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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think that it isn't safe for one man to be responsible for 8 dogs and a toddler all at the same time?

30 replies

MrsBennetsPoorNerves · 07/02/2025 12:15

Just that, really. Walking in a local beauty spot with lots of uneven terrain and plenty of open water. Saw a man with 8 medium-sized dogs, all on leads, followed by a small child, who was probably around 3yo. I presume he must have been a professional dog walker or similar.

AIBU to think that no single adult can safely take responsibility for that many dogs and a small child all at the same time?

OP posts:
Original poster
MrsBennetsPoorNerves · 07/02/2025 12:25

Springflowersmakeforbetterhours · 07/02/2025 12:20

Well he definitely isn't poop scooping...

I didn't see any of them pooing, so hard to say for sure, but it does seem unlikely!

OP posts:
Original poster
MrsBennetsPoorNerves · 07/02/2025 12:24

Whatevershallidowithmylife · 07/02/2025 12:21

Big dogs / little dogs? Were they all walking well on their lead? Too many questions to answer without making assumptions. I could walk that amount of dogs if they were trained properly as mine are but would struggle to walk two of my friends useless untrained Covid dogs.

I'd say that they were mostly medium sized. One bigger one and two slightly smaller ones, but no extremes either way.

And yes, as far as I could tell, they were all walking on their leads obediently enough. They stopped when he stopped to chivy along the toddler.

But even so, I felt that it was too much all at once. It's interesting that nearly 1 in 5 people seem to disagree.

Edited to note that it's now more like 1 in 10 that seem to disagree.

OP posts:
Whatevershallidowithmylife · 07/02/2025 12:21

Big dogs / little dogs? Were they all walking well on their lead? Too many questions to answer without making assumptions. I could walk that amount of dogs if they were trained properly as mine are but would struggle to walk two of my friends useless untrained Covid dogs.

Springflowersmakeforbetterhours · 07/02/2025 12:20

Well he definitely isn't poop scooping...

CharityShopChic · 07/02/2025 12:19

I thought after the awful case of the woman mauled to death by the pack she was supposed to be walking, that numbers were to be capped. 2 or 3 max. But that would of course mean that the dog owners would have to pay more to have their animals exercised safely.