to think an out of control dog should be always on the lead?

[hibbledibble]

I was going for a walk in the park today with dds, both under 5, and my dh and dog. Our dog is a small mixed breed, with a very gentle nature, and is impeccably behaved.

I saw 2 dogs which I knew to be aggressive (they have attacked/tried to attack our dog numerous times before). I immediately picked up our dog to protect her. One of the dogs, a powerful breed, then comes up to me, growling, scratching and trying to climb up my leg to reach my dog. I'm pretty scared at this point, and so is older dd.

Dog owner makes no effort to remove dog, other than meekly calling her over, which the dog ignores of course. Dh comes and removes aggressive dog from me by grapping her harness. Only at this point does the dog owner want to take control of his dog 'give me my dog'.

There was no apology, and in fact the owner was verbally aggressive, saying I knew nothing about dogs! No idea what this is meant to mean..

I was pretty schook up, and spoke to a bystander who said he has seen said dog be aggressive many times.

Aibu to think dogs like this should always be on the lead? It is always off the lead. I have tried previously to tell the owner that his dog is out of control and should be on the lead, but he said it would never hurt anyone!!

Wwyd?

I'm worried about walking my poor dog in our local park.

Amazing, have given an update to someone else's thread. As you were

Ps dogs should always be on leads, mine is apart from the wayback dog route

Pippin . Thanks for your update.

Thank you pippin for the update, I was watching your other thread!

I hope the police will take some action about this owner. What really throws me is that he made no effort to stop his dog attacking, or apologise afterwards, and this had happened so many times before! The dog is a danger and this is a park next to a school with a playground which is very popular with families.

All dogs should be on leads at all times in all public places except designated fenced dog areas. Sick to death of owners and their stinking dogs spoiling open spaces for the rest of us. If an unwanted dog approaches you I find a sharp whack with a stick, or a swift kick usually sends them away. And dog owners, if you don't want me to hit or kick your dog don't let it approach me.

OP YANBU, all dog owners have a responsibility to control their dogs. Hope you're OK.

kardamyli if you kicked one of my three dogs they'd tear your legs off. That would not happen however as I live in a country where all dogs have to be on leads at all times in public and my dogs are immaculately trained to remain by my side. Well, except ddog3, but she's an 11 month old rescue and we only picked her up yesterday, so her training needs perfecting.

Wow Kardamyli you kick a dog if it comes near you, even if it is not doing any harm? Nice.

If you kicked my dog I'd kick you harder.

If you're kicking dogs merely for approaching you, you should feel damn lucky that you've not been arrested yet.

As I said, if you don't want me to kick your dog keep it away from me.

I don't randomly approach dogs and kick them, would only consider doing so when the revolting things come up to me. I have a right not to be bothered by other people's animals and I assert that right by making sure any dog that comes up to me knows it is not welcome. Unsurprisingly I've never been arrested for kicking a dog. If challenged it is easy enough to say that the dog approached me uninvited and the kick was in self defence as I thought it was going to attack me.

Good luck with that mandy CC! You kick me and I will have you arrested for assault.

kardamyli I've reported someone for kicking my dog a few months back and the police came round to see me and said they would keep it on record and go round and have a word with him if I wanted them to. They said its animal abuse. They asked me if I had taken my dog to the vet to check for internal injuries.
I'd be very wary of kicking random dogs if I were you before you land yourself a police visit and a vets bill.

I don't know if you really kick dogs, but it's so unnecessary, just causing trouble and quite cruel if the dog is friendly and just wants to sniff you. But really it might bite you or cause a big row with the owner so it is just a mad idea. I can understand if you were afraid it may attack, but otherwise there is no point.

I used to do a lot of long walks with my young DC, exploring the area. Woodlands, open fields, lots of fun for them.

Time and time again some dog off a lead has bounded up to them, licking my baby in her pushchair or trying to jump up at my toddler and infant school age children, terrifying the shit out of them. Often the owner is out of sight, or if they're not, they're hundreds of yards away.

When I ask the owners to call their dogs back (never mind recall ability, it would help if they actually bothered trying to recall the dog in the first place) I get the crap about "just being friendly"/"wouldn't hurt a fly" and when I point out they have upset my DC, I get abuse. Usually along the lines of "this is a dog walkers area, don't bring your children here if they're afraid of dogs". More often than not I get abuse just for trying to shoo the dog away gently "how dare you talk to my dog like that".

