Dogs on beaches. Why?

[Chickensarmpit]

Today i took my 3 young kids to the beach for a rare day out.
It was ruined by dogs!
They shit all over the place, one pissed up my icebox and one bloody stole my sons ball.
We moved twice and eventually gave up and went home

Why do people insist on taking dogs with them? Grrr annoyed!

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

MrButtercat - as SarahStratton says, helping a child to overcome,their fears, whatever they may be, absolutely does NOT mean making that child feel like crap, and I am somewhat bemused that you would think so. On the contrary, I think that overcoming a fear would be an immensely empowering thing - for a child or an adult - and would also make the world a better place for that child.

I am not saying that because I think all children should enjoy playing with dogs (though I do believe that dogs can bring a whole lot of fun and joy to life), but because they wouldn't be worrying and stressing about dogs when out and about - it must be horrible to be worrying about whether there is a dog round the next corner or whether that dog over there is going to rush over and hurt you.

[MrButtercat]

Done all that,even with the help of a vet,pretty much every time he has made small progress something happens such as out of control dogs on a beach.Last weekend a dog went for my ankles,thankfully protected by a beach bag.

We're not attempting anymore.There are only so many times you can tell a child dogs are fine and have them looking at you with mistrust.

I just want them to keep out of our space and we'll happily keep out of theirs.

[josephinebruce]

Reading some of the posts on this thread just reminds me why I prefer my dog to most humans!!

I rarely let him off the lead though, but when I do he just walks beside me.

He ignores most children because he's never really been around them, but if one wants to say hello and their parents are ok with it, I let them pat him on the head - but that's all.

Really small children scare him because they move fast and flail around. One hit him once - the parent was several metres away and my puppy was doing nothing but sitting there ....and yet it was my dog's fault? And yes, I did see it, yes, I was there and yes, I did tell the child off - only to be given a mouthful of abuse from the child's parent.....

[saintlyjimjams]

Yes it has been wonderful to see ds 2 go from terrified to adoring dogs. And I loved seeing him ducking his friends and being ducked underwater in the sea last week. Very different from the child who this time last week say crying on the side of a swimming pool last year (shallow end).

Curlew - it's all very well saying dogs shouldn't approach strangers - I agree. But in ds2's case all his friends (except one) have dogs so being terrified was restricting his life enormously. Whether or not dogs approached him out and about was neither here nor there really. I was more concerned that he wasn't being invited back to people's houses because the parents couldn't deal with the gibbering crying child when he was faced by their friendly bonkers slobbery hound (fair enough - I couldn't have a dog terrified child here now either - likewise when we advertise to employ people I always make it clear we have a friendly but bouncy dog)

[holidaysarenice]

A water pistol squirted striaght at the owners face usual sorts the problem.

Let your dog annoy me, ill annoy you.

[saintlyjimjams]

Last year he didn't get over his swimming fear in a week!

[SarahStrattonIsBackForJustABit]

Yep, I've had similar, including an arsey parent because LittleDog dared growl at the out of control, strange child who thought it would be ok to run after him, and pick him up, hurting him in the process. He really is tiny, and a bit fragile. Easy to hurt, poor thing.

MrB, I can't see how a vet could help, but spending time with a friend who has a well behaved dog would, as would asking if you could sit in on some dog training classes. Otherwise, your poor DS is going to find it really interferes with his social life.

[SarahStrattonIsBackForJustABit]

A water pistol squirted striaght at the owners face usual sorts the problem.

You do that to me, and I'll have you done for assault. What a bloody stupid reaction.

[MrButtercat]

Said vet had well behaved dogs.It didn't work and forcing him makes it worse thanks.

[SarahStrattonIsBackForJustABit]

But you do need to deal with it, like DD2 had to deal with her phobia, and sooner rather than later. What will he do when he wants to go round a friend's house, and they have dogs? Or when he's old enough to go out on his own, and comes face to face with dogs? I do feel for you, I know how awful it was for DD, but we can't let it interfere with their lives, for their sakes. :(

[Dackyduddles]

Cor.... You wouldn't like me. I ride horses. They shit wee gallop and play with footballs and swim.

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

We aren't saying force him, MrButtercat - but there are lots of dogs in the world (plus the fear of potential dogs round every corner) so I do not understand why you would give up on helping your child overcome the fear. Surely fear like this is very debilitating and limits his enjoyment of life - is worse in the long run than the stress of dealing with the fear?

It sounds as if it needs to be a very slow and gentle process for your child, and maybe you could find better help than the vet. To my mind, a vet is going to be someone who loves animals and is therefore not likely to understand, on a deep level, a fear of any animal, and is unlikely to have studies the psychology of phobias - you need a psychologist, maybe, rather than a vet.

[McNewPants2013]

I rarely go to the beach, this year I have been twice.

I don't see why local people should be banned from taking thier dogs to the beach which they use a far more than I do.

I do think that all owner should have pet insurance.

If licence fees was introduced how would it be policed.

