Dog nearly got run over, I feel awful :(

Wellyboots6

I was out walking Tyson early this morning.
Because it was pitch black he had his flashing LED collar on.
As we were walking up the road I saw a bloke walking towards us with two dogs on leads.
I pulled to the side of a wide bit of the pavement and made Tyson sit so they could pass.
One of the mans dogs froze when she saw Tyson however and would not walk past us. The man was encouraging her but she would not budge. I asked if it could be his collar (red illuminated GSD sitting in an alleyway, probably not that best thing to be seeing first thing in a morning) and was about to turn the light off so see if that would help.

At that point Tyson let out one bark, his 'play' bark.
The dog pulled backwards and snapped her lead and the man stumbled in to the wall.
The dog ran out in to the road just as a taxi was coming.
Luckily the taxi driver saw the dog (black dog, in the dark. VERY lucky) and slammed his brakes on in time so the dog ran in to the side of the taxi rather than getting hit.
The dog then ran off down the road.
I shouted to the man that she was OK and hadn't been hit, as he had turned away and couldn't look.

He than chased off after her with his other dog, calling her back, as she ran off down the middle of the road. I stood and watched as I didn't want to follow as the dog was obviously scared of mine. He eventually caught her and carried on walking.

I can't think of anything else I could have done, but is there anything I should do now?

I feel so guilty, made me sick to my stomach all morning.

_Andy_

Easy for me to say but don't feel guilty, things happen. And in this case no harm was done. Even if something had happened it would have been an accident.

I guess all you can do is if you see the guy again say, I'm sorry etc..

But then from what I've read you haven't done anything wrong.

Try not to be too hard on yourself

gettingready

Sorry it happened to you but do not feel guilty - nothing you could do and thanks God nothing happened.

I had a situation with Zara once. We were walking on a pavement by a quite busy road, on the "inside" kind of side by the wall. A woman was coming towards us and stopped to ask me if I have seen "a running man, wearing a long coat". As she was asking me that, she stood kind of right on the kerb with her back to the road. I was standing facing her with Zara in "sit" and on a short lead. All was fine as we chatted till she tried to "show me with her hands" how tall the man was. She lifted her hands, Zara barked, the woman jumped BACK (standing on a kerb with her back to the road) right onto the road.

Luckily there was quite a lot of trafic on this side of the road and hardly any on the opposite as there was a Range Rower coming and he had to go on the other side kibnd of against the traffic to avoid hitting that woman.

We were about 1 metre apart on that pavement, Zara was on a short lead sitting next toi my leg, she did not try to jump at the woman just barked when the woman lifted her hands (it was dark) but I can see how the woman got scared.

That was quite scary for everyone involved...

Owain_Moneysaver

Phew.

But it's the owner's responsibility to have a lead that can't be snapped, illuminated collar or high-vis doggy vest (and/or high-vis on himself).

Sounds like you acted perfectly sensibly.

And I bet Tyson looks sweet with his glowing red halo.

Person_one

I don't think you did a thing wrong, sometimes dogs bark, that's not unexpected.

I think the other chap will probably have been out today buying a hi-vis coat and new leads for his dog though. What a horrible scare for him.

Wellyboots6

I suppose I feel guilty because if he hadn't barked then it wouldn't have happened. At least he was being nice with his bark though!

He looks like a demon when he is glowing all red!

It did make me think though to make sure he is always visible when we are out in the dark.
If someone has to swerve to avoid a dog, they may end up missing the dog but hitting something solid and stationary or another person, so either way things could have ended up a lot worse than they did.

If I see the man again I will say sorry, didn't get chance this morning as it all happened so quick.

3v3

katy721 wrote: »

...
If I see the man again I will say sorry, didn't get chance this morning as it all happened so quick.

I don't believe you have done anything to apologise for; instead of a "sorry" approach, how about a "how is your dog?" approach?

Must have given you all a bit of a fright at the time.

bugslet

FWIW, one of mine is a complete wuss with other dogs, no matter how many I introduce her to. When she gets 'too' near another dog, she sometimes lets out a screech that could wake the dead. However, i know she's a nervous dog and I take it upon myself to watch for situations, like a GSD in fairly close proximity, and take whatever action is needed. I don't expect the other owner to amend their ways ( provided they are well behaved like Tyson) to accomodate my daft dog!

krlyr

3v3 wrote: »

I don't believe you have done anything to apologise for; instead of a "sorry" approach, how about a "how is your dog?" approach?

Must have given you all a bit of a fright at the time.

I agree, I wouldn't accept blame here. It's an unfortunate accident, but equally it had no tragic ending so it will be a sharp warning to the owner and hopefully make him invest in a good, strong lead (perhaps if you meet him you could recommend one? I find the Halti training lead fab for larger dogs) and some hi-viz coats/lights for the pair of them.

Jenny.W

Try not to feel too guilty, it was just an unfortunate incident, however I expect you are feeling bad about it as I would (only shows you care though).

All you do is ask how the dog is when/if you see him again. I see lots of things like this happening when I walk my dog. Try not to beat yourself up about it. It really was just bad luck, wrong time, wrong place etc.

Jenny.W

bugslet wrote: »

FWIW, one of mine is a complete wuss with other dogs, no matter how many I introduce her to. When she gets 'too' near another dog, she sometimes lets out a screech that could wake the dead. However, i know she's a nervous dog and I take it upon myself to watch for situations, like a GSD in fairly close proximity, and take whatever action is needed. I don't expect the other owner to amend their ways ( provided they are well behaved like Tyson) to accomodate my daft dog!

just to add, I agree here. The owner should try and be more aware of his dogs feelings and avoid situations which could force his dog to withdraw and shutdown and ultimately feel they have to react by running away.