# A woman told me to stop running because of her dog **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 12, 2026, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-woman-told-me-to-stop-running-because-of-her-dog/1033796 "2026-10-12T22:56:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Dark\_Sponge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dark_sponge/32/121_2.png) [@Dark\_Sponge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dark_Sponge)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-woman-told-me-to-stop-running-because-of-her-dog/1033796/121 "2026-10-14T19:12:47Z")
This exact same thing happened to me! Except that the dog attempted to bite me and wasn’t on a leash. It left a mark on my shoe but I was otherwise unharmed. No apology, just a comment that it wouldn’t have happened if I wasn’t running so fast. It was a running path, in a rural area, so I’m not sure she was technically required to have her dog leashed. I was flabbergasted and tempted to respond but the woman was on a rascal-like scooter. And what was I going to do, stand there and yell at this woman trying to walk her dog while she can barely get around? ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2026, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-woman-told-me-to-stop-running-because-of-her-dog/1033796/122 "2026-10-15T08:18:07Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > It seems notable to me that @Stanislaus both feels dog owners as a group are entitled, and the runner should stop and have conversation with the dog owner. The decision to stop running, and decision to stop all together to talk with the owner, stem from two separate impulses. The first comes from the fact that dogs are potentially dangerous and although the baseline probability of a randomly-encountered dog attacking is very low, the probabliity of a dog attacking given that a) the owner is panicky; b) the owner doubts she can control it; and c) the owner tells me it will chase me is considerably higher. That is, any one factor on its own would be grounds for updating my priors; put together they have a multiplacitive effect. Being chased, still less injured, by dogs is very low on my list of favourite pasttimes and I seek to avoid it. The decision to not just slow to a walk but to talk to the owner comes from a conviction that owners of badly trained dogs should be made to feel bad about their anti-social behaviour whereever practically possible. I don’t necessarily expect that would lead to the owner doing the socially responsible thing of training their dog, but I will cast a hair upon the balance where I can. > [@DSeid](#): > > I think dog owners understand that controlling our dogs is our job. The respect we demand is to not come up and try to pet our dog without us giving the okay. But we move ourselves to give our dog the bubble it needs. I think some dog owners understand this and behave as you describe, and some do not. We each have our views based on experience of where the balance lies, but I doubt reliable statistics are available. Incidentally, I have been a dog owner alhtough not one now and it is in part that experience which leads me to deprecate dog owners who don’t do the work of keeping their dogs under control. (And indeed my wider view that, given the crooked timber of humanity, the societal decision to make dogs pets was a terrible one.) ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2026, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-woman-told-me-to-stop-running-because-of-her-dog/1033796/123 "2026-10-15T08:54:46Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > Both of my dogs occasionally with me so already very conscious of my bubble and crossing streets or changing course to avoid my dogs reacting to something. And I can under a ten even twenty foot bubble - as a runner going near a dog I generally give that space. Fifty feet plus or walk? No. What? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2026, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-woman-told-me-to-stop-running-because-of-her-dog/1033796/124 "2026-10-15T09:14:49Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > But I’m a little surprised that over half the respondents say they would keep running. Is that really what you’d do, or is that just what you feel is your right to do? I’d definitely run to avoid unwanted human interaction. Even if I wasn’t running to begin with. ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2026, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-woman-told-me-to-stop-running-because-of-her-dog/1033796/125 "2026-10-15T10:27:48Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > I’d definitely run to avoid unwanted human interaction. What about an unwanted canine interaction? I completely agree you’ve got no obligation to the owner, and the absolute right to keep running, but what do you do when the dog chases you? It’s a medium sized dog, it’s presumably fit enough to break loose from its owner. It can be assumed to fast and persistent when in chase mode. Maybe you can outrun it! Your peaceful run is probably ruined and you likely won’t have stuck to your planned pace and distance, or possibly route, but fine, you evaded the owner and the dog. Is that a better outcome than slowing to a walk until the dog is out of sight? But maybe you can’t outrun it! At that point, you’re going to have an interaction with a dog whose intentions are unclear. How do you handle that? @DSeid suggested that the options are a) successfully grab and subdue the dog without injury and b) get bitten. If a) what do you with the dog when you’ve got it? If b) how do you stop the dog from continuing to bite you, and what do you do then? How can you maximise the chances of a) rather than b)? I realise I’m harping on this a bit but honesty, dog bites both happen and are bad. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2026, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-woman-told-me-to-stop-running-because-of-her-dog/1033796/126 "2026-10-15T10:48:13Z")
I don’t know. I’ve never been attacked by a strange dogs, and I’m not really afraid of them. I guess my first instinct would be to stop, turn toward the dog, spread my arms wide to look bigger, and start screaming - just a loud “AAAAAAAAAAAAARGH” - without moving any closer to it. Would that work? I’m a big guy. ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2026, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-woman-told-me-to-stop-running-because-of-her-dog/1033796/127 "2026-10-15T11:02:05Z")
It might do! Depends as they say on the size of the fight in the dog. I mean, “If it comes to it, I back myself to overcome the dog” is a perfectly good answer. I’ve just been struck by the number of respondents for whom “this dog may bite me, which is a thing dogs do to people every day” doesn’t appear to be a factor in their decision. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2026, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-woman-told-me-to-stop-running-because-of-her-dog/1033796/128 "2026-10-15T12:56:15Z")
I completely get that you are afraid that she is warning that she has a vicious animal that she cannot control; that really isn’t even on my radar (although again in that very improbable circumstance better me than a mauled child). I have virtually no experience with vicious dogs. When I hear that a dog chases it is a fear of the dog running off. A few who are other dog reactive with aggression, but most dogs not well loose leash trained who pull and can even break free if not well secured are still just wanting to say hi in unacceptable ways. They jump greet usually too. Kiss lick. A loose dog running up to me does not scare me - instead I am hoping he runs right to me so I can grab the leash or collar and return it to its owner. (I have been bitten but that was a startled dog not an attacking dog.) I would not hear _any_ concern for my safety in that shout. You would. That is a big difference in our interpretations. I hear a concern that even over 50 feet away a running person may be someone the dog wants to play with and that she doesn’t want to have to hold her dog back. And @Johanna is it the “bubble” word that is confusing? The concept is that I walk and run with my two dogs (Aussie and half Aussie half Border) thinking about an imaginary bubble around us, because keeping loose leash is easier if other people or animals are outside of that … bubble of more reactivity … I choose my forward progress with an eye to preserving that space around us and avoid having to give any corrections. I see lots of other people with dogs doing similar things. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2026, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-woman-told-me-to-stop-running-because-of-her-dog/1033796/129 "2026-10-15T13:22:47Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > And @Johanna is it the “bubble” word that is confusing? The lack of explicit verbs make the sentences @Johanna quoted difficult to parse. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2026, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-woman-told-me-to-stop-running-because-of-her-dog/1033796/130 "2026-10-15T13:59:19Z")
Ah. My brain knew the verbs the I was thinking but didn’t write so still read them as there! Yeah now, on rereading, I see I forgot to actually write them! Sorry. Hope the point is now understandable. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2026, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-woman-told-me-to-stop-running-because-of-her-dog/1033796/131 "2026-10-15T14:17:47Z")
Missing word errors _are_ hard to see. IMO you’ve got a couple in the post just above. He says, while madly scanning his own post for examples thereof. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2026, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-woman-told-me-to-stop-running-because-of-her-dog/1033796/132 "2026-10-15T14:52:13Z")
ACCHH! (Unless I still can’t see it it is a “the” instead of a “that” … what else am I blind to?) ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2026, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-woman-told-me-to-stop-running-because-of-her-dog/1033796/133 "2026-10-15T15:54:59Z")
