There are far too many dogs in the UK

[habibihabibi]

I am a huge dog lover but dog ownership is out of hand.
Growing up, dogs were the exception rather than the norm.

In the past dogs were..
Working dogs and nippy little raters,
on farms or in the countryside where they could be active throughout the day.
Or
In town or city houses, the odd mid sized low energy doggies with at least one adult at home e.g parent or retired person and a garden.
Or
If in small cottages or flats, small dogs.

People who didn't have time for dogs didn't have one.

They thought long and hard about whether they could afford, exercise and had the lifestyle for a dog and not pick one up off Gumtree..

They did not leave dogs alone for hours getting bored, lonely and aggrevated.

They did not have to sub out dog walking to someone who has so many dogs to exercise that one or more maul her to death.

They did not get a dog if they couldn't afford it because they are costly and time consuming.

They trained their dog using a book or going to kennel clubs.

Shelters housed lost dogs ( whose owners came and got them) and poor dogs whose owners had died or went into care not dogs that people couldn't be bothered looking after anymore.

I remember dogs wandering around during the day while the owners were out. Chalky dog poo everywhere.

Every third house in the estate didn’t have a nasty growling/barking staffie either

I don't think the issue is too many dogs as such - it's too many unsuitable owners. I'm a dog owner who's home all day, I listen to three regular dogs barking and howling for hours on end (including next door from 5:30am...). I'm also sick of either me or my dog being pounced on, and worse, by untrained dogs, whose owners just laugh it off. And I'm sick of hearing "he just wants to say hello", when a strange dog is in my terrified toddlers face - and being the unreasonable one when I ask the owner to move it away.

God, I couldn't agree more.

The only person I know in RL who is this vocal about hating dogs is a friend of mine who had a head injury that has affected her personality and now hates dogs. I think it's very sad to hate dogs, you are missing out imo. My dogs make me a better person for sure.

Yes, I agree OP.

My Grandparents had a truly horrible border collie that they always let run free when we visited. It was always barking at us, getting aggressive and did bite us a couple of times.

So I have always been terrified of dogs. If I have have to pass one when I go for a walk, I cross to the other side and literally cower as (often times) they lunge at me.

My mum would always say, "Even a small one can give you a nasty bite." She had been bitten many times by her family's wire haired dachshund.

My neighbour is a frail cancer survivor and her son's black lab bit her leg through to the bone for no reason, it was horrific. In fact black labs can be truly nasty pieces of work, I'll never forget when one got loose and killed a stag in our back field.

I don't know if it's the super nutritious food they are given now which is making things worse or if it's more generally the way they are treated.

I will avoid dogs for the rest of my life. They just aren't worth the risk for me.

That may be true but you cannot reduce the number of people.. you can however, reduce the number of dogs they have.

Lockdown dogs are being very cruelly treated, Dogs hate being left alone, my limit would be a 2 or 3 hours max, preferably no more than an 1hr. ... if you can't commit to that.. don't have a Dog.

Labradors aren't often nasty pieces of work. You have huge bias and clearly no desire to beat this irrational fear. Not every dog will lunge at you, can't you see how ridiculous this is. Most will completely ignore you, even if you are cowering and making yourself even more noticeable.

A labrador killed a stag?! Are you sure it wasn't a lion?

Oh great, another dog bashing thread. It's been at least 15 minutes since the last one 🙄 every principle of this you could apply to children. They're noisy, smelly messy and annoying. Entitled parents take them everywhere so I have to share my space with them and they grow up to be adults who kill people in far greater numbers than dogs. But guess what? I accept it's part of life and don't whine and bitch about it, until people say moronic things like on this thread.

Since this thread is obviously inspired by gal who died recently in London while walking a group of dogs, and why would anyone start a thread like this unless they knew lots of specific details about that event & how she came to harm, what kinds of dogs harmed her, whether harm came from dogs she was walking or other dog(s), what the dogs' histories were, whether they were ill-cared for otherwise, and otherwise how the events transpired, can someone please post the link to all those details laid out so plainly? I am curious too.

The info I can find online seems to say that the count of pet dogs in Britain was pretty steady from 1983-2019, with a peak around 1990-1991 (~7 million). Numbers went up again in 2020-21. MNers have been moaning about bad dog owners for far longer, mind.

@darjeelingrose, I'm intrigued why you don't like the sound of 'dog therapy'. Do you equate it to teacup poodles in handbags and snarling huskies on a string?

