Wibu to stand up to this dog owner?

[Curleyhazel]

We went for a walk in our local park this afternoon. I carried Dd2 in a sling and dd1 (3yrs) was walking a few steps ahead of me. Normally dd1 is not scared of dogs (grandparents have a spaniel which she loves) and we try to teach her to be calm but vigilant around dogs she doesn't know.

Anyway, as we were walking, a Labrador approached dd1 and came very close so she actually got a bit of a fright screamed and run back to me. The dog followed dd and started sniffing her so I asked the dog owner to call the dog back. The dog owner replied that his dog was well trained and harmless and allowed him to continue sniffing around my daughter. I told him that that might be very well the case but that my daughter and I didn't know the dog so could he please call the animal away from us. He insisted that he wouldn't call his dog back saying that he didn't know my daughter either and that dc1 could equally not be trusted as she "might bit his dog" .

During this unpleasant exchange he came quite close to me and the baby in the sling so I told him that his behaviour was aggressive to which he replied that I WAS BEING AGRESSIVE myself . As we started walking away from him I said that if I saw him letting his dog too close to my child again without calling it back when asked to I would call the police.

What surprised me was that he looked like a normal/nice bloke in his 50ies or so but acted like an intimidating bastard .

I was really fuming but tried to act calmly but please tell me if I was being overly cautious and unreasonable or if this guy was an arrogant prick.

He should def have called the dog back at your first request.

And I have a friendly old lab who is the equivalent of a petting zoo for the kids on the school run.

The nice doggy only wants to be friends and lick your daughters face.
With the same tongue its been licking itself with and eating cat poo and god knows what else whilst running around off a lead.
Mobile pooing machines whose owners would not like to meet a 6ft6 grizzly bear face to face but think the same animal - child height to weight ratio isnt scary for some children. blithering idiots.

This type of owner gives us fellow dog owners a bad name. Even though we have a gorgeous child friendly black lab, I put him on a lead when I see other children. Mainly because he could very easily knock a child over and also because I realise not every child is confident with dogs. Some owners do not give a damn.

OP this makes my blood boil just thinking about the situation you were in. Regardless of how friendly or not the dog was, you had a baby in a sling and a scared three year old. As you say, there's not a lot more you can do in this situation.

I have a labrador and he would sniff in a child's face- harmless but not pleasant for the child. I know he would do this ( he does into me if I sit on the floor- big wet nose in my face!) so I never let him wander up to children - it's just not fair.

It is all well and good for people to say 'oh he's harmless' about their dogs, but YOU don't know that. Other people's dogs worry me around children because accidents can happen and the child will always come off worse.

YANBU

Ps I agree that parents also need to train their children... When my ddog was a puppy we took him for a walk in a park. He was off the lead and a family with a toddler came over to say hi and show their child the puppy. Ddog was running around and the dad kept saying to the toddler 'go and chase the puppy' and laughing... Um NO! Don't chase my puppy!! Not a good experience for my ddog and not a good lesson for the child.

Problem is, people just don't use common sense sometimes.

As I said we are teaching dd to keep calm but I personally would also feel uneasy and cautious to be at eye level with a unfamiliar large animal.

I think all you need to do is try and tell her not scream if she sees a strange dog as SHE could scare it and she might stop and just come back, Irealise she is only wee but keep telling her not all dogs are scary but not to frighten it, I saw 2 teen girls flapp about the other day the dog was just walking past on a lead and they were squeeling and flapping the dog just gave thema look but it couldve snapped

I called the council this morning and found out that there are no longer any animal wardens in our area. I was told to call 101 the no-emergency police number if I or my children should feel threatened by a dog again.

Obviously I don't intend to waste resources by calling for help whenever a dog comes sniffing and is being 'friendly' but if my daughter feels frightened and the dog owner doesn't call the animal back when asked it means either that s/he has no control over the dog or that s/he is being purposefully unhelpful which I would see as an act of intimidation.

In either case i would say that the dog owner needs to be taught how to manage their animal.

Mrsjay, it sounds like the teenage girls were either genuinely frightened, perhaps because they have had a bad experience around dogs before, or they made a bit of a 'silly teenage drama' of it. In any case the dog owner should have commanded the dog away from them. That's just the polite, and as someone said up thread, compassionate thing to do. After all, we all share the park so why not be a bit more courteous?

Fwiw, i have noticed that when we walk in rural areas the dogs are often better trained and dog owners seem more no-nonsense in their interactions with their animals. Could it be that city dogs are a bit more spoiled? Probably that's a sweeping generalisation tough. I guess I'm still a bit annoyed at the guy yesterday.

I agree with you the community police officer can have a word i dont think you are going to hysterically complain if a dog is near your children but keeping a dog in control is the law it is not all about snarling drooling dogs iyswim

any case the dog owner should have commanded the dog away from them. That's just the polite, and as someone said up thread, compassionate thing to do. After all, we all share the park so why not be a bit more courteous?

yeah the owner had it in control the guy was waiting to cross the road the dog was just standing and looking it just walked over the road looking at them as if they were loony

Hate people like that I have two dogs which I regularly let off but never let them near children, even when on lead I give a wide birth to prams and kids as the dogs are same height as child and could react in a way that would startle both parties. Some people with dogs think theirs is the be all of dogs! Sometimes we can be walking on the promenade and a small dogs runs up to mine all off lead playing I'm fine with this. Then the owner came around the corner and almost passed out because dogs were playing went over picked up her dog then walked a few feet and put it back down. My dogs weren't doing anything wrong neither was hers :@

Gonnab, it's really lovely to hear that other dog owners agree that it's not a good idea to let dogs get too close to kids they don't know. In a way, both dogs and toddlers are unpredictable and, as you say, either could do something to startle the other, so why risk an accident? The child could be traumatised or indeed scarred for life.

at the playing dog being carried away.

at the playing dog being carried away.

maybe put in time out