Dogs are so ubiquitous in our society that it seems people give them a lot more leeway than they would give for any other animal. What if I yelled at a runner, “STOP! The rat in my pocket gets freaked out when people run past me, and might jump on you.” I don’t think anyone would treat that as a reasonable request. I’ve never owned a dog, but once I was pet sitting for a friend’s dog for a couple of weeks. It’s a small, maybe 10 pound mutt that looks a little like a Corgi. I was walking him, and as I passed a house the garage door started to open. Before it was fully open, two VERY large, maybe 75 pound, dogs charged out and ran straight for my dog, barking. My dog freaked out and started running and yipping, trying to get away and pulling at his leash. I had a hard time reaching him because he was running around so much, but eventually I grabbed him and picked him up, while the other two dogs circled me, growling. After a few seconds they returned to their owner, who had emerged from the garage. She muttered a subdued, “sorry” and loaded her dogs into her car. I don’t know what would have happened if those dogs had been able to reach mine, but I don’t think they would have all started playing. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2026, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-woman-told-me-to-stop-running-because-of-her-dog/1033796/134 "2026-10-15T16:49:14Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > I don’t know what would have happened if those dogs had been able to reach mine, but I don’t think they would have all started playing Oh dogs who are reactive to other dogs is a common enough thing. My two go crazy at the fence when our neighbors let their miniature frenchies out. I imagine them thinking that they are tiny wolves about to attack their fictional herd of sheep. But dogs that attack random adult humans running on the street? Note what those two very large dogs were not doing. Threatening you in any way. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2026, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-woman-told-me-to-stop-running-because-of-her-dog/1033796/135 "2026-10-15T17:02:47Z")
> [@Stanislaus](#): > > The decision to not just slow to a walk but to talk to the owner comes from a conviction that owners of badly trained dogs should be made to feel bad about their anti-social behaviour whereever practically possible. I don’t necessarily expect that would lead to the owner doing the socially responsible thing of training their dog, but I will cast a hair upon the balance where I can. Hmm, if I were to talk to the owner, it would be to gather more information and help me decide in the future if I ignore her or respect her request. I don’t know if she’s a jerk or is actively training a new dog. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2026, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-woman-told-me-to-stop-running-because-of-her-dog/1033796/136 "2026-10-15T17:13:17Z")
That’s happened to me and my dogs multiple times. Usually it’s way early in the morning when I’m walking the boys and someone lets their dog out on the lawn. Maybe the owner is there, maybe not, but I’m sure the thought process is that it’ll only be a minute and nobody’s out anyway. Well, we’re out! And your dog is menacing mine! Dogs cannot be outside except on a leash! Period…. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2026, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-woman-told-me-to-stop-running-because-of-her-dog/1033796/137 "2026-10-15T17:18:42Z")
> [@Stratocaster](#): > > Dogs cannot be outside except on a leash! … where the human on the other end is both capable and willing to absolutely control the animal. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2026, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-woman-told-me-to-stop-running-because-of-her-dog/1033796/138 "2026-10-15T17:19:15Z")
Yes, indeed! ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2026, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-woman-told-me-to-stop-running-because-of-her-dog/1033796/139 "2026-10-15T18:00:37Z")
Never mind, carry on… ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2026, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-woman-told-me-to-stop-running-because-of-her-dog/1033796/140 "2026-10-15T18:36:37Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > The moment this event happened was **NOT** the time to stop and have a quiet convo with the lady. Why not? She wanted the runner to stop. The problem is apparently not with someone who’s stopped, but with someone who’s running. And she was willing to at least partially explain why. I think I probably would stop and talk about it. Yes, she shouldn’t be walking in public a dog she can’t control; but I’d want to know the reason; as well as whether the problem includes that she can’t control the dog, or is only that she’ll have to deal with a freaked out dog. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-woman-told-me-to-stop-running-because-of-her-dog/1033796.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-woman-told-me-to-stop-running-because-of-her-dog/1033796.md?page=8)