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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Keep Your Mutt On A Frigging Lead

209 replies

Psolomon · 06/05/2017 23:04

Out running canalside this morning and an unleashed dog came bounding up, tongue lolling maniacally, and jumped up at me, frenziedly snuffling at my sweaty snatch whilst I frantically tried to side-step its mangy mass. I thundered at its owner: 'Get this thing off me!' and hurled a couple of panicky expletives (I'm not a lover of dogs and to have one jump up whilst running was scary).

AIBU to think far too many dog owners think the world ought to love their mutt? Surely a dog should be controlled on a canal towpath? Grr.

OP posts:

DotForShort · 07/05/2017 00:02

YANBU. I absolutely love dogs. My sweet and friendly dog is always ready to greet anyone he comes upon. But I am equally aware that not everyone in the world is quite as besotted with dogs as I am. My dog is always on a lead in public places and I would never allow him to approach a stranger without that person's express permission.

squoosh · 07/05/2017 00:02

People who hang around canals are probably receptive to crotch sniffing though.

kali110 · 07/05/2017 00:03

The next time this happens to me out on a run I'm going to leap onto the owner, bury my head in their crotch and gaily pronounce I am just being friendly.
You may get your point across

Original poster

Psolomon · 07/05/2017 00:04

I'd say crap parents too

What, for having the nerve to let their little boy explore the shoreline without fear of some crazed mutt knocking him over?

Why do people stubbornly hang on to this absurd notion that dogs have as many rights as our children?

OP posts:

SabineUndine · 07/05/2017 00:04

And a SHORT lead not one of these useless extendable ones.

midsummabreak · 07/05/2017 00:06

Faaar-canal

DeleteOrDecay · 07/05/2017 00:06

It's only been 3 weeks since the last dog hating thread, we were doing so well.

It's not dog hating to want dog owners to act responsibly. Not everyone wants a dog jumping at them and sniffing at their crotch when minding their own business.

A dog jumped up at my eldest when she was about 18months. The dog wanted to play but it was scary, she is tiny and the dog was a big as her! The owner apologised but I was livid, playing or not, the dog could have really hurt her or worse.

AwaywiththePixies27 · 07/05/2017 00:08

Always baffled by these sort of threads.

I am a real dog lover. A big chunk of our school run is through woodland (anktwhr reason not to stick and flick dogowners-who knew it wasn't just dog owners that use these marked out public paths ).
I know of three or four main dogs and I always stop to say hello to the owners and give them a fuss.

Now in relation to the picnic thing, the he's just being friendly is pointless. People dont care that Max the dog is friendly, they care that he doesn't help himself to half your picnic and unwittingly scare a young child.

Now , if I was in a restaurant and DS kept bounding up to your table and annoying the fuck out of you. Would my response of "he's just being friendly!" be enough to placate you?

No. You'd want me to get my child under control.
Do the same with your dogs.

kali110 · 07/05/2017 00:09

Regarding My story psolomon

Original poster

Psolomon · 07/05/2017 00:09

Thanks, DawnMumsnet. I will doggedly refrain from biting.

P.s..what choccie did you buy? A Yorkie?

OP posts:

squoosh · 07/05/2017 00:10

'My husband picked up a big piece of driftwood. He was prepared to kill that dog if it had attacked our son.'

Very Chuck Norris. I think it's the use of 'driftwood' rather than ordinary old wood that lends an air of Norris-y menace.

AwaywiththePixies27 · 07/05/2017 00:12

DawnMumsnet the best advice I was given was frim the dogwarden to teach a child to 'be a tree' in this situation. I think its to do with not showing the dog fear. This came about after a lab off his lead and nowhere to be seen went for DS, when I eventually calmed DS down, got hold of dog and found owner. Told him what had happened and he looked down his nose at me and went "my dog dont bite" and walked off!!

One or the things I've noticed with dogs off the lead is assertiveness. I've perfected the art of telling random dogs to sit down with q firm voice, until the owner gets there to retrieve them.

MNHQ

DawnMumsnet · 07/05/2017 00:14

@Psolomon

Thanks, DawnMumsnet. I will doggedly refrain from biting.

P.s..what choccie did you buy? A Yorkie?

Arf.

DutyCalls · 07/05/2017 00:14

One of the kindest things that you can do for a dog is to teach them recall. It doesn't take much effort, even if they are not young animals, and even the hardest of breeds can learn it. If all else fails then please keep them on a lead.

