to be sick to death of having to put up with other people's dogs

[WriterofDreams]

I am not a dog person. I think they're nice but I don't want to pet a dog or be anywhere near them really. This partly comes from being attacked by a dog as a young child.

This was never a problem when I lived in Ireland, where a dog is a subservient pet that is to be kept in line. In busy areas dogs are generally kept on a lead at all times and IME if a loose dog ever came up to me the owner always apologised and pulled the dog away. In the park where I used to go walking any dog that wasn't on a lead was taken away by the pound, whether the owner was close by or not. This was to protect the wildlife in the area.

Since moving to England I have come to hate dogs, not really through any fault of their own. There is a common near me where I often go walking with DS, who thankfully is still in a pram so I don't have to worry about him. On every single occasion, often more than once, a large dog has come up to me, often running. On a couple of occasions a dog has jumped up on me, scaring the absolute shit out of me. On practically every occasion the owner has either not been anywhere in the vicinity (as the dog has run far ahead of them) or has smiled indulgently and uttered the immortal phrase "he is very friendly!" before feebly calling the dog and offering no apology for the fact that dog invaded my space and scared me. On a few occasions I have been scared witless by dogs viciously fighting on the path.

AIBU to think the owners have a responsibility to keep their dogs close to them and not allow them to harrass other people?

Yes a puppy can give a nasty bite, I've had one myself from a gorgeous little thing that got a bit over excited. Nothing to go to a and e about but enough to really scare a small child if it happened to them.

Even tiny kittens can give a pretty stingy bite!

Ive only skimmed but i think the problem is that people adore their dogs hich is great but then assume others so too,when i was pg a few months back i had spd and could only just walk halfway to pick up my dd from school,i could then sit on a bench and see the schoolgate and she could runacross the field to me.On several occasions cos its a field peoples dogs would come to say hello which is fine as im not scared,however on one occasion a massive drooling dog came and was a bit over zealous and i ended up with shed loads of dog drool and bits of food or whatever all over my trousers,the owner saw this and laughed,i said "gosh hes made a right mess on my trousers" "it will come out n the wash"she stated and walked off ;laughing. Now turn this around a child going up to acomplete stranger and drooling on them or wiping chocolate hands on their clothes,surely yopu could at least apologise and not just say it will come out in the wash,its a shame cos i do like animals i just dont want them thrust upon me. Oh yes and last week walking home across same field a big dog jumped up at my pram and literally put its paws on the blanket, owner laughed

Yukoncher, did you do no research at all before you took on a Siberian husky? Jesus wept. YOU CAN NOT LET THEM OFF THE LEAD. That is the official stance as promoted by SHCGB. And for god's sake don't let him mouth your arm, it'll fucking well hurt in a couple of month's time when he's a 20kg+ dog with real teeth and it'll hurt even more when he does it to a stranger and you get your ass sued.

If you are not some kind of weirdly specific troll, and genuinely care about the welfare of your dog, please message me and I'll give you some contacts to speak to.

hephaestus My mam had a husk and she couldnt let it off the lead. The breeder she bought it off said their son opened the door and their prize husky got out and ran in a straight line. They tried to follow in the car but it was gone never to be seen again. Thats the 1st thing he said when my mam bought the dog. Do not let it run free.

Yep, they will just go. And go, and go, and get run over by a car or shot by a farmer. It's a defining feature of the breed, can never be 100% trained out (99% recall isn't good enough) and it completely baffles most owners of 'neurotypical' dogs.

My mams was pts a few month back. It had some sort of auto immune disease specific to sled breed. Within a few weeks it went blind and legs gave up and it was only 8. Lovely dog but hard work exercise wise and then theres the moliting

yanbu

Oh fuck off is there any possibility of cross breeding with wolves. How many privately owned captive wolves do you know, huh? There's less than 10 licensed in the UK and DEFRA has found little evidence to suggest that there are any unlicensed hybrids here. A husky is a husky, not a bloody wild wolf.

