Irresponsible Owners

I enjoy the cyclists who get within two feet of the horses’ tails, then ding their bell in an annoyed manner whilst wobbling about, holding the bike at horse walking speed. Luckily the horses are pretty bike proof but it always makes me jump.

I think they assume that I know they’re behind me and I’m just being a twat by not moving. Honestly, I don’t often hear bikes over clip-clip, clip-clop, especially when breezy or if I’m having a conversation with a hacking buddy. Try calling out before you’re up our butts.

I know all the cyclists on this forum are probably not these people. 😀
 
Ditto the cyclists who CBA using either bell or voice to inform of their presence & expect to whizz past at full speed when I’m on foot with the hooligan aaaand then have their life flash before their eyes when he lunges at their bike and they have to swerve. (Tbf this also applies to those who insist in leaving the perfectly good limestone path to ride AT me when I’ve taken the dog well out of their way onto a grass verge 🙈🙄)

I am well aware this is unideal behaviour from the spaniel twit. Many trainers/ behaviourists etc have been involved and management with distraction is the best we’ve achieved. I can’t see us ever being at a point where he doesn’t find chasing moving objects to be self rewarding.

I can stop him doing this IF I KNOW THE BIKE IS COMING by putting him in a sit at the side of the path or scattering a few treats for him to find if they have to pass close.

He pretty consistently ignores the ones that slow down to pass now anyway but the ones that want to pretend they’re on the Tour de France are still too tempting (& are liable to nearly run the human over as well)
 
My 61yo friend was taken down by a spaniel on a shared path Dangerous Dog Trail last week. She made the mistake of thinking that the dog was under control because the owner was stationary and the dog was sitting next to her.

I was 66 years old when I was also taken down by a spaniel on the same shared path Dangerous Dog Trail. As it happened I was cycling slowly passing a couple in their 70s/80s who had a dog on short lead. I made the mistake, having clocked their on lead dog, of not expecting them to have a Springer behind them in a ditch/hedge wherever. It came of of nowhere, no time to touch the brakes, the bike stopped dead, the spaniel screamed, I rolled along the tarmac and the air was blue. I don't talk about my broken bones on here but suffice to say that they were serious enough not to appreciate being run into by an out of control labradoodle (another shared path), attacked by an out of control Doberman on another shared path when the owner was in an adjacent field and could hear but not see their dog and being taken down by a Springer.

It seems to be quite the surprise to the owners of out of control dogs to find that the cyclist that their dog has taken down is not some lout who they could label accordingly but women in their 60s cycling in a civilised manner. And yes not only do we both cycle in a civilised manner and respect other users of shared paths we both have and use bells and we both have and use lights. None of which are of any use in these scenarios.
 
I always thank polite cyclists. Impolite ones get my old trainer's classic 'I HAVEN'T GOT EYES IN MY ARSE'.

Took the dog out to the seaside yesterday. 'All dogs must be on leash on the promenade'. Yeah, right. And when they're miles behind you, you don't see them having a dump and don't need to pick it up.
And lots of flat faced things blowing out their backsides.
 
CorvusCorax said:
If you were at the dog park, would you sit on your bum and continue chatting amongst yourselves while your little fluffy pack run the fence aggressively barking at every other dog and person walking past, or would you, ya know, do something or tell them not to?
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I got in between a little collie cross thing and mine the other day. I did not like its body language and it had growled at our on lead boys on the path despite us keeping as far away as possible. The owner was on her phone completely ignoring her dog. When we passed another growling dog (loose, ours on lead), I had to say ‘Don’t you dare’, owner not close enough 🙁
 
CorvusCorax said:
I always thank polite cyclists. Impolite ones get my old trainer's classic 'I HAVEN'T GOT EYES IN MY ARSE'.

Took the dog out to the seaside yesterday. 'All dogs must be on leash on the promenade'. Yeah, right. And when they're miles behind you, you don't see them having a dump and don't need to pick it up.
And lots of flat faced things blowing out their backsides.
Click to expand...

People don't bother with that, also no dogs allowed on this beach doesn't seem to matter either🙄
 
CorvusCorax said:
If you were at the dog park, would you sit on your bum and continue chatting amongst yourselves while your little fluffy pack run the fence aggressively barking at every other dog and person walking past, or would you, ya know, do something or tell them not to?
Click to expand...

Never been to a dog park. Sounds hell.

I have a little fluffy, but on a footpath a few years ago two women watched their 2 staffs tear over to my little fluffy from a distance, harass him and me (and I'm terrified of dogs anyway), and were absolutely furious when I shouted at them to come and get their dogs. My little fluffy didn't do anything at all but was just about to tell the staffs to eff off which probably wouldn't have gone down well, when one of the women got off her fat ARSE, fag and phone in hand lumbered over saying they just wanted to play and what was my problem. Err, they are double his size, he doesn't want to play and we just want to be alone thank you.

I didn't say that, she would probably have decked me.

Its not fun having a little fluffy most of the time, they are too vulnerable. Mine will put up with a fair bit but does have a breaking point which scares me with big dogs.
 
