Felt good today during today’s run and after passing the 5K mark of my run, I decided to push on and go for 6K.
Then I met the irresponsible dog owner and his over excited/slightly aggressive cocker spaniel!
I first clocked them and witnessed the owner bend down to grab the dogs collar, too late. It was off and heading in my direction, “don’t worry, it’ll only bark at you!” Were his attempt at reassuring me.
At first it just ran behind me doing just as it’s owner had said, then it decided to start circling me and actually started going for my ankles!!
Now I’m not one for violence against man or dog, but the thought to lash out did momentarily cross my mind, then the vision of me face planting the ground also crossed my mind!
So I decided to stop, the dog also stopped and walked back to it’s owner. I started running again, the dog saw this as a signal to attack again.
I repeated this a couple of times and then just thought “f**k it,” I’ll just walk instead!
Checked my distance, 5.8k, I was gutted. I was so close to running a +6K run!!!
I really agree with you, it is so annoying when an owner just smiles and says ‘it’s just being friendly ‘ . I do generally say ‘I’m not comfortable, please will you keep it away’ but I have also changed my route to avoid dogs which is a bit of a shame.
Yes, a lot are, I've had some jump at me, there's a lot of it in the Parks, and very nearly been tripped up by the long leads, they can be a menace! and what with poo left all over the place, I've been luckily but my nephew has stepped in some a few times while at Parkrun and then there's the stinking poo boxes which we have to run past.. but, never mind you'll get it done sooner or later..😟
This is partly why I stopped running outside & went back to the gym. I always slowed down/stopped when I approached a dog as I realised that a stranger running at them could be intimidating- no dog owner ever thanked me or moved out of the way for me. I love dogs (I love all animals) I'm not a dog owner myself but irresponsible owners make me really cross! 😡
I used to walk on a trail with my baby in a carrier on my front when he was little and unleashed dogs really bothered me - like if your dog knocks me over I could injure my baby.... grrr. I have a dog and keep him on-leash because I know I can't chase him down quickly enough to prevent him from getting in someone's way or worse. I actually didn't bring him on a lot of my walks because I couldn't imagine a baby in a carrier (especially when they're little and have to go on your front, you can't see your feet and it's not a natural change to your center of gravity... on your back is much more natural) plus a dog, his leash potentially getting wrapped around another dog's leash, or trying to hold him back if he lunged at another dog. Poor guy - because of the other dog's owners deciding this trail, which has signs about how dogs must be on leashes were fine for them to use for off-leash walking, he got walked a lot less during that time. Now when we walk trails with my 5 year old I call out ahead "leash your dog", I have no idea what your dog is like, and sorry, don't trust it isn't going to bowl my child over or worse. People love their dogs and see the best in them. Many dog owners are in denial about their dog's bad behaviour. Even if your dog is friendly, I don't need a muddy dog shaking off right beside me thanks!!
Being told by a dog owner that I should stop running when going past his excitable mutt, left me speechless. Next time I will remind him that while I have a legal right to run on footpaths, he has a legal duty to keep his dog under control at all times.
My last injury lay off was in part due to to an excitable dog bumping into me, so.................enough..........the blood pressure is rising.......
On the other hand, you have no more right to the footpath than a dog and it’s owner. Unless you are entirely clueless about animal behaviour, it is usually evident from some distance whether a dog is volatile or not and unless your bloody-mindedness exceeds your willingness to suffer bloody shinedness, it behooves you to make allowance accordingly. When I see horse riders I slow my car to a crawl and give them a wide berth. Why is it so difficult to accord dogs similar caution. It is in the nature of the animal to chase moving objects.dogs that bite are a different matter but dogs that become excited by runners .. really...
Fully appreciate that allowances have to be made when near animals on or near roads/paths.
I also understand that when people choose to become dog owners, they should be responsible enough to accept they have to carry out some basic dog training and getting a dog to obey a command should be their main priority, so therefore I’ll stand by my irresponsible dog owner post title!
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Not going quite as well as I hoped!
Devil Dog !!
Oops had an argument with a dog owner 
Dogs!
W5R3 - in the rain, with the dog