They are actually very intelligent dogs but unlike your typical lab or collie none of their behaviour is human-centric, they're just out to please themselves. The banalities of obedience trials just pass them by.

Yanbu. Don't start me on the dog shit everywhere.

Excuse me for being a little volatile when trying to defend my breed from yet more misinformation and misunderstanding. The last thing I want to hear is 'they've got wolf in them you know', causing more people to snatch themselves and their kids aside, hissing about the nasty vicious wolfdogs, and fuelling their popularity in chav culture with all the mismanagement and overbreeding that goes with it. They are fast becoming the next SBT, as the GSD, dobe and rottie have had their time before, and I will do anything I can to make sure that doesn't happen. The rise of the crossbred Inuit/utonagan/whatever the fuck they call them and market them as wolfalikes has already been so damaging.

I know someone who keeps a wolf in his garden (he lives very remote), he is known as a "bit of a character"....

OP YANBU, to me it is one of the few (only a few!) things I do not like about England. This adoration of dogs to the detriment of children and passers by.

I sometimes think that dogs are more appreciated here than children. I know lots of English people who think nothing of letting the dogs sleep on the sofas, and in the beds. If you treat dogs as people, and think it is "cruel" to have them on a lead at times, you have got your balance wrong.

Famously, the RSPCA was founded way before the RSPCC. English people are just a bit bonkers about their dogs, it's part and parcel of living here....

This is making me sad, my lovely dog got lost in a Rape seed field this morning. He was after some delicious fox shit to roll in.

All I could think of was this thread and how many dog haters there were about, he's a Bulldog too so he looks a bit scary. I was just hoping that the anti dog brigade didn't find him because he would undoubtedly trotted over to them to say hello, luckily some joggers and a lady with a dog and a buggy pointed me in his general direction and I found him at home sitting on the drive. But the thought of the anti's finding him made my blood run cold.

Luckily I live rurally, he's walked in the woods and lots of people know him by name and sight but they don't all know my name or have my address. Perhaps I should have trained him to ignore his instinct for scents and then I wouldnt be in this state now.

Alouise-im not what you'd call a dog lover but i have twice now stopped to hold dogs who were running around in the rd and phoned the owners (from the tag) and waited for them to come,the most recent only 1 wk after id had my baby so dotn lose hope in every non dog lover glad hes ok,very funny that he was waiting for you.

alouise - I agree attitudes seem to have hardened. I haven't owned a dog since I was living at home with my parents when no-one seemed to mind dogs (well-behaved dogs that is). Now, having been dog-less for 30 yrs or so, it is one of the things that worries me about owning a dog TBH. It's all very well saying that it's OK as long as you make sure that your dog is under control in public but there are people on here who seem to hate dogs with a passion and simply don't want them to be present in public at all. It worries me.

YANBU.

I'm dog allergic. I hate that feeling of pretending to be friendly when one comes bounding over while trying to keep it from touching my clothes without behaving like a diva all so I don't look like a dog-hater when I actually like them. (why do I care??) However, I can't stand them on buses (got a dog? walk it.)

Can I just ask that you don't take my dog off with you Nijinsky?

She's barely out of puppyhood and although I am 99% confident in her recall now, if someone actively encouraged her away from me, I suspect she'd find that much more exciting than coming back to sit by me. Even though I carry treats and balls etc, she'd want to go along with the person who was telling her it was ok to run away from me, and making it sound like a fun thing to do. She's not normally that interested in joggers - she might start to amble over to try and intercept but a word from me and she wanders back to me. But I also do all my walking with a toddler. If I didn't spot you at the right moment because my child was occupying my attention, and you decide for me that it means I don't have my dog under control and start calling her away, then I am going to be faced with trying to decide whether to a) leave my dd on the path while I chase you as you make life fun for my dog running with her (something that I can't do because of my dd) or b) just letting you run off with my puppy.

I have to say, she has never ever run after a jogger, although she does watch them go by with interest (from her sitting position at my side where I ask her to be when I see joggers). But I am now aware that the one time I don't spot the jogger in front of me in time it might be the one person who decides to engage in a bit of vigilante dog training having made a stupid assumption. And all you'll have done is shown her that hey, people jooging are FUN FUN FUN.

