To think that if your child is scared of dogs you should encourage them not to scre and wail if my dog is 300 ft away...

[Beccadugs]

Walking my dog today, she was of lead, about 10ft ahea of me waiting for me to chuck the ball. A child cycled towards us, saw my dog (who is half toy poodle so tiny) and started screaming. My dog just looked at her and then carried on our walk, if she was the type to run up to strangers/kids she wouldn't be off the lead. However, when she was a puppy and less well trained this screaming was an invitation (in her mind) to investigate.

While I accept that some children are scared of dogs, and that is fine. I would have thought that if there is a dog in the general vicinity encouraging your DC not to scream is probably for the best when the dog is ignoring you completely. AIBU, we all want to use the local facilities happily.

I'm not anti dog, I would just rather dog owners would remember not everyone loves their dog.

I want to be able to go for a run without a "friendly" dog pounding up to me, DS wants to be able to play in the park without being knocked over by a dog. Neither is a lot to ask and most dogs owners manage to control their dogs but the ones that don't do contribute to people's fears of dogs - especially the fears of young children.

Saying dogs should never be off the lead ever is anti dog.

Christina there are so many comments about how a dog can turn on you, mauling and savaging being on the increase and how owners are so rubbish always letting their dog off lead blah blah. If that isn't hysteria then I don't know what is.

And Dixon is indeed correct. Lots of people let their children wander up to cute looking dogs all the time and only a few actually make sure they ask if it is ok to approach first. It was very annoying. This happened all the time with our last dog. Surely teaching a child when to approach is all part of a happy Co existence between parents, children, dog owners and dogs.

Oh gawd. Here we go again.
We share the planet with other animals. They have a right to be here too.

Grennie it seems to be a losing battle :)

Dogs on leads.....[.]....Dogs absolutely no worse off

Actually that's not quite true. Dogs need some time off lead. Exercise isn't just about walking. There needs to be running (for cardio fitness) and sniffing (for 'brain' fitness). MuttDog would be utterly utterly miserable (and probably bad tempered and dangerous) if she wasn't allowed to sniff out all the 'messages' left for her by other animals, or to run flat out until she is panting like a steam train.

Do people not get that try as they may to fix the world lots of dog owners are sadly irresponsible and or oblivious to their dogs actions. This is not going to change.
The fact is a screaming reactivate child is much more likely to get bitten. So to protect your child you should try your upmost to teach them how to behave appropriately.
There are books and I believe the company of animals had a programme for it too. It doesn't just go for scared children it goes for them all. Also children from as young an age as possible should be taught how to behave around all animals. Not to approach a sleeping cat, your likely to get scratched, not to walk behind a horse, you could get kicked and not to approach strange dogs or scream around them as you may get bitten.
I was brought up around animals but taught to have respect for them as they are just that animals and never 100% predictable.

Please dog owners, be understanding about dog phobia even though it is a nuisance to you and like most phobias must seem quite ridiculously over-the-top to those not afflicted. I am an animal lover who adores dogs. Yes they do need to run and bounce around and explore, they cannot walk sedately all the time. Yes, it is sensible to teach your child how to behave around dogs.

I have an ASD boy who has a phobia of dogs. He was always wary as he is of all animals but could remain calm until one day a large dog - only young and very friendly - jumped up at him and chased him taking his screaming and running as an invitation to play. We still have hope of overcoming his phobia over time but it is slow and painful work with many setbacks.

It has changed our lives. He has been taught repeatedly not to scream and if the dog is on a lead and he is having a good day he can cope. If the dog is off the lead or it is the second or third one we have seen it is just blind panic and we have had to alter our bus route to avoid a busy stretch of road. I cannot drive and we must take public transport and walk everywhere, something we would really enjoy if it were not for this unpredictable factor.

If a child with otherwise decent road sense can run in front of an oncoming lorry in panic what chance has he got of remembering not to scream?

Dog owners, you are not obliged to leash your dog all the time on account of my son and others like him, but oh how grateful I have been with understanding dog owners who have called their dogs to heel while we passed and even a few sweeties who have picked their little dogs up or walked the other way until we got to 'safety'.

Believe me, it is not taken for granted but profoundly appreciated as it is understanding people like you - and your lovely co-operative dogs - that make our daily life liveable.

I get enraged by threads like this

please educate yourselves about true phobias and not put animals before people

These threads always go the same way. But to add my two pence... I find it annoying when a child screams or runs about near my dog (I will always put my dog on a lead near a child as he's a big bouncy dog). But I accept it, they're children, they probably don't know any better. What really pisses me off is the parents - I've never had a thank you or sorry when their child wails like a banshee and my dog nearly rips my arm out the socket as a consequence, the dog that was perfectly well behaved until said wailing.

It's just a case of simple courtesy. It's funny, I've had a horse for over a decade as well, and not once has a child been allowed to scream or flap around in the near vicinity of her (and I do see a lot of people walking in the woods).

If ever a see a child is frightened, of course I would put the dog on the lead and walk away from the child. I have in fact done that. I do understand about phobias and any responsible dog owner would do this.

