To think the law should be able to do more about this dog??

[curiousgeorgie]

Walking in the park today with my DH, 2.5 year old DD & dog, and DD walking in front of us (a very late walker, so very slow and can't run yet), suddenly a mastiff (we think) runs from the trees straight to DD and before we can get there literally steps away, my dog is between them.

It was so so quick but this dog was going for my child, and subsequently absolutely savaged my dog, I grabbed DD, was screaming for the owner and DH was trying to separate this dog from our dog (who is a small friendly breed and was pinned down, yelping, it was awful.)

The owners appeared and pulled the dog off after a few horrible minutes, and argued with us that the dog wasn't dangerous, and the woman got completely in my face and threatened me (while 30 weeks pregnant holding my sobbing DD) so we quickly left.

I called the local police from the car and was told there wasn't anything they can do about the dog as it didn't attack a human. (thank god though.)

But the fact remains, that a dangerous dog is allowed to remain in the park on a sunny weekend day where surely there'll be lots of children??

I'm so so angry and upset about this, my DD is really not herself and my poor dog left with bite injuries to his mouth, ears, face and neck.

Just because this dog didn't quite manage to bite my DD nothing can be done?? AIBU?

The only fail safe way of stopping attacks it to make all dogs wear a muzzle in public spaces when not on the lead.

I can't believe what YNK is saying, it horrifies me!

At the age of 8 (a long time ago) I was waiting at the gate of a friends house for her to come out to play, when an Alsatian came bounding up to me and jumped up at my face. I simply pushed it off laughing, but it turned around, snarled, bit me deeply on the hip and started dragging me along the path, shaking me as it went.
My screams alerted the neighbours who managed to free me from it, and it ran off.
I ended up with 37 stitches in my hip/leg, unable to walk for nearly a month, lifelong scars, and avoidance of all other dogs.

A few weeks later it went on the attack again, jumping on the back of a little old lady as she walked down the street. It bit her neck and face , and floored her. she later died.

Common sense tells me that there many lovely dogs out there, and I applaud and appreciate their sensible owners.
But irresponsible owners and their dogs terrify me, and because of this I have spent my life avoiding parks and such because of this very subject.

Yes YNK. Thats exactly what you are saying. Parents should avoid parks with loose dogs (so pretty much all parks) as there is the danger there. And if they choose to recklessley go there anywhere the inevitable event is their own fault.

The same applies to all the examples I gave.

But I doubt you will ever see that as you are wrapped up in your own bubble of idiocy.

I own a large dog , not a percieved dangerous breed , but a big bugger none the less , he loves nothing better than a free range romp round our local park . If i see other people approaching or other unknown dog owners i always call him and put him on lead , not because i think he is a threat to them but because other people dont know him and all they see is a big dog , by putting him on the lead until they pass they are reassured that they are safe and that he is under control . To me it is just polite ,and only takes a few minutes.

Where we live, unless you drive, it is unavoidable to miss the two parks to get to DS1's primary school, they are the only route. What are we supposed to do? There have been lots of incidents recently with unruly dogs off leads terrifying the pre-schoolers and reception years (and the children in question weren't even running about so as to excite dogs particularly). The owners are abusive and don't care. There is one lovely lady with a dog called Bentley, always on a lead and well-trained. Wish the others were like that.

YNK- irrespective of whether the dog was in an area where it was allowed to run free, it still legally has to be under the control of a responsible person. This dog clearly wasn't under control, because it attacked another dog.

People are perfectly entitled to take their child and their dog to the park- free running dogs allowed or not- because all of the dogs there should be fully under the control of their owner. Saying parents shouldn't take children to parks, and blaming them for being attacked by out-of-control dogs, takes irresponsible behaviour to breathtaking levels.

By the way, exclamation marks do not have magical powers to make selfish bullshit either legally or morally justifiable.

OP- YANBU.

Inertia do you creep?

With the majority of posters strongly disagreeing with
Ynk, you'd think she/he would understand they are in the minority and therefore MAY be wrong. I wonder who is entitled here?
I've been on MN for 3 yrs. have my first ever YNK

KansasCityOctopus - of course your addition of the word 'aggressive' puts an entirely different slant on your post about kicking an approaching dog. But that isn't what you put in your post, you suggested you would kick any dog approaching your DC which is why I made the comment about punching any approaching person because they are potentially capable of attacking. I think the comparison of the two is completely justified in response to your original post - in fact I still think comparing the two is quite justified - I would be quite within my rights to punch an aggressive person who approached me, if I feared they were going to attack me.

Softlysoftly I had to look that up- I don't know the song, will have to go it a listen.

