Irresponsible dog owner quote of the week

[Ambers Echo]

Amber was walking up a dead end lane with the yard at the end of it. It's popular with dog walkers as there are fields either side. Large dog bounded over to her. She ignored him and continued walking. I call to owner 'please call your dog off'. Owner ignored me. Dog then starts snapping at Amber's heels and she kicked out. I shout 'if you don't get your dog under control he will be kicked or killed'. His reply: "Well how do I do that then.... He's not remote controlled!" Said in a tone suggesting I was the idiot in this encounter!!!

What on earth do you say to that! I shouted well tell that to the farmer when your dog gets shot. Arrrgggghhhh, Poor bloody dog is all I can say.

 

[Green Bean]

I am on both sides with this one. Dog came over barking aggressively, with walker saying she was just walking the dog for the owner and he doesn’t listen to her! On the other hand, I have been out walking my dogs around farmer fields that are not a bridleway. One dog went over to horse, doing nothing aggressive, with me running after him to move him out of kicking distance. Horse rider shouting at me that this wasn’t a footpath and I must stick to that. I just get tired of aggressive people...

 

[Rosemary28]

Some people really should not be allowed to own dogs. Pony got frightened once by a large German Shepherd (bearing in mind pony is 12hh), dog came bounding up to him and jumped up, so was as big as pony. Mum jumped off carriage and managed to get dog away. Meanwhile the owner laughed and then when we told her how serious an accident there could have been, she said we should train our pony better to not be frightened of the dog. Poor P had already had two bad experiences with dogs jumping out at him, poor lad was terrified. Mind you, this was a dog off the lead (and out of control) near quite a busy main road, so who knows what could have happened?

 

[Ambers Echo]

Green Bean I am not aggressive. I don't mind if a dog runs over, I have trained my horses to cope with that. I don;t get angry with owners who are clearly trying to get their dog under control even if they are not managing! At least I can see that they recognise it is their job to have their dog under control in public spaces and I feel sorry for people who are clearly mortified by their dog's behaviour.

But this man's attitude is that what his dog does is basically nothing to do with him. His dog was snapping at the heels of a large prey animal. What if he worries sheep, jumps up at children, snaps at the post man. When does it become his responsibility?

 

[JFTDWS]

If your dog doesn't come back at first call, it's not under control and it shouldn't be off the lead. There should be no running after required. It doesn't matter if it's not a bridleway - unless it's your land, keeping your dog under control is your problem.

We have a local dog owner who walks her dog while playing on her phone and ignoring them entirely. They're often entirely out of her sight, hundreds of metres away, running rings around other PROW users. When I caught up to her I told her she was lucky one hadn't been booted as my horses didn't much like dogs snapping around their feet. Her response was a weak "oh sorry, I didn't see". They're not under your control if you can't see them, just bloody call them back and pay some attention! Stupid thing is, they're nice dogs and do have good recall - it's just the owner who's an idiot!

 

[Upthecreek]

So annoying and as you say, you’ve got to blame the owners rather than the dogs. I wonder what people would say if we let our horses run around loose on footpaths? Had exactly the same thing last weekend. Dog approached us, not barking but with intent. Owner was way behind and called the dog two or three times, which it completely ignored. We kept walking then dog circled us, getting closer all the time. Dog then leapt at horse’s shoulder so I smacked it with my whip & shouted. Owner then finally came over & shouted at me for smacking her dog!! What was I supposed to do? Thankfully horse is used to dogs and was amazing, but I would have felt awful if he’d panicked and trodden on the dog. So annoying as totally avoidable if only people would keep their dogs on leads in public, as per the law.

 

[meleeka]

My JRT has a dodgy recall and therefore she’s never off the lead unless on my own property which is secure. She has a few long leads and I can use anything from an extendable to a 30m one if we are in a large open space. She wouldn’t bother livestock or other dogs, but she’s just far too important to lose and I really don’t get why people put their dogs at risk by letting them off when they don’t have full control.

 

[Sail_away]

It’s completely irresponsible- yes most horses won’t do anything but I have been part of a ride where a dog ran up to one of the horses, one little pony wasn’t having it and kicked out, caught the dog on the head and it had to be taken to the vets. You’d think owners would be more concerned about their dogs... as you say, poor dog, it’s hardly his fault he’s not trained but he’s the one who’ll take the damage if anything happens!