AwaywiththePixies27 · 07/05/2017 00:16

Said dog then starts bounding (thundering?) over the road, barking at us. On a retractable lead, it turns out, but still quite alarming. The owners called out: "It's the BAG!"

We once had this too. Went for a walk with friends, their kids and their dogs. Sat down on a bench to look after friends DCs ball whilst he played and a woman kept shouting at me that I needed to hide the ball 'before Tom got it'. Hide it where love. Hide it WHERE?

Original poster

Psolomon · 07/05/2017 00:16

The dog owners I really admired today on the tow path were those who kept their dog on a short leash right next to the canal and themselves between me and the dog. Towpaths are narrow and it's nice to see dog walkers acknowledging the rights of other people above their own pet.

OP posts:

YNK · 07/05/2017 00:17

Don't interact, just fold your arms and turn your back on them. Most dogs just want to be fussed and when they realise it's not happening they lose interest

ErrolTheDragon · 07/05/2017 00:18

I run and/or walk along a nearby towpath a lot... hereabouts, dog owners seem to pride themselves on getting their dog(s) neatly sitting and waiting if I'm running - often they misjudge how slowly I run and have quite a long wait. It's a little embarrassing.

I always compliment them on their good dogs - of course, its more that they're good owners.

MNHQ

DawnMumsnet · 07/05/2017 00:18

@AwaywiththePixies27

Thanks, AwaywiththePixies, will tell that to my youngest, who's also a wee bit nervous around dogs (my other three are all fearless!)

Beerwench · 07/05/2017 00:20

YANBU -
I get this 'he's just being friendly' a lot. I have to keep one of mine on a lead until we're really isolated because after being attacked herself (and undoing all the bloody hard work of socialising and training!!) She has become very defensive and nervous, she won't approach another dog, but will fight if a dog approaches her. Cries of 'he's just being friendly' aren't understood by my dog and then people get sniffy when I say my dog is not friendly with others, and is on a lead so kindly get your dog under control before there's a fight. Even been told I shouldn't walk her if she's like that, er no, if you don't have recall and control over your dog then you're the one that shouldn't be walking it!
Love your idea about being 'friendly' to the owners........ Might get more than you bargain for though

AwaywiththePixies27 · 07/05/2017 00:21

If all else fails then please keep them on a lead.

Exactly dutycalls. I posted recently how I felt so sorry for someone on the way home from school. He had his dog on a very tight leash and was doing ever so good at the recall and commands etc. Some idiot let both her dogs come bounding up to him despite him shouting to her to put them on a lead and to keep them away. She'd recalled them several times and neither dog was bloody listening. She genuinely couldn't understand the problem with her two excitable dogs.

Original poster

Psolomon · 07/05/2017 00:21

Errol, I do smile appreciatively when I pass owners whose dogs behave normally as I pass. It's such a relief to not be mauled when you've had a bad experience.

OP posts:

mikesh909 · 07/05/2017 00:26

YADNBU.

Also please don't confuse dogs who are over friendly, excitable with aggression

The point is that dog-people impose the need to discern this onto non-dog-people. Non-dog-people don't know or care whether the dog in question is being "friendly" or "aggressive". They just know that they are uncomfortable with the bounding, jumping, licking, barking and so on in their immediate personal space. Newsflash for dog owners, it's really the height of self-centredness to assume that everyone shares your enthusiasm for your pet!

Why do people stubbornly hang on to this absurd notion that dogs have as many rights as our children?

YY to this.

Original poster

Psolomon · 07/05/2017 00:28

Mike, how is it we can't call it what it is: assault?

OP posts:

HarrietSchulenberg · 07/05/2017 00:36

My lurcher has rubbish recall and therefore has to be on a lead at all times in public places. He'll also try to catch anything smaller and furrier than him when off lead in fields, so he has to be muzzled at these times. He's not allowed off lead near children as he's too fast and boisterous.

My pet hates are the owners of small terriers who think it's sweet when their ickle pets yap furiously at him, leaving me trying to restrain him from eating them, and the jogger who sprints up behind us with her off lead collie bounding along with her, again leaving my on-lead hound a bouncing wreck at their sudden arrival and departure. I bloody wish she thundered along, we might have a chance of hearing her coming.

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