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I had an unfortunate encounter with a dog off a lead this afternoon, how should I have responded?

ComputerGeek1337

Hello,

I was out for a walk in the park this afternoon. I do a walk almost every day in this park, to try and loose weight. I suffer from anxiety and depression, and so am feeling on edge most of the time, but this afternoon was feeling more on edge than usual.

A dog which wasn't on a lead came up to me barking. I was fearful it might bite me. I screamed at the dog 'down' out of fear whilst walking backwards. This happened before at it hasn't usually bothered me. But this time the distance between the owner and where the dog was, was much larger than usual as this is what caught me by surprise. This further agitated my anxiety.

I then screamed at the owner: 'you really should keep it on a lead, it's not hard'. I then walked away with my back faced to the owner to avoid further confrontation.

How should I have reacted?

Parents

  • It is unwise to offer advice in this place......for fear of breaking a rule......but I can tell you what I WOULDN'T do if I was faced with that situation and what I WOULD do if I was faced with that situation.

    I would NOT shout at the dog.  Dogs do not understand what shouting means.....so they are most likely to interpret a human shouting at them as wither a) a form of aggression from that human or b) that the human is happy to play a game with them.

    I would stand still and turn so that I was not directly facing the dog......and I would not look at the dog in the face.  Dogs do understand body language......so they are most likely to interpret a human who is stood still, not facing them and not reacting to them as a human that is neither aggressive nor willing to play a game.

    I hope that helps ComputerGeek.

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  • It is unwise to offer advice in this place......for fear of breaking a rule......but I can tell you what I WOULDN'T do if I was faced with that situation and what I WOULD do if I was faced with that situation.

    I would NOT shout at the dog.  Dogs do not understand what shouting means.....so they are most likely to interpret a human shouting at them as wither a) a form of aggression from that human or b) that the human is happy to play a game with them.

    I would stand still and turn so that I was not directly facing the dog......and I would not look at the dog in the face.  Dogs do understand body language......so they are most likely to interpret a human who is stood still, not facing them and not reacting to them as a human that is neither aggressive nor willing to play a game.

    I hope that helps ComputerGeek.

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