I define Doggo Therapy = me enjoying how much the neighbour's pug enjoys me giving him a good fuss. Me enjoying how enthusiastic the pug is in trying to find cat food residue in my house. Etc.

I just mean it was more dangerous years ago from dogs unknown to the victim. Many of the deaths by dog attacks are from dogs that are known? It's very rare to see dogs wandering about without an owner now.

Labradors aren't often nasty pieces of work.

But they can be. Every bit and 'nip' I received was from a black lab. I have had two growl at me with their hackles up (no collars) and the two chatting women owners thought nothing of it. Without the right owner and training they can be nasty little things.

With the right training etc they are fine.

They are not an aggressive breed. All dogs have the potential to nip. Even my vet said labradors are his favourite dogs to treat - i think you've been unlucky.

Yabu. There's a lot more people in the U.K. now don't forget.
IMO there's too many people and not enough dogs.

👏👏👏👏 Bloody well said.

I grew up in the North East and recall dogs walking around freely without their owners back then. Unless things were radically different elsewhere people definitely weren’t better dog owners then and the rise of so many pet related businesses says that people are taking a lot more care now.

I’ve had dogs all of my life and see people busting a gut now to do the right thing by their dogs. Mine have a great time of it.

PDSA say their are over 10m pet dogs in the UK.

Dogs can be wonderful companions but i do not understand why you are defending dogs being left along for many hours each day, badly behaved dogs and their badly behaved owners.

Do you think the current situation is all ok and we should accept dog mess, hospitalisations and deaths as "one of those things" ?

I agree OP

I think a big problem is that people don't treat dogs like dogs any more, they treat them like they're their DC. Dogs need specific things in life to be happy and healthy, but a lot of owners these days get dogs because they think they're cute and want them to behave in a certain way, rather than understanding what they need and giving them that. It's not surprising that there are so many unruly, unhappy and dangerous dogs around.

Totally agree OP. Responsible owners seem to be in the minority.

I’m dog lover. Dogs work for humans in so many valuable ways and they are amazing pets.

Sadly there are way too many dog owners who are clueless about keeping and training dogs. This should be addressed. It’s not dogs who are the problem, it’s people.

‘MNers have been moaning about bad dog owners for far longer, mind’

Who is at fault here? People for ‘moaning’ or the bad dog owners?

UK dogs emit around 10 million tonnes of CO2 per year, largely due to their food, plus extra methane from their shit.

More than 7500 dog related injuries (2019) has put the NHS under further strain. 17 deaths in England alone since 2020.

Too many dogs.

Definitely rose tinted. Dogs roamed. People got bitten. People had scary dogs

Agree with this. When I was a kid much more common to see dogs roaming by themselves and brutish dogs on chains in gardens. Our neighbours had a vicious Rottie that scared the crap out of me as a kid.

I honestly don't think it's any worse these days. There have always been shit dog owners.

I agree with OP and this.

This isn’t a rare occurrence. I’ve only had about 4 picnics in the park in the past decade but yet I can think of two of them when a dog interrupted it. The first was a staffy type dog who puts it head in a huge bag of crisps during our work picnic. Thankfully my manager who was a large male immediately told the owner to take the dog away as he seen the discomfort I was in. The second one the picnic was over at least and I was just packing up the table and food but I still wondered why the owners let the dog come over.

Its awful to see I’m not alone in actively avoiding parks as I don’t want dogs running up to me (but still got jumped on by an idiot neighbours job recently). I think we need to prioritise human needs. Have at least one park in each neighbourhood that is dog free!

AFAIK all the local coffee shops allow dogs, we need some dog free places too! even my dog owning friend doesn’t like being in cafes with dogs.

Funny thing is in my working class neighbourhood I grew up in none of the dogs wandering free in the 90s bothered me. I didn’t like the mess they left but overall They just did their own thing. It’s only now I see so many dogs trying to jump on strangers. Also people weren’t offended back then if I said I didn’t like dogs since they seem them
as what they are - pets/animals. Not “fur babies”.

my neighbours dog actually caused me pain with its sharp claws pressed on my thighs and the owner rudely refused to leash it when I asked her. If it ever runs at me again, let’s just say I’ll be reacting before it makes contact with me.

I don’t know what the answer is but the increase in dogs bites /death by dogs is on the rise and something needs to be done.