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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:
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Laura812 · 30/04/2016 08:15

Yes, it's very simple and assume that most of us all the time do not want your dog to lick or touch against us in the same way you don't want me spittingo n your leg or laying bits from my hair across your coat. Very easy. Just make sure your dog does not come within about a metre of me and I'm happy.

Mistigri · 30/04/2016 08:21

I'm very allergic to dogs and this drives me mad. Especially when they jump up at you and put their paws on your clothes. I'm not above aiming a kick at dogs who do this - not, I should add, with the serious intention of connecting with the dog, but of sending a message to the owner.

When I used to run every morning I used to carry a small can of hairspray in case of being attacked - it was a rough area and there were some aggressive dogs. I think owners must have assumed it was mace, because once they had spotted the can they kept their dogs well clear Grin.

ThisisMrsNicolaHicklin · 30/04/2016 08:25

I love dogs, all my dogs have been my hairy siblings/children Grin
However, there are loads of poorly trained owners who let their dogs run riot and that shouldn't be allowed, its anti social behaviour and should be treated as such.

I have taught my human children to stand completely still when strange dogs approach them but we've still had incidents, including a terrifying one where I really thought we were going to be mauled. We were only OK because I was stronger than the dog and was able to pin it down.

Shining12 · 30/04/2016 08:28

Laura,yeah, exactly!
imagine if random people just ran up to you in the park and started jumping up at you, or you go out jogging and someone lurches at you shouting and snarling as you trot by them

IMO the dog is the emissary of the dog owner, they are a device which allows a human to be rude and antisocial by proxy

Jeremysfavouriteaunt · 30/04/2016 08:57

I know, imagine if random people punched people or stabbed them. Imagine if they were cruel for the sake of being cruel, oh wait...

Shining12 · 30/04/2016 09:04

If I go cycling along cycle tracks I am always chased, barked at by dogs and there are always dogs that run in front of me etc, I don't get accosted by humans every time I go out.

Dogs are just toys, things that people have for their own amusement but everyone else has to be inconvenienced by them

ProbablyMe · 30/04/2016 09:11

I agree completely OP and I have two dogs. I don't let them run up to anyone as it seriously pisses me off when other dog owners let their dogs do it to me! If I can control my dogs - and keep them in leads as necessary - why can't others do so? Or are their hounds special in some way? There's always a few that ruin it for everyone else and this is why dogs end up getting banned from certain public areas. Do t have a dog if you can't be properly responsible! Grrr!

Rant over, getting up several times for the loo due to being 9 months pregnant is making me ranty today!

littleducks · 30/04/2016 09:17

I don't mind dogs, just don't want them touching me.

dS1 is scared. He was 2 and in a buggy when a dog came jumping up at us. A staffie whose owner trained it to bite on a rope while he swung it around in the air holding on to the rope to support its own body weight.

I picked up my other child as i felt in that split second decision he was safer in the buggy than my 3 year old daughter walking. The dog wasn't being vicious but was (gently) bitjng my arm (reckon it was still a puppy really). I was left covered in scratches from teeth and claws. Owner no where around at that time.

DS screamed his head off desperate for me to pick him up. Dd can't remember this incident but is one of his first memories.

He is 8 and still scared. I even sent him dog walking with my grandad and a soppy dog. He is scared of all dogs except that dog now.

Laura812 · 30/04/2016 09:19

Also we are a private estate here but let dog walkers on it. We pay a fee to have the bins which we installed emptied. Often they over flow and I go out there with black sacks and pick up the little black sacks of dog poo owners leave all over the place and also empty it from the bins and take it away. Sometimes if it's wet the poo drips into my car boot and the car smells for a good while. So don't assume dog owners that just because you've put the poo in a bag in a bin that you have been a wonderful citizen either as someone like I am will then have to empty the bin. We also get loads of the poo bags abandoned for weeks hooked into trees.
I am afraid as a dog hater I would be very glad if dogs were driven out of England for ever but as I will have to tolerate them. In fact why is it I not randome dog owners who decide an over flowing bin is awful and take the rubbish home with them! Feel free if walking near here to empty the bins and no the council won't do it as it is a private estate which is why you like walking your dogs up here. We also pay to get the roads resurfaced at about £35k a time and we pay to cut the verges you walk your dogs up on which they shit.

Shining12 · 30/04/2016 09:28

Dogs are friendly fun creatures on the whole and I do think there is a special kind of bond betweens dogs and humans, they are after all man made creatures.
So yes dog owners enjoy their dogs, they benefit from having them but to other people they are just annoying sometimes frightening shitting machines

Shining12 · 30/04/2016 09:30

I think there should be a restriction on the size and number of dogs, max 2 per household and max 10kg per dog
Or is that too big?

derxa · 30/04/2016 09:39

The only dogs I like are working dogs e.g. sheep dogs, guide dogs. The rest are shitting machines. I grew up with dogs on the farm. They were great animals but they were there to do a job. I don't understand giant dogs living in houses.and being alone. Dogs are pack animals and all are potentially dangerous to children.

