Altercation on walk that made me cry

[fruitstick]

Have taken dog for lovely walk. Met lots of lovely people and dogs, lovely chats, very much the perfect walk.

Dog is a spaniel so a friendly sort but very gentle, plays nicely etc.

Walking back along the road (most of our walk is off lead) on the lead and there is a woman behind us when I cross the road with a small dog. Chihuahua/Pomeranian type. She walks quicker than me so after about 100 yards catches us up.

Dog is being a pain and desperately trying to go backwards to say hello. I stop and tell her to go ahead but she says no. Carry on another 100 yards, my dog still trying to turn round again so I say 'no, honestly, you go ahead' but she says no, she doesn't like people walking behind her.

I figure fair enough, who I am to question it. So I carry on but she is very close behind me and I realise I don't really like people walking behind me either!

Then we come across a lorry parked on the pavement, so I go round it one way and she goes the other, so by the time we get round the lorry she is in front. She stops to let me go in front of her again and my dog, who by this time is excited, goes to say hello to her dog (sniff noses) and SHE KICKS HIM OUT OF THE WAY

I tell her not to kick my dog and then she says 'well why is he behaving like that'

I say because he wants to say hello to your dog. I tell her to go in front of me and she refuses again, so I tell her to stay where she is until we are around the corner because she is not walking 2m behind me and kicking my dog.

I march off.

I'm so upset.

He's a friendly sort but I don't let him say hello to every dog, but normally the dog who doesn't want to be said hello to quickly moves past or, if it's a reactive dog, they keep their distance and my dog gets over it fairly quickly.

@2bazookas oh come off it, the woman was 100 yards behind, caught up with the OP and then refused to pass- how on earth was she supposed to keep her distance?

The only option was to turn and walk in the opposite direction away from my house.

Then take this option.

You did nothing wrong and she sounds like a bit of a dick for kicking a dog rather than backing up herself to create the space the dogs needed - but choosing the u-turn option has got me out of far more problems than I care to remember. We tend to think we have to get where we are going, but sometimes taking an extra five mins to go the 'wrong' way can get us out of all sorts of upsetting siutations and make the walk that bit more pleasant.

That said, I'm rather ashamed I personally use the 'swear loudly' option more often than I'd like

She sounds nuts, if anyone kicked my dog for saying hello I would have asked what the fuck she was doing and probably kicked her hard in the shins. Im not joking.

Instead you stupidly , selfishly decided to allow him to "say hello" to a dog whose owner already asked you to stay ahead . You had every reason to understand that either she or her dog were very nervous of strangers getting too close.

So why didn't she go in front, it sounds like she got a bit of a kick out of walking too close behind OP after saying she didn't like people behind her !

If you were only 300 yards from your house, I don't understand why you didn't just put your dog on a short lead and carry on walking home.

There was no need for you to stop or interact with her or her dog - just carry on walking.

What are you on about?

She wasn't controlling the distance, she was walking faster and catching up with the OP!

Are you crazy Pomeranian lady?

Did you you read the OP ?

She quite clearly explains how they ended up "coming together"

He was on a short leash ffs.

I walked round a delivery truck and she was waiting for me on the other side for me to go in front of her. She could easily have gone ahead and be off in the distance.

Instead she stood there waiting for me on a narrow path to pass her on the pavement and when I did and my dog moved towards hers and she kicked him.

Very few dogs are comfortable about another dog walking close behind them - whether friendly or not. My dog is service dog trained, but even he would look behind at a dog very close behind us - for a dog, approaching from behind is "bad manners", so of course they will notice it. She shouldn't have been so close behind the OP; and if someone was close behind me in that way I would have told her that I ALSO don't like someone walking behind me so back the f**k up.

And had she kicked my dog she would have been picking her teeth from her own foot.

She doesn't own the road, the pavement, or the order of walking. You may need to work on your dogs behaviour, but she was far more to blame for this than you.

Perhaps she knows her dog plays up if dogs are walking behind him , why should she explain her reasons

While she was being odd, you could have done something like crossed the road, stopped or even turned and gone back the way you came for a short while.
Maybe her dog isn't good with other dogs, or has been attacked so she prefers to keep other dogs in front so she can keep an eye on them and it doesn't feel threatened. She shouldn't have tried to kick your dog away, but you shouldn't let your dog 'say hello' to others, you've no idea how they'll react.

She doesn't have to explain her reasons. I was fully respectful of that.

But if that is the case, why would she then walk right behind me and complain that my dog is 'playing up' with a dog right on their tail.

And then wait for me on a narrow path when she overtook me.

It is basic manners to keep your dog away from on lead dogs without mutual agreement. If everybody did this there would be barely any reactive dogs.

Did she move your dog away from hers with her leg or actually kick your dog?

FWIW I wouldn't have passed when you offered either with one of my dogs, who is very reactive to other dogs. He would not have been happy passing another dog while it watched him then followed him. In his mind that would be threatening behaviour. I would have explained that though.

@fruitstick because she’s a fruit loop

Again. I couldn't cross the road because there is no pavement on the other side. I tried to stop but she stopped too and refused to go in front.

I don't let him say hello to everyone. Most of the time, we cross paths with a dog and I distract him and it's all fine and done with in 30 seconds.

This one was literally on his tail for 400m.

A part of me thought she'd stopped to wait for me so they could say hello. That often happens in a 'let them say a quick hello and get it over with'

I could have walked the other way it's true, but I genuinely didn't think it was necessary until she kicked my dog out of her way.

No, I get that. But I hope you would therefore have held back a bit and not crowded in behind, particularly if you could see my dog was also 'reacting' to the dog's presence.

She kicked him.

She was standing waiting on a very narrow pavement, he was on a very short lead.

We live in a village and there are a lot of dogs, some reactive, some not. The pavements are narrow.

I know a lot of the dog walkers and we all get along fine. Often I get a call of 'he's not very friendly' and we both march on quickly.

I always keep a distance from dogs in front and let other dog walkers pass me if they are quicker.

That seems like basic manners to me.

OP you are getting some harsh responses here to a situation in which I don’t think you did anything wrong.

I have a similar breed of dog and temperament sounds the same. Well trained and good recall but loves everybody and thinks everyone is her friend so she would have been turning round if another dog was walking right up our bum.

it sounds like you gave the woman ample opportunity to go ahead. She sounds awful to be honest. Most normal people would hang back and wait so they weren’t walking on top of someone as that’s just good manners, surely!?

Hope you are ok & your dog is too

Im 1000% with you OP and I'm sure some PP haven't even read your posts correctly.
And I tell you now if she'd kicked my dog I would have kicked her back twice as hard. She sounds like a total fruitloop.

She was awkward, rude and aggressive. Give her short shrift if you see her again.

Did you you read the OP ?

She quite clearly explains how they ended up "coming together"

That doesn't mean the dogs had to interact or that OP couldn't have just carried on walking though.

OP managed to march off after her dog was kicked so why not do it before it got to that point?

A dog walker around here is mentally ill she appears normal then you receive a torrent of vile abuse or even a shove. Everyone gives her a very wide berth think she had a head injury

BTW I'm not saying the other walker wasn't awkward but my experience of situations like that is that it's much easier to change your own route and behaviour than to expect other people to change theirs.

She was being awkward so the best thing is to walk off with your dog and ignore.