As A Responsible Dog Owner Myself, I Was Horrified At What Happened When I Went For My Walk With A Friend This Morning

[Bobbisox1]

I didn’t take our dog as my OH was out with her,
A man with a very large Rottweiler off its lead was walking toward me and my friend , the dog came bounding towards us and I said” shouldn’t your dog be on a lead’ ,the man became very abusive and at one point I thought he was going to hit me, he was screaming in my face how ‘soft as ?? his dog was

[Buenchico]

I can't think of anything nicer, when I'm out for a walk, than having a dog bounding up to me (unless it's actually showing its teeth at the time!). The bigger the better too!

There are certainly some irresponsible dog owners around though. From our local rag yesterday:
https://www.eadt.co.uk/news/crime/pair-admit-charges-after-sheep-mauled-in-suffolk-7846502

[tamborine]

Dogs will run if theres something to chase. ball/frisby/animal or person. Otherwise they walk or layabout.

[tamborine]

bad owner

[Vagus]

Conversely, we’ve had people, mainly women I have to say, tell us we ought to let our dog off his (extending) lead.
Got fed up telling them that he does a runner and we’ve nearly lost him twice. He’ll come back if he wants to but if there’s a squirrel or something to chase that’s it, he’s off.
Now we just smile and walk away.
I don’t think I’d have said anything to that chap Bobbi, I’m very wary of getting into any kind of confrontation with people, you never quite know what they’d do.

[Bobbisox1]

I must admit I wasn’t prepared for his bad tempered reaction Vagus, it quite shook me up some

[ToraToraTora]

get that close to me and I'd have stuck the nut on him and spread his ooter across his boat.

[emmie]

a nice dinner or should that be tea later, and a chat with Mr B about it might calm things down. I once had the displeasure of being jumped up on by a dog, a german shepherd who's owner just said he's ok only being friendly, i was not amused but rather shaken to be honest.

[emmie]

the animal was large enough to put his paws on my shoulder, i still don't like people out with dogs off the lead, if i walk through the park.

[Barmaid]

If he was that abusive, report him to the police so that they can look at a potential Public Order Act charge.

[Patsy33]

The thing is, the dog might be as soft as...., but other people don't know that. Very frightening experience for you, Bobbi or anybody.
My son in law lets their dog off lead in local field, where nearly everybody knows each other. Shes's a big dog, and is very friendly and is very soft ( I can vouch for that) she went bounding up to a woman and her little dog, and she shouted at my S.I. L, to get his vicious dog away from hers. She probably just wanted to play. We know that, but other people don't. They know each other and now don't speak!

[Bobbisox1]

It would be pointless making a complaint to the police, all I’d have to go on is a bloke waking with a possibly 12st Rottweiler with no lead on ,aged mid 70s? Then he was gone , no witnesses except my friend .
Patsy I get that dogs do this and this particular dog could well of been friendly ,it certainly showed no aggression to us however , the human did, silly man !!

[Bobbisox1]

*walking*

[wolf63]

I much prefer big dogs to little yappy things like Jack Russels or Yorkies. But I understand that big dogs look much more threatening.

My first puppy arrived in 1980, part Bullmastiff and part German Shepherd. He was a big/huge soft lump but people didn't know that. I was only 16 when he arrived.

He once rugby tackled a jogger and brought him down, when I rushed over to them he was actually sitting on the guy. The guy was laughing but even an innocent situation could have gone badly.

[pixie374]

I think it depends where it was, whether the dog should be on a lead. I really don't believe they should never be let off to bound around, play etc. It isn't reasonable for a dog to never be allowed to go faster than a human walk...
But- they need to have excellent recall and be kept away from other people who may or may not appreciate them. They should be under control, whether on or off a lead. Imo.

[Bobbisox1]

It was on a thru cinder walkway ,farmland to the left fenced off, trees and shrubbery to the right ,a path used by dog walkers on leads and pedestrians walking

[pixie374]

Not a lot of room to get past? I much prefer the massive dog fields, where they can properly run without bothering anyone else. In any case, his reaction was clearly moronic.

[ToraToraTora]

the "my dog is a big softy" crowd make my blood boil, they'll quite happily risk the lives of children etc on their own unswerving belief that the dog can be trusted.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2563469/Never-EVER-trust-dog-child-As-baby-mauled-death-vet-ALL-dogs-capable-killing.html

[ToraToraTora]

for my own part my dogs make it easy in that respect. JRs completely radio rental! Cannot be trusted will attack anything from mouse to 50 ton artic! One is more mental that the other but I don't let them anywhere near people they don't know, especially children!

[Patsy33]

Yes, Bobbie I agree. Some owners are more aggressive than the dogs. There's a lot of angry people out there.. :-(

[pixie374]

I agree, ttt. We have 4 family spaniels, totally nuts, but totally non-aggressive. They are great with other dogs, people, children... but they are still dogs. I would never trust them around sheep, cows etc, because I just don't know (and don't want to find out) or even leave them unsupervised with a child. I expect any dog who is being frightened, hurt or cornered, could protect themselves- and it isn't fair on either of them.