Dogs, dogs, bl***y dogs

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rangerover

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Hi all,
This is a rant..maybe. We decided to go for a nice quiet ride through 2 rivers and not in the forest today as Saturday is major dog-walking day and lots of the owners don't know how to implicate the rules "dogs must be kept under control" and we have had major issues with this recently. Anyway, we were hacking single file along a track, very quiet, under some trees when I thought I saw a fox in front, but it wasn't, it was a little beige/red terrier. It sort of jumped out of the undergrowth/ditch and of course, me thinking originally that it was a fox, expected it to just see us and run off. Anyway, of course, it was a dog which turned and faced us in the track, I don't know if it growled or something, when suddenly my mare, who is dog-proof normally (I have 5 terriers) spun round and shot off past my friends mare, who also turned and I found myself heading at a flat out gallop, down the hill, on a very narrow, overgrown track with trees overhed, back towards the river. Luckily my friend stopped her mare so I managed to pull up (complete with both stirrups), and turn back after we hadn't gone too far!!! I caught back up with my friend who was calming her mare down, but we didn't see where the dog went or whether it was with someone or what. I think it was a Norfolk terrier. We saw no people at all anywhere. So what are people doing just letting their dogs roam willy nilly in the countryside? Or maybe it had been down a hole and abandoned or something. Whatever it was, we found the whole thing very scary. So just beware stray/uncontrolled dogs.
 
it annoys me when im walking my dog on the beach, i keep her on a lead and just use an extendable one so she can still run around etc,i keep her on a lead for a reason coz she will go up to other dogs and if they show agression to her she will fight back. it really really annoys me when people let there dogs run up to mine and just bloody ignore it and carry on walking, i now make a point of saying she will attack it, get it away. she wont do anything unless the other dog shows aggression but usually dogs are on a lead for a reason and they dont know that my dog wont hang off there dogs throat and they will certainly have something to winge about if she does.
 
Poor you, that sounds horrible. I was at Bramham yesterday and whilst walking back to the car with my dog on a short lead, we were suddenly leapt on and barged into my three heavy set black labs with their leads trailing. My dog was very scared and I have to say so was I! This stout lady came marching over and shouted at her dogs to come back, but never uttered a word to me, apology or anything else. I was so cross that I actually said 'Sorry would be nice' but got no reaction from that either. How very rude!!!
 
Yeah, normally we say to dog owners, "oh, can you get hold of your dog, my horse might kick it's head in and there's no vets round here" or something of that ilk, but on this occasion there was no b**ger there!
 
I would be mortified if one of my dogs behaved like that. I would never take them off the lead if there was a chance of another dog or a horse going by. I am always gob smacked by people at places like Tweseldown walking their dogs loose when there is a comp on! I would have laid money that my mare would never spook at a dog, (she's been hunted lots so knows about dogs jumping out of woods) just as people swear their dogs are ok, they're ANIMALS, they have a brain and a surprise is always possible.
 
I don't understand why you are ranting about a dog, who, other just appearing & startling your horse, didn't do anything provocative. Yesterday whilst riding, a silent cyclist suddenly appeared speeding round a corner, spooking my horse but I didn't cross about it. These things happen. If i see a horse & rider out walking, my dogs go back on the lead but this dog didn't do anything, it could be argued that you were the one, in fact, out of control on a bolting horse & a potential danger?
 
blazingsaddles said:
I don't understand why you are ranting about a dog, who, other just appearing & startling your horse, didn't do anything provocative. Yesterday whilst riding, a silent cyclist suddenly appeared speeding round a corner, spooking my horse but I didn't cross about it. These things happen. If i see a horse & rider out walking, my dogs go back on the lead but this dog didn't do anything, it could be argued that you were the one, in fact, out of control on a bolting horse & a potential danger?
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Agreed !!! You say the dog turned to face us but you are not sure it did anything!!! it was just stood there so it could have been a fox and I have had foxes 'just stand there'!!!
Things happen and you were the one out of control .In that situation surely an bit if thinking shorten reins put leg on be aware the horse might spook would have been the order of the day .It appears you allowed your horse to take you by suprise and maybe that is why you are so cross.
I am riding a recently broken horse and I have my attention fully on the horse and am very very aware what is happenng around me and ready to be ahead of any potential problem not waiting for it to happen.
We share bridleways and paths with everyone as well as wildlife lifes too short to get upset about everything
 
blazingsaddles said:
I don't understand why you are ranting about a dog, who, other just appearing & startling your horse, didn't do anything provocative. Yesterday whilst riding, a silent cyclist suddenly appeared speeding round a corner, spooking my horse but I didn't cross about it. These things happen. If i see a horse & rider out walking, my dogs go back on the lead but this dog didn't do anything, it could be argued that you were the one, in fact, out of control on a bolting horse & a potential danger?
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^^^^ ditto this, can't see what the dog did wrong, I think your horse galloping out of control in a public place might be far more dangerous than a dog who just appeared! Sorry, I can understand how scared you must have been but when I opened this posy i expected to read about an out of control dog and/or snotty owner!!!
 
