If you were walking your dog towards someone with two dogs on leads...

[Honeyroar]

Would you throw your dog a ball so it lands just past the other person's dogs and let your dog run after it?

Someone did this today. My dogs wanted to run after the ball too, but we're good, however when the lady walked past I said I thought it was a bit mean to throw a ball so close to other people's dogs when they were on a lead. I said it's generally polite to keep your dog with you when passing someone who has their dogs on leads. She said she didn't see why, if her dog was under control why should she bother.

I’m with her (unless you were struggling to manage them that is) plenty of people walk there dogs on the lead all the time, how you chose to walk your dog shouldn’t affect how others chose to walk theirs (again unless you were struggling to manage)

But surely you wouldn't know if someone was struggling until too late if you lobbed a ball right at them?

@Pinktop it’s good manners to keep your dog away from a dog on a lead. Recall and keep it close or put it on a lead.
Dog could be in season, injured, scared of other dogs or be deaf/blind.

I wouldn't. I tend to assume dogs are on a lead for a reason and recall mine to heel to pass.

If they look like they're struggling I'll usually step off the path and make mine sit.

Mostly because I've seen the damage an on lead dog can do to another (not mine) that gets too close.

She is a ill mannered weirdo - you meet a lot of them on dog walks

Did she do it repeatedly? She maybe didn't see you and your dogs while playing with her dog. I would agree with the person playing with her dog in this instance, she's just using an open space to play with and socialise her dog, you are also using the area for exercise purposes.

She did it twice. Yes she saw me. It was a single track road along a reservoir bank, she was throwing the ball along the banking at the side of the road. As it happened my dogs were on the lead because one is allergic to grass, but she didn't know that. She thought I was joking at first when I said it was mean, then got quite angry when she realised I wasn't.

When I had my dog if i saw someone else had their dog on a lead I would call mine back and stick him on a lead, because he's want to say hi and I don't know if that dog is nervous, recovering from injury or illness or what have you.

I think it's spectacularly thoughtless. If we are going past other dogs, no ball throwing till we are a good distance past them.

I don't really see the issue. It is a bit rude and I wouldn't do it, but everyone exercises their dogs differently. Was her dog under control? My only issue is if dog isn't under control and harasses other dogs.

@Stellaris22 a dog running as fast as it can after a ball isn’t exactly under control. And if the OP had a nervous dog they could have had a dangerous situation.

I agree it's rude and not something I would do, however everyone has the right to exercise their dog. If a dog likes chasing a ball then that's fine. Should have kept it away from on lead dogs but public spaces are just that, public. Why should someone be made to feel guilty for playing with their dog?

You could see her dog was chasing the ball not running at your dogs. If you have good control of both your dogs on the lead then there was nothing to worry about was there?

OP you were right, thoughtless and she was called out so didn’t like it. Never thought about your dogs or why they were on the lead.

It's not a massive issue, as I said to her I just thought it was a bit mean. 90% of dogs would've wanted to run after the ball too, 90% of dogs would've wanted to run with the other dog. My two were very good, but I thought it was impolite. She thought I was for telling her! No big deal, I just wondered what others thought.

Ps, it would only have meant not throwing the ball for perhaps 1 minute while we got past and a little bit away from her, so hardly ruining their walk or preventing her exercising her dog, just asking for a tiny bit of respect/thought for other people...

My dog is weird in that she doesn’t run after a ball. She is walked a lot both in and off lead and she would neither pull on her lead or tear off after it.

But no, I would not expect someone to do this and especially not to someone walking their dog /s on a lead. Not sure I’d have upbraided another dog walker especially since nothing actually happened......

Yeah I probably shouldn't have said anything, but perhaps she might think if she saw someone with a dog on the lead in the future, so perhaps it will help someone else!

@Stellaris22 but the dog wasn’t kept away from on lead dogs.
OP a tiny bit of respect and thought? Some people are arseholes. They won’t. And they give decent dog owners a bad name.

I'm with you OP.

My dog is only 15 months so still training, he generally walks well on the lead at heel unless he sees another dog or ball and then he starts to get over excited and wants to play. If the other dog just walks past or is on a lead I can usually calm mine and get him back to heel no problem.

The problem comes when another dog runs near us or someone throws a ball near us. He absolutely will try and run after it, but he is almost as strong as me and it takes all my strength to hold him back from pulling me over.

It's very selfish to throw a ball for your off leash dog, towards an on leash dog - dogs are not robots and you can't expect them to NOT want to chase the ball!!

The response of done posters on here just shows the "but I'm alright jack" mentality. It costs nothing to have a bit of courtesy and consideration for others.

I was once in the same situation as you OP and when I told them gentleman in question that it wouldn't have hurt him to wait 20 seconds for me to walk by before throwing his dogs ball, I was told to "fuck off and give myself a shake".

*some

Perhaps it was this woman's OH @frangipani! I agree, there's a lot of "I'm alright Jack" about today, I hate it. I'd always try and be nice to other people, I'd never dream of doing something like that to someone else, so it irritates me when they do it to me.

It would be nice if people kept their dogs back from dogs on lead. I know this is good etiquette from reading mumsnet etc. I never used to know this. Not everyone has the internet or browses dog boards, they just live their life and owning a dog now comes with a hell of a lot of little rules according to mumsnet best practice.
I dont think its nice to confront a stranger like this, when noone was hurt and no drama was happening. I know we do it online, but in real life you cant just make a stranger explain themselves over basic everyday annoyances

I didn't make her explain herself, just said I thought throwing a ball right in front of my dogs was a bit mean.

No, I wouldn't. It didn't take me long to work out that if I threw a ball for my dog in the vicinity of another one there was quite a high likelihood that said other dog would join in! Hence l don't do it. Equally find it quite irritating if others do it as mine would want to play too. Though thinking about it my current pair are not too bad, but previous dog was awful. And I'm sure one of the dog walkers used to throw things in her direction just to provoke her. But I may have been paranoid and he was just thoughtless.