Try as you might, you can't avoid every idiot out there. Frankie is tiddly and on one occasion as he ran past 3 adults with a young child, the guy suddenly sprang forward and attempted to kick him up the ar*e. Frank was several feet away from them and until the guy lunged at him he hadn't even glanced in their direction. Luckily Frank has mega fast reactions. Their response was he could have attacked their child and he'd do it again given half a chance, funnily enough he didn't seem quite so keen on treating the Dobies in quite the same way. I find people odd at the best of times

He doesn't walk through a park but I would defend his right to do so unmolested by anyone's dog if he wanted to !

if she`d done that to mine I`d have called her an ambulance then legged it. She`s lucky you`ve got such gentle dogs.

Having just read through some replies I`m going for a walk to allow my blood pressure to settle.
The OP`s dog was not running AT these people but PAST them. Get a grip, guys.
My dogs yesterday galloped happily PAST a madwoman who snatched her little dog up and screamed abuse after them as they lollopped past without a glance at her. Maybe if people are so terrified of animals they should stick to the streets?

I once had a man lay about my darling Selkie with his umbrella because she went over to say hello to his poodle She didn't know what to do, no one had ever hit her before. In the end she just ran abck to me and shook. I couldn't find the words to be honest. I thought of a few afterwards, but at the time I think I may have apologised to him? We were both in shock.

Kismet is getting better but still has a tendency to jump up if people make a fuss of her. It's a puppy thing and I'm working on it. We regularly meet a lovely girl on our walks with Cerebral Palsy who just adores Kismet and makes a loud and giggly fuss of her, but I have to hope I see her before Kismet does, or Kis will run over and jump up and the poor girl can lose balance! Fortunately her parents are with her and are understanding of Kismet and their daughter's relationship (The girl encourages Kismet to jump) and realise I am trying to train Kismet out of this behaviour... In an unrelated point, they are 'foreign' too. Polish I think.

Thats not how the law etc would see it.. an off lead dog is not under control....
If your off lead dog had attacked an on lead dog it would be YOUR fault..

My Mals don't get off lead in public places..they are kept on lead at all times unless at my work..where we have a large compound with 6ft fencing..

The woman should never have hit your dog..and I think if she was scared of it..she wouldn't have gone close enough to hit her..

However..I think you have learned a lesson here..keep Flow near you at all times..if her recall is so good shout her back when you see people..

Maybe this woman has had previous encounters with Flow when you haven't been with her..and this was due to that incident and not her just brushing past

Some of the replies make it sound as though dogs shouldn't have off-lead time
Where most people do their off-lead walks here (the beach and the woods), if you were to put your dog back on a lead everytime you saw another person, then it would never be off it. Yes, by all means, recall and keep them close until they pass, but most people are aware that these places are where off-lead walks tend to happen, so if I had a problem with dogs then I would personally stay away from places where dogs were likely to be running free.
I am fortunate in that I have access to 16 acres that I can give the dogs off-lead time and since it is private land, I know exactly who I am likely to encounter (although it's very rare that we see anyone else up there), but most people in this area are restricted to the beaches and woods.

I would have been livid had someone hit my dogs and I really don't think that's the way to go, even if you don't like dogs. Had it been me in her shoes, and Flow had been jumping up and being boisterous, then I would have had something to say about it (probably very crossly), but it sounds like Flow just passed by her, in which case the thing to do is ignore her. There is never ever an excuse for striking an animal.

I don't think anyone has condoned a stranger hitting a dog, but the OP did say her dog brushed past not ran past which to me means the dog made contact, which IMO is not OK unless the other person says it is.

Actually - I`m pretty sure that`s not correct. Otherwise no-one would be able to work a dog.

And dog fights are rarely the subject of legal actions unless they involve people.

So I really think the OP can continue to walk her dog without her solicitor being present (HUMOUR GUYS!)

[QUOTE=Jackbox;1512588] - ditto - to all of the above! But I'd probably have given her a load of verbal and possibly a slap if they weren't too big all 3 of them!!!