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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
TooOldForGlitter · 30/04/2016 21:52

Dogs are not part of the natural world? The same dogs that have been by the side of humans for thousands of years and hunted their food for them and acted as security for them are not part of the natural world? Really?!

Greyhorses · 30/04/2016 21:55

They are shining to an extent I agree but the hysteria around dogs is blown well out of proportion on MN. It's a dog not a lion, just walk past the bloody thing and get on with your day.
Macing it/shouting at people/squirting it in the face is going to achieve nothing but an angry owner plus potentially a scared dog which could bite in fear or shock...a bite that could have been avoided in the first place if people just have a bit of consideration for eachother and get a grip a little bit! Surely it takes all of 5 seconds to walk past a dog and ignore it or to politely ask someone to put on a lead if your that bothered, it's not worth even getting annoyed or shouting at someone about surely.

Shining12 · 30/04/2016 21:59

Dogs are not part of the natural world?
no TooOld they are not

modern day dogs have been highly bred by human,s adapted and fashioned to suit human purposes.
The domestic dog is a neotenized wolf and as such a highly artificial creature, without human breeding programs it would not exist in anything like it's current range of forms.

There would just be the wolf or some other generic wild dog without the retention of juvenile characteristics which humans have selected for

TooOldForGlitter · 30/04/2016 22:07

I don't disagree with that Shining but the adapting of dogs away from wolves happened many thousands of years ago. Dogs are here now. Much like our domestic cats (whole other thread!) and many other animals that are what they are due to human interference or involvement.

Do I disagree with the OP? No. Do I think many many dog owners are entitled, lazy, selfish and unfit to own a dog? Yes. Doesn't change my opinion.

Shining12 · 30/04/2016 22:09

I don't care if people like my dogs or not and I prefer if people don't approach them

that sounds perfectly fine, I never approach dogs I mind my own business and I expect them to mind theirs, but often they don't, they chase me, jump up at me, lunge at me and run in front of me so that I have to stop rather than be tripped up.

Humans should take precedence over dogs

SpringHasNearlySprung · 30/04/2016 22:10

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

Hmm therefore no one has the the right to have cats, horses, dogs. Do you seriously believe no one should have animals then? Dogs run away from owners, cats have the right to roam. People are actually allowed to own animals. That's like me saying people should't have children they inflict on other people.

Shining12 · 30/04/2016 22:12

many other animals that are what they are due to human interference or involvement
true and in the case of most of those animals we care so little about them they we subject them to factory farming, but dogs, no they are treated (by the owners who are entitled, lazy, selfish and unfit to own a dog) as feted children

Shining12 · 30/04/2016 22:14

That's like me saying people should't have children they inflict on other people
oh god we're not back to the dog = child defense are we??
ffs
give me strength

Shining12 · 30/04/2016 22:17

just for you Spring I will repeat from my earlier post

it appears that for some dog owners the dog is an honorary child and thus its rights are equal to those of 'human' children

they overlook the fact that human children are the doctors, nurses, office workers, inventors and innovators of tomorrow without which we are all (dog owners included) sunk
but the dog,the dear dog, however much you love it and enjoy it's company will only ever be an annoying useless shitter to other people

TooOldForGlitter · 30/04/2016 22:18

The useless dog that hunts, herds, defends, allows a blind person to go about their life. Useless.

Shining12 · 30/04/2016 22:20

or you might want to read this post again
amarmai Sat 30-Apr-16 18:13:04
people pay for the sidewalks , parks , public spaces etc thru taxes . people contribute to society as a whole thru their work. e.g.People without cc pay for schools; people who do not break the law pay for courts, prisons etc ;people who do not cost the health care system much money pay for hospitals etc. People who own dogs pay how much? for a dog licence, but there is no benefit thereby to anyone except the dog owner. There are costs tho to society as a whole. Dogs are NOT equal to people for these and many other reasons.

Shining12 · 30/04/2016 22:24

The useless dog that hunts, herds, defends, allows a blind person to go about their life
working dogs constitute about what< one dog in a thousand? I dont know but it's a very small percentage, obviously those dogs have a use to human society but the rest, the overwhelming majority, the pets are just there as an indulgence of their respective owners, and a pain in the arse to everyone else, they are not going to grow up and be doctors and nurses

Greyhorses · 30/04/2016 22:31

Lots of humans are useless shitters who contribute nothing to society either, don't pay taxes and do nothing but annoy or hurt people. Maybe we should exterminate those too while we are on.

