To think parents should teach their children how to behave round dogs

[Xihha]

There have been a few posts lately about people needing to control their dogs more (and I agree, if you cant control our dog and clean up after it then you shouldn't have a dog imo), but is it unreasonable to expect parents to teach children to be a bit more careful round dogs?

Whilst walking my dog (on his lead) a child who looked about 10 ran up and stuck his head in my dogs face to make a fuss of him whilst i was picking up doggys poo, without checking if it was ok, there have been other times kids have just walked up and started pulling doggy around, this sort of thing happens a lot, especially in the summer when there are more kids out playing and the parents rarely say anything about it.

It's not really an issue with my great soppy lump of a dog because he loves kids and will put up with anything for a bit of fuss but shouldn't these kids know that you should check with the owners before approaching strange dogs and that even a nice dog can get pissed of if you start pulling it around?

You are walking about with what could be considered an 'attractive nuisance' anything that might attract children into danger or harm but you think it's somebody else's job to keep those attracted by it away? That is irresponsible and irrational.

I don't get this

I train my dogs not to chase balls that aren't theirs
Not to try and take/run off with some childs toy
I train them not to take food that isn't theirs
I train them not to run into the road
To ignore other dogs while on a lead
Not to chase cats
To be gentle when taking something or giving me something
Not to bark
Not to go near the fire

I will be teaching DS
Not to shout
Not to take/snatch things that aren't his
Not to approach animals in general without me/dh or whoever he is with and only with permission
To be gentle if allowed to interact with other animals
To be nice to other people
Not to run into the road
Not to go near the fires

From what I gather from some Mnetters training the dogs will be far easier than teaching a child. But it is my job as a parent to do these things.

I will never expect others to go out of their way to either avoid us or have to run interference just because I can't be arsed to do my job as a parent.

My child my responsibility not the dog owners or anyone elses to ensure my child doesn't wander off and get into trouble.

So do you want horses banned from beaches and moors and lanes? I've seen horses in towns as well (and bit just police horses - although not often because a lot of horses don't like riding in heavy traffic). How exactly do you imagine horses are limited in where they can go? Short of inside obviously.

^^
Really?

Nobody is asking if it's ok for their dog to bite a child because they've approached it - the original question is, should people teach their children how to approach a person with a dog politely.

So the fact that it has the potential to bite by virtue if owning teeth just isn't relevant as most dogs wouldn't anyway.

Dogs don't have a magical appeal that nothing else has, that's ridiculous.

Really, I agree. We live on a residential street that runs parallel to a busy main road, with a school and then woodland at the other side of that road. Not the sort of road you'd expect to see horses but we do, frequently.

We regularly have horses on our street, police horses, people riding for pleasure, once we had a couple of escaped ponies, some bloke with a scrap metal cart even.

We're not out in the country in some nice little village either, this is a big town. If there's a football match on, there are police horses everywhere, we have an outdoor shopping centre that seems to be a favourite place with riders.

Cars have roads of their own but people still have to cross them.

And whoever said that people aren't generally roaming about with fireworks, you obviously don't live near me. The local drug dealers use them to advertise new stock, the local yobs sometimes like to throw them off a nearby bridge at passing cars and last night the Royalists were having a field day with them. And you can't do anything without seeing and hearing them between bonfire night and Chinese new year, there's usually someone letting them off every day.

Really to what? Google horse riding beaches - you'll find lots of holidays offering the chance to ride horses on beaches. Google bbc swimming horses & you should find last week's news story about horses swimming on the beach near Penzance. I had to wait in my car a few weeks ago on a busy main road because a horse was napping & refusing to cross. I walked ds1 & the dog past a small herd of horses ( including 2 foals) on a path on the moors on Sunday.

Really to what? I come across horses all the time.

There are feral ponies on our local beach. The council put them there because they couldn't be arsed to cut the grass on the sand dunes. Someone comes and waters and feeds them but they don't really belong to anyone.

They quite often come over to investigate walkers. Now I could allow my children to harass them and then blame the council for not supervising their ponies, but I'd still have an injured child and an abused pony to think about, so I don't do that. I teach my children how to behave properly around the ponies, even though they scare the crap out of me.

'Horses will definitely bite you as soon as look at you'.

That is patently untrue. As someone else said, horses are prey animals and prey animals' overriding behavioural mode and survival tools are all about wariness and flight. As in, a horse will use its eyes, ears and nose to scent threats, and get away from them using its long legs and speed. If threatened at close quarters it will lash out, probably with back legs. Biting is not remotely high on a horse's agenda.

If people think that keeping their children away from everything, and then blaming others for mishaps, is an OK way to go about things then I guess that's their prerogative. But ignorance about things like how to approach common animals, or an unwillingness to let children engage with animals, makes me quite sad.

Do0in, I really like your post starting 'When I walk my dogs I am often on my lunch break and thus in a hurry'.

Here's the swimming horses I googled and it's a family beach so presumably can get pretty busy sometimes, given that it's in Cornwall.

Sometimes people bring their horses for a canter on our local beach. I can see why, with the tide out there's a huge area for a lovely long canter. I put my dog on the lead if I see any because while I presume any horse brought to a beach is going to be dog proof my dog does get very interested in horses. I love seeing them. Am always jealous - I've only ridden along a beach once and that was on a bonkers horse in New Zealand :ponders booking a holiday:

clickable link of swimming horses

I don't really think that anyone's experience or links to anything will help though.

