To be fair, I'm not sure you're going to get anything but agreement on that point on here, there's not really much room to debate that it was OK to do.

I've seen someone do the same to their dog who is clearly dog aggressive - however, I think a lot of the times people do this out of embarrassment and frustration, and as a way to show others they also find their dog's behaviour unacceptable (if they're apologising, that makes it very clear, to me at least).

With a little bit of help they can manage the problem without having to resort to this, so what I'd do is suggest a good book or let them know there *are* things they can do to manage such behaviour - and if I have the chance to speak to them, that them being seen to disagree with their dog (by saying firmly 'No, noooooooo') and apologising is enough for me - they don't have to hit the dog, as I understand that some dogs can be difficult.

What I would not want to do is make them feel any worse than they probably are - and although it is unacceptable to kick a dog, I would prefer to do what I can do help them get on top of the problem, rather than chastise them or send them in the opposite direction, of making life easier for themselves and their dog.

Of course this is if I feel the owner is not one of those yobbos or idiot owners, which by the sound of it this person was not.

I think he probably did do it out of embarrassment because he was a full grown man with two strong dogs who was almost pulled over. Not good for his ego I expect!

I think he is a tricky one to judge. Going by looks alone i'd say he was an idiot owner. He looked pretty ruff and scruffy with a cigarette in his mouth. (Let's say not the type of person that you would like to meet at night)

Obviously I don't know anything about him so I don't want to say for definite.

If he was a yobbo type I doubt he would of apologised

Personally, I never judge a book by its cover - I've met all sorts of people in life who I thought looked 'scary', but have been real softies underneath it all

Kicking and yelling is inappropriate but I just wanted to point out that owning an aggressive dog is very difficult and when random dogs run up to you it's incredibly stressful. Sorry to say but " friendly labs" are the bane of my walks! I know when I've had particularly bad walks with my fear aggressive dog, I have reached to point of breakdown and really yelled at him I am not proud of it, but I am only human. I have never every kicked or hurt him though. But I am sure that I have occasionally looked like a total crazy lady, screaming and in tears, and I'm sure the public would have seen that snapshot and judged me as a horrific dog owner. I do not endorse such behaviour, but sometimes I have been driven over the edge. And unless you have been in that position, you cannot understand.

Admittedly, this guy could have just been an abusive idiot and I do not condone kicking. However he could also have been a very stressed owner, with a difficult dog, who got caught on a bad day. It's hard to judge without knowing the full story...

My dog didn't actually go up to them, I was holding his lead tight so he couldn't sniff them or touch them

But yeah, it's difficult to judge if he was having a stressful day or if he genuinely is an abusive owner. I'd think that if he knew your dog had behaviour problems and he wanted to do something about it, then he wouldn't take him for a walk on a field where there are other dogs?

Where else can we go? I tend to avoid built up places but the fields I try to use most of the time (see the odd dog but not too many, and the space makes it easier to avoid them) become very difficult to use at certain points in the year - either too overgrown (which makes for poor visibility in terms of avoiding other dogs, too) or too boggy/muddy (not very safe if my dog reacts to another dog as I may struggle to hold my footing).
I meet a lot of dogs when road-walking so that alone is not an option, plus it makes for very boring walks for my dogs, as well as putting more impact on their joints so not something I would want to do all the time. Also it makes it quite hard to avoid another dog because the furthest you can get is the other side of the road - thankfully Casper is now generally OK at this distance but for many reactive dogs that distance is far too little. And what if it's a busy road that doesn't allow for you crossing the road? Or a road that only has a footpath along one side? You may be able to turn around in some cases, but what if a dog appeared from behind you too? Roads can be very constrictive when you have a reactive dog.
So I choose to alternative between the two parks nearby, and have to hope that there are not many dogs around. I would assume that, as your dog runs over to other people/dogs, and that you had it off-lead at the time, the park was quite empty when this happened - perhaps this dog walker tries to time their visits at "off-peak" times? If you've never met them before, it may be that they try to go at more antisocial times, but maybe that day they had no choice but to go then.
Should we be outcasts who never walk our dogs? Should we have to drive miles into the middle of nowhere (and at this time of year, that may mean walking in pitch black in an area you're not familiar with, possibly on your own, and with no form of streetlighting if you're trying to stay remote)? Buy or hire private land for our own use?
Owners of reactive dogs are often far more aware of their dog's actions than many other owners and to be honest I would rather share a park with one because I know they will be keeping their dogs on-lead and out of my way. But non-reactive dogs can also be kept under control and still manage to share a park with a reactive dog. It's about being considerate of others and accepting that your dog cannot have total freedom all of the time if it does not have a failsafe recall.

Is there somewhere close by which is viable for him to walk his dogs? It's difficult trying to avoid other dogs on walks, believe me I try

I agree with this. I don't have a reactive dog, but I find it increasingly frustrating when dogs run over to us seemingly out of control as they can never be called back.
I'd much rather come into contact with someone who understood they aren't the only dog/owner in the park and were aware of their dogs actions.

I think you're taking my posts a bit too personally. I was at the field just before when it gets busy. Other dogs were appearing just as I was leaving (which is when it happened)

In the area where I live there are a few fields. The one we were in has houses around the outside, so it's popular with dog owners because it's only a stones throw away. There is however a larger field close by too. It's further to walk but it's flat land so it's easier to see if there are other dogs around and it's usually pretty empty (because people can't be bothered to walk there when there is a field right outside their door).

Whilst they work on the dogs behaviour, they could walk them in that field.

My area is also one of the ones that has lots of turnings and paths so it's fairly easy to avoid dogs. When my dog was younger I used to avoid other dogs because he would pull like mad to see them.

Please remember that having a dog who will pull like mad to greet every dog he sees is almost the same as having a dog who barks at every dog he sees.