I have a problem and ointment isn’t going to help.

MrAdamW takes our dog for his walks each day in the local park and later on in the evening.  Every so often there is someone who allows his dog off a lead (not in my book a major crime) but it attacks ours.  When asked to put his dog on a lead he loses his lid and follows MrAdamW around hurling abuse, usually homophobic and/or shouting that he’s a paedophile.  I doubt he knows he’s gay but MrAdamW is usually left shaking at the end of it.

We’ve avoided walking the dog at certain times to avoid him but again this morning the same thing happened. I’ve told MrAdamW to take his phone and start recording if he thinks anything is going to kick off.

Will police take any notice?

yes, it’s a hate crime

<span style=”font-size: 12.8px;”>http://report-it.org.uk/homophobic_and_transphobic_hate_crime</span&gt;

Will the police take notice? These days is expect yes, at least on the homophobia front.

I would warn you though it’s very likely Mr dog off lead will take much more notice of being filmed much sooner.

Oh and obviously, STW would: (a) moan on the internet, do nothing, (b) passive aggressive post it notes on trees in the park, (c) wee in his shoes, (d) own with bombers or (e) withhold pudding.

Sorry to hear that, that’s sh*t behaviour.

it’s a tough one as to stop it from happening again he should video any attack on your dog so that you can report it to the police and the RSPCA. but if the guy gets angry at a simple request it may well make things worse.

a call to 101 to report the aggressive behaviour of the owner and potential out of control dog will put him on their radar but until he actually does anything i doubt there’s much they can do.

Don’t be bullied in to walking your dog elsewhere though. just keep politely asking him to keep his dog under control and walk in a different area of the park if he is about. good luck to you both

do you have a small camera that could be hidden?

Or maybe just a phone/dictaphone recording the audio would be enough to get the Police interested in coming to observe this waste of oxygen in action? i know they will advise you to try walking at different times or in different places but why should you have to change your habbits due to someone else and what about other people?

I would be very wary about openly taking a phone out and pointing it at someone like this.

I would add that other people in the park apparently have had issues/run-ins with him too.  As you know if you’re a dog owner you tend to say hello to other dogs and eventually have little chats with their owners during the walk and one of these attacks was observed last year by someone who told MrAdamW that they also had issues with Mr idiot.

I keep wishing I was there when it happens.  🙁

Phone the police while the **** is frothing and ranting, so the person on the other end can actually hear what’s going on, it might well expedite a police response without being as obvious as filming which may provoke more violent behaviour.

Report it, as above be careful trying to record it by getting a phone out. Voice recording has got to help though.

Pretty certain that’s classed as a hate crime, report him.

He doesn’t sound like he’s in control of his dog so contact the local dog warden or RSPCA, especially if it has attacked yours on numerous occasions (?)

Or hit him with some bombers, wee in his shoes and turn his dog into pudding?

Call your dog warden and tell him/her. They may have to come round and take a statement and it’ll be a slow enough process – it may be that other walkers have reported the same dog. The owner can be taken to court and have a dog control order placed upon the dog (or him, I’m not sure how it works) whereby it must either be on a lead or muzzled in public.

You just have to be prepared to see it through. Worked for me.

As for the homophobic abuse, well that’s just shit and should be reported to the bizzies. Have no direct experience of what happens after that though.

Walk dog together, hold hands, have a kiss.
Give MrAngry a heart attack

One of my neighbours had a dog that acted aggressively toward me and he seemed to think it was a bit of a laugh to stop me getting up the path to my house.  A couple of skooshes from a bottle of bottle of industrial strength bleach sorted it.  Also, when his dog started running as soon as it saw me, he seemed a bit less confrontational.

Bloody hell this is pretty awful.  Some people are full weight arseholes.
Why don’t we have an STW flashmob in your park and all get together and kiss. That’ll piss him off.