And no, I don't really creep :)

I'm showing my age

YNK, if you're still reading the thread, can you honestly not see that public spaces where dogs are allowed off the lead are not solely or primarily for the use of dogs? They are shared spaces where all users have a responsibility to make sure their use of the space doesn't have a negative impact of another's use of the space.

If a person's use of the space is invariably going to have a negative impact on other users - such as dogs that are out of control, running at small children or adults or are even just over-exuberant and want to make friends with strangers - well, guess what. They lose out. Their use of the shared space is inherently antisocial.

They are shared spaces. That is, they are to be shared by all park users. Where I live, most parks are like this; apart from small playground areas. Where on earth do you live that there are large, grassed areas where dogs are forbidden or must be kept on the lead? Where is my toddler supposed to kick a ball or go for a decent walk or play a game of chase, if irresponsible dog owners have priority in that space, by your warped logic?

I'll keep my toddler away from dogs we don't know. I expect dog owners to keep dogs I don't know away from my toddler. If they don't, they're perilously on the edge of allowing their dog to be dangerously out of control.

Honestly, you're the sort of person who gets dog owners a bad name and ultimately will lead to more and more public spaces being declared off-limits to free-running dogs, because you are more interested in making excuses for badly-behaved dogs and badly-behaved owners than in actually looking at reasonable solutions to the problem.

Georgie, I hope your dog's OK.

BTW Inertia, I love your post. Most especially the exclamation marks bit.

Where have I said that dogs should be out of control? I have made the point that parents can choose to be in parks and areas where dogs have to be on a lead or not allowed at all.

YNK, by suggesting (repeatedly) that it's ok for a dog in a park to run at people it doesn't know. That's not a dog being controlled by its owner. You've repeatedly suggested that the OP was in the wrong by fabricating/extrapolating information that wasn't in the OP rather than admit that in this case, the dog and it's owners were completely in the wrong and whole most of the time small children and well socialised dogs can coexist in public spaces very happily, a few dog owners spoil things for everyone.

But no, go on suggesting that toddlers should be confined to fenced, paved, crowded areas only (the only 'dogs on lead' public spaces anywhere I know). That's very reasonable.

Well said, Jassy. Spot on! x

Agree Jassy, I have three small children, teaching them all that you do not approach dogs unless the owner says it is fine (plus DH and I in the background making sure it is OK). I would hate it if any dog came bounding over to my children, I would have no idea if it was friendly or may not be able to intercept in time. All the areas near me are dual use or no dogs at all. Why shouldn't I be able to take my children to a local woodland area with walks, specifically designed for children and dogs, because dog owners can do what they like and let the dogs run free and stuff non dog users.

I have never had any problems, mainly because we seem to have responsible dog owners here with well trained dogs, considerate of all.

Don't see why because you walk in a park all the year round that 'fair weather' users have less rights. You don't own the park or acquire squatters rights over the winter. Share the space responsibly and keep your dogs away from my children.

YNK you haven't answered Doodledumdums question:

So you say that you take your grandson to parks where dogs are off lead. So does he have some sort of magic repellant that wards off dogs? Because otherwise I fail to see what exactly the OP has done that you don't do yourself. That is VERY hypocritical. So if a dog ran from behind a tree towards your grandson, how exactly would you react/do differently?

I am genuinely very interested to know.

In the UK, there are very few public spaces where all dogs have to be on a lead. Only certain breeds have to be restrained in most places. Some parks have (very small) fenced areas for swings etc but a lot are not fenced. If there are livestock they have to be restrained only at certain times of the year.

I love my dog, she is small bichon type cross, I have seen her playing with my dd and I trust her but still only 95%, she is still a dog!

One day, the conditions may throw her and as she is an animal she may bite someone?

On one of these threads once someone who worked in A&E said

" Its not the drug dealer type owner/dogs that usually bit people, it was always the ' oh but he has always been so good'"

Loveable family pet.

Thank god, guys, I was starting to think I was missing something.

Op I hope your dog and your dd are feeling better. You and your family are perfectly entitled to walk in a park where dogs are loose, I mean you were walking yours! Also the fact that your dd was clearly not running amok and was close to you as was your dog shows that you have control. My dogs (who also get walked with toddlers, shock horror!!) would also stand inbetween another dog approaching rapidly. This dog could well off been defending itself against a possible attack, but in my opinion dogs that run up are not the ones defending themselves. Sadly there are some dog owners who are completely irresponsible and like to blame everybody else for theirs and their dogs failings.

I have replied several times, but obviously no one is reading my posts! I have reported 50 shades for yet another troll accusation!

Well now that you're back YNK I'd be interested to hear your answer to the question from Doodledumdum:

So if a dog ran from behind a tree towards your grandson, how exactly would you react/do differently?

Ww, there's some nutters on here.

Hope your dog is ok, what did the vet advise you do re this other dog?