Def cry like a bitch.

#firstworldproblems

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Pink? Maybe. Maybe not. You decide.

Run wherever you want and if these small nonthreatening dogs follow, let them. if the owner has to run a few miles down the road chasing their dog, they will probably realize it's easier to keep them on a leash in the future.

You shouldn't be the one worried about dealing with the dog owners in the future. They are the one's in the wrong, they should be worried about dealing with you.

I second this. For all non-threatening uncontrolled little dogs that run after me, I usually encourage them to keep running at that point. "Oh boy, let's run", etc. Little dogs are not built for distance running. I'm not sure what they are built for, come to think of it. Most owners of under-stimulated dogs need more exercise too. I keep running, dog gets a run in, owner usually gets a bit of a run in after us. Everybody wins.

Agreed

I run on as if I didn’t even know their dog was following me

If they confront you later at your business claim innocence with a smile and a sorry

I agree with the others, ignore the dogs and keep running. Not your fault, and the dogs will most likely get bored with you. For the family who has the big dogs, maybe go over one day, introduce yourself, maybe make friends with the dogs. That's just what I would do.

I am laughing at the image of someone being chased down the street by a pack of neatly coiffed pomeranians and yorkies... :)

I regularly run in the woods near me and often see dog walkers. My first response is if I'm running behind them is say hello to alert them and then ask if i need to stop. I do this just to allow them time to gather their dog if its getting a bit giddy or potentially a nipper. Usually the biggest risk is tripping over them.

I also run when there are a lot of service dogs being trained and I ALWAYS alert the handler tho those dogs are significantly better behaved.

Dogs are cool.

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Dont complain about the results you did n't get from the training you did n't do.

Why on earth are you bringing their dogs back to them?
This just validates their misguided opinion that you are the one in the wrong. After all, why else would you be trying to make it right.

No, especially if these are repeat occurrences with the same people, but even if they're not, just keep running. If they take issue with you later, well that gives you the opportunity to point out that you're the one within your rights and you are being inconvenienced by them, not the other way around. Simply running past a house on public roads or footpaths is hardly something that any sane person can sincerely take issue with!

Misguided niceness I guess, I live in a small town where everyone knows everyone. I’m a direct healthcare provider and I’m sure the minute I tick one of these folks off I will have to go out and see them.

I’ve taken the opportunity to explain leash laws to most of these people, but you’re right...im probably reinforcing their belief that the world revolves around their dogs.

If you're in physical danger of getting mauled, the answer is obvious to not repeat the route.

But for this.........hell no. The owner is 100% in the wrong, tell them to fuck off next time and hand them a pre-printed copy of the law.

Let it follow you all the way home, then call the cops to arrive and cite the person.

They're required to fine the person if it's not the first time and they see the incident or you have a photo/video.

We've resolved a few neighborhood issues this way.

I'm a general dentist in a small town, so I get where you are coming from. An older DDS in our building told me after retirement that the most difficult part of his career was holding his tongue, and not saying what he wanted, in an effort to not ruffle any feathers. The guys was a heart attack waiting to happen.

I understand your situation is different than mine, but IMHO, life is short. Don't let people take advantage of your niceness. In my practice, I struggle with this, but during my third decade of practice, its getting easier. The a-holes are slowly weeding themselves out, if you know what I mean.

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Not everything is as it seems -Mr. Miyagi

I'll usually do the same thing with looping back but I can't think of a single time where the dog owner hasn't thanked me for it. I agree with the others that I'm not going to stop running on public roads/sidewalks and if me "bringing back their dog" isn't appreciated by the owners, I'd just keep running.

I agree with this. I used to try to get the dogs to stop chasing / following, but it became too much of a chore -- and largely futile. It was a freeing feeling when I decided to give up trying and just let them follow.

I've had three "marathon" following dogs -- well, one actually became a leading dog. On separate occasions, they accompanied me for over 3 miles each. I didn't actually know where they belonged. For all I knew, they were running home.

I love dogs and have a real soft spot for them, but I finally started running with a good stick for routes that have aggressive dogs. I've only had to hit one once, and it was just a nice bop on the nose. the next day, it stopped in it's tracks when I lifted up the stick at it. Usually just raising the stick over your head scares them off pretty good and you'll never have to use it. I made one out of bamboo so it's light but strong.

My problem with the sweet dogs that yip and chase me just for fun is I don't want them to get hit by a car. But I guess that depends on how small of a town you live in. No traffic, no problem.

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I don't trust dogs, whether they're behind a real fence, an Invisible Fence, or on a leash

I will either move to the street, or cross entirely

I have found that the words "Oh, it's OK she's friendly" are almost always followed by "I'm SO sorry ... She's never done that before"

I guess dogs actually DO like the taste of runners, and sweat makes us extra salty

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I was bitten by German Shepard once. He came trotting down the driveway as I was running by, like he just wanted to say 'Hello' then suddenly hit the afterburners, covered 20 yards in three leaps and snapped at my knee. Before, he could take another taste, I bashed him in the head with my Walkman, stunning him and sending him off to merely bark and snarl. Owner Lady [about 80 years old] tippy-toed down the sidewalk to call him off saying something about the gate being unlocked because Owner Man had recently suffered a stroke and may have forgotten

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On a more humorous note, I've gotten chased by a peacock while on my Dawn Patrol run through Farm Country. He must have gotten over the fence from the chicken yard somehow and was pacing along the side of the road looking for a way to get back in.

