So we'd just arrived at the park with our two dogs. The youngest labrador is still in training and we were sorting out the long lead. Both dogs were sitting nicely waiting for us to sort ourselves out. The labrador is very boisterous and needs keeping under control. He's keen on running up to people and jumping up, given half the chance. The long lead is working well as we can get him back before he starts. Our other dog is very good at recall and the labrador is improving every day. The long lead stops any unwanted behaviour.

Anyway a black german shepherd came running up and started trying to play with our young labrador. We were in danger of getting tangled up in the long lead so my brother gently nudged the other dog away and told him nicely to go away. So then the owner, who had another german shepherd on a lead makes an appearance. "don't you ****ing knee my dog, or I'll knee you" was his opening remark. To say he was aggressive is an understatement. I told him that there was no need to swear and that my brother had just nudged his dog out of the way. He interrupted to continue his tirade, but I managed to say that he was in the wrong because our dogs were both sitting. Well he continued swearing and being aggressive and he had no control over his dog, whatsoever. He excused his dog by saying the dog just wanted to play, "so what was our ****ing problem?".

He walked away with his other dog across the park and eventually the off lead dog followed, although still off lead. You could still hear the guy carrying on as he walked across the park. He kept shouting his dog, which wouldn't go back to him, could you blame it? I saw him talking to another dog walker, who I know. I have no idea what he was saying to him, but I can guess.

So, how on earth do you deal with this sort of idiot. We haven't been back to that park since.

I get what your saying and I hate uncontrolled off lead dogs because mine are quite reactive to other dogs if they get scared. And I know you are trying to train the Lab...

But how often do dogs get a friendly playmate about their size to let off some steam with? I'd have been inclined to let them play for a bit. Unless of course it was upsetting your dogs or there was a real risk of the Lab running off & not recalling. Socialising dogs is as big a part of training as recall & basic commands otherwise you can end up with dogs who don't know how to play/behave around strange dogs.

As for dealing with the bloke, try to see it from his POV. although he was technically in the wrong having a dog off lead that he couldn't recall, your brother kneed/nudged his dog. I can see it from both sides. Your nudge is his knee IYSWIM

I'd try to see his POV, 'forgive' him and go back to the park. If you see him again, apologize for the 'incident' and ask if the dogs can have a bit of a play

I am not sure what you can do sadly there a quite a few like him out there, when you see how they behave it makes me wonder should they be allowed to have a dog or any sentient being under their control.

Great reply, thanks. The only problem is, the labrador would just run off and jump up at someone. It's not been helped in the past by people who pet him when he does it and even worse give him a biscuit. He's a very friendly dog and in a controlled area where there's not many people about, we do let him play. He has a lovely friend, a big boxer, who he plays with.

I think the main problem on the day in question was the degree of aggression the bloke showed. No wonder his dog is poor at recall, would you go back to someone like that?

If he has his dog off the lead it shouldn't be running off willy nilly to mix with other dogs or people. It should be under his control, just as much as if it was on a lead, and if it is he shouldn't be permitting it to behave like this.

The OP is in the right, and the man is obviously a bully. If it was me I'd have told him to fk off, but then again he probably wouldn't have threatened me.

General rule is if you dog is off lead and you are approaching other dogs that are on lead, you leash yours. Dogs should not be allowed to approach other dogs that are leashed unless the owner says it's ok. Sadly not many people know about this general rule and so think that because their dog is friendly that it'll be no problem. They haven't anticipated that the dog on the leash may be scared, reactive, or recovering from surgery even.

Whilst he was wrong about letting his dog come over to you, mistakes can happen and he should have apologised and leashed his dog. However when you say nudged with a knee, he may not have seen it as a nudge hence his reaction.

Personally I wouldn't have touched the other dog it may not have been very friendly and seen the "nudge" as an attack (especially being a German Shepherd) and turned on your brother.

Unless I know a dog I will only intervene if it's a fight and then its risky !!!!!!

I know somebody who has a rescue dog that was attacked by other dogs. Let me put it this way. When they walk the dog, the dog is muzzled. Not because they are worried about the dog biting people. It's a people friendly dog. It will attack other dogs. If your dog is off-lead and you let it run up to another dog that is on lead, you still don't know the history of the dog. Then you are an idiot, plain and simple. I wouldn't let the guy worry you. His dog should not have been off-lead. You never know the background of other peoples' dogs.

There are often idiots like that out there . Frankly there is no way to handle it other than remain cool and note the owner and dogs so you can avoid them if possible .
He was in the wrong for sure and it was his responsibility to control his dog , but with such an unreasonable character the best thing is to just ignore where possible .
Apart from anything kneeing a dog to the side is harmless so he was being an idiot . It's not like you booted it up the jacksie . Someday he'll talk to the wrong person like that and you'll find him lying in the park with his nose busted .

Or he'll be taking his dog to the vet with it's throat ripped out.

Difficult one, some people are just jerks, dog owners or not!

His dog was the one out of control, but touching someone else's dog, unless you are protecting it from danger is always going to be controversial.

My general approach to anyone who pisses me of is to smile and nod, then moan about it later on internet forums lol

The trouble is you never know if a dog is going to be aggressive. I think the guy acted like a total tosser as he created the situation by being irresponsible.

I've never encountered anyone like that, sometimes the dog's have more sense than their owner's. Maybe from where he was looking it looked worse than it actually was.

I was reading recently that if you keep shouting for a dog to come back and it doesn't it'll associate the shouting with not coming back, so it's best to stop the shouting as it's doing more harm than good.

It wouldn't really bother me if another dog ran up to our Labrador unless it was agressive, dog's will be dog's and you have to understand that. Problems can occur when a small dog is approached by one many times it's size.

Socialising them does them the world of good as long as it's under control, it's a shame when some are so nervous that they'll never have a good run around and play with other dog's.

I think I would tell the next idiot that one of my dogs is sick and to keep his dog away from us. The thing is, how does anyone actually know what their out of control dog is getting in to? The other dog could be old, sick, disabled, vicious etc. We met a lab, only last week, who had muscular dystrophy. From a distance it looked perfectly ok, but close up it was clearly weak and wobbly on its legs.

In our case it was simply that we were busy sorting ourselves out. The young lab we have is very boisterous and not very well behaved, yet. The long lead works wonders for his recall but if another dog turns up and gets in the way whilst you are unraveling everything, you can get in a right mess.

Good post, totally agree with you.
Our dogs encounter lots of other dogs of lead in the fields they get walked, and its great to see the interaction. Some dogs dont want to play then my dogs dont bother them, just having a quick hello and then doing their own thing again.

It's weird how people with no recall always seem to be the ones who want to let their dogs off lead.

As for the "He's only being friendly" line my usual answer is: "Yes but how do you know my dog's going to be friendly?"

My pup is only just one and despite being socialised a lot and attending puppy classes, she remains quite nervous of other dogs. My old dogs weren't. Dogs do all have their own personalities. Two out of control and offlead labs ran at my dog last week when she was on her lead (therefore probably feeling more defensive and she also is always scared if it's more than one dog) and the stupid owners did manage to scramble after them and catch them in time (my dog is a probably scary looking but actually very nervous and good natured) staffy cross. I thought afterwards those idiots only caught their dogs and put them on leads because they thought my dog would tear their's to shreds - but really if you have no recall or poor recall you have no business letting your dog offlead.

This was in our most regular place we walk and we've not seen those dogs before or since so also probably under-exercised.

Absolutely agree.

My male staffie x is also a bit unpredictable, and I always keep him on a lead. I avoid the park at some times of the day purely due to the amount of dogs that are off lead and running out of control.