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

But it’s a very very small minority, so accept that?

It’s really not likely to happen that Bozo is going to bite you…

Some would argue men are dangerous, do we think that they should all be handcuffed when out?

Cars cause serious damage, do we ban driving?

Do we say if we see an aggressive driver, who comes close to us or our grandkids, that we are going to kill them with a stick?

This is like the gaslighting you get everywhere these days.
Big dogs, particularly certain breeds,can kill - there is no empathy just gaslighting because you’re cute little Bozo is well behaved and obedient.
You don’t want trans men competing g in women’s sport and say so - oh everyone is anti trans, those poor suicidal people yadda yadda
Anti-semitism is rife and always has been - no, lots of people don’t like seeing innocent children being shot by armed to the teeth Israeli soldiers.
Dogs can and do bite. They can cause serious injury - accept it

The point you’re so spectacularly missing is that we have no idea when one might change into the other. And also that, no matter how easy it may be to clock whether a dog is currently being aggressive, and even if we could predict when a dog is about to be aggressive, there’s nothing we can do about it.

The only person who can do anything about it is the owner, by having the dog under proper control and making it visible that they are doing so. That should normally involve a lead, and if not a lead, then excellent training and vigilance. Anything less is poor and anti social ownership.

It’s laughable to just say that it’s obvious when a dog is being aggressive. I’d love to see you explaining that to the families of dog attack victims.

I agree to all your points! The misconception is unreal!

Exactly!! Well trained and easy to walk.

That accurately reflects real life @hungryduck , not the parallel universe of MN where every dog is just waiting to kill the next person that passes by 😏

What a beautiful girl @BlankBlankBlank14 😍

I agree. The level of misconception on these threads is frightening.

We were faced the other day with a pug owner bellowing to their partner "big dog coming, get his muzzle on, quick!!!" as we walked past the open door of a shop. Our PMD trotted past, silently and didn't even acknowledge the snarling, thrashing, demonic creature.

I find these threads deeply troubling, but it's difficult to ignore the level of ignorance and the amount of misinformation that is bandied about.

I saw the most amazing large mutt in Tottenham the other day. We were walking from seven sisters to the stadium so thousands of people walking past him. The owner had just bought chips and was shaking them (to mix the salt & vinegar presumably) so no hands on doggo whatsoever. The dog was holding his own lead in its mouth, trotting alongside the owner, eyes 100% on his owner, completely ignoring the massive crowd walking noisily past him.

In RL no one cared one iota because it was so evident this was a perfectly trained dog that wouldn't step out of line, even if it did look a bit scary (not an attractive breed for sure and relatively large). The only attention it got was people amazed at how well trained it was.

Maybe a dangerous dog ate her?

I’m not muzzling, all this guff about you’re going to beat a dog to death with your stick!

As if, you’ve not got a chance, no matter if they look at you or your grandchildren.

You’re making yourself sound quite hilarious. 😆

All three times my two 10kg female dogs have been 'attacked' was when I was walking them on a pavement on the lead. Two times the attacking dog had slipped the lead and the third time escaped from their home. Absolutely terrifying especially on the two occasions I had a small child with me in a pushchair, although it was my two dogs the other dog was going for. On each occasion the owner had to intervene and each time very apologetic. All three of the attacking dogs were small to medium breeds. Surprisingly given the aggression, but thankfully, no puncture wounds. I'm fortunate that where I live there are plenty of options for off lead walks, that aren't parks where children are playing, as I know from my own experience how intimidating dogs can be regardless of size.

and still no sign of the OP..
wind 'em up and watch them go, and everyone obliged.

Just this morning, we took our Doberman for a run on the beach, off lead, excellent recall.

Came off the beach, two small things, they were on leads, aggressively lunging for her, barking, growling etc. She just ignored them!

Now those dogs need to be kept on leads, mine is fine thanks.

Honestly, the owner was just shouting stop, really aggressively at the dogs and wonders why they’re aggressive!

Photo for attention as she’s lovely!!

@TheGreatDownandOut
I totally agree.
There are so many myths about dogs, particularly large dogs, more so the guarding breeds. I have a vested interest here, I admit. Livestock Guarding Dogs are ancient, primitive breeds but they avoid confrontation. They aren't attack dogs by nature, they work as a deterrent and don't get into conflict. They bark at predators, but they do not attack.

