School have threatened to call the RSPCA.

[YappyYapster]

I've name changed for this as it's potentially quite identifying.

DC started school this term. The first few days we realised that lots of people walk their dogs to school and leave them outside the gate. I thought this was a great idea so we've been taking our dog for the past couple of weeks.

I soon realised she yaps the entire time she's left so have kept the time to a minimum, I literally wait until the door opens and then run in with DC and come back. Maybe three or four minutes at the very most. We only take her in the mornings.

Last week was lovely, I was so pleased at the great routine we were all in, DC loves walking with the dog so it makes the school run a pleasure, the dog gets a walk at the same time every day so is calm and relaxed at home the rest of the day.

Today was a disaster. I came back to find a lady with her dogs pursing her lips at me and saying 'that poor dog is so distressed'. I said, oh I know she's yappy but she's not distressed, but I am working on training her to be quieter'. She then gave me a bit of a lecture on separation anxiety and lots of (well meant I'm sure) advice on how to train her, much of which I'm already doing.

I decided then not to bring her for a while until I could train her to sit quietly. I was quite sad about it, but resigned.

Got home and a while later I had a phone call from the school. Apparently several parents have complained and if I bring her again school will call the RSPCA.

I explained that I had already decided it wasn't working to bring her and she kept speaking over me and saying it's not fair on the children or the other dogs (fair enough) and that it's cruel to let her bark and they will report me if I carry on.

I am MORTIFIED.

I spent the whole afternoon crying. Barely managed the school run this afternoon but did it by keeping my head down and not making eye contact with anyone.

I have MH difficulties so may be taking this more personally than it is. But I feel awful that people think I'm some awful abusive dog owner and I really don't want to ever go back there. Obviously I have to. It's a small village school and I think I've blotted my copybook with them forever.

Sorry for the length of this, if you've managed to get through it all I applaud you.

My AIBU is, was I unreasonable to take her in the first place? Would you consider a yappy little dog to be distressed enough to call the RSPCA?

Please don't let school busybodies upset you.

I used to take my ancient old westie to school. She would lie down and not move about a metre from the gate and someone complained about that as she had a 'nervous' child. Ffs.

Don't worry about the rspca being interested, I called them once because a neighbour kept leaving her dog home alone for a long weekend and they weren't interested. They are so busy with more serious neglect, they said it would have to be outside with no shelter and no food or water for days. Also the people who have complained need to get a grip! I'm thinking it must be a posh area where no one ever had any thing to moan about. The school were rude to call and talk to you like that, esp when you've stopped taking the dog anyway. I think your only problem is that you could be a little more assertive when it comes to dealing with small minded opinionated idiots 🙂

When a dog is barking in that kind of situation i.e. being left it is distressed. Lady was right - separation anxiety. Training will help. Having had dogs in the past I would empathise with school and others about leaving a dog to bark/yelp like that. Probably does the same at home when left so will be a real joy to the neighbours. MH issues or not, this problem will cause more stress unless the barking/separation is sorted out and quickly. Another reason for not leaving your dog tied up outside is someone could easily steal her/him.

I haven't read the full thread. I'm sorry you were so upset about this.

I'm not keen on dogs being left at the school gates myself to be honest but I wouldn't complain or worry unless I thought a dog was aggressive or my DC were in danger.

I just wanted to say that your child is at school... you're not... teachers and office staff do not have some lofty authority over you, they aren't your superiors and you haven't blotted some imaginary copy book and what exactly are they going to do if you have? Give you detention?

This sort of thing really winds me up. It would have been just as effective to call you, explain that the dog yapping has scared a couple of children, please could you leave her at home in future... all calm, all polite... end game achieved if you had been asked several times then fair enough but it wasn't! I don't know who schools think they are.

Forget it, head held high and all that stuff...

I also don't like dogs left outside school, as some children (and adults) are frightened of dogs. But you acted responsibly in keeping your dog home after someone commented that it appeared distressed. I bet the 'mad dog woman' told the school that several people didn't like it when, in reality, it was just her getting above herself. Maybe her son is the headmaster or something, and she's cowed him into this over the top response.

