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

[MrsGumby]

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?

oh my god! im trying hard not to get involved in this one. Just will say though, just as there are bad dogs and/or bad owners there are alot of good dogs with good owners. Some of us spend alot of time ensuring our dogs are controllable and some dont bother at all. As discussed yesterday, there should be places were kids can go (parks i mean) without having to be hassled by dogs and visa versa.
Please dont tar all dogs and owners with the same brush. Take the example of guide dogs for the blind. Dogs are very intelligent creatures and with the right training they are capable of doing some of the most amazing things. That of course doesnt mean to say though that an owner can be trusted when they say "oh he wont hurt you" or whatever. I certainly teach my children not to approach any dog they dont know at all, unless i have said its ok.

Report it, take photos of the wound and google dog bite which give advice about suing them (if you can trace them).

You didn't call the "salad dodgers" to their face did you?

Stop and step away from the thread

ground(d)og day

Hi zookeeper lets not let this turn into us against the rest of them again today, i need a rest!

good idea Haychee.

End of.

lol

Haychee, for once i agree with everything you say! well at least on your last post, ive not read the rest lol.

To the OP i am very sorry you were bitten and for the reason that we cant screen owners for responsibility i think there should be dog bans in parks and public places. There other places to walk dogs where they can be left off lead. If your argument is one that there isnt such a place near you, then my counter arguement is simple - get a dog that doesnt need to be let off, or dont get one, its not fair to the dog anyway.

To be fair i think most dog owners are responsible, however i walked through greenwhich park a few months back to be horrified at the amount of pit bull TYPE dogs being paraded about by thuggish looking gangs of teenagers who clearly couldnt control the animals if their lives depended on it, needless to say, our walk in the park was cut short.