I was also hacking in Wimbledon Common yesterday, sticking firmly to the larger bridle paths and had about five dogs run up to my horse yapping and bouncing. Thank god he is a saint and did nothing, but these are specific bridlepaths with clear new signs stating that a) it is a horse track and b) all dogs must be on the lead! It is incredibly silly considering that the vast majority of trails in Wimbledon are solely for walkers

 

[Ambers Echo]

I really don’t get why people put their dogs at risk by letting them off when they don’t have full control.

Exactly this. I just don't understand it. When I say your dog will get kicked or killed, it's not a threat! It's just spelling out what could so easily happen if a dog is snapping at the heels of a horse. Which should be obvious but seems not to be.

 

[Green Bean]

Green Bean I am not aggressive. I don't mind if a dog runs over, I have trained my horses to cope with that. I don;t get angry with owners who are clearly trying to get their dog under control even if they are not managing! At least I can see that they recognise it is their job to have their dog under control in public spaces and I feel sorry for people who are clearly mortified by their dog's behaviour.

But this man's attitude is that what his dog does is basically nothing to do with him. His dog was snapping at the heels of a large prey animal. What if he worries sheep, jumps up at children, snaps at the post man. When does it become his responsibility?

Yes, I completely agree with you, it was the same for my encounter where dog walker felt that as it wasn’t her dog, she shouldn’t have to control it, can’t understand that one.

 

[PeterNatt]

What I find so amazing is that when I rode my horse in Hyde Park or Hampstead Heath in London I never had any issues with dogs. Yet in the countryside there are loads of loose and uncontrollable dogs. Why do dog owners not train their dogs or just keep them on a lead?

 

[Ddraig_wen]

There's a collie who's notorious round here for darting into the road to chase horses. The owners don't bother to secure their garden and seldom close their gate.
He's chased several horses, caused a stallion to go vertical and drop his rider and chased childrens ponies. The owner's response was to put up a sign warning people that the dog was there. They didn't think they should secure the dog at all even though he was coming out onto a public road they seemed to believe it was everyone else responsibility to watch out for it. It evenually got bumped by the postman and they decided it might be a good idea to shut the gates

 

[popcorn1]

There's a collie who's notorious round here for darting into the road to chase horses. The owners don't bother to secure their garden and seldom close their gate.
He's chased several horses, caused a stallion to go vertical and drop his rider and chased childrens ponies. The owner's response was to put up a sign warning people that the dog was there. They didn't think they should secure the dog at all even though he was coming out onto a public road they seemed to believe it was everyone else responsibility to watch out for it. It evenually got bumped by the postman and they decided it might be a good idea to shut the gates

This makes me so cross!

 

[JFTDWS]

There's a westie in the village which is often loose on the road here too. It strays into one of the herd fields and generally causes chaos. I *might* have been known to "cut" it with my pony and send it home

 

[Annagain]

My favourite recently - similar situation to yours AE. Dog ran over to us on a path in the woods. We stopped and tried to ignore but he started (playfully, but still...) barking at the horses' heels. I know Arch won't do anything but wouldn't put it past M to kick out and I told the owner that. He replied, "It'll teach him a lesson, can you make your horse do it please?"

"700kg of horse kicking a dog would more than likely kill him not teach him a lesson and even if I could, I wouldn't. If you want to put him at risk of death, carry on. If you want to teach him, do it on his lead and by praising him for sitting still and ignoring them." was my reply as we walked off. Luckily M contained himself!

 

[YorksG]

I have written about this before, as we have one or two locals who seem to believe that their dogs should be able to go wherever they want! No leads and zero recall. Mind you we did meet a lovely lady with a boxer on an extending lead, she really was very pleasant, but she allowed her dog to walk under my appy, who fortunately stood like a rock. I had visions of the cheese wire extending lead wrapped round the mares legs

 

[be positive]

Exactly this. I just don't understand it. When I say your dog will get kicked or killed, it's not a threat! It's just spelling out what could so easily happen if a dog is snapping at the heels of a horse. Which should be obvious but seems not to be.

