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.

Your seriously complaining that a dog breathed too loudly and walking behind you even though it didn't bother or interact with you at all

You sound slightly crazy to be honest and i hope your children don't pick up on your dog fear.

....or banned completely

How on earth is a creep of a bloke telling you you're safe to be alone with him, comparable in the slightest?

Do you think dog owners are lulling you into a false sense of security before giving the 'go for the throat' command? Really?

newes although working dogs on farms will presumably be kept on leads too? When I had a working one, on private land, I was once bawled at across a field to get it on a lead, despite the fact it was doing fuck all. My friend has one field that borders a well used footpath, and has been told more than once whilst her dog is in there to put it on a lead and keep it away because some entitled parents dc's want to stroke the horses and can't do while her dog is there.

Dogs and men. All the same, really.

'Actually dogs are bloody dangerous, is their fear all that irrational?'

My God, have a and please try to get a sense of proportion.

Chardonnay

Thing is dog is owners don't know what's happened in someone's past. My little girl was/is traumatised so a big dog however soft bounding up to her is scary. I don't think it's a lot to ask owners to watch their dogs and call them away and to heel. In this thread it wouldn't have hurt the person to go past. There is no way that I am instilling in my children to be scared of dogs I absolutely love them it's just difficult when you've got a five year old who is freaking. If it is a good owner they get the dog to sit down and then I will ask the owner of we can have a stroke of the dog. I've been called goady on this thread just because I expect owners to handle their dogs correctly.

Eye... Are you seriously going to ignore all the instances of dogs killing and maiming small children and babies? I'm not being hysterical, just stating a fact. Obviously not all dogs are capable of or likely to do this. But they are animals, as such they are unpredictable and children do need to be careful around them. And I'm personally quite sick of being told I'm a bad parent for not forcing my kids to accept unwanted physical contact from them. Which seems to be the societal 'norm' that we're all expected to accept without question.

I wouldn't have said anything personally as children pick up on our fears very easily and they will be transferred over. You don't want your dc to be scared of dogs, especially owned dogs being walked down a street.

And ftr, I'm not dog bashing (though possibly owner bashing). I don't think they should be muzzled or only on farms or even always on leads (although if they are not well trained and will not respond to commands, they bloody should be when they're around small children. Not many dog owners seem to agree). I am aware that dogs bring lots of pleasure and companionship to their owners. They are entitled to choose life with a dog. However I'm entitled to choose life without one, and their lifestyle choice should not trump mine. I don't want dogs to touch me, lick me, or come close enough to me or my children to make me (or them) feel uncomfortable, intimidated, or upset. Why is that so hard to understand?

I am aware that dogs bring lots of pleasure and companionship to their owners. They are entitled to choose life with a dog. However I'm entitled to choose life without one, and their lifestyle choice should not trump mine. I don't want dogs to touch me, lick me, or come close enough to me or my children to make me (or them) feel uncomfortable, intimidated, or upset. Why is that so hard to understand?

monkey Thankyou for this! You've said it perfectly.

Good

Thank you lovelyboys!

Navy, I'm sure you are one of the many dog owners who has found some way of stopping him/her licking people who don't like it. Sadly you are not an overwhelming majority.

Why would my dog be licking you? He's very choosy who he licks.

You know nothing about dogs and seem to suffer illusions of grandeur quite badly.

My dog's not the licky sort.

I think some people on this thread are confusing real dogs with cartoon ones.

It's really nice though.

He starts at one foot and the proceeds up to the calf and then does the other leg working methodically until it's done.

What I don't like it when he does it in the night and I wake up because someone's licking my feet.

I had to share.

I don't know anything about dogs and I don't plan on knowing anything about them either. All I know about them is that I don't like them.

That's so sad, you poor thing.

I have three dogs, one of which is very very big. (dogue de Bordeaux, Hooch from Turner and Hooch) I adore him, he is my big soft gentle baby. However, he scares the living shit out of some people. I would always offer for people to meet him/pet him if they wanted to, but he doesnt get off the lead in public and i move out of people's way on the pavement and walk him on the road to get past people as he takes up the whole pavement. I understand why the OP might not want a dog like that right behind her and her child and to be honest wouldn't have walked upclose behind you in the first place

I'm happy to have my dogs not approach, lick or even look at people but I do draw the line at stopping them breathing.

Illusions of grandeur? Okaaaay....

This is all exactly what I mean. It's simply not ok to not like dogs in the UK. It's not 'sad' it's personal choice.

Your dogs may or may not be licky. They may or may not be able to sniff out my rotten, non-dog-loving soul and reject me accordingly. But I have definitely been licked, crotch-sniffed, and harassed by dogs. I've also been made seriously ill by a flea bite from a dog. And I've had my picnic snatched, had the bench I was sitting on pissed against and had a dog shit on the step I was sitting on. My 3yo was knocked off his tricycle and has been upset about a million times by dogs just coming too close because their owners are either not capable of controlling them or can't be arsed to. So don't worry, I'm not upset that your dog apparently doesn't want to lick me (although I'm not sure how you can know that)!