Furious.. Please tell me if I am in the wrong here

[HolyMolyMeOhMy]

Just been to the park with our 2 dogs who are always kept on their leads. They are well behaved dogs but one of them has always been very nervous and he doesn’t like being approached by other dogs or people, especially if they get right in his face, and reacts by barking and chewing on his lead. The other one is ok but can often give the impression that he wants to play with other dogs but then change his mind in a second and start yapping. For this reason they are both always kept close to us on their leads.
A large dog off its lead just approached us and tried to get close to the dogs, so we pulled them away. The dog wouldn’t go away so my DH asked the owners if they could get hold of it it. They eventually managed to call it away after several attempts. DH then says that it should be on a lead, to which the woman responds that the majority of the dogs in the park are also off lead. I tried to politely explain to her that our dogs don’t particularly like other dogs, to which she replied “that’s not our problem, socialise your dogs then”.
I was furious that she said this! She has no idea of the reasons why my dogs are like that and in my opinion she was the one in the wrong by letting her dog go off approaching other people’s dogs, especially when they’re on leads. Our dogs were under control. Am I right to be annoyed by this? I am not normally an angry person but she honestly made me furious by saying this!
I am also not of the opinion that the dog should necessarily have been on a lead (like my DH told her it should have been) but I would at least expect her to keep it away from other dogs who are on leads.

“She does like collecting rubbish on walks though and dropping them in the bin!”

Well why waste your time putting your own toys places when you could tidy up real things?

That’s the problem with collies, they know when you’re just giving them busy work, lol

At OP read the dangerous dogs act. You did nothing wrong. Idiots with off leash dogs infuriate me. Their dogs are not under control. My dog had an operation the other week. A woman had a dog off leash running over to mine which had no recall etc. I told her get the dog on leash. Dogs can be on leash for a number of reasons and people with off leash dogs need to train their dogs better recalls.

Sooo many posters on here who clearly know nothing about dog etiquette. Dogs must be under control in a public place. Under control means if you call it, it comes back. Some councils (like ours) have rules specifically banning off lead dogs from public parks. You must never, ever, let your off lead dog approach one on lead. When dogs are on lead it often makes them much more guarding and reactive.
There are a million and one reasons a dog will not want to be approached by another and react aggressively - they might have suffered an attack previously, they might be rescues who lost the opportunity to socialise due to neglect. They might even just be little shits (like mine) who hate bigger dogs towering over them, despite all the socialisation in the world!

I think if you are walking your dogs on a lead why go into the park where there are dogs not on a lead? Just walk them around the streets. Even dogs with great recall sometimes get distracted and it's not their fault your dogs are grumpy.

OP you were absolutely in the right and there are some shockingly stupid comments on here from what I like to term the 'MDIF brigade' ('my dog is friendly') - generally ignorant and lazy twats who haven't trained their own dogs properly but like to blame other responsible owners instead.

We have a miniature poodle who is generally fine off lead with other dogs but is lead-reactive and does not respond well to another dog being right in his face when he's on lead - and why should he? He feels trapped and is very likely to growl, then snap, if the other dog doesn't pick up on his body language - there are some very dog-savvy dogs out there who read other dogs really well but they don't tend to be owned by the MDIF lot! If I can see an off-lead dog approaching, I generally just change direction to avoid them but I have no hesitation now in telling other owners exactly what I think of them if their out of control off-lead dog sets mine off. Our boy became fear-reactive to much bigger dogs when he was a year old, all because of a fuckwit owner who let her labrador run straight at him wanting to play, and basically flatten him. Can't tell you on here what I called that owner but it wasn't polite!

“Even dogs with great recall sometimes get distracted and it's not their fault your dogs are grumpy.“

It quite often is because of other dogs though, that dogs aren’t so happy to be approached - dogs don’t often just wake up one day going, well I have only ever had pleasant experiences of strange dogs, but I’ve decided that on balance I’m not keen...

@Mostlylurkingiam

I think if you are walking your dogs on a lead why go into the park where there are dogs not on a lead? Just walk them around the streets. Even dogs with great recall sometimes get distracted and it's not their fault your dogs are grumpy.

I'm so fed up with this attitude. No, I won't walk my dogs around the streets just to make life easier for people who can't be arsed to control their dogs properly. Your dog, your responsibility.

You're right, it's not the other dog's fault that my dog is 'grumpy' and it's also not the other dog's fault that their owner is a twat.

OP - you're not in the wrong at all!