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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

...to expect dog owners to use leads in a park - I got bitten today and am fuming!!!

82 replies

MrsGumby · 06/04/2007 15:39

What started off as a lovely sunny afternoon in the park with the kids ended up with me mopping up a bloody leg after some shitty little dog took a piece out of it. I'm not a dog lover at the best of times and have always had issues with owners of unruly mutts at our local park but today has taken the (dog) biscuit!!! I was playing catch with my DS and the ball went over to a grassy patch where a couple of fat salad-dodgers(sorry, but I'm raging) were troughing a bucket of KFC. I went over to retrieve the ball and this little yappy Scottie dog sprung out of nowhere and bit my calf! Rolled up my jeans to find a bleeding wound and stormed over to the owners who reeled out the usual "That's the first time he's ever done that, he's usually so well-behaved"... Demanded that they put their horrible little hound on a lead pronto (which they did - so good of them) and warned them that it would be in their best interest to do that from hereon in since it could be a child next time. Also took the bloke's telephone number although it's probably a false one. Whilst I wasn't exactly savaged (although it bloody hurts!) there have been enough sickening stories in the press about dangerous dogs and children for me to be absolutely appalled by some dog owners' disregarding and frankly disgusting behaviour, and this is just a case in point. I don't have a problem with dogs being exercised in large open spaces (preferably Siberia or the Gobi Desert) but I DO have a problem with dogs being left to run amok in public parks where children play.

Just a thought...now that we've got a ban on smoking in public places, why not a ban of marauding dogs in public places? The anti-smoking lobby have (quite rightly) drawn attention to the dangers of public smoking to non-smokers; isn't it about time we draw attention to the dangers of dogs without leads to those of us who don't want to share our public places with vicious animals?

OP posts:

misdee · 06/04/2007 21:52

mrsgumby report it.

LadyOfTheFlowers · 06/04/2007 21:59

the point of dogs?
guiding the blind?
sniffing out bombs?
sniffing out drugs?
guiding the deaf?
not very useful eh?

i agree it is terrible the op was bitten and agree that the dog should of been on a lead. in most cases the dog has done it before.

i think there should be areas in parks, as there are on many beaches, where dogs are allowed to run free and you only go into that area if you want to.
alternatively, dogs off leads could be made to waer a muzzle instead.
in order to tire a large dog on a lead would take about 10 miles of walking. dogs being allowed to run free somewhere is a necessity.

gtimama · 06/04/2007 22:09

My 3 DD's have gone to their grandmothers for the night, with their father. She has a dog that she got from a rescue home. She had her for one week and we went to visit. From the entrance porch, up one flight of stairs, she had nipped everyone on the ankle by the time we got to the front door. In the living room she bit my mother on the foot and my children were terrified about putting their feet down. I was supposed to leave the children there for a week, but said that I couldn't and left. MIL kept saying, well she hasn't bit me. A few months later husband took DD's to visit and he got badly bitten on the back. MIL said, well you must have done something to upset her. You moved too quickly or you made too much noise. I HATE THAT DOG. Whenever I visit I keep throwing it a ball cos I think if its got something in its mouth, it can't bite me.

Separated from husband now and hate it when he takes children there. I swear to god if any of my children get hurt by it I will kill it myself. (Actually I know my husband will too). He hates her as well. I just hope to god he makes her put it in another room whilst the children are up.

gtimama · 06/04/2007 22:10

I am a dog lover, by the way. Just don't think there is a place for dogs that bite. Don't trust them once the have.

misc · 06/04/2007 22:13

currantbunmum- the point about socializing dogs was because most aggressive dogs are aggressive because they haven't been socialised properly so of course it is important.
I also have children (obviously being on here!) and would never put them at risk but I think passing on a hatred of dogs and letting them become hysterical around dogs puts them at much more risk of getting bitten than teaching them how to act calmly and responsibly around any animals and shock horror that involves letting them go near dogs!!!
shame few of you can appreciate the benefits of dogs...yes there are some!!

gtimama · 06/04/2007 22:16

Just remembered, as well. MIL went to the assistance of a woman who had collapsed in a garden, whilst on the way back from a dog walk. She called the paramedics. Whilst they were dealing with the patient the dog bit the female paramedic. When my MIL relayed the story to me she said. She made such a fuss, especially for a paramedic.

FFS!!!!

AitchTwoOh · 07/04/2007 01:08

er, ladyoftheflowers, if you can't exercise a large dog without it running about then get a small one. the rest of the world shouldn't have to pay for dog-owners' vanity and laziness. but then i think it's cruel to keep anything other than small dogs in the city anyway. dogs need space, they shoudl be in the coutnry. muzzled if not on their own grounds, but in the country.

twinsetandpearls · 07/04/2007 01:14

My dog needs exericse of th lead, has nothing to do with my laziness - we are usually right behind him -but I have a springer who would go mad if he were kept on a lead all the time. But I don't let him loose in a park.

twinsetandpearls · 07/04/2007 01:16

but on a weekend he probably does at least ten miles exercise some on the lead and some off. Again definetly not linked with laziness no room for laziness with a springer in the house.

PenelopePitstops · 07/04/2007 03:02

ogs shu be on leads

SofiaAmes · 07/04/2007 05:41

Isn't it the law that all dogs should be on leads in public places. I would report them.

Chickbabymummy · 07/04/2007 06:19

My boss & his wife has a dog, who goes to training school every week, she and the dog have recently been awarded the Kennel Club Gold award, which is given when the owner can demostrate certain obedience tasks. Generally they always have him on a lead, and they often use a muzzle. Dogs definitely need lots of space to run around but if it is in a place that is used by kids, then they ought to be muzzled.
Deffo report the dog to the local warden. It is a shame that a few irresponsible prats who don't look after their animals properly sully the good name of responsible dog owners.