****ing assholes and their dogs ruining it for everyone. Have a similar problem trying to go for walks with my daughter. She’s terrified of dogs and one **** with a massive bull breed terrier seems to thing it’s fine that his dog runs off the lead and chases my daughter to the point where I have to carry her on my shoulders.

“He won’t bite” etc etc…try telling that to a terrified four year old.

I’d post a pic of said mutt but they’re in google and every time I try it comes up with a broken link (  https://photos.app.goo.gl/q3l2u2zQdUFbnN5W2 , when caught trying to sneak into bed.  🙂

Go to the police on the hate crime angle. The dog bit is secondary and they’re likely to be less interested in that than a hate crime, so by making the homophobic hate crime the lead in your complaint, there’s better odds of something happening to the ****.

Well, Section 2 of the Dangerous Dogs Act makes it a requirement that a dog is “under control” in a public place (not necessarily on a lead) so that’s the first offence.

Homophobic abuse is a hate crime, and one that the Police are keen to be seen to be tackling, so there’s the next.

Start keeping a diary of all incidents. I’d be wary of openly filming the idiot, but if it’s a regular event and others have had dealings, report it to the local beat officer, who may already have been made aware of the idiot, and see what they suggest is the best way of getting evidence to get it dealt with that involves minimal additional risk. Do NOT let the Police fob you off, take it higher if you are not satisfied.

Why don’t we have an STW flashmob in your park and all get together and kiss.

I’m in!

I’m surprised people are suggesting you record the confrontation.

Because the answer to what SingletrackWorld would do is:

Top and tail it with a load of odd characters and gobbledegook, put it into large-size bold italics, and make sure nobody could understand it.

Just a thought. I have a rucksack with a pocket on the strap by by shoulder. I’ve used it to poke my phone camera out of to film stuff before (nothing dodgy 😕). If you get such a bag it’s really not obvious the phone’s even there, especially if he’s frothing. And in the knowledge he’s being filmed , stand and let him blow his nut at you.

Andyrm

<span style=”color: #444444; font-size: 16px;”>Go to the police on the hate crime angle. The dog bit is secondary and they’re likely to be less interested in that than a hate crime, so by making the homophobic hate crime the lead in your complaint, there’s better odds of something happening to the ****.

</span>

You don’t think there’s anything wrong with reporting a hate crime where it’s not clear there is one?

Why don’t we have an STW flashmob in your park and all get together and kiss. That’ll piss him off.

I’m also in but can I bring my own bloke?

I don’t want to get paired with TJ in case he’s got that dodgy ‘tache.

<p style=”padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; line-height: 1.5rem; color: #444444; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 1rem 0px !important;”><em style=”margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent;”>Why don’t we have an STW flashmob in your park and all get together and kiss.</p>

<p style=”padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; line-height: 1.5rem; color: #444444; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 1rem 0px !important;”>I’m in!</p>
Me too! Where’s the park OP?

edit – what happened to Span Style 😱

You don’t think there’s anything wrong with reporting a hate crime where it’s not clear there is one?

Hmmm, tricky.

On one hand the entire concept of a “hate crime” is utterly ridiculous, on the other hand I guess we can’t discount the possibility that “Mr Idiot” is shouting homophobic abuse out of love.

<span style=”color: #444444; font-size: 12px; background-color: #eeeeee;”> the answer to what SingletrackWorld would do is:</span>

<span style=”color: #444444; font-size: 12px; background-color: #eeeeee;”>Top and tail it with a load of odd characters and gobbledegook, put it into large-size bold italics, and make sure nobody could understand it.</span>

Yeah! That’ll learn Mr. Hatecrimedogwalkerbastard!

“Sbob

I’m also in but can I bring my own bloke?

I don’t want to get paired with TJ in case he’s got that dodgy ‘tache.”

The whole point of the sexual revolution is that consenting adults can do what they like. Nobody is going to force you to kiss TJ. Defo bring your own bloke.

Yes, hate crime. Not acceptable at all!!!