Or as happened with one here the next dog took the kick, a friend of the owner let her GS loose in the field despite me saying it was not a good idea, she though they would have 'fun', the GS grabbed the horse on his hamstring and meant it, luckily the injury was not too serious because I intervened quickly .
A few weeks later a young lab pup wandered out behind him while we were hacking, the dog was momentarily outside its gateway and took a serious kick which it did survive but it did not deserve, the horse had until then been totally trustworthy, had regularly hunted so was used to hounds around him but one incident nearly killed a dog, luckily he got over it and never kicked again.

 

[dogatemysalad]

We were riding in the woods the other day when two GSDs ran barking towards us and were snapping at my horses legs. The owner called them off and apologised profusely and I waved cheerily and said, we're fine.
The End.

 

[AFB]

If your dog doesn't come back at first call, it's not under control and it shouldn't be off the lead.

100%

(And I'm completely a dog lover, I just have no time for owners that can't be bothered to teach their dogs the rules)

 

[hopscotch bandit]

There's a collie who's notorious round here for darting into the road to chase horses. The owners don't bother to secure their garden and seldom close their gate.
He's chased several horses, caused a stallion to go vertical and drop his rider and chased childrens ponies. The owner's response was to put up a sign warning people that the dog was there. They didn't think they should secure the dog at all even though he was coming out onto a public road they seemed to believe it was everyone else responsibility to watch out for it. It evenually got bumped by the postman and they decided it might be a good idea to shut the gates

We have had this by us and the dog kept running under the gate to get to the horses going past in the lane, would snap at their heels and follow them for a couple of hundred yards. My horse just ignored it but some would really go mad, bolt or deck their rider. I tried to give it a quick whack with my schooling whip to hopefully give it a lesson and ensure it wouldn't chase horses again but couldn't reach. It's not my responsibility but the woman who owns the dog also owns a horse and hacks along the lanes! SHe should know better.

In the end I said I would report her if she didn't have her dogs under control. In the end she stuffed some sheep fencing under the gate to stop it escaping into the road.

 

[Tiddlypom]

If a dog regularly runs out into the road to chase and snap at passing horses is it best to report the dog to the dog warden? There’s a JRT which does this on a blind bend every time it is out in its garden, which is not at all dog proofed. It goes for passing cyclists and dog walkers, too. We have spoken to the owner, who did a ‘What else can we do?’ shrug as it slips its chain to do so.

I am falling out of love with hacking on the roads what with errant driving school cars plus uncontrolled nasty dogs, grrr.

 

[The_Shetland_Collector]

Our little rescue Lurcher was totally uncomfortable with Horses when we first got her, nervous and barky. We’re always super careful with her. Despite her recall now being fantastic we still only let her off in enclosed dog friendly areas, with plenty of visibility. I simple don’t understand people who put a much loved part of the family at risk like that!

We hadn’t had her long when out for a walk and saw a couple of hackers approaching, I quickly moved our little lurch into a gateway and used the training method we’d been working on to keep her attention away from the approaching horses. This ‘gentleman’ took it upon himself to teach our little one a ‘lesson’ by edging his horse closer and closer to her, instead of simply walking past on the large wide path we’d left entirely clear! Despite her obvious fear at this, apparently he'd decided it was his responsibility to get her used to them! I was totally gobsmacked and unable to say anything to him. She’s only little and was so obviously scared at the incoming horse snoz, the damage he did in that two minute ‘lesson’ undid months of work on getting her more established around horses. (Not suggesting for a minute that this is what anyone here has done, this was one irresponsible, self-important imbecile! I just wanted to tell the story!).

We’ve since done a lot of work with her and my collection of Shetlands, and she’s great with horses of all sizes now. Despite this I would never trust her off the lead in a situation where she could come into loose contact with any animal, dogs no matter how well trained are unpredictable animals much the same as any other and I don’t know why any animal owner would put theirs at risk!