Oh and horses who leave mess on the road someone may step in, cows who stink out the countryside, foxes raiding people's bins, cats who enter people's precious flowerbeds... Might as well get rid of them all and have a human only world. What a lovely place that would be Hmm

What's the point of complaining about things that wont ever be changed. The population isn't going to rush to euthanise every dog because the odd person is irrationally scared of a poodle on a lead 100m away. The law won't change for a tiny proportion of entitled people, as much as it won't change for people who hate horses or farm animals or whatever else there is to be moaning about.

TooOldForGlitter · 30/04/2016 22:32

How many of the many children are going to grow up to be heart surgeons, ambulance drivers, scientists looking for the cure for cancer?

I get it, you don't like dogs. You think we are the superior animal. Well we are. Yay for us. Other animals live here and have as much right to the world as we do.

SpringHasNearlySprung · 30/04/2016 22:34

The useless dog that hunts, herds, defends, allows a blind person to go about their life. Useless.

Exactly. Clearly hearing dogs are useless too. Bloody pests they are that can make people's lives like mine easier. I couldn't cope without my dog Ruby to hear for me. She's my lifeline so I appear "normal" to people. This thread is so sad for me. That's ok though, as those "terrified" of dogs may just walk past my dog doing her job. I apologise if my dog offends you OP.

Shining12 · 30/04/2016 22:35

I have no problem with a poodle on a lead 100m away, if a dog enhances your quality of life, have a dog but dont let it detract from other people's quality of life,

you might think it's only the odd person who finds dogs annoying but I expect many do but like me they are polite because they dont want to risk getting set upon by large dogs or their lumpen owners

Shining12 · 30/04/2016 22:37

Other animals live here and have as much right to the world as we do
really TooOldForGlitter you think humans and animals have equal rights, I take it you're a vegan then?

TooOldForGlitter · 30/04/2016 22:38

Spring I'm sorry, I only mentioned blind people as it was the first thing that came to mind. I was thinking of all assistance dogs when I said it. I'm really glad you have Ruby to make your life a bit easier Flowers

TooOldForGlitter · 30/04/2016 22:39

No I'm not a vegan, I tried, I found it too restrictive. I've been vegetarian for nearly 30 years though, thanks for asking.

TooOldForGlitter · 30/04/2016 22:40

Humans ARE animals. It's not humans or animals. We are just intelligent animals.

Shining12 · 30/04/2016 22:44

soooo animals have equal rights to you TooOldForGlitter
BUT you're prepared to eat the products of factory farming, isnt that the grossest of hypocrisies, what about the horrific suffering of the dairy animals, you take pleasure in their suffering and yet you claim that animals live here and have as much right to the world as we do

words fail me :(

SpringHasNearlySprung · 30/04/2016 22:44

I have no problem with a poodle on a lead 100m away, if a dog enhances your quality of life, have a dog but dont let it detract from other people's quality of life

Likewise, assistance dogs enrich other people's lives. Would you have an issue with an assistance dog that is not a poodle less then 100m from you? It's YOU that has the issue.

JeanGenie23 · 30/04/2016 22:44

Oh god another one of these threads.

A couple of months ago there was an almost identical thread to this except it was in the park not on the beach front. The parent was mortified that she had to go around the dog which resulted in two of the four wheels on the buggy going in the mud, you know that really end of the world disaster, muddy wheels Shock Hmm in this story the dog wasn't on the lead either but sitting down next to owners feet and partially taking space on the park pavement. I mean who knew dogs were not meant to be out in public!

I've come across many a naughty child and/or parent who wasn't as well behaved as some dogs I know.

In all seriousness if there was a sign, then the owner should have abided by it. But reading some of these ridiculous comments I just want to shout out "FFS! Don't get your knickers in a twist". Very few dogs behave in the extreme way some people would like to have you think.

SpringHasNearlySprung · 30/04/2016 22:48

glitter my post was aimed at shining sorry for the confusion.

Greyhorses · 30/04/2016 22:48

But shining by the logic shown on this thread my dog walking miles away offends some people because despite it being under control it isn't muzzled?

Walking past people with my on lead dog on a path past a baby in a pram is dangerous despite the dog not being interested in the baby in the slightest and being on a lead?

A dog being off lead at the other end of the park playing with a ball and ignoring people is offensive despite it not paying people any attention?

You honestly don't think that's irrational?

I understand and agree completley that dogs should not be approaching people and I have never allowed mine to be within touching distance of anyone without being on lead and always make an effort to give my dogs space (mainly as they are huge and an intimidating breed) but some people take the whole dog hating thing a step too far, shouting and screaming at people to get hold of dogs who are minding their own business or demanding people with dogs move out of the way for entitled people to have more space just seems crazy to me.