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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To demand people keep their dogs away from me on the seafront

999 replies

TigerPath · 29/04/2016 07:16

I'm sick of random dogs coming up to sniff me and DS or getting under my feet. All dogs make me nervous even small ones. And I hate it when they cock their leg on my pram wheels Angry

So now when a dog comes up to me or just before it reaches me I shout to the owner (politely but firmly) 'please keep your dog away from me/my pram'
Most oblige but a number are rude! Yesterday a woman retorted crossly 'but it's the sea-front'. I replied 'they should be on leads' and got a mouthful of abuse. There is a bloody great sign saying 'dogs should be on leads on the promenade'!! I wouldn't care if people kept them to heel but I don't want them touching me, my pram or tripping me up Angry

AIBU??

OP posts:
Thread gallery
12
JustMeAndHim · 30/04/2016 20:45

YANBU to ask that people keep their dogs away from you. Maybe the issue is with you "demanding" this and getting people's back up.

That being said, I don't feel I'm being unreasonable in asking people to keep their children away from my dog (who is on a lead btw) as she has anxiety after being badly treated by a child when she was a puppy. Funny though, those parents normally ignore me completely and then look at me angrily when she starts to growl Hmm

JustMeAndHim · 30/04/2016 20:47

If you said Could you possibly keep your dogs away from me please' whilst I was out walking I would take absolutely no issue with it. I would have thought most reasonable people wouldn't mind that, I think most people can appreciate that not everyone is a dog lover

NeedACleverNN · 30/04/2016 20:50

If someone said to me would you mind/could you possibly get your dog away. I'm a bit fearful. I would take no issue with that

Get your dog away from me! would have me a bit urm.... Hmm

BennyTheBall · 30/04/2016 20:53

I would be totally sympathetic if you said 'sorry, I am frightened of dogs!'.

SpringHasNearlySprung · 30/04/2016 20:53

Tiger I notice after I replied to your rather aggressive post have failed to respond. Do you still think the countryside is for everyone after reading my reply?

Original poster
TigerPath · 30/04/2016 20:54

Spring, apologies about the pond, I missed the bit where you said it's private property and there are signs up.
No of course people shouldn't chase your sheep or pet your lambs or feed your horses! I can't imagine anyone thinking this is ok.
I am very wary of going anywhere near farms, and I don't walk in the countryside much because I'm nervous around cows/rams/horses as well as dogs. Last year I had to walk past a farm in the Dales (public road) and I stopped to get my water-bottle out, and 3 massive sheepdogs ran at me barking and growling and bearing their teeth, with their fur standing up on their necks. I was petrified, shouted for help but no-one came. They pinned me against the fence (not touching me but not letting me walk) so I had to sidle sideways along the fence facing the dogs, and when I was past the farm they all stopped and stood there barking until I was out of sight. Is that normal behaviour for farm dogs? Do your dogs do that? It was a horrible, terrifying experience and I've been nervous of dogs ever since. I haven't been hiking since then.

OP posts:
Shining12 · 30/04/2016 20:56

It seems that seeing a runner triggers a play/chase response in dogs that doesnt occur with walkers, but if you have a dog which gives chase easily then it needs to be kept on a lead.
My right to run unhindered takes priority over the dogs right to be off lead, but what actually happens is that dog owners behave as if I am doing something selfish by choosing to run in 'their' dog walking areaAngry

I might feel like having a go at the owner but for my own safely I would avoid showing any hostility to a dog owner, thats only going to make the dog more hostile isn't it.

FarrowandBallAche · 30/04/2016 20:56

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Shining12 · 30/04/2016 21:07

Tiger. that does sound extremely frightening and I think that anyone who heard your story would be sympathetic.
Given that dogs are pretty much ubiquitous is there any way that you could overcome your fear of dogs.
I know I've ranted a bit about dogs on this thread, I get annoyed by irresponsible owners but I'm not actually frightened of dogs and I can imagine that it would make everyday outings quite a trauma if I was

SpringHasNearlySprung · 30/04/2016 21:10

Is that normal behaviour for farm dogs?

Not ours, no. Our working dogs have their own heated kennels and half a field to wander in where they live unless they are working. They do bark at people they don't know. My labs are a different story as they are pets though. All of our dogs are trained to sit at heel as DH runs his surgery from a building near the farm and patients come and go as does farm machinery. When my labs are out for a walk they run free in the fields and tbh I don't care if people are afraid of dogs. As I said earlier, it's our land and my dogs will run free. If people choose to cross our land then that's fine but my dogs live here and this is their home.

