Is there a full moon or something?

[Karran]

"I'm going to report you! Your dog is out of control"
Double check. Yep he means Mrs Spaniel not Miss Collie.
"Sorry what?
"She ran at my child and scared him"
Child looks about 9 and in context Mrs Spaniel had come running out a bush with a ball and had to stop and change course last minute yo avoid them on bikes, I've walked on thinking its just an accident. Neither were going fast and they didnt need to brake.
I sent Mrs Spaniel after the ball in other direction while Miss Collie is on lead to see that she can do a sit and down while focused on the ball, when the man stops near me and is filming. Child is now sobbing I realise.
Mrs Spaniel is unaware of what is going on and has returned and yelling at me to throw the ball.
"If you can't control your dog, don't let them off lead. Look its still barking and scaring us."
I'm very confused and did ask him what exactly he was expecting from us, if either had needed to brake I would have apologised but Mrs Spaniel did that and came out the way for them.
He gets more angry. Miss Collie has now decided to join in the barking and we're losing control.
We decide to make a retreat. Lead on Mrs Spaniel, time to go eat lunch before back to work.

Leave park, waiting to cross road. Both dogs sitting and waiting at lights. I'm not good with confrontation and am annoyed and wondering what I was supposed to do.

Cue man staggering down road clutching a can and tries to swoop down on the dogs, Miss Collie darts into the road to avoid him, luckily on her lead and I reel her in before she gets taken out by the 178.
"oooh nervous is she? Don't worry darling dogs love me"
Mrs Spaniel is overjoyed at a new friend and doesn't discriminate about his general appearance or odour.
He's focused on the flying collie at the end of my lead.

"Please dont stroke her" for the first time in MONTHS she's snarling and growling at a stranger and he's still insistent about trying to stroke her.
"She'll be fine!"
"No she bites and means it, please leave her alone"
"I dont mind!"
"I do!"????

Lights change and I decide its time to go for our first jog this year to get away from everything!

 

[Equi]

Oh dear. Both men sounded very overbearing and unreasonable. Hope you’re ok.

 

[Karran]

More shaken about the drunk. There is no dog warden for my area so I'm not that bothered about the man filming. But if the drunk had got hurt it would have been Miss Collie's fault and I've worked so, SO hard on making her safe for people that he may have ruined that or put it all back after her great weekend.

 

[Bellasophia]

I see you are in London,you must see all sorts !The drunken man would have worried me too in his unpredictable state.Its a credit to your training you got your crew away safely.
I take my two every weds to a an outdoor Italian market with a thousand plus people..My dogs weave with me through the crowds usually unfazed.
One event I recall was standing at a stall to pay for something and the lady beside me started screaming,literally screaming very loud and hysterically....She also spluttered “ your dog,your dog...”...my then five month schnauzer was beside her,on lead..I assumed the worst..did she bite..?.whatever happened.?.. It turns out the pup had simply licked the lady on the leg. You have to be so careful with the public as not everyone is working with a full set of cards.

 

[Karran]

I've seen that on a bus. The woman was trying to hold the lead, pay the driver and the dog - a cute looking bichon innocently sniffed the woman sitting nearest and you'd have thought she had been stabbed the way she kicked off at the owner!

 

[ponyparty]

I try to avoid the park because I just cannot be bothered with stupid people and their dogs. When we first moved here, before I knew any footpaths over the fields/knew better, he got attacked and bowled over by different dogs there twice in the space of a week. It took months to get his confidence back up in that park again.
However, with time limitations and a toddler who wants to go to the playground and can't do long walks, sometimes I do have to take the dog with me.

Took them both on Sunday, dog off lead, behaved perfectly with every dog he met (also off lead - he goes back on lead if there's one approaching on lead). Then we see a woman about 30 yards away coming out of the car park with two poodleX things (maybe one cockerpoo and a larger doodle?), bouncing around at the end of their leads, so I recall him and go to clip his lead on.... just as she releases hers, who bound over. Now, my dog was bitten by an off-lead dog whilst he was on-lead last week, and I'm damned if I'm letting that happen to him again. So I didn't put the lead on him. He was fine with the smaller of the two dogs, but when the larger one got invasive of his space he told it off quite robustly. No contact, just teeth bared growling and snapping; it wasn't backing down so I chased the dog off myself.

I said to the owner, "I was putting mine on lead when I saw you approaching with yours on-lead and you just let them off straight into him--" She said "HOW IS THIS MY FAULT? YOUR dog just LOOKS vicious anyway!"
(what, because he's not a fluffy white poodleX? Because he's black and tan? Why? What looks vicious about a well trained dog that recalls perfectly and was minding his own business until YOUR dogs nearly flattened him?!)
Anyway I kind of lost my rag and instead I snapped back "Well that just shows how ignorant you are about dogs then, you stupid cow!" slightly ashamed of the last part of my sentence, it's quite unlike me, but I had REALLY had it by the end of last week and it just came tumbling out! Hopefully she will avoid us if she sees us again...

 

[PapaverFollis]

Oh don't worry ponyparty I've called someone far faaaaaaar worse than that in similar circumstances! ? It wasn't great because she lived on my street. Oooops. But she really was being a complete bleeping bleep so...

 

[Quoth]

TBH I'd probably have asked the bloke directly if their child had mental health issues. Kids with autism for example often struggle with the noise and energy of dogs and moving away/putting the dog on the lead is perhaps reasonable under the circumstances. Alternatively if a spaniel playing with a ball is enough to reduce a healthy 9 year old to tears, then I wish him all the luck in the world because (s)he's in for a rough ride.

Reacting to being licked or sniffed in public I can see if the person is allergic to dogs, in which case their saliva is potentially as harmful as their dander. Otherwise they possibly need to come to terms with the fact that it's a sheepdog not a leopard.

Like everyone else here I'm not a fan of parks, public spaces in general always seem to attract the less stable members of the human race though some sort of bizarre social osmosis.

 

[ponyparty]

Oh don't worry ponyparty I've called someone far faaaaaaar worse than that in similar circumstances! ? It wasn't great because she lived on my street. Oooops. But she really was being a complete bleeping bleep so...

It probably would have been worse but for that fact my nearly-2 year old was there too! Historically I swear like a trooper but I’ve REALLY had to rein it in since he started talking ?

 

[Karran]

I would have apologised but he was clearly up for an argument and trying to antagonise me and the dogs and due to Miss Collie's reactivity. I definitely didn't want her sticking her oar in and making it worse so we did the highly grown up thing and ran away! ?‍
I did think last night that perhaps the child was autistic or highly dog phobic but there pretty much was very little I could do, she didn't cause an accident. Didnt need them to brake, just made them jump a little suddenly popping out and then when the adult was confronting me, she was just oblivious to it all and completely focused on the ball and trying to get me to throw again for her.
Being on lockdown v2 and I Will have the parks to myself again! ?

 

[Christmascinnamoncookie]

My OH once told the owner of the dog that attacked Zak he would let all three off (snarling and straining to get at him, even Mr Loved Everyone Brig!) at hers if she didn’t put him on the lead as it was approaching ours in the car park. Stupid woman said ’You wouldn’t dare.’ He was like ‘Watch me’. She could see he was struggling to hold them and open the boot to get them in. Some people are just stupid.