Am I overreacting???

shegirl

According to the two chavstatic owners I am...

Went for a walk at lunch time with my son and our 6 month old Beagle pup to a nearby nature reserve.All was fine,Snoopy was happily splashing away in the water and coming out up onto the path (on lead -he's always on lead).As soon as he was up with us and we started walking towards the bridge a black and white dog,similar to a staffy (with softer features and pointy ears)but bigger (yet 'only a puppy' apparently and had bare claws which I've never noticed in a dog before lol) appeared,off lead and with it's male owner a couple of meters back.

The dog saw us and instantly ran over,looked odd and started growling and jumping at Snoopy who was trying to hide behind me with his tail between his legs.I shouted to the owner to come and get their bloody dog (wasn't exactly polite about it) which he could easily see,he ignored me,carried on walking at a slow pace and didn't even bother to call his dog.

Dog started getting worse and jumping,biting and scratching Snoopy while growling (thankfully only small bites and scratches),I managed to keep it off mainly.At one point it ran behind me and knocked my son (almost 12,and autistic so terrified) over because he was screaming,it then tried to pin him down but I got it off.As soon as it was off it went to Snoopy again.I was terrified and shaking and shouting at the owner who eventually came and put the dog on lead.He saw everything the dog done and all he said was 'he's a puppy,he's only playing'. I pointed out what he had done with the growlin,jumping,biting etc and he claimed that is normal puppy behaviour...

As we walked away,still shaken and my son worried about out lovely little Snoopy,I was talking to both my dog and son and making sure they were both ok,ahead of us was a woman walking towards us who turned out to be the female owner of the dog.She decided to have a go at me and said 'that's what puppies do'

Now,I've been brought up with dogs and have met many puppies while out with Snoopy and they all seem to have this little way of greeting each other by putting their faces close,tilting their heads down and sniffing,then sniffing around and a little playing.NEVER have I seen what happened as normal behaviour for a puppy !!!!!!

So,please tell me I'm not overreacting and that this shouldn't have happened?In my eyes,that dog is potentially dangerous.

looby75

no you aren't overreacting at all. It must have been terrifying

If I were you I would call the police (on the none emergency no of course) and tell them about what happened so they have a note of it, because if thats the kind of behaviour of the "puppy" now and it's obvious the owners aren't planning to train it any better then it won't be long before someone is seriously hurt by the dog.

olibrofiz

I don't think you were overreacting either

Sometimes puppies can be more boisterous and all the growling and mouthing can be a bit :eek::eek: but the owner was bang out of order for saying it was only a pup, and not even hurrying over. Especially with it knocking your son over.

I also hate it when people shout 'he's only playing'

Hope your pup & your son are ok

elsien

Mutt used to try to do that when she was younger (nervous and didn't know any better) - which is why she is never ever off the lead. There's a number of reasons why a dog might act in the way you were describing, but the bottom line is it's off the lead and out of control therefore a liability to others. So no, you're not overreacting and the owners really shouldn't have the dog offlead until they can train it properly to not be a nuisance.

tango

I agree it seems out of order,but I would say that owners can make a situation worse if they overreact.

CFC

Sadly there are many morons who believe that saying 'he's only a puppy' excuses allowing a dog to hurt other, smaller dogs, or children accidentally, rather than intervening. The owners are retards.

Humphrey10

The owners of the other dog need to have more control over their dog, it doesn't matter if it is normal behaviour for a puppy or not they still need to be able to call the dog back if it is intimidating another dog or child.

JemJam

I agree, you're not overreacting at all! As soon as I spot another dog no matter how far away, Josie goes on the lead even though she's not one for going after another dog. Sure she loves to play with other dogs which I don't mind, but only when the other dog owner seems "normal" enougn(!) and their dog seems "normal" too. As soon as I see someone's dog and they make no effort to call them back or leash them we're off, which is a total pain in the rse cos it means Josie doesn't get to enjoy herself as much I think.

orlao

No you weren't over reacting at all. Dogs (puppy or not) should be under control at all times in a public place. Report the incident to your local dog warden, contact details will be on your council website.

However, you would probably feel safer and happier in future if you have a 'plan' in place for situations like this - I know you shouldn't have to but life being what it is and all that - so that you, your son and Snoopy can happily and confidently walk rather than letting an episode like this cause bad effects long term.

I would suggest carrying a pet corrector (compressed air in a can) or a tin with stones so you can use either to get an OTT dog to back off. It goes without saying that these are not for aggressive dogs but can be successful with ill mannered dogs (and owners).

Do whatever you can to try and get your son to understand that screaming in these situations will make matters much worse but I do understand that may be easier said then done.

What I normally do when this happens is catch the dog, put it on a slip lead and return it to the owner, usually with a comment along the lines of "you realise that if they do that to the wrong person you could end up with a complaint under the DDA, don't you?"

TomsMom

orlao wrote: »

I would suggest carrying a pet corrector (compressed air in a can) or a tin with stones so you can use either to get an OTT dog to back off. It goes without saying that these are not for aggressive dogs but can be successful with ill mannered dogs (and owners).

What a great idea! I have a small dog (Bichon) who is 9 months old and wants to be every dog's friend! We live by the beach and have been going there from the start. When she was just a few months old I was walking her on the beach on an extending lead so she could sniff around when a Jack Russel came from nowhere and started to attack her. Her owner was about 100 yards away and made no move to call it back. I was very quick to pick my dog up and luckily she showed no signs of being affected by it. After the JR had gone we continued then another JR came out of the sand dunes and did the same thing! I think because it had happened twice in a few minutes it did affect her the second time. Tail between legs, continually looking round, so we went home for some TLC.

I've been very careful since although now she is older she can be offlead on the beach with a good recall but if another dog approaches I put her back on lead until I find out if the other dog is OK to play with. Usually walks are done with both of us there but OH often has stays in hospital so I am now off to get one of these Pet Correctors for when I have to exercise her on my own. Thanks so much for mentioning it.