a) i was in full control, not on a loose rein, we'd just come through a deep river, you can't do that on a loose rein + I have to ride that mare with my leg on permanently as she is a bit nappy and therefore she needs to keep going forwards b) it is a private track (not a publice place c) dog shouldn't have been there without an owner. Think what you like, anyone's dogs stray onto my land without owners present I will take action.
 
DipseyDeb said:
^^^^ ditto this, can't see what the dog did wrong, I think your horse galloping out of control in a public place might be far more dangerous than a dog who just appeared! Sorry, I can understand how scared you must have been but when I opened this posy i expected to read about an out of control dog and/or snotty owner!!!
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I find it ironic that somebody who can't control their horse feels they can slagg off somebody who can't control their dog!
But this dog wasn't doing anything wrong, all it did was stand on the path & look at the horse. Sometimes unexpected things happen & we have to learn to deal with them.
 
I can't see what the dog did wrong- just like horses they need exerisice and stimulation and dog walkers have as much right to be in the countryside. The dog didn't run at you or attack. It was just a horrible yet unfortunate event.
 
There were no dogwlkers, there was no-one there, this is in the middle of farmland with no footpaths etc. and when we got back onto the road there were no cars nor any evidence of any people at all. If I'd not been on a horse I would have tried to catch the dog and see if it had a tag or something on it...supposing it had been running down the M4 causing car accidents?
 
Well I'm on the side of dogs should be on leads, except in their own garden / land. We are farmers with only one footpath on the whole farm. I'm constantly coming across people walking dogs off leads all over the farm. The dogs are rarely under proper control, they often go back to owners eventually. They snap at the horses, and run through game cover, often at dusk.
When I've said something, people are often very put out, hardly anyone apologises. They say they are doing no harm, or it's a public path, or even the owner said I could! All wrong. As a 'townie' originally I didn't walk all over other people's property. I've even been asked to put my own dog away on my own field so someone else could catch their 2 dogs!
So the horse was spooked - even the most reliable do sometimes - but the dog should have been on a lead.
 
i dont think the OP is saying its all the dogs fault, she is highlighting that some dog owners arnt responsible and dont keep there dogs on lead when they should and let them stray where they fancer. if that dog had decided to hang off their fetlocks the owner wouldnt be there to collect there dog!
 
OP, if you spotted the dog on private land & its not the owners, give your local dog warden/police a ring & report as a stray. You never know, someone may have lost a dog & informed them.

Whilst I still cannot see what the dog did wrong with regards to your horse, if it was on private land then thats a different matter entirely.
 
Oh, thanks. I sometimes cannot get what people on this forum get out of jumping down peoples throats...I thought some people might be grateful for the warning. I will be phoning the dog-warden later, though I suspect it could belong to no-one (eg been removed by someone from someone else's place) to be worked/fight illegally?
 
rangerover said:
Oh, thanks. I sometimes cannot get what people on this forum get out of jumping down peoples throats...I thought some people might be grateful for the warning. I will be phoning the dog-warden later, though I suspect it could belong to no-one (eg been removed by someone from someone else's place) to be worked/fight illegally?
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What makes you think this? is there a problem with dogs being stolen in your area?
 
It can be bloody annoying when people don't control dogs properly, I used to live on a farm/shooting estate with public footpaths and bridlepaths running through it, we would ride out with my Vizsla loose through the private grounds. It really annoyed me when people's dogs would cause problems with either the horses or my dog, who I would make sit until they got theirs under control, if they bothered!!

It got to the stage that I would warn people that my horse would strike out at unfamiliar dogs..and that they should put theirs on a lead or get it under control straight away, for its own safety (although in reality, he was unlikely to have even noticed them!) We would often get a hostile/indignant reaction from the owners, even if they were well off the market footpaths or bridlepaths, they didn't seem to appreciate that they couldn't just wander with their dogs where ever they chose to.

At one stage after my horse nearly being bitten, I took to carrying a hunting whip to allow me to control them myself if they showed signs of aggression to dog, or the horses, fortunately I never needed it.

