"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!!

It would be cruel to not let our spaniel off lead.

Is your spaniel going to bother unsuspecting toddlers?

Another Sunday, another dog and dog owner bashing thread.
It will go the same way as the one last week.

Never trust a person who doesn't love animals. Always been my mantra. Always will.

Totally agree. Had a dog run over to my 18 month old last weekend, I immediately picked her up because the owners clearly weren't going to call the dog back. They said the usual don't worry - she's friendly. I just replied saying I don't know the dog so I wouldn't know if she was friendly or not. In the past I've been quite relaxed about dogs and then they've ended up jumping up and nipping my other DC - causing them to be scared of dogs - which is shit for a child because they are everywhere when you go out for a walk. Shit owners really piss me off.

I'm sorry, I don't understand the relevance of your comment to mine?

I do wish in England they had dog parks. So the social friendly dogs could be together. Then there would be no excuse for dogs jumping on other dogs when not in the dog park.

To be blunt, I couldn't care less how your dog behaves at home, that's your concern, and if it's insurmountably problematic, don't keep a dog. My concerns are with how your dog behaves in public, specifically when it's not on a lead and left to its own devices.

Fines for out of control dogs, Info campaigns, and licences are all completely inconsequential when an off-lead dog decides to be a pain in the arse. Better education and ownership might reduce the instance of dogs being allowed to run riot off leads in the first place, but it's not as if an off-lead dog is going to be remotely bothered about any of that if it has it in its head to annoy strangers.

Either keep your dog on a short leash in public, or find somewhere completely private to exercise it.

@Climbles If you don't have access to land suitable to exercise your dog, get a different breed. Don't make the rest of us suffer.

As well as bothering people, off lead dogs are becoming one of the biggest issues in wildlife conservations. Ground nesting birds are really suffering as more and more people let their dogs loose in woodlands and other nature reserves.

The Countryside Codes states that dog-walkers should keep dogs on leads between 1st March and 31st July in open countryside and on common or open access land to protect wildlife. I am not sure how many dog walkers are aware of this.

You can't go anywhere anymore without dogs. Is everyone supposed to stay at home so shit dog owners can rule the world 🙄

In the interest of balance I have a globally delayed 5 year who adores dogs. She understands that she isn't to approach dogs (she used to reach out when she was in her pram) but she gets overexcited whenever she sees a dog.

We start off by saying hello and I remind DC that not all dogs are used to children so we don't want to scare / upset dog. We leave it up to the owner what happens next but i'd take "don't worry they're friendly" to mean we can pet the dog.

We have a whole host of dogs we've now befriended around the neighbourhood 🤣 but I've never encountered any issues with dogs jumping other than the odd puppy we've been permitted to pet

I know there must be plenty of awful dog owners out there though as there is a local problem with dog shit. My god our local pavements are covered.

But that’s the choice of the dog owner, to have a dog and have the risk of being bitten at home. Why should someone who doesn’t own a dog (or doesn’t own that dog), have to put up with a dog coming up to them?

Drives me mad, too, as a dog owner.

I remember how annoyed I used to be with dogs bounding up to toddler DS with indulgent owners smiling and uttering ‘ah he wouldn’t hurt a fly!’ That’s as may be, but didn’t stop DS being seriously terrified of dogs for years after. He’s not now as his DGM has a chihuahua and admittedly she wouldn’t hurt a fly. But that is because she is so teeny the fly could have her in a fight 😂

I am allergic to animal pelt so don’t want them rubbing up against me either. Badly behaved dogs and badly groomed dogs seem to go hand in paw

There was a post on a local FB page a while ago where someone was complaining of similar and sone daft woman posted ‘aw, it won’t have been my dog, he’s so soft he’d just cover you with kisses!’ When I replied I wouldn’t want her dog near me kisses or otherwise she replied with a laughing emoji 🙄

I get people love their fur babies 🤢 but why insist the rest of us are equally as charmed? I don’t foist my kid on them

Do you know it’s against the law to not be in control of your dog? (You probably do, they probably don’t!).
I say this because a couple of years ago a group of small dogs jumped up my son and scratched his legs (drew blood, only a tiny bit), as well as leaving him terrified. I was so angry with the owner’s attitude. I reported to the local police (through a web form on their site), and they went and visited the owner and gave them a caution. The police actually said they were in their rights in this situation to have the dog responsible removed, but because they had 4 dogs that all looked similar and we didn’t know which one scratched DS, they just had to give her a caution.

