I’m so tired of people with dangerous dogs ruining the park for everyone else.

I’ve got an image of granny trying to throttle a dog with her bare hands.

This is so disingenuous.

Yes, any dog could hurt a child. But the likely outcome if a child is attacked by an Alsatian, German Shepherd, Rottweiler etc. is so much worse than if they were attacked by a small dog.

For one, it's far easier to get a little dog off of someone. You can physically pick it up. Then there's teeth size and the actual power of their bite to consider.

I grew up with big dogs and remember them carrying full branches on walks. One's favourite game was to hang from trees by his teeth. My current small dog could only fit a small stick in her mouth.

I love dogs (including big ones), but not everyone should be allowed to own one with the potential to end someone's life. I'd like to see strict laws and licenses to ensure they were all properly trained, and that the owner was trained in how to stop an attack if it happened (In my view, if your dog hurts someone it should be legally the same as if you attacked them yourself). I can't see how any of this could be properly enforced though.

If you can’t kill the dog in the moment it happens, do you go all Liam Neeson on them and use your special set of skills to hunt them down?

You're welcome.

I am thinking about it and it’s really funny. Thank you.

Good for you. What I said still stands. Think about it.

Unfortunately, what you are saying is sensible and rational and intelligent so it won’t be received well by the rabid dog haters on this thread.
I appreciated it though!

Course you are!

I don’t even have a dog you wally 😂

Please do your research.

Have you ever looked at dog death stats? Jack Russells have killed. Staffies are not large but have been implicated in more deaths than Rottweilers.

Dog bite statistics are also interesting. The top 10 includes Labrador and Border Collie, both of which are considered to be perfect family dogs.

80% - 90% of bites to children occur in the home, with a family pet.

I have a vet in the family, she said the most aggressive dog she's coming across currently is Cockapoos that were bought during lockdown.

Two of the large dogs that the OP took issue with were on a lead. This is the reason that we take issue with this thread.

I have one of the gentle giant breeds but she is never off the lead in a public place, because her size intimidates people. She is not a status dog - I'm a 61 year old middle class, educated woman, living in an affluent area. I've had the same breed for almost 50 years, 8 dogs in total, all of them have been calm and good natured, trustworthy around children and dogs. I've had numerous attacks on them by off lead dogs, most of them small breeds.

I object to being told that my large powerful dog is dangerous. She is always on the lead and poses no threat to anybody.

Your definitely real migrant son who you keep in a cage 😂😂
I get the comparison you are trying to make, but it’s really not working.

That’s not my problem as I don’t want to avoid them.
I gave you two other options though so if you can’t manage option 2, you always have option 3 to fall back on.

How do you avoid places where dogs are when they are almost everywhere?

Don't think OP coming back.
Maybe they've been eaten by a labrador

I’d have kicked it in the bouche.

I’m on about my challenged migrant teenage son who likes to approach strangers and dig his nails into their chests while yelling at them and occasionally licking their faces.

Sometimes he yells at children and now and again attacks them. He doesn’t stop when I shout his name.

Most days he defecates on the floor in public, and regularly urinates on playground equipment.

And it’s fine, right ? He’s allowed to do this stuff. My definitely real challenged migrant son.

I have had a little dog, gorgeous but very reactive and a big dog, gorgeous but a complete scaredy cat. Literally hides behind us when approached by anything. So I'm not sure it's a breed thing, it's a dog thing. Having said that, far more scary to see a huge dog running towards you than a tiny one. And with a tiny dog at least you stand a chance of booting it out of the way. It can be nerve wracking if there are lots of dogs off lead because of course you only know your dog. We have started booking a dog field much more often because it's less stressful.

I run regularly with my medium sized working breed off the lead. She wouldn’t scare you too much OP as she’s not a large typically aggressive breed. She has no desire to interact with other dogs and doesn’t want small curly things chasing her, jumping and barking. Which very often happens. Of course then it would be my dogs fault if anything happened as she would be the larger dog, even when she’s been jumped, nipped and barked at by a small dog with no recall for some time without reacting.

the worst behaved dogs in my experience are the fashionable cockapoo, cavapoo type dogs and dachshunds. They tend to be poorly trained and because they’re cute people let them get away with stuff they shouldn’t and because they’re small they let them get away with bad behaviour that wouldn’t be tolerated in larger breeds.

I got chased and bitten by a cavapoo when out running. It had zero recall and gave zero shits about its owners feeble attempts to call it back. They did apologise and I just told them to keep it on a lead as it clearly wasn’t trained. This has never happened with a German shepherd!

Spot on!!

This is the most sensible thing you’ve said!!
Yes, PLEASE can all the dog haters fuck off elsewhere. That would be lovely

It's not daft to pick up a small dog around a large dog that has a notorious prey drive (your cold greyhound doesn't mean most are to be trusted). One bite will kill a small dog, a small cocker or bigger could take a thrashing from a greyhound but in toy breeds a shake will break their spine/puncture their organs/disembowel them. Sighthounds are wonderful and my dog of choice but after hunting with them and seeing what they are when they're not in bed mode I'd never judge someone for picking up their small dog around mine - to do so would be to expect them to bet their dog's life on my dog's good nature and why should they.

Greys aren't socialised to other breeds of dogs when bred for racing and it often manifests in prey drive or aggression towards unfamiliar breeds aswell as an affinity for their own kind. You're not special for having a big dog - there's so much snobbery towards small dogs from people who have large breeds. A true dog lover imo can appreciate all breeds and appreciation means what the dog was meant to do vs just it being attached to a human. A small companion breed dog's job is being a happy friend in a typical home and typical garden while not burdening their owner with OTT exercise/behavioural needs and they typically do this much better than big dogs judging from the posts on the doghouse.

Let me get this right.

So the dogs didn’t approach your dog, gave you no reason at all to think they are aggressive and in fact 2 of them were on a lead?

But because of their breed you’re not happy? Wow!

People here will argue until they're blue in the face that breed doesn't matter. It absolutely does. ALL animals are unpredictable. They are still animals that have things like prey drive and guarding instinct. It's genetics. You cannot love or train ingrained genetic instincts out of a dog. That's why people buy different breeds. Because they are known for different traits. There is a reason you don't typically get Labradors mauling people.

No one should be letting an animal that is capable of killing someone off a lead, especially in a place with children. I like dogs and dogs like Rotties and German Shepherds can be great dogs, but that doesn't change the fact that they can kill. People love to compare breeds and say 'but chihuahuas' etc, but the reality is that even a child could boot away one, and grown adults certainly could. That being said, I believe all dogs should be on leads, and certainly at public parks designed for families.

You're not crazy to be wary of a large animal capable of mauling and don't let anyone make you think otherwise. I have a 1 year old, and I avoid big dogs if I see one coming. I don't let any strange dog at all close to my baby's pram. It's not worth it.

As for me, I like dogs and will stroke them all lol, but still believe animals should be treated with some wariness and respect, and also believe owners should stop their dogs going up to random people.

A dog enclosure at the zoo? 😂