Had a dilemma where to put this so aimed here.

Had an incident today whilst walking my 4 dogs, I called back 1 who is somewhat over friendly and popped him on lead, just in case he decided to say "Hi" tothe man in a suit.Sothat's 3 collies free running and 1 on lead whilst walking back to my van when a man with his young son, about 3, walked towards us. My youngest bitch was running past him, at quite a distance at least 15 foot, and was NOT showing any interest in him or his son. Trained dogs under control, ignoringthe humans when the man suddenly started kicking out at my young bitch.Now until he started kicking out at her she wasn't interested but then she got interested,she just danced around him, didn't make a full circle as I called her back, which she did immediately. She didn't bark, or give any fear response, in fact she was very puzzled.

I onthe other hand was furious and am at my wits end lately with Manchester. We have had in the last 6 weeks, a dog attack quitea nasty one, umpteen staffies have a go and now the humans are adding to it!! Staffies are a part of life here and I have had several at group who are super, the nasties are bad breeding etc so I let that go. The dog attack is part of a group of dog owners who all have aggressive dogs and police are informed but unwilling to do anything. And now I have what feels like humans joining in!! I could understand it completely if my dog was bothering him and his son, but she was simply running past. He didn't pick his son up so exactly how threatening was my collie? It is a HUGE 30 acre feild he had the option to walk around us but he chose to walk right at us(mum and me and dogs), he purposely walked offthe cement path and onto the field. Ok he's got the right to do so, it's not my field!!

But is anyone else out there having issues lately? I'm starting to take it personally now, house is up for sale but not selling fast enough!! Isit just Manchester?? If I work 2-3 miles down the road it doesn't seem as aggressive, just feels like our area is becoming such an aggressive place to be!! I blame the Trafford Centre!! Too many people!!!!

that mustve been horrible.Id like to think he was scared and "fending "her off,not that it sounds like there was anything to fend,but as he chose to walk towards you,that scotches that theory!unfortunatly there are idiots everywhere,not just manchester.I felt a bit like you do a year ago,when my young bitch was scared of big dogs,and everyone seemed to make a beeline for us with offlead big bouncy dogs just dying to say hallo to my girl!now the boots on the other foot and im trying to socialise my 10 month old,i can never find a blooming dog.hope you find a buyer soon,good luck!

Is it possible this man was mentally ill, distrurbed, autistic etc which might explain his (to you ) irrational behaviour?

Some disabilities are invisible........

Did the man not say anything ?

Tohme has a very valid point, but I wonder if such a person would be out alone with a three year old ?

My friend had her 14 week old OES puppy badly kicked by a man, poor puppy wandered up to him and his two children, she did phone the police, and they did come out as she hammed it up a bit and said she was frightened, man was long gone though.

these types make me sick-you can guarantee they wouldnt do it if a man was with the puppy.lousy cowardly bullies-what is he teaching his kids?snarl!

I think he was italien but I thought they liked dogs!! Hope so snowboarding there in January!!  He was mentally sound as he passed comment on my not being a lady at my language!! OOppss Kinda lost my temper there!!

I did also think how lovely to teach his young son to kick at dogs as well!! But didn't say it as he'd walked on too far. I was shaking when I got home I was so upset and angry. She's in season at the mo so I don't want her upset and we had sneaked out at a quiet time on a field I know to be relatively quiet and nice dogs.

I think there are just too many nationalities now in this country for whom dogs are not the norm. And it is their fear that is spreading like wild fire and causing so many of the issues we have daily. If Ruby had been barking or behaving in some odd way towards them I could understand but she was great. In fact I was thinking how much the season has changed her behaviour she's far more outgoing, no doubt for naughty tarty girl reasons but I'm very happy with how she's handling herself lately and that could have ruined everything!!

Went back to the field again today, get back on the horse thing, and I see no reason why I should let him frighten me into staying away. But I hate this continual background feeling of resentment, worrying and as usual with me, blaming myself and querying my actions. Was I to blame? Were the dogs out of control? No and No to this idiot, personally I think these macho cultures don't think a woman can handle 4 dogs at once. Either that or they're worried us girlies will be handling them like the dogs, sit down stay there's a good boy!!

yep,lets do it!

Hmmmmm how interesting, accusing someone of cynophobia whilst exhibiting xenophobia themselves.............. ')

> I think there are just too many nationalities now in this country for whom dogs are not the norm. And it is their fear that is spreading like wild fire and causing so many of the issues we have daily.

I think it has little to do with nationalities, just principles of right & wrong conduct. I don't like, well it doesn't really matter but I don't go around kicking it. I often wonder if those that kick or beat their dogs (or someone elses), restrain themselves with anything else or others they don't like?

Unfortunately today I think you always have to have the opinion that many people do not like dogs or act stupidly around dogs.

I dare say the man with the young son walked towards you as he had the attitude of 'I will go where I want, you should keep your animal away from us' and the dog should know to automatically give a wide berth to humans, in seeing that it didn't go his way he  then had the audacity to kick at her when she came too close, far too late in showing an instinct to protect his son he should have steered clear in the first place.

