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

I would too. Please put me down on your list. No bloody way I’d just stand there like an idiot letting it bite me.

And the bait was simply, I saw 3 big dogs today.

Rottie owner here… also interested in these statistics that they often kill children ? Please post a link 🙄
What an absolutely pointless thread bashing people who make different choices to you .

surprise, surprise OP hasn't come back..drop the thread and run, waiting for all the haters to appear...and they did..

Are you for real?!

You think wariness of Akitas is 'wild'?!!

Being a dog lover doesn't mean dispelling reality.

I second this. Over the last 30 + years, I've kept a GSD, 3 Border Collies, 1 Black Labrador and 2 BC X Labs, none of them dog-aggressive. I read the body language of any dog approaching my dogs and almost invariably it's been the smaller dogs that have been hell bent on starting trouble with their unprovoked barking and snapping. They're always accompanied by owners who either find their dog's behaviour amusing or do precisely nothing to discourage the behaviour. And these owners have always looked shocked - as indeed have their dogs - when I've swiftly intervened with a harsh tone of voice and exaggerated arm movements and sent their dog running back to them. It's probably the only time these dogs have ever been told off!
Edited for typo.

I refer my learned friend to the owners of the very sweet dachshunds without a thought that they were dred to flush unwilling badgers out of their sets. I can't say that I would want to dig into a badger set to get a badger out that didn't want to leave.

Dangerous dogs need to be banned full stop. No ifs, no buts. Destroy them. If people continue to have them, arrest them, send them to jail and destroy their dogs. Treat dogs like guns.

I’m baffled by the number of people saying that what OP experienced is totally fine. It’s not! We live in a small town surrounded by countryside and forests. Weekly local Facebook and Nextdoor posts from people who’ve been attacked, or had their dog, or horse, attacked by large off lead dogs.

Yes I totally accept it’s the owner and the training but how on earth do you know how the dog has been brought up, if you first encounter it running towards your toddler?

I took my 3 yr old for a walk to a local beauty spot today but we didn’t spend a lot of time in the end because of all the dog walkers. One man had 7 off lead dogs, mixture of large and small. DS isn’t scared of dogs per se but it was a constant onslaught and he ended up refusing to walk because of ~20% of them jumping up at him.

I wouldn’t go back and it’s a shame but what can anyone do 🤷🏻‍♀️

The dogs who are the subject of this post did nothing wrong. Literally on a lead and out for a stroll. What are we cracking down on? Dogs the op doesn’t like the look of?

My favourite dog in our park is a rottweiler golden retriever cross. He's huge, slobbers like a rottweiler, and walks like a goldie. He bounds across the grass as happy as anything. He makes my day when I see him. I've got a cockapoo and from being a puppy I've made him play with big dogs, stops them being scared. I used to chuck him in the dog pen and he'd play with whoever was in there. One of our doggy friends was a huge mastiff/bull breed cross, he was as soft as anything. We've not seen them since the XL ban came in as he meets the size restrictions so has to be muzzled and on a lead. I miss him, he was such a lovely boy.

There needs to be a MAJOR crack down on dogs and dog owners. I will keep saying it until something actually happens. How many more people need to die or have their lives ruined by bad dogs and stupid inconsiderate dog owners until the government will acknowledge there is a problem and actually do something to rectify it.

YANBU. Although the amount of smaller dogs that run up to my German Shepherd and start sniffing around her is ridiculous. They either dont listen to their owners or I get the "Don't worry, he's friendly." Because I'm aware of how powerful my dog is, she has been trained to the max. She ignores other dogs and goes to "middle" which is between my legs. Her recall is amazing and she never approaches other dogs or people unless told. Owners of large dogs need to take more responsibility for their dogs behaviour.

The size of the dog doesnt matter. I actually find smaller dogs are usually more aggressive. My cousins rottweiler got attacked by two small dogs while he tried to run away with them hanging off him.

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

Your title is misleading. What it should say is you're so tired of people with LARGE dogs ruining the park for YOU.

The law is crystal clear. It is an offence to have a dog "dangerously out of control" in a public place. Such behaviour - irrespective of breed or size of dog - should be reported to the police immediately.

However, what you can't do is take issue with various dogs in the park just because they're large breeds of dog and you find their size intimidating. For all you know, the Rottweiler, the German Shepherd Dog and the Akita could all have attended puppy socialisation and obedience classes. All the Working breeds are extremely bright and excel at obedience training including GSDs and Rottweilers. A friend of mine had an advanced obedience trained male Rottweiler who was a registered Pets As Therapy (PAT) dog. He was licensed to visit the sick and elderly and passed his temperament testing with flying colours. He was also massive weighing in at 11 stones. He was the very definition of a gentle giant.

