Dog ban outside school

[stivesholiday]

Recently our primary school has closed its gates to cars as our new head teacher wants to encourage as many of us to walk to school as possible.

Additionally, the new head teacher has changed the drop off and pick up rules, so that parents don't need to wait in the playground, they can do a quick wave goodbye and kiss in the morning. At the end of the day, as long as the teacher sees the parent waiting, the child can walk out of school.

Concurrently, there are a lot of people since the New Year that have gotten dogs. These factors combined mean that many more dogs are being walked to school as dog owning parents realise that if they walk the 20 mins to school and back twice a day, that it a fair chunk of their dog walking done; quite handy.

There are now around 15 dogs that are in the school area before and after school. They are not allowed in the playground, but the parents don't need to go in there anyway. So there are lots of dog owning parents waiting on the footpath behind the metal fence outside of school.

Some parents have complained that there are too many dogs at the school gate area and it is frightening for their children who are scared of dogs. These are not aggressive dogs, but many are puppies so are bouncy and they all want to play with each other.

I can see the perspective of the parents with small children that feel scared. They have put a petition together to ask the head to ban dogs from outside the school.

Am I being unreasonable to think that as long as the dogs are not in the school grounds, are not acting aggressively, are on a lead/under control, there is nothing that these parents can do, no matter what the petition?

I put my hands up to owning an 8 month old puppy. One mother asked me via Facebook to not walk my dog to and from school and I said no because I'm doing nothing wrong. I likened it to not wanting a strangers car parked outside your house but you can do nothing about it if they have paid their road tax.

OP you're a selfish person. You talk about understanding children's fear of dogs and then your LEGAL RIGHTS!!! You have a legal right to do thousands of selfish, lazy and unkind things. That still makes you a selfish, lazy and unkind person, just not not a criminal. Don't you have any self respect? Why are you so invested in your LEGAL RIGHT! to be a nuisance and frighten children on their way to and from school?

I cant' stand 10 feet back. The footpath is only a couple of feet wide. There is a school on one side of it and a road on the other.

When there was somewhere in the school to tie your dogs up, then I could make sure I was well back from any passing children. I could be 20 foot away. However, parents said they didn't like seeing lots of dogs within the school grounds so kicked us out... onto a 3 foot wide path... idiots!!

I really don't know what they expected to happen!

I hate dogs. If I had to walk my children past 15 of the things every day just to get them into school I would definitely be complaining.

Of course the HT can't ban you from having dogs on a public footpath but it would be nice to think that if your child were terrified of something, other parents wouldn't try and shove it in her face every morning and evening just to win some kind of pathetic playground 'war'.. Exposure to something you're scared of doesn't make you suddenly stop being scared - in fact I just makes you more scared.

Being fearful of dogs is not irrational. They can do serious harm, as they did to me when I was younger. I have no desire to 'get over' my fear.

People come before dogs every time.

Can you not stand on the other side of the road, assuming both sides have pavement? Moving across as your child cones out and then quickly moving away.

Rinabean, it's half eleven, no need to shout..

There's nothing the school can do about people with dogs outside the school, and it's perfectly legal, but it isn't very considerate. Same with smoking outside the gates - perfectly legal, but not very considerate.

I am not at all surprised that people don't like that, loss of people would feel uncomfortable walking through a line of 15 lively (or even not lively!) dogs that close.

The school and dog owners and others need to work together to find a solution. The current situation is obviously untenable I think, irrespective of legalities.

Bully for all of you with angel dogs - presumably you wouldn't therefore have any problem with strict licensing requirements then, given that you'd obviously fulfil all training and inspection needs? If you'd think this unfair, blame the growing number of selfish twats who do the opposite of what you claim and freely shit on other people's feelings.

I think that the other parents are being selfish though. The parents who insisted on saying no to a dog area for dogs to be tied up out of the way. They didn't think it through. They have forced a situation that didn't need to happen. It is far worse to have 15 or so dogs along a 3 - 4 foot wide path running for 20 feet or so.

By the way, this isn't about dog shit, it is about whether dogs can be banned from outside schools on the public footpath.

Just for a moment, consider that you are the parent of a child who is absolutely terrified of dogs. To get that child to school, you have to convince your terrified child to walk through fifteen bouncy dogs congregated in a small area right around the gate. Not only do you then have a child who associates going to school with being scared, but it does nothing to teach them that being around dogs can be done safely. Expecting a child to run the gauntlet every morning is not the way to make them 'get over it'. It needs to be done sensibly and in controlled conditions. You could end up with a child that begins school refusing because of it, parents who end up taking their children late to avoid dogs which disrupts learning time, or a child that panics and runs on to the road and gets hurt. All so you can walk your dog to school and stand right at the gate.