Do you know it’s against the law to not be in control of your dog? (You probably do, they probably don’t!).
I say this because a couple of years ago a group of small dogs jumped up my son and scratched his legs (drew blood, only a tiny bit), as well as leaving him terrified. I was so angry with the owner’s attitude. I reported to the local police (through a web form on their site), and they went and visited the owner and gave them a caution. The police actually said they were in their rights in this situation to have the dog responsible removed, but because they had 4 dogs that all looked similar and we didn’t know which one scratched DS, they just had to give her a caution.

There are dog parks - just not enough of them.

@TossieFleacake she's agreeing with you.

I have a real fear of dogs, always have had. I don't dislike them and can see how they'd be lovely pets but I have a huge, irrational, fear. It limits my life as there are so few places to go walking where there isn't a risk of a dog off a lead.

Some dog owners are great, really understanding with well trained dogs. However, there are always the few who are almost offended by the fact I don't want their dog near me and act as if I am the problem. I'm not, I do everything I can not to put myself and my toddler in a position where a dog might approach us and I wish the owners in question would understand that not everyone is ok with their dog running up to them.

I would love more public spaces where dogs have to be on leads. But I am probably in a minority although I don't really know why.

I have tried all sorts of things to overcome my fear, therapy, hypnotherapy- nothing has worked. I wish I just had a fear of snakes, it'd be much easier.

They shouldn’t have to but to ban my dog, who doesn’t approach people, from being off lead is ridiculous. Should we ban alcohol because seem people become a public nuisance when they are drunk?

I haven't RTFT so apologies if this has moved on but this absolutely enrages me. We have dogs. Two large, well trained, well behaved, calm dogs. Both my children 6 and 2 can ask them to do things and they will do them. That being said, they are never off lead as they are high preydrive rescue dogs who would have no recall if they saw a rabbit or squirrel.

My son 6 is terrified of other dogs. He was bowled over and jumped on and scratched by an offlead dog when he was just 18mths old but the owner said 'it's OK, he's friendly, he just wants to play'.

When I go out with him without my dogs and he is approached by other dogs and I try and get them away I'm told they're just friendly and I need to socialise MY SON with dogs. He lives with two well socialised dogs. I shouldn't need to socialise him with badly trained dogs.

Equally I hate people calling over to us walking the dogs 'it's ok he's friendly' when they have no idea how my two will react. OK so they're fine, but what if they're not? What if they were recovering from an op, or in training or reactive to other dogs?

If you can't IMMEDIATELY recall your dog when you see someone else, which is just common curtesy, keep your dog on a lead.

I was arguing against the point that the biggest danger is in the dog’s home.

I’ve heard all these, in response to giant dogs going straight up to my tiny dd when she was little. No putting themselves in her shoes, face to face with a teethy animal that’s bigger than her!

I continually have the opposite with my dog. I tell people she isn't friendly and they still try to approach her. I even had someone say 'I like 'em mean' while lunging towards her. She has never bitten anyone or done anything but bark but she is a really nervous dog and doesn't like anyone but her people coming near her, she is always on the lead when these eejits try to get close to her. People are dumb.

We tend to avoid our local park for this reason. Way too many dogs off the lead and running up to people and the amount that just don't clean up their dogs poo is unbelievable. My son has got dog poo in the car before because he walked in it without me noticing 🤮. I've also had to tell people to put their dogs on a lead around children's play area and it's ridiculous how entitled they think they are to let their dogs bother children playing. To add to that, my son is now scared of most dogs thanks to irresponsible owners letting their dogs run up to him agressively and it's now a nightmare to calm him down if a dog is running about near him (even if harmless).

My son ages 7 is in a wheelchair. He likes to watch dogs but if one comes near him he's terrified. The amount of owners I get saying oh he just wanted to say hi........yeah I'm not very friendly anymore I'm afraid.