I should point out that we live in the UK and of course there are no official dog walking areas, just places where dog walkers like to go and not being a dog owner, I don't always know what they are. Although seemingly it's everywhere that is a little bit wild - the sort of countryside I love and grew up with. Apparently children belong in parks and that is it. No exploring allowed, sorry.

Now they're afraid of dogs. I'm dog-friendly as I had one growing up so they don't learn any fear from me and I always try and talk positively about them. They learned it themselves from so many sodding dogs running at them, and the owners aggressively giving abuse to their mummy when I try and shoo the dog away. No wonder they're scared.

So we don't go on those sort of walks any more because the last half a dozen times there was always at least one incident of this nature. I can't let them go more than a few yards from me in open farmland/woodland etc and even then we get this crap. This isn't fair.

I know dogs love being off-lead, so why not bring in a license to allow a dog to be off-lead, with a test? Any dogs caught off-lead without a license, anywhere at all (except maybe a sanctioned fenced in dog area) gets prosecuted. Might encourage people to properly train their dogs as well.

Bubba what a load of nonsense. The police have got better things to do than worry becuase someone kicked your no doubt off the lead dog. The police would never use the phrase "animal abuse". Your use of that phrase makes me think you may have made up that whole story.

Lilac, if a dog is close enough to sniff someone the owner needs to accept that their dog is too close and the person IT has approached may take action to get the dog away.

Crispy that is terrible. Dogs and dog owners tend to be very selfish. It is very sad that dog owners are allowed to ruin enjoyment of the countryside for others. I would go further than your suggestion and make the majority of areas no go for dogs. Designated fenced areas for dogs and open spaces for the rest of us.

Kardamyli, even though you clearly think your unfounded prejudice makes kicking dogs ok, I'd just point out if you do that to some dogs, you'll likely get bitten. My dog wouldn't be in that situation in the first place, but if it was, and it bit you I would use the defence you were threatening me with your aggressive body language and shouting and it was defending me. And if you kick large aggressive dogs, ringing the police won't be much compensation for being maimed.
I also assume my friend who doesn't really like small kids can stop avoiding areas they are likely to approach her and just be abusive if they do?
Or another friend with very good reason to be wary of all men she doesn't know very well can kick your husband/ male relatives etc if they are within reach? Cos you do get that being sexually assaulted by someone you know is far more likely than being attacked by a dog in public right?
Sorry to derail op but thats a view I can leave unchallenged

There is a big difference between an out of control dog and a curious young dog. If you ignored it it would go away anyhow kicking it is asking for trouble and quite evil.

Lurked you appear to be operating under the fallacy that dogs have the same rights as people. Fortunately we have not yet reached the point where that is the case. If your dog bit me it would be destroyed and you prosecuted. Allowing a viscious animal to savage a stranger because you thought the strangers body language was aggressive is not a defence and will not get you off the hook. Perhaps you have one of those attack stylee dogs used as weapons?

MandyCC such a dog might or might not go away. If all dog owners kept their dogs on leads when out in public we wouldn't even be debating what I should or shouldn't do as no dog would ever get within my kicking distance.

Right hang on, so in your world it's perfectly fine to respond with violence to a dog who gets too close, you'll happily lie to the police about what happened and even if you pretend there aren't laws protecting animals if an owner defended their property (because that's what a dog then is if you ignore animal cruelty laws) with the same action you took...you'd then rely on the police to only act on the laws you want them to?...

Yep, that's, um, logical and likely.

Kardamyli If you kicked a dog and the dog bit you, you would be prosecuted, and rightly so. Animal abuse is a crime in the UK, and unsolicited kicking of an animal certainly counts.

If you don't like dogs then fair enough, you don't have to like them. But unless you are acting in genuine self defence, there are more intelligent ways of dealing with it than to resort to assaulting the animal.

Tabul - if your dog is being kicked because it is attacking someone you don't then have the right to assault the kicker. That would be both the dog and dog owner assaulting the same person. You might think a dog slobbering / jumping up is not attack but I do.

Simple message to all dog owners - keep your dogs on leads at all times when in public areas.

Fyre, hasn't happened yet and I doubt it ever will. I've kicked plenty dogs to get them away and not been bitten or prosecuted yet. You'd be surprised, most dogs are happy to move away after a toe in the ribs.

You didn't say attacking, jumping, or slobbering...you said approaching or if it was close enough to kick.

Sorry tab, should also have added within my personal space which extends in an area around me commensurate with the reach of my kicking ability.

As far as I'm concerned any dog within my personal space uninvited is a threat and I am entitled to get it go away in any way I feel like