"It's ok, he's friendly!"

[daffodilandtulip]

Out walking this morning and I've heard the ultimate ridiculous excuse for not training your dog: an off lead dog jumps up at me, snarling and barking. Owner "we didn't see you there, you scared him."

Over the past week, we've had:

"He just wants to say hello", whilst jumping at a terrified, crying toddler.

"He won't hurt her, there's no need to be scared", whilst face to face with a dog the height of toddler.

"I'm not taking him on the road, he'll be scared", regarding the chiwowa IN THE OWNERS ARMS, whilst trying to make me walk three toddlers on a main road in order to pass.

"You'll have to get off the path, she won't walk in the mud" - large Rottweiler, in a children's park.

"He doesn't bite, he'll just jump up".

"Whatever's the matter with her?" said about toddler who has just been knocked over by a large dog and dog is remaining towered over her.

And obviously, a million and one of the "it's ok, he's friendly."

I've also got scratch marks down the entire side of my leg from trying to drag a "friendly" dog off my own dog's neck.

He's not friendly. It's not ok. Stop looking at me like I have three heads when I ask you to move the dog away from the child. Control your dog or use a damn lead!!

I knew that it would be about dogs - I absolutely hate this phrase.

my favourite response for: “ It’s ok, he’s friendly “ is “ But I’m not!”

All this 'he's friendly!' Drives me insane.,my dog is a scared rescue and she hates being jumped on. What they've mean is 'I don't care how you feel or your dog!'

Arses

I’m with you 100%, it’s definitely not ok

This is why we don't let our dog off lead - short lead on oaths or parks, retractable lead on beach (or less crowded parks), and only off lead in dog parks within parks or on a very long lead on the green out front when there aren't other dogs there.

So she does get time to run and play and have some freedom - but not when she might jump on others.

But to manage that we don't have good recall and she can be excitable (playful but still jumpy), we keep her under control when out where it could impact on others.

But we spend a lot of time having to deal with other dogs coming up and bothering us.

Mostly, we walk locally here or driving to the quiet beach or the farther away park rather than the busy park locally.

Sinner.

Another district nurse and yes bitten too

'It's ok, he's friendly' is a direct translation for 'I have no control over my dog so I'm just going to pretend it's ok'

YEP!

This pisses me off too - the number of dog owners who just let their dogs run up to people unsolicited. I’m asthmatic and get puffy eyes that take a good 24hrs to go back to normal if I come into contact with dog hairs, so I definitely don’t want my clothes to have exuberant dog brushed all over me when I’m out. I have to hold my hands up and say ‘I’m allergic’ and then strip off and wash clothes and hands when I get home.

It irritates me in the shops too - all this new John Lewis-type policy to allow dogs in shops. I just don’t want my legs brushed with dog hair when I’m walking round display stands, especially if I’m holding clothes on a hanger or going to be touching my clothes in a changing room without being able to wash my hands straight away.

smileladiesplease · Today 12:26

Another district nurse and yes bitten too

I'm sorry to hear that, but I'm not surprised.

We had a midwife round and I asked her if I should put the dog in another room. She told me that she loved dogs and that I ought to, then spent several minutes fussing her, then said, "Right, best put her in the other room!"

Same here
I noticed that some dogs now sometimes wear garments that say things about their character, where can I get a garment that says 'keep your dog away from me'?
I'm sick of the f things 🤬

I'm a dog owner and completely agree with you. So sick and tired of my small dog being ran at, jumped on, 'played with' and in one case attacked ..I literally never take him to the park now. It's street walking only for us. It's just not worth the hassle.

The dog might be friendly, but I still have a right to not be approached (jumped on, dribbled on).

Even if I, or my child or my dog are ok with other dogs, we might not be. Your dog should be well enough trained to not approach other people or dogs. If it is not it needs to be on a lead.
@maddy68 we are talking about dogs running up to people, not the other way round.

What annoys me the most about all these threads about bad dog owners (not to mention the utter tossers who leave their 2 howling all day next door to me) is that it puts me off getting a family dog. I am definitely one of those nervous people who does not like a strange dog approaching me for any reason, friendly or not, and I would absolutely want to train my dog to not do that to others. But this just puts me back in the 'nope, never, more trouble than they're worth' mindset. Shame, because I think a well trained dog can be a lovely addition to a family.

Horrifying to hear all the district nurse bite stories. I know it happens to posties a lot. I used to work in a job that involved me visiting adults and in some cases teens in their homes to talk about education support and a couple of times there was dogs I asked to be put away, I thought I was being OTT but now reading this I’m glad they did do this.

One was a massive fierce dog that they put in a big cage in the living room. Something told me they were used to putting it away for guests which said everything about it.

I completely agree that dogs shouldn’t be jumping up friendly or not. However, I walk my own dog everyday in an area with a lot of dogs and this never happens to me. It seems odd that it happens so frequently where you are.

It can be quite variable by area I think. I notice a difference even in different areas of our city. There is one beach area where the dogs are allowed to run wild, weaving across joggers, loose on the roads nearby, it’s really odd! And there it’s much better where we are, but I’d still have an incident every few days I’d say with my on lead dog.

As a runner, the amount of dogs that will suddenly leap at me or chase me is untrue. My friend has a dog which has shocking recall, she just laughs it off like it’s some great joke. 🙄

I think you must live in a weird place OP. I don’t see all these incidents where I live. I’m in a very dog owning popular area, pretty much everyone in our estate has a dog. The town has pretty much gone totally dog friendly, lots of cafes, all pubs, lots of shops.
And yet I just see nice dogs with good owners 🤷‍♀️ Occasionally there are over protective, anxious owners, but I don’t experience dogs being a nuisance.

The thing about “he’s friendly” that dog owners don’t get is that even if that is the case (and it often isn’t). I don’t WANT your dog to be friendly to me.

I’ve had “oh so sorry, sorry he’s in the park” when I flinched as a big brute came bounding up. We don’t all like dogs mate

Also back in the summer my fiancé and I witnessed a women lose total control of two Rottweiler type dogs because she wasn’t strong enough to hold onto them both. They both went charging off down our road while she helplessly called after them and looked at us pathetically. If a child had been going up on their scooter or something I honestly dread to think what would have happened. It was frightening for us as adults.

Yes it's not everywhere, we often go to NT areas or drive to a beach etc and it's fine ... but why should I have to get in the car to drive somewhere for a safe walk?

This is why they need to introduce a license to own a dog in the same way you learn to drive.

The dog owner would have to pass different subjects such as caring for a dog, how to train a dog, the dangers an untrained dog and how not to be a nuisance to society (dogs barking in built up areas/dog poo/jumping up at people.) Then when they get the dog they would need to have it registered, chipped (like they do now) and provide their licence. Then in any case of a breach of that license they would get points like a car owner for instance and once they got so many points they wouldn't be allowed to own a dog for a period of time and have to be retrained.

How any old idiot is allowed to just own a dog and do what they like is beyond me 🤷🏼‍♀️

Yes there's a lady that walks a dog down my street everyday ... expect she doesn't walk, she gets dragged and is barely managing to hold on for dear life. Just. Train. Your. Dog.

@CandleInTheStorm totally agree.