I know I've told this story before but once out with my mother her dogs, mine and my brothers two GSD's which I was looking after (10 dogs) in the middle of a field we saw a man with a toddler (always the men) we steered our dogs to the far side of the field in the other direction, all very well trained and luckily no adolescents wishing to meet and greet who would need leading, the man stupidly also changed direction to head straight for us, we couldn't believe it, not only was the child on the ground but screaming and running towards 10 off lead dogs, before we knew it he was in the middle and poked one of my mum's dogs, screaming in a high pitch of delight. My mother told me to take the dogs away as she was going to 'have a word' my mum doesn't suffer fools........... she had a word! :-D The man saw no harm, unfortunately if one of the dogs had jumped at the toddler quite probable if they had been youngsters, or hurt him you can imagine how no harm would have been turned into aggressive dog/s.

People are stupid, anti dog or just downright afraid, plenty of fear aggressive people too, I think when coming across not only dogs but people too, we have to act like drivers on the roads and anticipate idiotic behaviour, I'm lucky that I am a country gal, but tbh if I had to share walks with people and other dog owners I would probably today be leading a dog which did not walk at my side when asked to do so, every time I approached people just in case.

It's no longer such a dog friendly or dog safe world from the things I hear, I think we are all going to have to adjust to this. :-(

I hope you sell up soon.

Some people are so stupid in their behaviour. I have to say luckily I manage to avoid these kinds of people... our local park is full of well behaved dogs and their owners. I do usually go very early of a morning so perhaps I'm just missing all of the idiots!

The problem I seem to have is people telling me what to do with my dog! The amount of times people have told me what to do because 'their Mum has a GSD' or 'their neighbour has a GSD' is frankly astounding! I have no idea why they think they can just give me 'advice' when I haven't asked for it! Yesterday I was walking my 3.5 month old GSD to the park. He behaves beautifully on his lead to the point where I don't really hold the lead too tightly.. just loose in my hand. A man walked over and was greeting Nando & myself.. next minute he whips the lead out of my hand and holds Nando's lead close to his collar and the other hand at his side.

I snatched the lead back and said
"and why exactly would I do that?"
"Because he's an 'Alsation' and he'll be taking a pop at people"
"No, if you hold his lead tight he is much more likely to be aggressive. He will pick up on the tension!"
"Well.. my neighbour had a GSD and it used to take a pop at people so she held it like that"
"No, in case you didn't notice my dog was walking perfectly to heel before you came along and has a fantastic temperament"
"You don't know until their older"
"Well.. exactly, you don't. So that is why I am doing all I can to socialise him and keep his fantastic temperament"
"I'm just helping.. he'll be vicious when he's older"

I can't tell you what else I told him as it's not suitable for 'family viewing!' LOL! I don't know if it is just me because I'm only 19, but it really annoys me. The best thing I've ever heard was 'not to touch his ears because then they'll never stick up!'

I'd have said a good few words about how dared he grab my dog's lead and I'd be reporting him for attempted theft if he ever tried it again - bloomin' cheek! Just as well your youngster is so well trained and well behaved - what a great way to get a guarding breed to react defensively!

Oooo, I may not have been responsible for my actions if that had happened to me !

It's amazing how many breed experts there are out there,when I had my GSD Louie I was told that he would turn and go for me when he was 7, one person even told me a little rhyme, which goes like this....".The blacker they are, the meaner they are, and the white ones are scared of their shadow ". You can imagine my surprise at this little nugget of wisdom as I looked down at my cool as a cucumber utterly bomb proof white boy.

One of the great things about walking Ben is nobody knows what he is lol.

Celli, I was very sorely tempted to call the police just to cause him a nuisance but I wouldn't waste police time in such a way! He was an absolute idiot and had he not been too old to get away from me theft would have sprung into my mind straight away! He was a know-it-all and after I warned everyone I met in the park that morning, a lot of them described the man perfectly and said they'd have similar instances with him!

There are two huskies living on the other side of the road from me and he did the same with their owner but they just walked off. I unfortunately do not have the patience and I went off like a firework. I said a lot more than posted on here but as I said it's not all appropriate for a family board! If I see him again I will make a point of telling Nando 'Heel' so he can see how beautifully he gets right by my side and waits for us to carry on walking!

Another one was 'if he is ever naughty roll him on his back and growl at him..' to which I responded 'When he's 35kg+, come around to my house and try and roll him on his back!'

Nutter!!! Total Nutter!!

And if your pup had panicked and growled or worse still,wouldn;t have been his fault for grabbing at a dog!!

I get loads of people when I'm out on my own or even worse with clients, who come over with free advice. Worse one literally chased me and client round the field one day, I was exercising some serious personnal restraint as did not wish to appear unprofessional but was hard pushed that day.

There's always one......And they always find me!! 

I went off like a firework.

Quite right too, hopefully he'll think twice before trying it again.

Funnily enough I have had less problems with the Staffies than I did with the GSD, I've only ever had one comment from a big burly guy who was jogging past us, who said " those dogs go for you "....he was in more danger off tripping over Daisy as she did her usual, throw yourself on your back and waggle your paws and everyone will speak to you routine.

To balance things out I went for a different walk today and bumped into loads of joggers and cyclists. So was constantly moving dogs to one side and doing down stays. Got nothing but big smiles and thank yous all the way!!

So would appear NOT to be me or my out of control, not, pooches just one of those days. Just having a very long month of those days!! Nice to have the balance readdressed!! Think the lovely sunshine helps but decided that the walk was so busy probably better for a week day when people at work. See I am sensible do care about others and don't let my dogs wander up!! Was beginning to think I was becoming irresponsible in my approach but did nothing diferent today than I would do any other day, nice to know I'm not losing the plot!! Well not just yet!!