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!

Picking up a dog in a situation like this is as stupid as sticking your head incinerator.
Incorrect.
If the approaching dog/ agressor has not yet bitten or made contact then sometimes, SOMETIMES, removing the other dog
( picking it up) can help to defuse the situation.
If there is significant difference in size between the dogs then removing one dog ( picking up) takes away the margen of space either dog needs to bite.

If the dogs are physically engaged then it is not advisable to pick up. But this is absolutely not the scenario described by the OP.

I would have booted it if it came near a pet of mine. Dog owners don't understand how their little darlings come across.

👏 👏 👏 perfectly written

I have absolutely booted dogs when they have jumped up and me / my small children. At one point in a park near me it got so bad with moronic dog owners I used to go walking with a golf club and made it absolutely clear that if a dog comes anywhere near me I will crush its head.

You did the right thing and protected your dogs. Maybe the other dog will learn from this and not approach random dogs in future! You could also try shouting Back Off to the dog first. Has worked for me on little dogs chasing me and my dog on runs.

Even removing a dog when another dog has it's 'sights' on it can be dangerous - because if the dog is running at full speed they have more power to use to lunge or leap up at you with😊

Your advice is outdated, ignorant and dangerous.

As you cannot tell us what your qualifications are...and when other people have listed there's extensively on other threads, and your advice goes against the RSPCA advice, Dogs Trust advice, and advice of most of the dog training community, I am going to ignore you now.

I have and would again kick any dog that wasn’t controlled to get it away

If you think kicking a dog is acceptable in any circumstance then you don't deserve to own a dog. My dog is happy, sociable and loves to interact with other dogs on his walk. I'm sick to death of people with badly socialised dogs expecting the world to revolve around them.

I have horses and obviously ride them... off lead dogs tearing towards us can cause a major accident... how the actual fuck is my horse to know this predator is coming to 'play'?
So I carry a stick... it's not for the horse.

OP, both you and the other dog owner are in the wrong.

Your dogs should be socialised enough to deal with other dogs approaching them. You would not have stuck your leg between your dog and another if that was the case. Also, the sensible thing to do would have been to take the other dog by the collar and remove it from your dogs. As far as you've written, the other dog wasn't showing aggression. When you say kick, did you push the dog back with your foot, or did you boot it in body? There's a big difference.

On the other side, the other owner's dog clearly had no recall and hasn't been taught not to jump up.

I'm a dog lover and none of your dogs should be off lead in public places. (ETA ) I see your dogs were on leads, so I guess you're less in the wrong in that regard)

The local farmer has a pack of 6 dogs that roam off lead. I have been in the situation where I HAD to pick my dog up or they would've killed him. They all just appeared through a gate and into the lane I was walking on. I literally had to kick away at each of them in turn as they all jumped up at me. I also took to carrying a walking stick (like the other poster's golf club) and I will use it if I have too

I don’t know what I would have done in this situation, neither does anybody else. Adrenaline will have kicked in along with your protection instincts for your dogs.

I own two large breeds and I don’t let them off because they haven’t got a brain cell between them and have zero recall. They’re friendly enough but other people don’t know that, just like you don’t know if the other dog is friendly in this situation.

Im not condoning kicking dogs, but I understand why you did it and I can’t say I wouldn’t do the same to protect my two.

One of my dogs is fear-aggressive. He's kept on a lead.
If your off-lead dog came up in his face he'd get a lesson in staying the fuck away.

It drives me mad when other dogs approach mine and start jumping all over them, because they don’t like it and one of my dogs will snap. If your dog can’t walk past other dogs without approaching them, they shouldn’t be off the lead.

But the dog who got stood on had been picked up and wasn't in any more danger? So, the kick wasn't in defense.

People have the right to defend themselves, but not to kick an animal as a punishment, that's cruel.

Incredibly rude to demand my qualifications to write on the thread... but 15 years working in the dog training community, so there you go 😁

Anyway, crack on with the "one size fits all "
dogs trust page advice and ignore away .

The greyhound was jumping at the dogs that OP was carrying, so yes, the kick was in defence.

OP was in protective mode, not punishment mode.

But would your dog be off lead and go up to dogs on lead? If yes, that’s not the fault of the on lead dog, and it’s not always because they are badly socialised. Mine will snap because she has been bitten before.

Anything rather than spending money with a behaviourist to get it sorted eh? And if you're going to say that you've tried and it hasn't worked, euthanasia would by far be the kindest option. A permanently fear aggressive dog has no quality of life at all.

No one demanded it. I simply wanted to know how anyone could consistently give such bad advice.

But yeah 15 years says it all, really. Bless.

Have you spent money to improve your dog's recall?

I don’t see what else you could have done. It’s a shame you had to kick the dog but it was either that or submit to whatever it was going to do you and your dogs.

I am not sure if I would kick a dog in those circumstances, but you did what you felt you had to do at the time. Where i live greyhounds are supposed to be on a lead at all times. I dont know what it is about greyhounds and lurchers but they seem to hate my dog. She was attacked by two off lead ones when she was about a year old but luckily was just shaken up rather than hurt. We don't go back to that field any more because so many arseholes don't control their dogs, and thankfully any greyhounds we have encountered since have been on leads and well controlled (Though most of them tried their best to get at her.) She is a very easy going, inoffensive medium sized mongrel, no idea why greyhounds seem to dislike her so much.

My dog is happy and sociable but he hates dogs running up and sticking their face in his especially if he is on lead.

It's very rude for a dog to do that. If a person came up to you and stuck their face very very close to yours would you like it?

If your dog is offlead and it runs towards an onlead dog you should call it back to you. That is what a decent dog owner does

A friend was walking her 11 year old (male, castrated) 25kg dog, so not even tiny, when a young "enthusiastic" - and off-lead of course - 40kg dog ran up and started to hump him. Not yet neutered because the owner wants to wait until he's 2 or so (apparently that's the new advice from many vets).

All very "friendly' and "Ha Ha, what are they like, these young dogs".

Except my friend's dog was seriously injured by the force used, and his quality of life is permanently altered. He can no longer walk very well, and can't jump up or down off the sofa at all. She's hoping he'll improve, but at his age the vet can't promise that he'll get completely better.

At 25 kg she can't pick him up the way you could a 10kg terrier.

It's not about friendly/aggressive - it's people who let uncontrolled/uncontrollable dogs off the leash.

Oh, and guess whether the other dog is any better controlled now since that incident?