Dogs and unwanted attention

[Chewmebush]

My dd doesn't like dogs, she is terrified of them. My ds is allergic. So although when dogs in our neighbourhood often bound up to them I get the owner saying, they are harmless, love kids etc. I find myself smiling and nodding but not really meaning it AIBU?

[fluffyraggies]

lol - don't

[mrsjay]

is there free range children where you live fluffy

[mrsjay]

bet you give it an icey glare lequeen those things are huge Id be wary of a slobbering hairy dog coming towards me

[mrsjay]

laqueen Im sorry

[GoblinGranny]

Yes, YABU. You shouldn't be smiling and nodding and facilitating the poor discipline being demonstrated by the owner and consequently the dog.
That's one of the reasons owners get away with it, not enough people saying 'Control your dog please. Now.'

[plinkyplonks]

fluffyraggies - that sounds about right fluffyraggies :)

Yes, just because some of you have decided that dogs are filthy, disgusting animals that always lick people, knock kids, over, bite and shit on the ground where no one picks up their mess.. doesn't mean any of that is actually true.

Do you that children hit, bite, piss/shit on the ground too? Should i generalise all children because of that behaviour? Because that's what you seem to think is acceptable - even though it isn't a logical conclusion.

[fluffyraggies]

mrsjay - - yeah, biting and shiteing everywhere they are! Buggers.

I wanted to say and forgot that i love dogs, and have kept Great Danes, but hate to see dogs out of control or fouling areas where children play.

[mrsjay]

plinky i dont think anybody really said dogs are disgusting and eat children people are just saying they dont want dongs all over them which is fair enough,

fluffy your area sounds delightful

[GoblinGranny]

Plinky, I just want to be ignored by dogs when I'm out and about, whether walking, cycling or pottering in town. Is that so much to ask?

[mrsjay]

dongs* I meant dogs obviously

[fluffyraggies]

Ah - now we don't have dongs all over us here at least

[Hercy]

As martyr says, it works both ways. Children are not perfectly behaved at all times, and if I am politely accepting of the tantrum it's having, the toy it's thrown, the running around my feet etc etc, then can you not show some of the same tolerance for my puppy, who is largely well behaved, but still excitable and playful.particularly when children are making a lot of noise, throwing sticks and waving their arms about.

I don't think it's fair that dogs should monopolise the grass area by your house. But then I also don't think it's fair when families go to popular dog walking areas and expect perfect behaviour from young dogs. Should I expect perfect behaviour from your children at all times?

[GoblinGranny]

So you've never had a dog rogering your leg then?
Lucky you.

[mrsjay]

dongs sound rude

[Katnisscupcake]

Surely it's all about respect for all isn't it? We have two bouncy labs. Strangely neither of them EVER jump at children, but will occasionally jump up at adults, so we always make sure we recall them and put them on a lead if someone comes along (we only let them off the lead where they're allowed to go aswel). We then shout over to find out whether the people mind them being off the lead and if they don't mind we release them again.

To the same degree, it's also respectful for children to ask permission to pet your dog and it's important that they are taught that from an early age. DD assumes that ALL dogs are friendly because ours are, but she actually asks me if she's allowed to pet another dog, she never just goes up to a dog and does it.

The fouling is absolutely unacceptable though. All of my dog-walking coats have mounds of poo-bags in them. There is no excuse for not picking it up and putting it in the designated bin. Unfortunately, it seems to be more the exception than the rule these days and I often feel offended by people shouting 'I hope that you're going to pick that up', while I'm scrabbling around trying to get a bag out of my pocket. People shouldn't assume that you're like everyone else - fine, shout if I walk away and leave it, but not until then!

Rant over...

[fluffyraggies]

Yes, i think i'm going now mrsj, 'cos i think i'm lowering the tone of a serious thread

[plinkyplonks]

GoblinGranny - I have to deal with other people's children despite having a miscarriage - i don't want to deal with that either but I have to. Dogs are part of people's lives and families. That's not for everyone, but neither are children. Dogs in general sniff, that's just what they do. It's like trying to stop a child talking, would you think it unreasonable to ask all children to stop talking because you don't like it?

The OP hasn't bothered taking the time to tell the owners that her DC are allergic/scared whatever. Sounds like the OP doesn't really like dogs anyway, she basically wants dog owners to keep their dogs on the lead so they don't go near her precious children when in a shared garden. If she won't take the time to explain to the dog owners (who are her neighbours, not strangers) that the dogs shouldn't approach the children, then she is being unreasonable too. The owners probably have no clue its a problem, considering she hasn't objected before.

Now in regards to dog mess, yes that's very wrong and the owners should clean up after themselves. Other animals such as foxes, birds will shit over that area anyway so let's not pretend that the ground would be nice and Detol happy if the dogs don't exist. And again, if this is in a communal area where dogs should be on leads that needs to be dealt with.

Not all dogs get up and close in people's faces, in fact all of the dogs I have owned hate it when people get close in at face level. In the seldom event, my dog passes someone they have a sniff and then carry on walking with me. In my experience it's normalky children who approach my dog, ending up getting too close at face height and end up hitting it in the face trying to 'stroke' the dog - in my experience it's the dog that should be scared of the child not the other way around.

[olgaga]

Is it a housing association? If the dogs are running around unsupervised you should complain to them about that, and the crap they leave behind.

Have a look at this.

And this, for outside your front door.

[worsestershiresauce]

Given these are the neighbours' dogs, if you don't say anything they are going to assume you are ok with the status quo, and you are going to spend the rest of your days annoyed about this. A polite word maybe? It's got to be worth a try.

I'm a dog owner and they are always on a lead unless we are in the middle of nowhere and there are no other people about. I absolutely hate being slobbered or jumped on by dogs. My own I can just about tolerate, but other people's [shudder]

[flyingdolphin]

Yabu - you should tell the dog owners that you don't like it/ are allergic. how else are they supposed to learn to stop their does doing it?

[Chewmebush]

Plinkyplonks - precious children in shared garden? Nope - precious children in MY garden. We don't use the communal green, we just pay for it :-)

[Chewmebush]

Olgaga, thanks for the link much appreciated