When people say their dog is fine and won't bite?

[marshamella]

Walking down the narrow road with my ds and hear a dog heavy breathing behind me. So I turn and tell the owner she can go infront. Her reply "it's ok he won't bite he's soft as anything" and stays behind us. With ds I couldn't walk fast so decided to cross the road when I didn't need to. Was this rude of her not to walk infront as she could see we were uncomfortable with a dog right behind us? I'd rather be the judge of weather or not I want the dog by us.

Yabu op, I wouldn't take up your offer to go in front either. As inevitably, as other pp say you would be directly behind me when my dogs stop to sniff etc.
You did the right thing crossing the road, I doubt the dog walker took any offence with this action.

Ok, as a dog owner I can see both sides. I tend to keep my large bouncy young lab away from children unless the parent asks if the child can stroke him, in which case I warn them that he may lick or plant a wet nose on them.( He is as daft as a brush).
I personally would have gone in front of you if you offered as I do see that you or your child may not like dogs.
I just don't get the vitriol of both sides that can boil up on threads like this.

It's far more reassuring g to a child with a dog phobia to hear "Don't worry, I won't let him/her come near you" than "He doesn't bite".
It shows you have control of your dog, too, which can be a big factor if you are scared of dogs. You don't really care what the owner thinks of their temperament, you just don't want it to come near you.
I use it when out with my dog and we come across someone who says or shows they are nervous of dogs.

The dog owner might not have realised you felt 'uncomfortable' in the dogs presence though , a lot of owners do not understand other peoples fear of dogs .

I can understand not wanting to be followed so closely by a person with or without dog , especially when you are dawdling with a small child , you feel under pressure to keep up to their pace .

The whole 'he won't bite ' thing is something I have heard people say countless times about their non biting dogs as a way of trying to reassure people when their dog is in close proximity to those people . I think it would be far more reassuring to people with a genuine fear of dogs if people said 'its ok he wont bite and I will keep him well away from you ' . I appreciate that this can be tricky depending where everyone is .

Oh the hysterical replies on this thread

The OP wasn't trying to dictate, she was offering the person behind her because she couldn't walk fast with her DS. Why the OP was being of. I do not know. As usual dog owners getting professionally offended and this one I am genuinely baffled at.

Morning Navy Here we go again

of. should say "pfb"

Don't forget about the murderous sausage dogs

No matter how narrow the path, you could have stopped and let them - made them - pass. If she had a right to walk immediately behind you, then you had a right to stop and make her pass. You could say, 'Sorry, I'm holding you up,' to cover your tracks.

I hate the dismissive, 'She's fine/won't bite'. It's disrespectful and patronising. Your dog may not have got that particular memo and it will be too late when we all find out. Plus I do not want to spend the afternoon with my eyes running and sneezing my head off because your dog pawed me or licked me or got too close. Not all dogs understand that people don't have to engage with them.

TBF I've never used "He won't bite" myself, but it's often what children ask.

I say "He's not interested in you" but them some people got offended, because how can someone not be interested in their darling children?
Can't win them all...

Here - have a grip, you need it.

Good grief! Just because you don't like dogs it doesn't give you the right to ask the owner to move away from you. Your fear, your choice to move. More so as the dog was not behaving in a threatening manner. YABU

Or the ravenous retrievers.

I see a number of posts from people hating being reassured that a dog is friendly . What would you prefer them to say to you? - genuine question.

Get a life😆

Waitrose Sausage dogs are the dog version of me. Legs so short I have to run to keep up. I am pretty feisty though so murderous is pretty accurate.

I agree with the 'no my dog won't bite' comment being annoying. We've had dogs bound over and in reply to my shout that dd is scared of them the owners reply that they won't hurt her. I'm sure the dog doesn't but dd is petrified and having a dog leaping up at her does not help. Once dcs and I were sitting down to have a picnic in park and two dogs came running across the food. Instead of seeing the dogs running towards us and calling them back the owners just shouted out 'it's OK, they won't hurt'. Yes but they have just walked all over the sandwiches, I've got toddlers to feed and it's a 25minute walk to shops/home to buy replacement food!!

But agree with ppl who say you should have been the one to move. In your case the dog was just close by and not actually doing anything.

YANBU

There is a sign at the playground saying all dogs should be on a lead. Doesn't stop stupid people letting their dogs off the lead and running round the playground frightening the children who don't like dogs. When the sigh is pointed out, they say aww he won't bite

Indiana Chances are the owners thought their dog was being adorable when it trampled on your picnic and didn't give a second thought about how their dog had ruined your picnic. After all it's just a dog being a dog isn't it. The only thing more annoying than dogs is their owners.

For goodness sake, is there any 'incident' or normal human inrreaction, however everyday, trivial and brief, that someone on MN won't take umbridge at?

tht is a different scenario glitterpeg.
the op's scenario is so minimal itis invsible

*interraction

Glitter where did OP say they the dog was in a playground with the owner ignoring the "on Lead" signs?

Are you on the wrong thread?