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!

He should have had his dog under better control.

But there doesn't seem to be a need for you to kick it! That was uncalled for. Just shout to the owner to call it away, it doesn't sound like you were in immediate danger.

But how would you feel if it happened? You'd be pissed off right?

Then they shouldn't have been off lead and uncontrollable...I'd have done the same if they were trying to get to me or my dog

Ask the owner to call his dog over while you hold your dogs? I have a small dog who is always on lead as she has no recall and I just pick her up if other dogs are getting too much for her. Usually the owner comes along and takes the dog away and it’s not a big issue.

If the dog was trying to bite your dogs or you then that’s different, but jumping up you playfully then I do think kicking it is a bit much.

But can someone actually tell me how? Because when they were on the floor they got hurt? Am i supposed to just let them get hurt because they’re small?

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

Or rather, don't train your dog to come back to you when called, don't complain when another owner intervenes to protect her pets.

Fair enough then. But I just think of course the person would be upset seeing someone kicking their pet!

Jesus some people's reading comprehension.... OP did ask the man to control his dogs, he completely failed to do so. Do you really think it's acceptable to have a big dog jumping at you, so long as he's not biting?

I am a dog owner and would be fine with you kicking out at my dog if you were holding both of your dogs and he was jumping up at you. The greyhound either had no recall or the man wasn't paying enough attention to his surroundings to recall his dog in good time.

I always leash my dog when walking past another dog on a lead and if I didn't notice a leashed dog and my dog went up to investigate and got a growl or boot then that's my fault!

I'd have done exactly the same thing while shouting to have the other dog recalled. I have a reactive dog and when an off lead dog gets too close I shout to have it recalled or I will take action. If your dog doesn't have recall it should not be off lead no matter what the circumstances.

I get that it’s upsetting but that’s the position the owner put me in I was pretty upset my dog got his head smacked into the ground for no reason

Another one.

Most dogs, MOST, do not appreciate unknown animals running over and getting too close. There is nothing wrong with a dog reacting to this type of bad behaviour by growling or barking or even being afraid.
OPs dogs are not problematic, they have a different temperament. This has nothing to do with lack of control by the owner.

In canine terms the greyhound behaved badly. Some dogs would ignore, some would be fearful, some would give the greyhound a corrective bark or even nip.
All of this is natural behaviour, but in terms of who was in the wrong it's the greyhounds owner for permitting this situation through his own lack of control.

If you run into him again tell him that if his dog comes near you or your dogs again it won't be the dog that gets a kick...

The other dog wasn't attacking your dogs. It was being playful. Your fear was that your dogs would react aggressively.

You say you picked your dogs up and then kicked the other dog - that's awful behaviour. Picking your dogs up solved the problem and there was no need for the kick, given that the other dog was only a playful greyhound and not an aggressive XL bully.

Nowhere in the opening post does it say she spoke to owner and asked him to call his dog before kicking it.

Another dog owner here, and heat of the moment aside, I'd like to think I'd reflect on what part I had played in causing a situation like this if my DDog was kicked and modify MY behaviour.

Like the OP, I don't allow my dog off lead unless I have a clear line of sight many metres ahead and am near her so can quickly slip a lead back on.

I don't think it's relevant what his age was. But all owners need to make sure their dogs are under close control at all times.

And if they don't make sure of that, and someone feels threatened and therefore hurts the dog in defending themselves and/or their own dogs, there's no use crying about it.

If your dog can't be trusted to leave people and other dogs alone, you keep them on a short lead. It's not hard.

Read the thread I said it here!

You couldn't be more wrong.
The only dogs my ddog was afraid of were greyhounds. They can be aggressive, I've seen it first hand.

@itsme189 you did the right thing and the fault was the dog owner.
I think you would have got different opinions if it was a baby you were holding when the 'friendly dog jumped up.'

Do you know why we race greyhounds? Because they're really fast and have a high prey drive. Therefore they are absolutely not a suitable dog to have off lead no matter how well trained they are. If a dog is walking off lead it should be trained to the point of being completely disinterested in other dogs or people.

The owner of the greyhound was totally irresponsible.

Great victim blaming there, nothing more fucking annoying that an owner spouting "he's friendly" or "just playing" to excuse their shit behaviour

Oh for goodness sake. It is not ok for a dog to be "playful". They need to be under control when out in public.

They can play in their garden with their own humans.

Yes kicking a dog is wrong, if it was attacking then it’d be different but it wasn’t, it was jumping up. What is the relevance of the man being ‘old’?

This is a complete lack of understanding of canine behaviour.

Dogs that rush at other dogs are not perceived as " playful" by other dogs.

In the scenario the OP describes, I'd feel incredibly guilty that I put my dog in a position to be kicked because I didn't have it under control and hadn't trained it not to jump all over other dogs and people.

OP, I don't think you were in the wrong. I walk my dog off lead (where safe) but I always call him back to me when we pass dogs on leads. If he acted like the greyhound in your story, I'd rent a field for him to run around. It's well known that not all dogs appreciate other dogs bounding up to them and you acted to protect your dogs in the moment 🤷‍♀️