I'm neither a lover or hater of dogs but this is beginning to piss me right off rankle.
Near to where I live is a lovely lake. Nice path, children's play area, ducks etc. Popular in this weather.
I was out walking today with DS 2.6 and DD 6mo. As has happened on so many occasions now, we'll be stood feeding the ducks, only to have somebody's dog come bounding along to us, no owner in sight (the path is quite bendy) and start sniffing about. Now, obviously the sniffing I don't mind so much but DS is a bit wary of dogs and today one started trying to lick his face and was licking at DD's feet in the buggy. The owner then saunters around the corner, calling dog's name (to which it pays no attention) and then looks endearingly at the dog and at DS's worried expression and says "oh don't worry she just wants to give you kisses". No attempt to get control of the dog at all.
I gave tight-lipped half smile and turned away resisting urge to wipe DD feet with an anti-bac wipe
AIBU?
To not care how 'friendly' your dog is, if you can't control it, it should be on a lead
IcouldstillbeJoseph · 18/07/2013 03:20
I have tried to explain there is nothing to be scared of and im not scared myself so I don't think he's picking that up. I did, however, say that you don't touch dogs until mummy says its ok as they may bite you. I think that might have been what did it....
It happens all the bloody time though. Once a dog sneaked up behind him whilst throwing bread for the ducks and he panicked so much I thought he was going to end up in the water! I was stood right night to him before anyone suggests I was sat on my phone somewhere, being neglectful 
Saintly : The other thing to do with an over enthusiastic dog is turn your back to them while making no eye contact etc
I will do this!
I raise my arms to say 'back off'! FGS! I didn't realise that dogs see it as a sign that I want to play ball with them. 
done so many times. Yes other people's dogs are annoying. They should be under control. But people have dogs - get used to it. Blah blah
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Yanbu.
If there were not so many irresponsible dog owners, there would not be so many children with a total fear of dogs!
Having said that, I think most dog owners are pretty irresponsible. I have yet to encounter one who call their dog back with any success, when they run after and nip at my child. 
They mostly just laugh and say "oh look at doggy, he loves children SO much, just wants to play" about scowling labrador/yorkshire terrier who has a firm grip of my childs trousers with its teeth. I wish I could carry around a dart gun with sleep inducing darts to use on dogs like this.
Out of control, off lead dogs annoy other dog owners too.
We have four dogs and try really hard to be responsible dog owners. We walk on lead, pick up poo (and worm regularly), our dogs are chipped, neutered and wear ID. We spend money and time to invest in training classes so they have good doggy manners when they greet people. We only go off lead in certain areas, when there is no-one around and regularly pay to hire an private field for off lead high speed play.
One of our dogs is elderly, arthritic and has poor eyesight - he gets very flustered and upset if an off lead dog comes bounding over.
I'm particularly conscious of the fact that in many parks, Councils already have the power to impose Dog Control Orders that either ban dogs completely or make on lead walking compulsory so an irresponsible minority (as so often) can spoil it for those of us who do try to do the right thing.
As others have posted, off lead dogs usually seems to go hand in hand with owners being oblivious to the poo too.
DEFRA will be changing the law next year, and it looks likely it will be stricter, and will also apply in more places. Any dog owner who are currently oblivious to this might get a nasty shock when it is introduced.
MSLouis - are you every doggy's friend? god they must love you. Honestly the more you ignore them the more they will ignore you. You don't need to turn completely but just turning a shoulder will help given them 'I'm not interested' signs. Raising arms is definitely treated as a sign to play (or maybe there's a treat in that hand - double the excitement).
Both ds2 and ds1 used to be scared of dogs. DS2 would raise his hands, so the dog would jump up, then he'd run screaming and the dogs thought he was great fun. I remember one memorable moment when he had three dogs chasing him with happy doggy faces while he ran screaming across the moors. I was yelling 'STAND STILL' but he was struggling to do that and so the dogs carried on - it looked like something from a cartoon. The of course he'd go to friends houses and do the same and end up a gibbering wailing wreck so he stopped being invited (I don't blame the parents - their dogs were perfectly friendly & who wants a playdate designed to occupy your child turn into 3 hours of comforting someone else's child). I can honestly say he never met an aggressive dog, they were all friendly but his reactions just made them very playful which he felt overwhelmed by.
DS1 is severely autistic and doesn't like fur. But his reaction to dogs has always been to freeze and they do generally ignore him. They might sniff but they just run away from from. Now we have our own dog he has a slightly worrying habit of occasionally extending a finger towards a strange dog (because he does that with ours who then licks his finger).
Ds2 is very sensible about dogs now and asks before approaching. I spend a lot of time at home saying 'fgs get your hands out of the dog's mouth/get the dog out of your bed (it's a retriever it's not small)/ will you please not let the dog lie on you'. So it is possible to go from absolutely terrified at 8 to dog whisperer at 11.
DS3 loves all dogs and has to be reminded to not approach unknown dogs.
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