FairyOnTheChristmasTree · 07/04/2007 08:30

As a dog lover with 2 snappy yorkies I think it's outrageous when dogs are not contained on a lead. I think you certainly should report it as what if you were a child? I don't think there is ever any excuses for dogs being free to roam around anywhere apart from their own front or back yards.

Troutpout · 07/04/2007 08:39

It should have been on a lead in a public place.
hope your leg isn't too bad Mrs Gumby...have you had a tetanus recently?

Troutpout · 07/04/2007 08:39

Yes...and i would report them.

kimiTheEasterBunny · 07/04/2007 08:47

I would report them, thank god it was not your child that got bitten.
Hope your feeling better today.
(love the salad dodger bit )

chirpygirl · 07/04/2007 08:49

I had a setter from a puppy and it was soft as shite, never hurt a fly and all that, BUT even so I would never have let it off the lead when there were other people around.
We moved from the country to the city so she had much less space to run in but that made no difference, I just had to take her out very, very early or get my mum to drive us into the country if she wanted a run.

Def report it.

Original poster

MrsGumby · 07/04/2007 09:49

Thanks for the messages - I'm going to have a tetanus jab today just to be on the safe side. I'm needle-phobic so I'm really delighted about that. I am also definitely going to report the dog owners and (as I said before) because I have HAD ENOUGH of dogs ruining my days out with the kids. Nice to see some sensible posts from responsible dog-owners (and a couple of predictably defensive ones from the "oh, but she'd never hurt a fly and LOVES kids" brigade) but I still stand by my viewpoint that all dogs should be on leads and/or muzzled in public parks where kids are playing. I know not all dogs are badly behaved but I'm afraid that there is a significant minority that are, and who are putting people's safety at risk.
And it's not the dogs that I blame, btw,it's their ignorant owners.

But yes, MikkaMakkaMoo, I wished I had booted the little bastard.

OP posts:

Gobbledigook · 07/04/2007 10:00

I know there are useful dogs LoTF - I'm not that stupid.

And I don't pass on hatred of dogs or hysteria - the dogs, and their irresponsible owners, that frightened my 2 year old did that all by themselves.

I'm actually very positive around dogs with the children as I don't want them to be frightened. Friends have dogs and I sit and stroke them and act like anyone else so I'm not passing on any feelings about them at all. My other 2 children aren't frightened of dogs but then they haven't been down on the ground or up against a fence by one like ds2 has.

marymay · 07/04/2007 10:16

tutu100..ds is ok .but very scared to leave my side when we are out and if he does as soon as he see a dog he runs and hide behind me.he is 8 so he is at the age when he doesnt really want to walk with his mum all the time.
i reported it to the police but didnt really get any of the womans detail as i was more worried about calming ds down at the time.

dionnelorraine · 07/04/2007 10:23

I am a responsible dog owner. my dog is a huge soppy arse! But he is still on the lead in a local park (mainly bacuse he would chase balls kids are throwing and he has no raod safety awareness!) He is only let off up the downs and loves it!
One day up the downs with my dh, dd of 2 yrs and our big stupid dog, there was a women with 3 staffies. (not taring all staffies with same brush btw) 1 of which was visious and she shouted at us to keep our dog away! Hello!! use a sodding muzzle or at least a lead ffs! Stupid cow! i told her straight! Our dog wasnt even that interested, just sniffing grass near him!

Carmenere · 07/04/2007 10:28

In Ireland afaik you must have a license for a dog(costs about £30) and if they bite more than once they are destroyed. This means ime that people are really careful with their much loved pets because if they bite they are history.
I just presumed that it was the same over here.

dionnelorraine · 07/04/2007 10:33

No, not the same here at all! But sounds like a bloody good idea! Especially with kids getting bitten. I would go crazy if my dd got bitten!
We should write to the PM!!
Probably would do sod all though!!

yellowrose · 07/04/2007 10:58

mrsgumby - i have loads of very vicious looking dogs with no tails roaming around were i live sometimes the owners look far more scarey than the dog, but that is a dfferent story.

i am absolutely petrified when my son runs up to a dog (he is 3 and obvioulsy thinks all dogs are cute !) and i was once shouted out and told to "get a grip" by some stupid woman who said she was "training" a puppy that jumped up and down repeatedly trying to grab my ds when he was around 1. i told her to train the dog on a doll not on a real child ! no wonder some dogs are vicious, the owners don't train them properly, so really they shouldn't be ALLOWED to own a dog if they are that stupid and child unfriendly. also if a dog isn't "fully trained" should it be allowed to roam freely on Hampstead Heath, which is where this dog was being trained ?

i had a thread a few days ago on what do if a dog actually attacks a child, i would do absolutley anything to get a dog off my child. anything. i would consider carrying a knife, although i know it is illegal. i would rather go to jail than have my child killed by a dog some bastard hasn't trained properly.

there are also many dogs being owned illegally in this country such as the dog that killed that beautiful 5 year old girl. the grandmother has been convicted for owning an illegal dog and illegal drugs. fecking stupid woman.

i don't hate dogs. i hate some of their owners.

elastamum · 07/04/2007 11:09

It should be on a lead. I would have reported them to the police. We have a lovely labradoodle, soft as anything but I wouldnt have her off the lead in a park full of kids because she is continually mobbed by them (she looks just like a cuddly toy) and I am responsible for keeping her under control. She will happily lie on the ground whilst kids crawl all over her ( whilst I hold her collar) and has never bitten anyone but I still only let her off if there arent loads of people around. Not all dogs are vicious but I am continually amazed by how many parents let their kids mug unsuspecting dogs.

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