Not so much irresponsible - just plain weird!!

[maisie06]

So with our usual haunt being saturated with water I have been taking the dogs to the beach for their morning run, I go early and so far have been very lucky in there being either no one around or other respectful dog owners, but today this was odd, a guy walking a black hairy dog, looks like a tibetan terrier, he had a ball thrower as was deliberatley chucking the ball at other dogs, his dog wasn't interested in the ball at all and was happily sniffing around minding it's own business causing no bother to anyone...the owner however, he thought it was funny when a collie went to grab the ball nearly having it's owners shoulder out of the socket...then he spotted us, he threw the ball landing about 6 feet infront of the springer, I put springer on a stop whistle, then recalled. actually a great training opportunity!! The guy then followed me about 50mtrs up the beach, when I turned and faced him he scuttled off - the whole thing was weird, haven't reported it but will keep and eye out in future, he's quite old so not sure he'd try attacking but very odd.

 

[JoannaC]

Very weird, maybe it was his dream to have a dog to play ball with only to be thwarted when he found his dog has no interest in playing ball so he tries to play with other dogs instead lol Does sound a little creepy if he followed you though, maybe avoid going there or stick close to other people just to be on the safe side.

 

[BallyJ]

I'd have let my dog take the ball and carried on up the beach, pretending I couldn't hear him/see the ball.

someone did this to us with our Lab puppy it infuriates me.

 

[Glitter's fun]

Could be lonely & not very socially aware. Looking for a way in to talk to someone when they have to give the ball back?
Definitely avoid him though, if your instincts tell you he's creepy. Those instincts are there for a reason.

 

[limestonelil]

Initially I thought the same as BallyJ. But I have changed my mind. Don't know how to do spoiler so leaving a space in my post as it isn't nice thought
at all. But could just happen.






What if the ball is coated with something horrible or poisonous, or he is just waiting for an excuse to be confrontational if another dog takes ball. I would definitely avoid him for the moment.
Takes me ages to type.

 

[CorvusCorax]

He just wouldn't get his ball back. Certainly not in one piece.

My dog nicked a tennis ball some women left out for a send-out in the park, I shouted that I was sorry, as I went on my way.

 

[limestonelil]

(continued) . So hadn't seen GGMs reply which is another way of of putting it, less alarming than mine.

 

[AShetlandBitMeOnce]

I think perhaps he was looking for conversation on retrieval of the ball, or to entice another dog to play ball as his own dog isn't interested and he would quite like to.
Being old can be very, very lonely.
If you're creepy-ometer was going off though, absolutely follow it, but I think labelling him a maniac for throwing a few balls in erroneous directions is a bit far. Being elderly can be incredibly lonely, and it might be some time since he exercised his social skills, or he may have become a bit desperate.

 

[Ratface]

Many years ago, I had a German Shepherd Dog. I was very aware of how powerful and focused they could be and was wholly committed to doing all the training that I could access. I'd previously taken my (daft as a brush) Afghan Hound for group training with Barbara Woodhouse which was an eye-opening experience. She immediately assessed him as "stupid" - not known for her tact and diplomacy - but an excellent opportunity for me to learn from her skills. Together from her teaching and the three levels of the local Good Citizens dog traing team that I did with my GSD, I was fairly sure that I had good enough control of her in all circumstances. I was walking her off lead in a local park with a friend and her equally well trained Rottweiler when a middle-aged man came running straight at us waving his erect member. My traing reward for my GSD was a small cooked sausage. I pointed at the chap and said "Look! Sausages!!" GSD barrelled towards him with the Rottweiler in hot pursuit. The speed at which the chap turned and fled was impressive. We recalled our dogs, rewarded them with small pieces of sausage and went on our way rejoicing . . .

 

[limestonelil]

Oh Ratface, what a story. Love it.

 

[oldandgold]

Oh blimey Ratface, I've just spat my cup of tea out - laughing so much - needed cheering up today and you've done it

 

[Errin Paddywack]

That has made my day.

 

[Christmascinnamoncookie]

There was a guy with a very overweight basset x collie who throws a tennis ball for it constantly. The dog completely ignored the ball. I think he was determined it would retrieve like Zak and Bear, who were frequently sent into cover for dummies. I loved how the guy used to have to retrieve his own ball every time!

 

[Denali]

Oh my Ratface that story made my day!