 

[Fransurrey]

There's a collie who's notorious round here for darting into the road to chase horses. The owners don't bother to secure their garden and seldom close their gate.
He's chased several horses, caused a stallion to go vertical and drop his rider and chased childrens ponies. The owner's response was to put up a sign warning people that the dog was there. They didn't think they should secure the dog at all even though he was coming out onto a public road they seemed to believe it was everyone else responsibility to watch out for it. It evenually got bumped by the postman and they decided it might be a good idea to shut the gates

We used to have owners like that near us. The dogs didn't chase, as such, but did wander out into (and lay down on!) the road constantly and I'd often come across them (black labs) in the dark on the way to the yard - on a blind bend of a single track lane. They moved in the end, but they were notorious for being a nuisance.

Tiddlypom, yes, the dog warden is your first port of call.

 

[scruffyponies]

I have written about this before, as we have one or two locals who seem to believe that their dogs should be able to go wherever they want! No leads and zero recall. Mind you we did meet a lovely lady with a boxer on an extending lead, she really was very pleasant, but she allowed her dog to walk under my appy, who fortunately stood like a rock. I had visions of the cheese wire extending lead wrapped round the mares legs

I actually had that happen to me once. Poor pony's front legs trussed up like a turkey, with the silly staffy bouncing in the air under his nose barking. The owner was so useless that her friend had to crawl under the pony to untangle the mess, whilst she stood there like a lemon with not a clue what to do. Luckily my pony (who has a kick like a mule, and would have used it) stood like a rock as I asked.

 

[ester]

Unfortunately not all areas have dog wardens anymore, I was quite surprised to discover we don't.

 

[scruffyponies]

If your dog doesn't come back at first call, it's not under control and it shouldn't be off the lead.

Can I have a little leeway on this one please JFTD? My old setter is stone deaf, so it takes a second or two for her to notice that the other dogs have come back to me

 

[Merrymoles]

We very occasionally ride past a lorry trailer storage yard which has three large German shepherds as guard dogs. One of them flies to the end of her tether and barks hysterically and the last time she did it as we passed, her chain snapped and she came out of the entrance at speed. However, as soon as she hit the road she stopped and stayed there. My reason for mentioning this is that I saw the yard security guy while walking my own dog a few days ago and mentioned it to him and he was mortified, kept asking if the horses were ok etc. He is obviously a responsible dog owner!

I would never trust my own dog off the lead if I thought there might be any type of livestock around. Her recall is much improved from when we got her but I can't trust it 100 per cent, particularly as I know she would like to chase cars given the chance.

 

[OrangeAndLemon]

I was jogging in a park used by horse riders the other day when a man with a large dog came the other way. The dog was on a lead but a lead approx 25ft long if not longer (at least double a lunge line) but not retractable!!! I saw the panic in his eyes as he realised he couldn't gather up the rope in time if the dog crossed my path. It didn't. Phew.

 

[J&S]

This is how the world works now! (or rather it doesn't!) "how do I get my dog to come back to me?", "How do I back my car into the space behind me?" "how do I get 5 miles down the road without a Sat Nav"? Etc, etc. My least favourite dog owner phrase is "Oh, he is only playing!" when the thing is snarling and snapping!

 

[emilylou]

I am on both sides with this one. Dog came over barking aggressively, with walker saying she was just walking the dog for the owner and he doesn’t listen to her! On the other hand, I have been out walking my dogs around farmer fields that are not a bridleway. One dog went over to horse, doing nothing aggressive, with me running after him to move him out of kicking distance. Horse rider shouting at me that this wasn’t a footpath and I must stick to that. I just get tired of aggressive people...

You probably met me on my horse. We live on a farm with several footpaths. I regularly come across dog walkers on our land far away from the footpath and will tell them to go back to it as they have no permission to be where they are, and as it is our farm I can ride where I choose.
I have also been attacked by dogs both whilst riding and unmounted and have absolutely no tolerance for out of control dogs. (Out of control being lack of recall or obedience in any form, not just aggression) My horses dont kick but I have no problem using a dressage whip on a dog that wont leave my horse alone and the owner will get a mouthful from me.
I own a large GSD and several collies so its not like I dont like dogs, they are lovely. BUT I absolutely HATE other people thinking it is acceptable to allow their animals to disturb/upset/attack/approach other people without permisson, whether that animal is 'friendly' or not.. you dont know if that person has fear of dogs, allergies, etc and its your responsibility to manage your animal in a way that doesnt upset others. If you cant control it KEEP IT ON A LEAD!! (and stick to the footpath!)

Rant over