Please don't think I was some sort of tinpot dictator, lording it about the place, but it was the grounds and private land belonging to my home! We often met "regulars" who we knew, would stop and chat with, and our dogs would happily play together until it was time to move off. It really is a minority of people who behave irresponsibly or recklessly, but unfortunately they are the ones that stick in your mind.
 
rangerover said:
Oh, thanks. I sometimes cannot get what people on this forum get out of jumping down peoples throats...I thought some people might be grateful for the warning. I will be phoning the dog-warden later, though I suspect it could belong to no-one (eg been removed by someone from someone else's place) to be worked/fight illegally?
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Not jumping down anybodies throat, just having a different opinion, which is allowed.
 
Op, to be fair, if you title a thread "Dogs, dogs, bl***y dogs" & then go on to describe an innocuous encounter with a loose dog, people may get a tad touchy.

People are currently hypersensitive to loose dogs at the moment due to a few well publicised attacks on horses & there appears to be a growing number of anti-loose dog sentiments on this forum & in the press.

I can recall several incidents of horse riders displaying inconsiderate, rude & on occasion, dangerous riding, but I believe them to be in a minority & therefore, don't tar all riders with the same brush.
 
blazingsaddles said:
Op, to be fair, if you title a thread "Dogs, dogs, bl***y dogs" & then go on to describe an innocuous encounter with a loose dog, people may get a tad touchy.

People are currently hypersensitive to loose dogs at the moment due to a few well publicised attacks on horses & there appears to be a growing number of anti-loose dog sentiments on this forum & in the press.

I can recall several incidents of horse riders displaying inconsiderate, rude & on occasion, dangerous riding, but I believe them to be in a minority & therefore, don't tar all riders with the same brush.
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Totally agree; I often meet dogs when I'm out riding & as long as the dog isn't nasty or bosterous I don't expect the owner to put it on a lead, I do expect my horse to walk past a dog that's just standing there or walking past us.
I haven't got a particulary quiet horse either but a hot, fizzy, highly strung anglo arab, I've met more rude & ignorant horse riders than dog walkers, some people make me embarrased to be a horsey person.
 
How do you know that the dog wasnt on its own land? If it lived on the farm then it would have the right to be there without its owner. I dont think it is the dogs fault that you cannot control your horse when it gallops off.
 
I'm sorry that your horse spooked OP but it doesn't sound as though the dog was at fault, and there is no way of knowing why it was there. It could have been straying, or even have been stolen and dumped. It's just one of those things that happens.

I find it very amusing, as both a horse and dog person, that some horse people seem to expect dogs to behave like perfect little robots while at the same time expecting the whole world to make allowances for their horse's unpredictability - they're animals people, these things happen!
 
Spudlet said:
I find it very amusing, as both a horse and dog person, that some horse people seem to expect dogs to behave like perfect little robots while at the same time expecting the whole world to make allowances for their horse's unpredictability - they're animals people, these things happen!
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Very well put!!
 
This is getting into a tit for tat argument - of course I know what dogs they own, we have permission to ride on their land for God's sake, it didn't belong to anyone I know nor could we see/find an owner, when we eventually got to the road we called out "hello, hello, anyone lost a terrier" - nothing.
 
Do you think it might have been a fox after all, a dog looking at them is hardly likely to provoke such a severe reaction (unless your horse is normally very scared of dogs). A fox is more likely to set them off as they have a very strong smell that horses don't like.
If it was a terrier, maybe the owner was in the wooded area hunting rabbits or something.
 
god knows what would happen if we were to meet the wolves which are roaming around here!!!! Not to mention the wild boar (so I wont mention them)!
 
Spudlet said:
I'm sorry that your horse spooked OP but it doesn't sound as though the dog was at fault, and there is no way of knowing why it was there. It could have been straying, or even have been stolen and dumped. It's just one of those things that happens.

I find it very amusing, as both a horse and dog person, that some horse people seem to expect dogs to behave like perfect little robots while at the same time expecting the whole world to make allowances for their horse's unpredictability - they're animals people, these things happen!
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Absolutely.
 
You say this track is private - is it your land (as you were obviously riding on it)?
If this is the case then obviously no one should be walking their dog there. However this is the fault of the owner not the dog.

It doesn't seem as if the dog did anything, and others have said possibly more a case of you not controlling your horse. If you genuinely did think the dog had been abandonned why didn't you consider going to find it? Perhaps just a personal thing - but I wouldn't leave a dog that I thougt had been abandonned. As you said, imagine if it ran on the road and the accidents it could cause.

Either way - point is, it wasn't the dogs fault.
 
Sorry but I'm another one who thinks if your horse cannot handle the terror of a dog standing in the path and "maybe" growling then perhaps you have let her down in terms of training her. I think there's fault on both sides, whoever should have been supervising the dog (assuming it wasn't stray) and you for not being able to deal with the situation better.

If you have been complaining because it attacked you, then fair enough, but in terms of scary, awful occurences - yours is pretty tame.
 
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