 

[Boulty]

Ratface I think that is the best flasher story of all time

 

[maisie06]

So I saw him again saturday, he left me alone but threw a ball towards a couple of pugs, he got short shrift from their owner, I heard her shouting at him...I managed to bump into her on my loop and asked her about him, turns out he likes to try and talk to women, he never throws a ball near a male owner... he hasn;t technically done anything wrong yet and TBH is probably too old but apparently police are aware of him. My Cocker barks at him that's enough for me to know he's a bit off....

 

[SilverLinings]

So I saw him again saturday, he left me alone but threw a ball towards a couple of pugs, he got short shrift from their owner, I heard her shouting at him...I managed to bump into her on my loop and asked her about him, turns out he likes to try and talk to women, he never throws a ball near a male owner... he hasn;t technically done anything wrong yet and TBH is probably too old but apparently police are aware of him. My Cocker barks at him that's enough for me to know he's a bit off....

I am glad that you are aware of what he is doing so that you can avoid it. He definitely sounds like someone you don't want to make conversation with.

There is someone who lives in my parents' area who is like that, and he eventually got told by the police not to go to a certain beach where he used to hang around waiting for female dog walkers (several had complained to the police that once he had managed to talk to them once he wouldn't leave them alone). Apparently it improved for a while, but he has been seen back there again recently; hopefully his behaviour has improved.

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

I would be wary of any man trying to get female attention that way.

 

[Parrotperson]

there is a certain argument here for men to be under a bloody curfew.

 

[Alwaysmoretoknow]

there is a certain argument here for men to be under a bloody curfew.

Or on leads.

 

[Birker2020]

So I saw him again saturday, he left me alone but threw a ball towards a couple of pugs, he got short shrift from their owner, I heard her shouting at him...I managed to bump into her on my loop and asked her about him, turns out he likes to try and talk to women, he never throws a ball near a male owner... he hasn;t technically done anything wrong yet and TBH is probably too old but apparently police are aware of him. My Cocker barks at him that's enough for me to know he's a bit off....

If police are aware of him and he's on their radar it sounds like they might have had a prior dealing with him possibly for some type of harassment.

 

[Alwaysmoretoknow]

I also thought of saying muzzled and castrated but thought that might be going a bit far - lol! Except for some of them....

 

[BallyRoanBaubles]

I wouldn’t like it if someone was doing that, very odd!

 

[Christmascinnamoncookie]

So I saw him again saturday, he left me alone but threw a ball towards a couple of pugs, he got short shrift from their owner, I heard her shouting at him...I managed to bump into her on my loop and asked her about him, turns out he likes to try and talk to women, he never throws a ball near a male owner... he hasn;t technically done anything wrong yet and TBH is probably too old but apparently police are aware of him. My Cocker barks at him that's enough for me to know he's a bit off....

We used to have that a lot with Zak, other owners forever chucking a ball in our bit of the park when all we wanted was a tiny bit of space, usually no more than 10 feet was enough to keep puss cat calm. It's a massive park, people would aim straight for us, despite ours being on leads, use the ball launcher to throw the ball directly at ours. I found it very odd.

 

[SDMabel]

Its scenarios like this , that I'm glad i taught my Lab the 'speak' command.

So many bloody weirdos about ! we got accosted on our walk last year down our quiet lane , dusk was hitting and a chap who was either high as a kite or just very very odd. Approached and asked if he could walk us home, told the labrador to speak up and she barks on command like the huntaway's when moving sheep- none stop till quiet command is given.

Chap quickly cleared off and I did the quickest walk ever home, glancing over my shoulder every few mins !

you'd like to think your dog barking would put him off approaching .

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

We used to have that a lot with Zak, other owners forever chucking a ball in our bit of the park when all we wanted was a tiny bit of space, usually no more than 10 feet was enough to keep puss cat calm. It's a massive park, people would aim straight for us, despite ours being on leads, use the ball launcher to throw the ball directly at ours. I found it very odd.

Some people just seem to want their dogs to join in with what they (owners) see as a jolly pack. We used to take 4 Labs to a country park to walk at the weekend. Now we hire a secure field, where there is only us, so we don't have to worry about possible incidents. We have had far too many of those! What with people bringing their dogs to ours, when they were sitting quietly by our feet at a picnic table or allowing them to join ours when they were playing, often in a huge space, where it would have been easy to avoid us. We decided ut just wasn't worth the hassle and the field is a shorter easier journey.