He was pissed, too; frustrated that he couldn't find the gap in the fence that he'd snuck out of, and embarrassed that the chickens & geese were making fun of him. I guess the pisser thought it was my fault he was too fuckin' stupid to go back in the same way he came out

He was back in the yard as I drove by on my way to work later that morning, so either he found his way or someone helped him.

Just as Wild Turkeys are only hobo peacocks, peacocks are simply glammed out turkeys; they are both mean, vicious,& stupid creatures and nothing to run afoul of

I've been chased by both, and I've outrun both. Rather easily, too

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

I used to run with a dalmation mix that was super sweet towards everybody and everything, except towards dogs that ran at us from nowhere. He looked nice too, but he was a stone cold ruthless killing murder machine. No joke. He made no sound, no sign of there being a problem, and would suddenly grab the other dog by the throat and try to rip it out. The other dogs would be screaming and I'd be hitting him on the head and would finally have to choke him almost unconscious with his own collar to get him to let go, blood and fur everywhere every time. He never did it to our other dogs, dogs we already knew, and let kids hang all over him like a sweetheart.

What drove me crazy is people calling out "Don't worry, my dog is nice!" as their dog came running up off the leash. I'd yell back that I'm not worried about my dog, I'm worried about theirs. They'd have a puzzled look... until the horror show began.

We were caught in a tough spot. Dalmations need to run or they will destroy your house and yard. I was purposefully running routes that "shouldn't" have dogs on them. When he finally passed away of old age, it was oddly a bit of a relief. I've had 5 or so other dogs and never seen anything like it. He never killed another dog, but he sent many to the vet that required expensive "repairs", and it their owners always admitted it was their own fault because they had their dog off the leash and I warned them.

I guess my point being I agree with you. The only dog you should trust is one you already know really well.

I say keep it. Dogs are expensive these days.

Haha! Lately they’ve all been chihuahuas, I don’t want one of those!

I think it goes beyond the leash laws. They have decided to keep an animal but are not showing the basic standard of care for keeping the animal safe. you can't have dogs just running down the roadway where they can get run over by cars get an altercations with other dogs, contract rabies by mixing it up with a raccoon or perhaps bite children. I can't think of a municipality where dogs are just running loose all over the place that makes no sense from a civil order standpoint. They are putting their dogs in danger and being irresponsible none of that is really your problem.

What an odd culture you have in your town.

In your situation the onus is on the dog owners.
When I'm running with my dog he's on the leash. In Finland almost all dogs are under control. In England I had a few issues in open areas, where people let's dogs off the leash. One time I had a Staffordshire bull terrier get away from a lady and run full speed towards me from 100m. It jumped at me. Completely silent.
I couldn't tell if it wanted to play or attack. I first swatted it down. On the second jump I grabbed it and held it to the ground.
I'm used to "excited" dogs. The lady was looking after the dog for a family member.
My wife was bitten by a different dog in the same area.
If dogs behave badly when you run it is not your responsibility to do anything.

I don't run with my labrador retriever but we do a lot of walking in the woods. A compact 9mm semi-auto with hollow points (fits well in the back pocket) is all the peace of mind I need if and when some off leash dog ever tries to seriously attack me or my dog and can't be called off.

I was running on a street once and a pit bull looked like he was going to be my undoing. Called off by the owners at the last minute. Didn't have a gun with me but would have been sorely tempted to use it if I'd had it and if that dog had sunk it's teeth into my leg. It came a couple hundred yards to run me down.

Seriously, dude?

I've had confrontations with dogs and never needed a gun.

I suppose the same thing happens to me from time to time where an off leash dog runs with me a little bit (and sometimes I double back to make sure the critter doesn't get too far from their handler). It doesn't happen a whole lot - maybe just once or twice a month.

Not once has anyone ever complained about me running or suggested that I should run somewhere else. That's the puzzling thing about your situation. It just seems so strange that people would do that. It doesn't correlate with any experience I've had, and I find it bizarre.

On the bright side, you got to start a thread that inspired some responses. So, there's that at least.

I agree it’s odd. I’ve been torn since reading the responses on whether I would turn around the next time this happens. I haven’t had it happen again... yet. Part of me thinks just keep running, but then again it’s a small town so I don’t want to give anyone a reason to dislike me, or other runners. I hate to enable bad behavior, especially when it’s adults behaving badly.

There was a weekend group ride in my area that went out into suburbia a bit. If they were approached by an aggressive dog, one of the guys who was retired would go back during the week and try to find the owner and ask that they keep it leashed or fenced on those weekend mornings. One large dog was a particularly aggressive and almost took people down. When the guy found the owner, the owner told them to F off and stay off his street. Next time they rode the dog came running out and looked to be intent on attacking. Guy pulled out his gun and shot it. The guy loved dogs, but wasn't about to risk it. Unsure what happened to the dog. They never heard about it.

I told that story while on a week long ride in the UK. They were stunned, but thought that was the most American story ever. The week I was there, they made me repeat that story so many times.

I remember a medium size dog that used to run alongside our group ride every weekend from a house on a rise. For years, it was never a problem. One day the dog went right into the pack. One guy t-boned the dog, and almost went down. He bounced between me and a friend, literally bouncing off us, and managed to stay up. The dog rolled into a ditch and then ran off. An old guy from a chair on the porch of the house on the rise waved. The next weekend the dog came flying at us again. For about 25 feet. Then he/she got to the end of the chain and did an incredible back flip.The old guy waved from the porch. We waved back. I remember that dog being around for over a decade. I guess it passed away at some point. Old guy hasn't been on the porch in a long time.

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