I'm a dog lover. I have six of them myself. Compromise is what is needed. Parents should be able to walk their dogs to school, and parents should be able to get their children in to school without being mugged by 'friendly, bouncy puppies' (who turn in to fully grown rude unmanageable dogs if not well trained). Common sense says that if you bring your dog with you, stand further down the path out of the way so that parents and children who do not want to interact with your dog have a safe and clear passage through to the school. Is there only one gate in to the school? Could there be a compromise by having one 'dog free' gate for people to use if they want to avoid dogs, while the dog owners wait by the other gate?

One dog - ops dog, for example - is fine. 15 dogs tied up on a narrow footpath isn't all right. It just isn't. It's anti-social.

And they won't all be 'lovely puppies' either. There will be a couple of big snappy badly-trained dogs in there. And even lovely puppies can hurt a child - DS was badly scratched by a friends puppy jumping up recently. Obv not the pup's fault, he was just doing his thing, but DS is now very wary about dogs.

Maybe instead of being sniffy about petitions the dog owners should get together and come up with a solution. (I'll walk my dog where I like not being a solution, of course.)

I have a feeling the school will open up the dog area for dogs to be tied up again. It would resolve the problem but will cause disharmony with the parents who got it banned only a couple of weeks ago.

So you want to force large numbers of adults and children to do something that makes them feel uncomfortable / anxious / worried / nervous / totally freaked out, twice a day, every day, to make some kind of point? Even though many of the people affected won't have been the ones who complained in the first place?

That's not very nice really.

Viva - we'd have no problem with you.

If you were stood gossiping, right across the pavement, while you dog was performing its ablutions against the school wall, DS1 would probably barge you in disgust and you'd experience my glare, though.

Why don't the people with dogs just walk them at another time? it isn't necessary for them to be brought to the school.

If its that narrow then people can't get past happily if they don't want to risk inadvertent contact with a dog. You are imposing your choice to have a dog on other people, regardless of what you perceive as your legal rights.

Finney not possible.

Not every dog will attack, despite what people will believe.

Allowing a child to be terrified of every dog, will not help, because they then generalise and become terrified of dogs.

Exposure on the other hand, shows them that they need not always be frightened. They don't generalise the fear.

E.g, I am terrified of tall buildings and buildings with high ceilings, to the point I cry, sweat, tremble.. I had a class in a room with a vaulted ceiling last year, had to go, but I couldn't. I backed out and refused to go. So my tutor, disability officer etc, said I had to - and said they'd support me. Both pointed out that in the future, this wouldn't be something I could avoid in the workplace, and I had to manage it.

So I went, with the support of my tutor who made sure I arrived, winked at me a few times and took my mind off by continually involving me in discussion. I realised I had nothing to be afraid of.

By week 5, I was sitting back in my seat and completely relaxed.

Fear by definition is always irrational. You can be frightened of one animal, yes, because it's bitten you, but you can't transfer that fear to all animals because there's no logical reason.

I can see that this thread's going to run and run though, with people calling the OP all sorts..

The school wants parents to walk.
The school wants those parents who still drive, to be able to quickly drop off and drive on as there is little parking in the area.
The school wants to ban dogs in the entire school grounds.
The school wants to ban dogs in the footpath outside the school.

Where exactly are the dog walkers being unreasonable. Where is the non dog owner compromise?

I think the school has made a lot of decisions without thinking through what the alternatives will be. The large 40 foot by 20 foot area with a fence to tie dogs to was perfectly fine.

I guess it doesn't help that many children are now not even walked into the school gate, the parents slow their car down and the children jump out and walk into school themselves with their parent waving from the car.

Where is

I stand on the opposite side of the road to the school now as im aware that there are a large number of parents who dont stop their children from randomly touching my very small dog... I cannot leave him at home as he comes to work with me and i go straight to the school from work.

If you're only 2 feet tall, or sitting in a buggy I imagine dogs aren't quite so nice as if you're 5 ft and their owner.

This thread - op if you think the reactions here are a bit het up, start one about cat shit.

And can I bring my pet tarantula, or python if you're bringing your friendly dog.

Ludoole - that sounds very considerate, both to the kids and to your dog.

I once saw a woman in my neighbourhood walking two two teeny tiny horses along the pavement, the way you'd walk a brace of labradors. I thought I was going mad.

Ludoole you win for thinking it through and winning for everyone including Ddog.