On one hand the entire concept of a “hate crime” is utterly ridiculous, on the other hand I guess we can’t discount the possibility that “Mr Idiot” is shouting homophobic abuse out of love.

I think what jimjam is saying is if the idiot doesn’t know the person is gay, then is shouting a homophobic remark still a hate crime? Not dismissing the fact that he shouldn’t be using any kind of homophobic terms anyway so is clearly an idiot but to be classed as a hate crime does it need to have intent?

I think what jimjam is saying is if the idiot doesn’t know the person is gay, then is shouting a homophobic remark still a hate crime?

Good point.

OP: were you walking the dog in a particularly mincing fashion?

Maybe you were absent-mindedly skipping?

@DezB’s I’m in

Hold on, we just said kissing and holding hands!

(2nd edit to try and make this readable!)

I wouldn’t hesitate at phoning the police on the non emergency number,telling them what’s been going on and ask what they advise especially about recording or flming it.It needs dealing with by the police before it escalates into something even worse

I think what jimjam is saying is if the idiot doesn’t know the person is gay, then is shouting a homophobic remark still a hate crime? Not dismissing the fact that he shouldn’t be using any kind of homophobic terms anyway so is clearly an idiot but to be classed as a hate crime does it need to have intent?

Yeah more or less. The OP did state that he doubts this abusive dog owner knows that his partner is gay so it could just be coincidence and homophobic slurs are his “go to” insults. I’m not excusing that, but calling it a hate crime, or reporting it as such in order to expedite the process doesn’t seem right.

It raises a lot of interesting ethical and political issues, alas none of them will help the OP or his partner. I’d probably caution against openly recording him too. That gives him the excuse/need to actually close the distance turn verbal abuse into an assault.

Police for the homophobic stuff and the Dog Warden for the out of control dog (DW may well have a file on him already if his dogs got previous).

<span style=”color: #444444; font-size: 16px; background-color: #eeeeee;”>follows MrAdamW around hurling abuse, usually homophobic and/or shouting that he’s a paedophile.  </span>

Followed by

<span style=”color: #444444; font-size: 16px; background-color: #eeeeee;”>I doubt he knows he’s gay but </span>

Yep, definitely a hate crime LOL

Possible that you’ve previously been seen walking the dog together by this nutjob, but he’s only brave enough to air his abuse when your other half is on his own?

Anyway, without humouring the bellends here who want to deny the existence of hate crimes – you don’t have to go to the police and say “I’m a victim of hate crime”.

Just tell them there’s a dangerous lunatic following yr partner around yelling homophobic abuse, and you’re concerned for both your safety. They will be able to join the dots themselves.

When since did behaviour like that become non emergency?  Call 999 tell them that you are being threatened and he has a dog add in you’re being called …. etc.  It’s then up to the police if it needs attending.  Let them make that decision.  Considering some of the things you hear about I think it would be reasonable to expect police attendance.  Even if no evidence it should be enough to put the idiot off.  Either that or as others have said: Bombers.

I’d dial 101 and ask for advice. I suspect the advice maybe to dial 999 while it’s happening rather than start filming. “some blokes shouting hate at me and his dog is dangerously out of control” is likely to get a response.

If it were my partner being abused by random strangers I think dialling 999 would probably be my advice because I wouldn’t want them to go through this alone.

I struggle to understand why anyone would have to through it even once just for walking their dog.

OP: if you;re anywhere near Brighton and feel other people walking with you, your partner or both of you would help I have a dog that loves walking and would be happy to join you.

I think a call to the police is called for. +1 for Covert recording too.
That and bombers.

Why not shoot him in the face with Glock 9mm ?

Why not shoot him in the face with Glock 9mm ?

Well depending on the range and the round a 9mm bullet might not have sufficient power to kill. Point blank, back of the head, sure, but 25 yards away…in the face…..might just get stuck in his skull, blow his teeth out, that’s if you can even hit him at any kind of range. Right?