The RSPCA is an empty threat. They won't be in the slightest bit interested.

Hold your head high and show that you're above such pettiness.

This thread has really shocked me, reading how many posters think it is acceptable to take a dog on the school run. I would say exactly the opposite - what has shocked me is how many people think it is unacceptable. I would have thought taking the dog if you walk to school is a no-brainer. Do you actually need to go into school - can't your DC run in on their own or with a friend? That way you wouldn't need to tie the dog up. I don't have a dog, but I think all these people who have kids who are terrified of dogs need to get over themselves. As pp have said - teach your kids how to behave around dogs so they don't have to be scared. Also, what's a few minutes yapping at a noisy school gate? Rather that than a road full of 4X4s clogging up the road and spewing out fumes. At least you walk to school and your dog looks like a sweeties. YANBU.

It is difficult to teach some children not to be scared but I suspect you think children like that don't matter.

I'm a huge dog lover and love seeing the dogs on our school run, as does ds. There are a couple of well behaved dogs always tied up on railings which are set back from the path.

I think you have been harshly treated FWIW. Perhaps tethering a yappy dog is not ideal but threatening to call the RSPCA is utterly rediculous.

Leave your lovely pooch at home and walk into school with your head held high. It really will be yesterday's news and in a few weeks time you will wonder why you felt so awful about it.

My son was bitten by a dog at a cash point. The owner was mortified and said he's never done that. Anyway he's still petrified of dogs now. And the school walk is a nightmare I need to make sure he doesn't jump in the road to get out of a dogs path. And some oblivious mums just chatting away don't rein them close, when they see a scared child. I'm holding his two sisters hands BTW.
You've didn't realise the other side so it's nice that you have now realised that you shouldn't leave him tied up barking away.
But barking dogs at a school gate. Scaring children and probably scared itself. No. I think anyone that thinks that's ok is wrong.

Chilver

Excellent response - it was the "she talked over me" that really got me in this post, too.

Ill-mannered twat!

Yappy

Just seen the pic - lovely little chi. They are a happy breed - it's got nothing to do with separation anxiety most of the time - they are just vocal. I had terriers and they were the same - but I stopped tying them up outside places when someone almost managed to steal my little westie bitch.

It was sheer good luck that I came out (with my paper - I'd only been in the shop a couple of minutes) and she darted towards me. I thought - "How on earth did she get loose?" A woman who saw me cuddling her said "Is it your dog? I thought it was that man's he was unfastening her lead." Of course, by then he was half-way down the road and running like the clappers.

Another poster said - don't leave your dog anywhere you wouldn't be prepared to leave your most treasured possession. I learned that the hard way and it could have been harder. I was in a n awful state with shock.

Anyhow - sorry to hijack your thread. Your dog looks gorgeous and I'm sure your son will be disappointed not to take her with him to school, but it's not worth getting upset over. Let them think they've had their little victory - but DO contact the school about the manner in which you were spoken to. That is inexcusable.

*yappy breed, not happy breed

The autocorrect will be the death of me.

Their reason is beyond daft because if you left her at home without you there, then she would be separated for even longer than a few mins at school gate.

However, Im not sure tied up near small children is a great idea.
My DD would have been petrified walking past a dog to get into the school gate, let alone a barking one.

What is she but a child? A scared dog is more likely to bite out of fear and with lots of little kids hustling last, it's not an ideal place to leave her.
other than leave her at home though, not sure what I would suggest as a solution.

I think bringing a dog, any dog, on the school run is completely unreasonable. It's a school run and not a dog show.
That being said I think the threat to call the RSPCA is beyond ridiculous and I can't believe they'd bother to follow that up at all.

It's not fair on the children who are nervous to have to walk past a yapping dog, but I wouldn't let people make you feel bad and I wouldn't be mortified at all. Just leave her at home next time and it'll probably blow over very quickly.