If someone genuinely believes the acceptable way to encounter a strange or loose dog is to beat it with a stick as that's how they were brought up, then nothing is going to get through to them. The notion that abusing an animal is okay, just because it has teeth and you don't like it, must run too deep. I don't think anything said here will break through that notion, because it threatens what has been taught since childhood by parents and family, and that sort of thing is hard to let go of.

I'm always rushing about for one reason or another. I commit myself to far too many things at once, atm that is house and bird sitting for my parent's, house and rabbit sitting for my sister, covering all of my sister's shifts at work, as well as promising my trainer I would do exercise other than walking my dogs at least 3 times a week [exhausted]

But apparently I should not be able to take time out of my busy schedule to enjoy a peaceful walk in the park, unless I want to take responsibility for the behavior of other people's children who are so mesmerised by my dogs that their parent's cannot possibly be expected to keep them under control

I walked off the beaten track this morning with them, through the woods and long grass meadow because I am tired and grumpy and didn't want to have to deal with people. I could do this everyday of course, but it would be a bit boring for my dogs who cannot really run around freely because the grass is 3 foot taller than they are Plus I still have to deal with people on the way there and back. It was v early this morning, so I only met one man who was very reasonable and polite and told me what a good job I have done with calming my terrier's boisterous nature. I liked that man

Yes in terms of they should make the DC ask permission before stroking,.

No in terms of millions of un trained dogs out there bounding up to DC. Its the dog owners who need to train the dogs and realise that humans and children take precedence over the dog.

I say that as a dog owner.

YANBU - Its a pet peave of mine. Children just come over and touch, and pull. There parents totally oblivious to there actions and if the dog bites, they will soon become magically interested.

From what I gather from some Mnetters training the dogs will be far easier than teaching a child. But it is my job as a parent to do these things.

Yes it will be easier.
Children, even the best brought up, can lose their heads. I posted earlier about experiences some of my DCs had after I had told them and trained them and warned them until I was blue in the face. They do stupid things. Mine are quiet and shy and would not approach a dog to pet it. But some of them are overconfident when it comes to crossing the street. Personality of each child is different, and all they have in common is that they are
(1) unpredictable even with the best parental intentions in the world,
and
(2) they find dogs wonderful.

I agree with ThePrinceofCambridge's general philosophy.

Dooin, Nobody else has to accommodate the fact that you are too busy to get to a better place than a park full of children to walk your dogs.

It is a public park, not a dedicated children's park, it has children's play areas within it but we don't go into those, Math. I am entitled to be there. If I was sat reading a book in the park, would it be okay for children to come and paw at my book? No. I use my dogs to relax. Sometimes it is okay for children to come and paw at them if they ask, sometimes it is not. Either way I would like to be asked. They are my property. It is not my responsibility to control your children just because I am holding something they might like. You could stop them stealing my ice cream or my sweets, even though they want them, you can stop them bothering my dogs without asking.

Really is it that hard to understand?

Why shouldn't people walk their dogs in public parks. Do these parks belong to children?

So baffled by some of the reasoning put forward on this thread.

By your reasoning then math I shouldn't be teaching my son not to touch cars when looking at handbrakes, or teach him not to run up and stand behind a car he sees start (a good viewpoint for watching the handbrake go down) or remove him from people who are getting stressy about him breathing on their cars.

Sqoosh I am utterly baffled at why people would want me to be responsible for their child anyway. I am the least responsible person I know, the last thing you want to do is leave the responsibility of your child's well being with me. They'll end up being sent home with pink hair, holes in their ears and knowing all the swear words in my favourite songs

Seriously though why are people happy to delegate responsibility for their child's safety and good manners to a complete stranger? You and you alone are responsible for your child. Not me, okay, so I have a dog. That doesn't automatically make me someone who is not going to snatch your child and run off with them. If they are going to approach me, then by virtue of the fact that you don't know me from adam, you should be supervising them. I'm a dog owner, not a CRB checked, fully referenced free nanny.

Teach your children some manners, fgs.

Yes, 'parks are full of children' is a breathtakingly arrogant argument. Do some people really think only people with children should be allowed in parks? Where else, in some areas, are dog owners supposed to walk their dogs, and why shouldn't they be able to use a public park like any other member of the public?

DOoin Can I steal your ice cream while stroking your doggy? My mum said I could, she's all the way over on the other side of the park, smoking and chatting to her friends. She said you had to let me as you have a cute doggy :D

I don't tend to walk in parks, because I have actual countryside to walk in...but funnily enough I live in a residential area, where other people also live and to get out of the way of people I have to walk past other streets that also have people living in them and children, sometimes walking somewhere too.

I don't live in some dog bubble where I can transport my dog to somewhere child free...especially because I also have children.

I took Mad Dog to the park this morning at around 10am. There was no-one else in it apart from someone jogging with a dog. But obviously a child might have been there so neither of us should have been there. :rolls eyes:

I'm not sure how to plan my dog walks so that children won't be around? I don't use public parks but I need to walk through my village to get to rural walks.

What if I meet a child who is attracted to my dog like a magnet and whoosh suddenly ends up wrapped around my animal? Meanwhile the parents who should be near their own offspring are powerless to do anything about it!!

Yes kids should be taught to respect dogs and ask permission before going up to them etc. That is perfectly reasonable.

But dogs should also be taught that kids are liable to come up to them and try to pet them etc. With the best will in the world you cannot account for everything a young child does. You can teach a 2 or 3 year old as much as you like but if they are walking past a dog they are still liable to reach out to pet it before the parent can stop them. If the dog then bites the kid, the blame lies with dog's owner. If the dog cannot be trained to deal with these sort of situations then it shouldn't be out in public.