Oakmouse, we are in a very lucky position that we have been able to use MuttDog as a 'teaching aid' for a couple of Dog Phobic children, one of whom has SN's. Mutt is very staid and calm when we need her to be, and it was lovely to watch both children as they improved. The young lad has improved so much that he often joins us on 'pack' walks - so going from a fear of all dogs to being able to walk with 9 of them is amazing.

I love dogs and living on a farm grew up with at least three at any one time. We would let them run off leash on our own ground and if they had any issues with the farm animals like my parents current rescue dog (who is having intensive training but not working that well), they are leashed to protect themselves and others. That's the animal analogy - our dogs and our farm animals (who could destroy the dogs as all bigger)

I live in a city and firmly believe that all dogs should be on a leash at all times when in public places to protect themselves and others. I feel this is part of the responsibility of having a dog as as there will always be people who are scared of dogs, rightly or wrongly, and there will always be people who do not train dogs correctly/don't care/breed them for violence etc, etc

At the end of the day all life is precious and we should all respect and be respected in return. However, in my opinion having had dogs but no children as yet I still feel that humans needs to feel safe and comfortable should be put before animals need to run free. We all know the worst that can happen and could you imagine having to live with that?

Just reading some more posts and would like to add I really like the idea of designated off lead places to manage the problem, perhaps that could be the way forward as well as better education on how to behave around all animals, and I'm talking adults here too!

Saying dogs should never be off the lead ever is anti dog

No it's not. HTH

needaholiday - i am sorry you had a bad experience with dogs, it is a shame that you have passed this fear onto your child :(

I have seen this sooo many times - A woman at DDs school didn't like dogs, wasn't scared of them, just didn't like them - every time she saw a dog she would tell her DD to "come here, there's a dog" and the worse episode was when her DD was running off ahead at pick up and there were two dogs, on the other side of the road - she called her back and said, "i told you to stay with me, look, there are two dogs over there" Of cousre the child is scared of dogs. It turned out that this woman wasn't a very nice person.

My instinct is to mistrust people who dislike animals, it is rarely incorrect.

Saying that, i walk my dogs on the beach - they are small, I don't let one off the lead because he is naughty a bastard with other dogs, the other one i do let off because he will come when called etc. He is nervous of people (probably alot more rational than the other way round!) so wont approach people. Generally folk like to see dogs, i have more children approach the dogs than not, some children are scared, the majority of their parents reassure them but some re-enforce the fear and that is sad. I often offer for children who are scared to stroke my dogs as they are 100% child friendly. Some do, some don't. Its sad to see a child scared of dogs, especially as the beach/parks/forrests and fun places to be are going to have dogs in them. I love to see dogs out and about.

I think that if anyone who has ever used the term "fur baby" was banned from ever keeping a dog again, the lives of both dogs and humans would improve immeasurably.

And just to clarify my last point: it's not anti dog, it's pro (human) child.

I realise it's probably not realistic to have a dog on a leash at all times, but I very firmly believe that a dog is not under control unless it is on a lead, no matter how strong the belief of the owner in its obedience.

My instinct is to mistrust people who dislike animals, it is rarely incorrect.

It turned out that this woman wasn't a very nice person

Oh well that PROVES it then. Sorry I doubted you!

Haggischucker - whilst the designated off lead area is a good idea in theory, i don't think it would work for several reasons. Mainly i think the problem would be that you would get a high concentration of dogs in a smaller area and that is not ideal, it may lead to dog fights etc. Also, whilst pickng up poo is fine, you can't pick up wee - it will stink :) Maybe this would work in a park, but i think if you have a busy park then actually the dogs should be on a lead and you find somewhere more appropriate to let them off.

So i take my dogs for a walk on the beach, most of the time both are on the lead as there are lots of people, i keep them on lead due to lots of other dogs really, more than people. There are sections of the beach i will let one of them off as it is less busy, but still the odd dog or three, then i walk further on and can let them both off as i can watch for other dogs and decide whether to put the bastard JRT1 on the lead.

Its just about common sense, dog owners absolutely have to respect other people without dogs, just as other people need to respect peoples right to have pets and enjoy them.

but Becca - one of my best friends HATES dogs, so i am sometimes wrong - i do tell her she is an evil dog hater though - she pulls this face at me. But generally i feel that people who dislike animals seem to lack empathy. I am not talking about people who can take them or leave them, nor am i talking about people who are scared, but people who actively dislike them.

curlew - "furbaby" has just made me a little bit sick in my mouth

Dear OP, no one knows what your dog is like, don't you know most attacks by dogs that end up in A &E come from the friendly wouldn't hurt a fly, family dog.

Any discussion with children and dogs, children always trump dogs.

Arrogant bloody dog owners.

I hope you apologised profusely op.

There is a park close to me which has a designated dog area and a fenced in designated children's playpark. The dog area has large signs stating that it is a dog area and people should expect dogs to be off the lead. The amount of people who stand in the dog area shouting at people to get their dogs on a lead is ridiculous! If you or your child can't behave in the dog area then you shouldn't be there, same as if my dog couldn't behave in the childrens area I wouldn't take her in.

I have a big German Shepherd and it goes two ways. People are either terrified of her and grab their child/dog if they see us approaching (even tho fluffy is wearing a halti harness and I can control her from both her neck and body) or parents point out my dog and tell their child to come over and rub it or children and adults will also run up to my dog to rub her without asking.

Dog owners really can't win!