I can understand why you feel so upset because it sounds like a lot of people ganging up on you at once. My issue would be the fact that the dogs are there at all, barking or not. I think the ones who left them tied up outside are all as selfish as each other and I think they've overreacted.

I do wonder whether the other owners worry that the school will request that no dogs are brought to school if they get too many complaints about a barking one perhaps - that could be why they've been so hostile.

But try not to feel so bad about this, I really do think it'll all be forgotten about next week if you leave her at home. In fact, I bet some people will feel bad when they see you've stopped bringing her because of their complaining, even though that was what they wanted iyswim.

Cheer up and just walk her after you drop the children :)

Those people sound like a bunch of idiots. A yapping dog outside a school for a few minutes isn't animal abuse. Ridiculous, the world has gone mad!

The school can request all it likes. Provided you're on public footpaths they have zero say.

Any parent with nervous or scared children need to make a conscious effort and plan to deal with that and get them used to dogs. You are doing them no favours otherwise.

With some children who are scared of dogs there are more pressing difficulties to deal with. Also some may be fine with individual dogs they encounter but half a dozen milling about, barking and yapping is different thing and not something encountered regularly elsewhere.

Busy bodies with nothing else to do, some dogs are yappy, mine cries like a baby if I dare to leave her outside the shop for even a minute or put her the other side of the baby gate on the kitchen when she's wet and dirty or we have dog scared guests. No reason at all to call the rspca. A neighbour once called the rspca on my friend saying dog was ill treated and they visited and actually laughed at the allegations when they met her and saw dog etc.. Generally people are not stupid but it sounds like these ones just are dicks. Hold your head high, you've done nothing wrong and your friends and people who know you will not doubt you.

What an over reaction. I leave my dog on the fence outside school. Sometimes he gobs off a bit especially if other kids talk to him - this worried me much more than the noise he makes. He is more settled if I give him a biscuit when I leave him. There's tons of dogs left with him. Sometimes they bark too. No one bats an eyelid I'm utterly baffled by op experience

To give a different perspective, I used to live opposite a school. There was a yapping dog at drop-off and pick-up time and the noise was impossible to ignore - it was so annoying. So, please have a thought for other people and leave your yappy dog at home - leaving a barking, noisy dog on a public street is just such a selfish thing to do.

As I said, with my dd it's an allergy issue, we exit the school through a twitchel (is that what it's called??) and the dogs are tied to the twitchel railings so can't skirt around them. I've never complained and I love dogs. I'm always a little sad I can't play with them but my girl would need her epipen and a&e. Also not all dog bites are because you interfered with the dog. If you pass close to nervous dogs, as we have to, they can bite out of their own fear. But I'm not afraid of bites... just of my daughter having anaphylactic reaction which could be fatal.

itsmine You'll be figuratively strung up by your balls for the kick comment.

Quite a few parents walk their dogs and children to school. We just ask them not to bring them on the yard. We can't do anything else. We would just request it politely if we saw them on the yard for two reasons. One children may be frightened or the dog may get overexcited and bite. Two the dog may poo on the premises.
There is no way our Headteacher would speak to you like that. It was way over the top. I would be upset too. I would send an email telling the Head that you tried it out and why ( as you stated) that despite only leaving the dog tied for a couple of minutes and thought it would stop after a week or so, that you realised yourself and had decided to leave the dog at home while training it. That you were surprised and upset by her phone call as you had already stopped bring ing the dog. That you had tried to explain this but had been unable to get this across. I would mention something about you being upset that this is the first encounter at the start of your child's school journey and you felt quite distressed since you had already stoppped bringing the dog. You might want to mention that perhaps all dogs should be banned.
I bet the nosey woman is a Governor if not the Chair! She has wound up the Head.
I would go in and hold your head up high if anyone says anything turn around and say" I don't know why there has been such a fuss as I had already decided it wasn't working and I had been leaving the dog at home."
If anyone says about children being scared of dogs suggest they bring a Police dog or a Mountain Rescue dog in. I have seen children overcome their fears by meeting these well trained dogs.