Also, Stewie, while I appreciate that working dogs in Canada and Alaska may occasionally be crossbred with wolves (I don't know enough about it personally to comment, but friends who have raced out there would dispute how common it is because the few they've known have had unpredictable results with regards working ability, and it's the Alaskan husky/hound crosses that now reign supreme), you must see that to the average hysterical dog hater on here there is no difference between those dogs (bred strictly for working purposes, kennelled, usually remotely kept and seldom in close contact with the general public) and the UK born and bred pet Siberian husky trundling down the street. That kind of statement just incites more hysteria.

Chandon, I think the point many others have been trying to make here is that it is possible to have a balance. I am a bit bonkers about my dogs, spoil and indulge them and allow them on the sofas (but not the bed). However, they are not allowed to inconvenience anyone, are well trained, on a lead at all times (see previous about huskies) and are generally hard working, fulfilled dogs.

If I appreciate them more than children it's because I don't have any, and I hope am not expected to make overtures of love and affection towards random children in the street, just as I expect everyone else to ignore my dogs unless they indicate otherwise.

I don't think there's any kind of anti-child pro-dog agenda, just that the UK has more than the usual number of people who are either too stupid or too wrapped up with dog-as-a-child-substitute to take responsibility for their behaviour.

OP - YANBU.

I have a dog BUT he is well trained. He is the bottom of our family pack (below 4YO ds) and he knows it. He never jumps up at strangers or familiar people and even if he is a way away, if I see him run at someone (because he is friendly and assumes everyone will love him) if I shout down he will drop immediately. As a responsible owner, it's my job to ensure that the person he wants to meet wants to meet him as being the human their wishes are paramount.

He is a 2 year old collie so is still prone to occasional puppy-like behaviour but it's getting less and less each month.

FWIW, no - owners of dangerous dogs don't ensure they are always on a lead IME. Our dog was attacked by a staffie who was off the lead. She was really mean and once she saw him she sat and waited for him to approach. Once he was within range she lunged at him. It took the owner to throw himself full length on her and pin her to the ground to stop her attacking my dog. I reported him to the police. My sister has a staffie and will only let her off in an enclosed space where she is confident there are no other dogs about.

Some dogs are more prone to aggressive behaviour than others, but there is no such thing as a bad dog. Only bad owners.

And whoever said it - I agree. Don't even get me started on the poo It's like a hobby round here - poo dodging. Makes me to walk our dog as I feel everyone must assume it's his. I make a point of jauntily swinging a poo-bag as we walk!

hephaestus, I know a wolf hybrid here in the UK. :) Owner's a friend of mine.

nijinsky, you're going to have to admit defeat on this one - being sued is for money I haven't got just on point of principal is hardly going to shake my feathers, I'm not the sort to find something like that troubling.

Despite my appearance as an angry old woman on here I am probably the most laid back, to the point of horizontal, woman you might meet. My anger is purely about animal welfare, all else is fluff 'n stuff and nonsense and not worth the stress.... and that includes numpties who might try to lure my dog away, get nipped in the process and then try to sue me for the house and car I don't possess.

whats wrong with dogs being eaten? we eat all other animals. yanbu, i dont like dogs or cats and especially dont like the fact they can go whereever they like.

OP, YANBU. Bloody hate other people's dogs running around my ankles barking and woofing and slobbering. Vile. It's your pet, not mine - get it the fuck on a lead and out of my face.

:o Ledkr.

Ormirian, I agree, you may have hit the nail on the head there.

Interestingly my dh was always anti dog, he'd been told he was allergic to them by his parents. It took me years of persuasion to get a dog and now dh is the soppiest dog owner on the planet, he even invites specific friends over because they have a dog for Rupert to play with!!! It was his parents and their dislike of dogs that caused his initial attitude but funnily enough sil has 3 rescues and we have our much loved dog. The Pil's can't understand it at all :o