Original poster
TigerPath · 30/04/2016 21:16

I am out and about everyday with my dogs and NEVER meet the uptight, hysterical, whingey arses sort that post on here

Hmm

Why is it 'uptight, hysterical and whingey' to not want dogs running at me or weeing on my pram? Do you let your dogs bother people? Do you think it's ok for them to charge around intimidating people and jumping up?

OP posts:
barleysugar · 30/04/2016 21:18

People that don't like dogs are weird.

kali110 · 30/04/2016 21:19

Op i don't think the majority would find that offensive if you said that.
Your other response, i can see how that would rub people up the wrong way and i'm not a dog owner.
Jeremy i agree withyou completely.

shining you like dogs? Really? Or just certain types of dogs? Just the ones you deem acceptable?
I don't think we have the right to destroy any animal, i think the human race has done enough of that.
Now we have people going out to buy mace to mace dogs! People thought i was overreacting last night...
farrow yes thankfully i've never seen these type of people before either!
Dogs should be in muzzles at all times and on a leash.
My god so they never ever get to have a run then?
Not everybody can just go to their 'local woods' Hmm
Parks are for everybody.

Winterbiscuit · 30/04/2016 21:20

Do you like all dogs barleysugar?

Rosebud05 · 30/04/2016 21:23

I hold my hand up to being weird then. I intensely dislike dogs, although I'm not as scared of them as I used to be. I became really scared of them after I was bitten by one and then really, really scared when I was bitten a few years later by a different dog.

My usual approach is "I'm ever so sorry, I'm sure that your dog is lovely, but unfortunately I'm scared of dogs. Would you mind calling it over please?'

It's generally effective. If a dog runs and barks/jumps up at me (I run so this happens fairly often), I generally shriek and call out 'Keep your dog under control!' out of sheer terror.

FarrowandBallAche · 30/04/2016 21:23

My dogs are well balanced, well behaved animals. They will sometimes walk past someone on their walk and have a sniff and say ' hello ' - thankfully the people they meet see them for what they are, and always stop and stroke them and tell me how beautiful they are.

Try it. You might be pleasantly surprised.

Shining12 · 30/04/2016 21:26

I take it you're a vegan then Kali, and you happily share your home and environs with rats mice, cokcroaches?

Shining12 · 30/04/2016 21:31

Parks are for everybody
parks are for people and the rights of people to enjoy them takes precedence over the rights of the dog to enjoy running off leash...a dog doesn't not have the same rights as a human

if you dont have access to a private area then you dont have the facilities to cater for a dog that needs to run off leash
just like you wouldnt get a race horse for a pet and keep it in the spare bedroom in a high rise flat...you dont have the facilities for such an animal

No one has a right to have pets that that they then inflict upon other people

Shining12 · 30/04/2016 21:32

It won't hurt the dog but it will make them shit themselves after which the owner will lamp you for hurting his canine 'baby'

Greyhorses · 30/04/2016 21:40

Every green space in this country is not for people, it's just a space that hasn't been ruined by humans yet. What about wildlife, are parks not for them either?
Why do the rights of people trump every living thing on this planet?

For what it's worth I don't care if people like my dogs or not and I prefer if people don't approach them but the entitled attitude of humans to expect everyone and everything else to dance to their tune shocks me to be honest. It's a dog not a lion just walk past it, ignore it and get on with it, whinging isn't going to make every dog on this planet evaporate just because some people don't like them Confused

TooOldForGlitter · 30/04/2016 21:42

I've said it before and its always very unpopular but luckily I'm a big girl and can handle it.

Humans are animals. Clever ones no doubt, the ones that have managed to get on top of all the other animals but animals nonetheless. Why are humans so very special that they believe that all the other animals don't have the right to exist in the same world?

When did everyone become so very precious and special? All of us animals, including the very smart ones, live on the same planet. You may not like it but you need to get over it.

TooOldForGlitter · 30/04/2016 21:43

Took me so long to type that Greyhorses beat me to it. And said it better.

FarrowandBallAche · 30/04/2016 21:44
Shining12 · 30/04/2016 21:49

Why are humans so very special that they believe that all the other animals don't have the right to exist in the same world?

I'm not talking about cutting down a rainforest and destroying all the native flora and fauna, dogs are not part of the natural world, they are human artifacts, living man-made toys that humans acquire for their own personal pleasure and indulgence.
They dont live independently of humans, they are extensions of human ego's