[saintlyjimjams]

Going to upload a pic to my profile of my previously terrified of dogs ds2 (and no dogs and boys wearing shoes aren't really allowed on the sofa - not even grotty sofas, but I took a photo before telling the pair of them to behave...)

A year before that photo was taken ds2 couldn't be in the same room as a dog - he was terrified.

[SarahStrattonIsBackForJustABit]

According to one poster, upthread (please don't ask me who, I cba to find the post), dogs should have their future license number prominently displayed. So, number plates for dogs then?

[Bakingtins]

Plenty of beaches that don't allow dogs in the summer months if you don't like them. YABU.

[saintlyjimjams]

Oh I give up, I have made the photo tiny and still mumsnet won't upload it. Anyway it's a sweet photo of ex-terrified child cuddled up to the dog (retriever) on the sofa.

[SarahAndFuck]

SarahStratton we also have a little dog who people swoop on and pick up for a cuddle, even while he's on the lead. They seem to come from nowhere to pick him up, usually saying something about "Look! It's the smallest dog in the world!"

He is friendly, but he's also very young and still in training, and they don't know him. He's a JRT and a lot of people have taken pains to tell us how 'nasty' JRT's are. He's sociable, but he can still be frightened or hurt. He's actually very tolerant, enjoys being petted and has never growled or snapped at anyone.

I've also been bitten by a dog when I was a child. It was a friends dog, with an ear condition that had been neglected and not treated. Dog was in pain and my friend touched his ears, he jumped forward and bit me.

We've also been out with the dogs at a national trust property which welcomes them. It's basically a massive forest with fields and a lake. It's filled with dog walkers and mountain bikers. We went for lunch and chose to sit on a wall far away from the main cafe and picnic area to keep the dogs away from people who might not like them, especially while they were eating.

A family walked the length of a field to come and sit beside us and then complain loudly that we had a dog with us, their son was frightened of them and we should move away as it wasn't the sort of place to bring a dog. It's exactly the sort of place to bring a dog. And they had no need to come near us, there were plenty of tables, benches and other bits of wall much closer to the cafe and away from dogs.

I'm not sure what the point of the thread is really. The OP went to a dog friendly beach that is advertised as a dog friendly beach, lives locally to it and so must know it is a dog friendly beach and saw some inconsiderate people, which you get everywhere. And yes, they give a bad name to the good owners and good dogs, but calling for all dogs to be banned from the beach is not the answer.

No more so than calling for all people to be banned from the beach because some people litter it. I don't want to see people leave dog poo on the beach any more than I want them to leave bottles, cans, cigarette ends, plastic bags, dirty nappies, fast food wrappers and everything else that people leave on beaches. Some of which is just as bad and just as dangerous as dog poo.

Report the owners who are not cleaning up after their dogs. Take a sneaky photo if you can, or give a description. That's what I've done to a repeat offender (owner, not dog) I've seen on our street several times now. She has a German Shepherd dog she never cleans up after and after third time I confronted her and told her I was going to report her if I saw her again. And I have reported her.

But it doesn't mean the other dog owners who walk down our street and do clean up should be banned from it, it just means this one lazy, irresponsible madam needs to up her game and take care of her dog and it's mess.

I'd like to see more bins and more wardens issuing fines to people who are irresponsible, both with dogs and litter.

[Awks]

You only go to beaches on "rare days out" and probably leave all your dirty litter behind I go every day with my dog.

[SarahStrattonIsBackForJustABit]

I do 'Like' your post, Sarah. Full of common sense.

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

Me too, Sarah. Applause, SarahandFuck.

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

Absolutely spot on, MrsDeVere.

MrButtercat - if your child had a fear of water, would you abandon your attempts to help them overcome that fear and learn to swim? Or would you, rightly, think that this is a safety issue, and carry on until you had found something that worked for them, because that would be better than your child drowning?

What if you never tackle your child's fear of dogs, and they panic one day, run out into the road and are hit by a car? That is not catastrophising to scare you - MrsDeVere saw a child run into the road because they were scared of her dog - it was just good luck that there was no car coming past at the time.

As I said earlier, I think that a vet might not be the best person to tackle fear of dogs, because it is unlikely that they will have received the neccessary psychological training to deal with phobias (I doubt that is part of veterinary training), and as it si very likely that they love animals they may well struggle to understand a child who fears them.

I think you should find someone who deals with childrens' phobias, and get their help with this. It makes sense to help your child overcome this fear (not to make them feel crap, or to force them to do something - but to help them) because it would remove a major source of stress and distress from their life.

[GummyLopes]

Dogs are alive and I think all alive animals should be able to run about and enjoy themselves the same as anyone else. Why should human's have the final say-so?

[possum18]

My Local beach has certain months (mainly summer) where dog and bicycle use is restricted to early morning and late afternoon - evening and this seems to work well. Some people choose to ignore but this is generally not an issue as long as owners are responsible and have control over their pets! If you can't control your doggies, put them on a lead