Was I awful to keep on walking?

[doggodramas]

Bit of background. I have a very lovely, placid spaniel. As lots of spaniels are she's totally ball obsessed and not bothered with other dogs. She's not aggressive, just totally ignores them.
I walk her on a nature reserve where dogs are allowed to be off lead. At the start of the nature reserve is a natural kids play area and the nature reserve consists of 5 adjoining fields.
Every day I walk my dog there is a lady and her toddler son on the play equipment. They have a greyhound puppy and let it run around the fields while they're on the play area.
This dog always sprints over and pesters my dog. Jumps on her, pins her down, nips at her collar etc.
Usually the woman spends about 15 minutes trying to call her dog back while I just stand there, as if I walk on then her dog follows.
Eventually she catches her dog.
Today I was so fed up and in a rush that I just kept on walking and walking (only had 30 minutes before work and didn't want to spend 15 mins waiting for her to catch her dog) And her dog kept following me. We got through 2.5 fields and this woman was struggling with a toddler and running after her dog who paid no attention whatsoever.
Eventually she caught her dog and said to me "why didn't you stop?"
Am I the bad guy? Surely if your dog has no recall then it should be on a lead!
And surely you don't let your puppy run riot pestering other dogs while you're 100m away on a play area?
Should I have wasted half of my own dogs walk until she managed to catch her dog?

I think in your position I would have let this woman know, after the first one or two instances, that I wasn't happy waiting for her to recall her dog for 15 minutes, rather than let my frustration build to the point that it did for you did today

Just read this and I do wholeheartedly agree

We all get fed up with stupid people who are oblivious to others, but I think you went too far. It is cruel to make someone run for 2.5 fields with a screaming toddler under their arm.
Plus, if the woman really is a self centred, deluded idiot (as a lot of PPs seem to believe) her take away from this situation might just be that you are a mean scary person and not that she needs to better control her dog. If you had just spoken to her about it during one of the "many times" that you were waiting she probably would have actually learned that her behaviour was unacceptable, but instead you waited until you snapped and came on here to try and justify yourself.

She is making her problem yours. I now keep walking too, unless they are making an effort to get their dog back. My young dog has flaky recall at the moment and there is no way I would let anyone get that distance away with him cavorting round them. That's why he has a long line. I don't think you were unreasonable and most of us are fed up with people telling us to Be Kind.

When I only have half an hour to walk my dog I stop for no man. In fact, even if I had lots of time I wouldn't have been happy waiting for 15 minutes after the first few times. She can't expect the world to revolve around her. She knows her dog chases after yours every day. She needs to call her dog over before you get there or keep it on a lead if she cannot recall it.

As a dog walker myself I would not have done what you did. You were not in the wrong at all but you were mean minded to carry on waking knowing she was carrying a child and running after you. At some point you should have stopped. Mean.

It’s not mean at all. The stupid women should control her dog.

Fuck that - her dog = her problem

Maybe this is what she needed in order to learn.

You'll soon see if she has control of her dog now.

I'd just carry on walking every time and I wouldn't be apologising. She needs to train her dog.

Oh no @Pumpkinpatchlookinggood how mean you are!!

The OP should knock on the woman's door take the dog out AND take the toddler out as well! Then come round every evening to train the dog.

Remember you have to #BeKind!

Fuck sake mumnset is MENTAL!!!

No you were not awful to keep walking.

She was awful to let her dog harass yours and then expect you to wait 15 mins whilst she tries to control it.

Her dog is a puppy now, what is it going to be like once it is an adult dog?

@Slig - after that little tirade I think
It's plain who is mental

Hopefully she'll have learnt to control her dog by the next time you see her. I suspect in reality she will just move walk time so another sap helps her manage her responsibilities.

If the dog was right by you then it wouldn’t have taken 15 minutes for her to catch it. I would have taken hold of its collar and waited a couple of minutes for her.

I think she is obviously being unreasonable and needs to control her dog and hopefully this will be a lesson to her, however I don't think I would of walked 2.5 fields, letting her chase you with a toddler - seems a bit harsh. You could of got your point across in a different way.

@LimitIsUp you are spot on! I genuinely laughed out loud at your post!

I am completely and utterly nuts! Is there anyone on mumsnet who isn't? You just need to look at a loo brush thread! ;)

If I was a one off I’d agree with you but this has been going on a while
the only point that OP is being unreasonable is by not telling her she’s a dick and needs to control her dog and will do the same in future
rather the passive tell her she only had 30 minutes

Good point - we're all a bit 🤪

yanbu

If a dog does that to me and my nervous boy I'm afraid we head straight to the busiest road , it does get the owners to actually do something .

The thing is, if OP had waited at a field boundary or something, presumably the same thing would have happened, just a little further along. By walking along, I'm assuming she also stopped her dog from getting pinned etc by the other dog- because it sounds like the greyhound puppy isn't exactly playing nicely. It's totally reasonable to want to take your dog out of that situation.

To be honest, there are a lot of people who would physically defend their dog if it was getting pinned by another dog on a regular basis- and plenty of dogs which will defend themselves. What OP did is actually a fairly mild reaction to relatively extreme behaviour from the puppy which could a) seriously harm an older, smaller dog or b) lead to the puppy getting harmed by a dog that doesn't react well to it.

And I think there are a lot of people who'd be more aggressive in their response than the OP- perhaps some mild inconvenience will make her put the puppy on a lead. Lots of greyhounds have a very high prey drive, so the woman is lucky she didn't lose it chasing a rabbit, really.

BTW, I wouldn't catch someone else's dog for them- the risk of getting bitten is too high.

But even if Op had stopped they would still
have the same rigmarole of the woman spending 15 minutes trying to catch the dog.

I would have said something earlier though. I’d have let it go the first time. But the next time I’d have said I don’t have time for this would she mind keeping the dog on the lead if she can’t control it as it’s affecting your walks.

Also it’s not fair on your dog to be jumped on and pinned down every day.

I understand your perspectives op, but you also could of waited while the lady caught up,