I have a whole field of dogs next to me atm. It's a dog show which is using my fields for parking. The organisers have been 'entitled'.

Shining12 · 30/04/2016 09:50

Would compulsory neutering for male dogs help to make dogs less of a problem?
and they all have to have some kind of chip which anyone with a mobile phone could scan anonymously and from a distance so that all dogs with bollocks or dogs that were misbehaving could be easily reported

NeedACleverNN · 30/04/2016 09:55

10kg?!

That's tiny!

My jrt was 8kg.

A Labrador on average is around 30kg.

ExpandingRoundTheMiddle · 30/04/2016 10:02

There are no houses where I live that do not have gardens. There's a grass area with trees and flowers that the residents have planted in the center of our square. People bring their dogs to shit on the grass. We can't stop them. Most of them clean it up but it's not a place the residents want their kids to play on now. Kids need to socialize, dogs don't.
Why don't these owners have their dogs shit in their own gardens before taking them out to exercise if it's ok for them to shit in the square?

BathshebaDarkstone · 30/04/2016 10:06

It sounds like you're on the beach and the sign just says "keep your dog on a lead on the promenade." Therefore people taking their dogs off the lead on the beach are doing nothing wrong.

Shining12 · 30/04/2016 10:21

Maybe 12, or 15kg then
But really I think we should only allow people to keep dogs if they are small animals, too bad if that means that various breeds die out
The bigger the dog the more shit it produces and the more of a nuisance or a threat it is

NeedACleverNN · 30/04/2016 10:24

Well now your being ridiculous

The largest dog breed is an Irish wolfhound.

On average they are around 70kg

So 15kg is nothing.

No one is going to stop owning dogs because they are "too big"

Shining12 · 30/04/2016 10:28

Why is it ridiculous?
Why should people have the right to breed huge dogs and then have them out in public shitting everywhere and annoying or threatening people?
Why shouldn't dogs be controlled and restricted by law?

NeedACleverNN · 30/04/2016 10:33

Because not everyone is an irresponsible dog owner.

Why should those people suffer because of a few minority.

It would mean a lot of British dogs would disappear.

No more greyhounds, Labradors, German shepherds, bull dogs, Staffies, springer spaniels, cocker spaniels, standard poodles and 100's more

JC23 · 30/04/2016 10:35

I hate it when dogs come running up to us, jump on us or walk over the picnic blanket where we are having our food. But I hate it even more when the owner "apologises" with a smile so full of pride that instead of saying "sorry" says "is in he so wonderfully friendly???"

Yes!!! Makes me so angry. Even worse if the owner is nowhere in sight and takes ages to appear by which time you've had to move all your food and stand up (and try to reassure your DS who is terrified of dogs). Angry

Shining12 · 30/04/2016 10:43

So what if dog breeds would disapearConfused
And in what way am i suggesting anything which means dog owners would suffer?
I'm not saying dogs should be banned.
If you want a dog then you can have one, but it has to be a small animal.
Why doesn't a small dog satisfy your desire to have a pet?
Why should people have the right to own large threatening animals?

Shining12 · 30/04/2016 10:45

No more greyhounds, Labradors, German shepherds, bull dogs, Staffies, springer spaniels, cocker spaniels, standard poodles and 100's more

That would be so great wouldn't itGrin
Really I am sure there would've far fewer dog haters if all those big dogs died out!

PovertyPain · 30/04/2016 10:52

Really I am sure there would've far fewer dog haters if all those big dogs died out!

Bollocks! They would then start on the smaller dogs because they're 'yappy', 'smelly', bla bla bla. They'll still hate dogs and they'll always find new reasons to hate dogs. Humans have already been the cause of many wild animals going extent and now they want to start on domestic animals. They can fuck right off, as far as I'm concerned.

I don't agree with out of control dogs and think owners should train and socialise their dogs. However, I don't see why all dog owners and their dogs should be tarred with the same brush. When children behave like brats or make people's live a misery, we don't treat all parents or children as if they're losers.

NeedACleverNN · 30/04/2016 10:55

Funnily enough you will find smaller dogs more troublesome than big dogs. Big dogs are usually put to work

Newfoundlands are used to help rescue drowning people. Should they be banned because they are too big?

Labradors are guide dogs. Oh wait no they are banned

German shepherds are police dogs...wait. Banned.

Springer spaniels and the like are drug dogs. Nope not anymore

And you can't say well those people can have them but the rest can't because the breeding pool would be too small and they would die out that way anyway

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