But to non-dog people, guarding means fierce, aggressive, dangerous. That is so far from being the truth. the natural guard dogs live with lambs from 6 weeks old. They're among the most gentle breeds, but so misunderstood. It pains me. I've lived with them since I was a kid. They never look for trouble. And I say this as an anxious person. I am nervous around certain dogs, mostly small to medium ones.
As you rightly say, there are always signs, always body language with reactive or aggressive dogs. You can almost always tell a potential problem dog or owner.
Aggression in dogs is not directly linked to size or strength.

Neither do you own the public space and you won’t infringe on my dog walking off lead with me enjoying it either.

It’s not illegal, she’s under control, great recall and I’m not feckless either.

You do not own the public space either, and if dos are allowed off lead and have good recall, then those owners are doing nothing wrong.

You are the entitled one.

Even in places where dogs are allowed off lead, have excellent recall and ignore everyone and every dog in their vicinity? Are those owners feckless, too?

All dog owners with dogs off lead in a public space are feckless!

You do not own the public space and are infringing on others freedoms. Too many entitled people around.

Yabu. These people are walking their dogs on a lead as are you with you're. Chihuahuas are one of the most aggressive breeds so your anxiety is not based on evidence. Big dog owners in my experience are very aware of their size and have trained them well (far better than my quite naughty little dog! )

@CoubousAndTourmalet I am convinced some of them are on the wind up.

All logic and reason seems to have gone out of the window. It is my understanding that it is vanishingly rare for a dog to attack a human without being provoked. Can we always judge that provocation by human standards? Of course not. But if a dog feels that he, his owner or his territory is under threat he may exhibit reactive behaviour. But he will give several warnings prior to attacking, which is always a last resort.

Im sure I read somewhere that most dogs will choose flight over fight if they can. If they’re cornered, or interestingly - on a lead - they cannot run so they choose to make themselves big and intimidating and snarl and growl and if those warnings aren’t heeded, they may lunge and bite.

Reading some of the comments on here, it’s as if people believe that large dog breeds have one thought and one thought only in their heads - that they’re out looking for someone to attack. And that’s just not the case.

I personally believe the worst behaviour most people will encounter from large dogs is them excitedly jumping up at you. This is not good manners and should be trained out of the dog, and it could cause harm of course but it’s not aggressive.

I remember many years ago, a storm blowing down a fence between my house and the neighbours. They had a dog. I couldn’t tell you what breed as it was a mongrel but it was a medium sized dog and was quite clearly a young dog. He was so annoying. Every time I went in to my garden before my fence was fixed he would come and jump up at me and ‘bite’ my arm but it was a play bite, nothing more. It was winter, I had a thick coat on. No harm done and it was obvious to me that he wasn’t aggressive! Just hadn’t been taught to be less ‘puppy’ and more ‘adult’ - I did speak to them about it and they were trying to train him out of it.

Sorry - long waffle post but my point is, the majority of sensible humans can tell a mile off if a dog is aggressive or not! It’s inbuilt in to our species to be able to tell if any animal is behaving aggressively.

@TheGreatDownandOut
I'm relieved that you haven't encountered this in real life either. I had no real concept of dog hate before I joined MN. Fear of dogs, yes, I am respectful of that, but the rabid loathing and level of anger on threads here is quite surreal.

She sounds lovely. I doubt the parents (or grannies for that matter) thought anything of it other than how lovely she was. I don’t think people whinging about dogs bigger than a Labrador on here are representative of people in real life. I have literally never encountered these opinions from anyone.

Everyone I know is either a dog lover, or indifferent towards them. I know no dog haters at all. I wouldn’t trust anyone who hated dogs anyway 😉

I did the calm dog up thread, with my very chilled, placid LGD breed. Just to counter the "guard dogs can't be cute" argument.

We met a gaggle of giggling girls (aged 9 or 10) on our walk this morning and the all went in raptures over my pup. She was on a sturdy webbing lead, walking calmly, completely under control, but now, because of this thread, I shudder to think what the parents (or aggressive grannies) would have said. It's really sad that they are teaching their children to hate and not discriminating between a dangerous dog and a friendly, well socialised one. It never used to be like this.

Here we are…. One of these dogs is aggressive, the other is not. Now, can anyone tell me which is which?

I know you dog people won't like this. But really it's the only solution that makes any sense. Muzzles

Theres no point in even having an opinion about this statement because it will never happen.