CorvusCorax said:
If you were at the dog park, would you sit on your bum and continue chatting amongst yourselves while your little fluffy pack run the fence aggressively barking at every other dog and person walking past, or would you, ya know, do something or tell them not to?
Click to expand...
Dog park = take your fluffykins with no training or recall to run themselves silly while you ignore them.

That said, IMHO it’s very remiss of planning to be given if there is a prow running right alongside the dog park, it’s inviting trouble.
 
Tiddlypom said:
Dog park = take your fluffykins with no training or recall to run themselves silly while you ignore them.

That said, IMHO it’s very remiss of planning to be given if there is a prow running right alongside the dog park, it’s inviting trouble.
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The council wasn't going to turn their own application down!! It's actually inside an existing park, at a pretty busy intersection. Fabulous.
 
This chest cam video is doing the rounds at the moment.

https://fb.watch/BiEjEmo0LW

The cyclist ended up in the canal, she said she was pushed.

I see the cyclist approaching the dog walkers far too quickly and cycling past a nice wide side pull in. Had I been one of the dog walkers I’d have stood my ground to stop her speeding past on a much too narrow part of the path. Had I been the cyclist I’d have stopped at the pull in to allow the dog walkers to come past me safely and given them a friendly ‘hello’.
 
Tiddlypom said:
This chest cam video is doing the rounds at the moment.

https://fb.watch/BiEjEmo0LW

The cyclist ended up in the canal, she said she was pushed.

I see the cyclist approaching the dog walkers far too quickly and cycling past a nice wide side pull in. Had I been one of the dog walkers I’d have stood my ground to stop her speeding past on a much too narrow part of the path. Had I been the cyclist I’d have stopped at the pull in to allow the dog walkers to come past me safely and given them a friendly ‘hello’.
Click to expand...

I’ve just watched this . I’m glad that’s your opinion as a cyclist as I thought the same .
 
Today, me.

I was having breakfast and looked up to see Liberty chewing on a knife! It had been forgotten by the pony camp the other week so I put it on the garden table to return it and forgot about it. Obviously, Libby thought it was more appropriate to chew on than the antler, chew root or dog toy she had access to at the time. Luckily, she gave it up when I told her "mine!" (I sound vaguely like a seagull in "Finding Nemo", but it's what I use to tell her she can't have an object).
 
Bloody massive staffie came like a rocket to get to mine at the river, owner trailing miles behind. Fortunately, it was friendly, but too crazy for mine, who were deeply disinterested. It tried to bowl over Goose and got big time shouted at (by me). When Goose took off, the dog couldn’t keep up with him.
 
I have just on my best Barbara Woodhouse voice and bellowed at 2 small dogs that were towing their large lady owner over to me and Jo who was sitting patiently waiting for them to pass.

I yelled "will you behave". Lady said, their OK, they don't attack. I replied I should bloody well hope not.

Whilst our conversation was taking place, dogs were yapping and generally being naughty. They were ignored.

See, I wouldn't allow that. Report me now.
 
Smitty said:
www.bbc.co.uk

Dog owners hold back tears after fatal Bristol harbourside attack

Max, an 11-year-old havanese, died after a bigger Pitbull-like dog "clamped its jaw" around him.
www.bbc.co.uk www.bbc.co.uk


Another dog killed and another one doing a runer with the offending dog.
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Those poor people. What an awful thing to go through!

At least my other people's dog problems these days don't seem to feature dangerous dogs as such, mostly just annoying ones. Although a persistent offender is starting to get right on my nerves. It's some kind of street dog, looks like a small black collie type, and I do not like the way it approaches us. It growled at OH last time we encountered it although to be fair I think he was staring at it which probably didn't help the situation. I'm trying not to get into confrontation where I can but I did come close to letting the owner know that I am going to get very cross if we are going to have to do this stupid dance every time we encounter them. I do my best to avoid if I spot them but they do absolutely nothing other than half heartedly call it's name and then tell me it's friendly.
 
A while back we had a visit from a neighbour's (a few doors down) dog. It got into the conservatory and ate a lot of bird food. They came and collected it and apologised. Today it got out again into their next door neighbour's. I could hear the conversation over the hedge. They said it must have escaped through the small gap in the hedge. Wouldn't you think that they would have fixed the gap, knowing that the dog had escaped through it before. 🤬
 
My winner this week is the owner of two Golden retrievers,

There was a couple with two on-lead spaniels ahead of us on the trail. We all saw this women with two off-lead goldens, the dogs charging here, there, and everywhere, and the owner shouting, "Otis! Otis!" But she could have been talking to a tree, for all the response she got. The couple with the spaniels went about 20m into the boggy woods to avoid these dogs, to no avail. They charged up to the spaniels, and there was a lot of angry barking and growling, and the goldens' owner uselessly calling their names. Then the goldens charged towards me. One ran past the horse, not interested at all, but the other came straight at us. I did my psychotic two-headed monster schtick, squaring the horse up to the dog, turning my dressage whip around so I'm holding it like sword, and bellowing, "Back! Back! You get back!" And maybe some words that would get me censored from the forum. The dog backed off and took off after its owner, who made no effort to put it on a lead and just scurried past us.

The spaniel owners and I exchanged some eye-rolls.
 
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