouldn’t have been able to reach much haha)

Crikey, quite the drip feed and now information which significantly changes the picture. Why didn’t you say all this before?

That sounds much worse and it’s understandable why you reacted as you did. I stand by the need to stay as strong as you can. It doesn’t matter that your dogs are small, as you’ve found today. Of course if you have medical issues that might not be possible. If the Facebook post is bothering you post what you’ve said here because it’s massively different than it seemed at first.

I hope you’re all ok.

BurtsBeefCrisps · Today 22:21

You were not in the wrong. There’s some very ignorant comments on here. You had your dogs under control which is the law. This is all on the other owner who did not have his dog under control. You have every right to walk your dogs wherever you want as you arr abiding by the law. There’s thousands of dogs who are injured, elderly, reactive rescue dogs of previous bad owners who need rehabilitation and they can’t all book secure fields ffs! I am enraged on your behalf. I can’t wait until those on here who commented that way have elderly dogs as everything changes then and they have every right to a quiet and calm walk. The idea that an older dog in pain should put up with a bouncy dog 4 times its size in their size is plain stupid. I carry a spray with me for exactly the kind of idiot owners. Two weeks before my last dog died, I had exactly the same situation and it ruined one of the last precious walks I had with my boy. People need to read up on the law, so much entitlement!

Croakymccroakyvoice · Today 23:20

Some people really need to brush up on the dangerous dogs act...

"a dog may be dangerously out of control even if there are no grounds for reasonable apprehension that it will injure."

https://www.cps.gov.uk/prosecution-guidance/dangerous-dog-offences#_a03

The owner of the out of control dog is in the wrong. OPs dogs were on leads, or in her arms, so they were under control.

OP had scratches and bruising, her dog had minor injuries too. At this point it doesn't really matter if the dog's intentions were friendly or not. It was entirely reasonable of OP (assuming all happened as described) to try and end the interaction in whatever way she could manage at the time.

Dangerous Dog Offences | The Crown Prosecution Service

https://www.cps.gov.uk/prosecution-guidance/dangerous-dog-offences#_a03