Instead of focusing on your fears of what might happen - or what the dog was originally bred for many, many moons ago - you should instead focus on reading the other dog's body language The fact is not one of the large breeds you mentioned was actually behaving in an aggressive or intimidating way; even the onlead XL Bully was behaving itself.

Completely agree with all of this!!
I was surprised by number 6, though! And not because I disagree with it - quite the opposite. Just didn’t realise it was a thing!

Unfortunately, big powerful dog breeds are particularly prized by dim people.

I'd be alarmed to encounter anything like that off lead, and avoid parks etc with my average-sized dog for that very reason.

It's not always big dogs, some of the most gentle dogs I've come across are the large breeds. The only issue I've ever had is with a staffie, I was out walking my labrador and out of nowhere a off lead staffie came out of nowhere and grabbed my dogs throat. Neither I nor the owner could get the dog off mine for a while, she had to kick her dog off.

I do think all dogs should be on leads in publilc places, especially when there are lots of people, other dogs and children.

Well it is - revolving around dog owners. Fewer and fewer spaces are now dog free.

It's a shame as dogs can bring a lot of joy and can be wonderful. All it would take is changes in legislation (mandatory and continued training, tougher licensing with proper checks, tougher penalties for breaches, better enforcement etc) to deal with irresponsible owners.

The whole big dog vs small dog risk issue isn't because all big dogs are assumed to be badly trained or aggressive, but because they do pose additional risk if they did attack just because of their size.

In risk assessment it is usual to score both the chance of something bad happening and also how bad it would be if it did happen, then multiply these together to get a total 'risk score'.

With dogs your chance of something bad might be eg:
trained, on lead - 1
untrained, on lead - 2
trained, offlead - 3
untrained, offlead - 4

(exact numbers may vary, you might also think untrained/lead is worse than trained/offlead if the dog is strong enough to escape the owner)

and the danger that would be posed might be
small dog - 1
medium dog - 2
large dog - 3

In this situation a well trained small dog on a lead scores 1 (and only 4 if it is untrained and loose) but an untrained off lead large dog scores 12.

I think there are several threads to unpick here.

1. @Purplehat123 appears to be anxious of dogs, despite owning one. I work with dogs every day, and I can say with 100% certainty that dogs gravitate towards nervous people and / or people who want them to stay away.
2. Leading on from point 1, anxious owners have anxious dogs. Dog ownership per capita has increased exponentially, and as the population is growing, there is a massive increase in dog presence. Couple this with more people having some sort of issue, it is no wonder that there are more dogs with issues too.
3. Leading on from point 2, very few people appear to know how to operate a dog. Or even understand that they are sentient beings. I suspect most owners would be better off with a cuddly toy.
4. Leading on from point 3, basic training is non existent in many cases.
5. Once you get past all that, many people don't understand normal dog behaviour. They don't know the difference between an aggressive bark or an excited bark. Personally, I would rather have a so called aggressive dog, barking, approach me than one that is dead silent, tail bolt upright, and a death stare on its face.
6. Breed isn't really relevant to any of the above, however some dogs have been bred to undertake specific tasks more than others. A good many people don't understand the history of their breed though.
7. Bad breeding is on the rise, so whatever you think you have might not be.
8. It is actually against the law (banned breeds excepted) to walk your dog on a lead constantly (see animal welfare act 2006).

I could go on, but it is a more complicated subject. Mainly, I agree that owners fall into three categories. Those who know what they're doing. Those who know they don't know what they're doing but are trying to learn, and lastly, those who don't know what they're doing and don't even realise it.

Only dogs we have ever had issue with where the small cute ones.

A chihuahua, a white fluffy thing? And come kinda Poo dog.

Husband bitten, child bitten, our own dogs bitten.

Never so far had an issue with a gsd or rottie.

and those little dogs where all off leash with owners who thought they were cute and being friendly or playing.

Sure a bit dog can do more damage but your more likely to be attacked by one of those handbag sized things.

It’s taken years to get my child comfortable around dogs again. DS was 2 and a medium sized dog ran towards him, then licked his face. The owner just shouting how he’s friendly don’t worry.

i never said anything as I was too shocked but if a horse the same height at me ran towards me stopped, opened it’s mouth then licked me I’m pretty sure I would be panicked too.

To many dog owners saying don’t worry they are friendly but I don’t want your dog on me or my children. Just because they are friendly doesn’t give automatic consent to everyone

If only the world revolved around you all eh?

It's getting terrifying even going for a walk because of those dangerous animals.