Dogs on the school run

[Sunshineshinning]

Our school run is along quiet residential roads and footpaths. There are quite a number of dogs - most of which are on leads - particularly around the outside of a largeish park.

There are a couple, however, who are left to run free. They are all ‘nice’ dogs (eg Labrador, beagle types) and stay relatively close to their owners. However they do sniff around which scares my children.

So - would I be unreasonable to ask them to keep their dogs on a lead or do they have the (moral) right to keep them off lead?

Am particularly interested to hear from dog owners (esp those who do keep off lead - and think their right to have off lead trumps my right to not have a dog sniffing around).

Dog owner and live across the road from a school.
I never even take my dog walking at school run time for this very reason, my dog can be unpredictable especially if there's a lot of noise around (loads of cars passing, kids talking/shouting over to friends etc) so I always wait until about 9am when I know they will all be inside the school.
However, this is more for the sake of my dog than the kids, if my dog was better in these situations then I probably would walk him earlier but stay on my side of the road and use a different route (my usual route takes us the whole way round the school back up to my house)

Fuzzy a dog that is just sniffing around but is generally well behaved is fine being off the lead and nobody has the right to say it should be. Obviously I'm referring to paths like ones the OP has described and not on pavements where they could wander in the road and get run over.

I have two dogs and also 3 young dc. I always keep them on the lead outside of the park, for their safety as well as other people’s. They are trained and wouldn’t run off or even approach anyone but at the end of the day, they’re still animals. When one dog was a puppy she thought a scared child running away screaming from her was trying to play so naturally chased after her. That just scared the girl more! Especially around school children, dogs should always be kept on leads

Outside the park on a lead. Not only for people, but to avoid anything happening with another dog, including running to/from and being run over.

Hi I own a dog. I think dogs should be on a lead on the streets and should never be in a playground, or left tied up outside.

dog owner.

Dogs should be under control at all times.

Mine is kept on lead on the streets, is put on a shorter lead when close to the school or if people come close.

my dog is friendly but can be "over friendly" and want to sniff and lick everyone in sight, I know others dont like that so he is kept on a short lead. he is tied up outside school while I cross the children over into the playground. He is nowhere near the gates, there is no need for anyone to have to walk past him.

When we walk off road, through fields/moors then he is allowed off lead. I always call him back if we see anyone so we can check them/their dogs are ok with other dogs.

I agree with the poster who complained about not picking up poo.... theres one stretch of path to school which has a new pile of poo every day. It must be someone living close by and/or uses the same route daily. its vile to have to try and find a way to clean the kids shoes before they go into school. if you have a dog then you should be prepared to pick up their poo!

I walk mine while doing school run on a lead. She’s one of the nice breeds that you describe although I wouldn’t trust her 100% regardless of breed.
Yabu to ask people not to walk the dogs while you do school run.
Yanbu to ask that the dogs are on leads on a public foot path.

dogs should be on leashes near schools and never let into playgrounds or schools unless it is an assistance dog.

Me n my brothers wer all scared of dogs since we were young, coz our pet dog attacked me when I was 13 n I would have been dead if my mum didn’t see it.. wen we bought a new house one of our neighbours had 2 massive German shepherds and she always let them out whenever we go out of the house to go to school.n it used to run to us n we used to get scared.. one day we told our mum n she had a word with our neighbour who said to mum if we r scared then we should move house.. some people r very inconsiderate of others..

Unless the dog is acting out of control in some way I don't think you could ask the owners to keep them on a lead. I know you said you don't actually walk in the park but along side it so to dog owners that's where the walk would start or finish. Also you said in the 45mins ish of the school run they should be on a lead - well not everyone would be aware of school run times and you can't really expect others to revole around these times. You could ask for the owners to call their dogs to them as you/your child are worried but that in itself would reinforce to your child dogs are a worry.

I always keep mine on lead around schools, kids play grounds ect

But I large park I use a long tracker lead. Sorry but if it's in the park and dogs are allowed off the lead (some parks don't allow this) then there's not much you can do, and I'll probably get flamed for this but I think you need to address your children's fears rather than expecting all people to instantly run and clip leads to their dogs

OP, I would ask the school to send an email or add to newsletter a reminder for dog owners to keep their dogs in the lead. As much for the dog/owners sake as anything, as if a child scared a dog or actrd inappropriately around a usually placid dog, you can’t predict how it will react. Dog owner and lover here! Great that you are working on your children’s confidence around dogs. Perhaos you could suggest a visit from the Dogs trust or a local animal charity to the School? Dogs Trust are great at showing children how to behave around dogs, both fearful and dog living children all benefit from this!

Sorry for typos!

Cyber what about dogs off the lead that don't belong to parents from school?

The school cannot ask anyone to keep their dog on a lead in a public place, only on and around the school grounds.

Of course they can’t, I agree with you. Maybe the school could put a polite sign right by the school asking for people to put dogs on lead at school pick up and drop off time, it may influence sone other dog owners. I was more thinking of parents bringing dogs on school run- may have got wrong end of proverbial stick!

Dog owner

I always walk my dog on the lead unless I get to the playing fields and there’s no one around and I let her have a run. Even my children who have dogs at home 1 big and 1 small, don’t particularly like dogs jumping up at them or sniffing around them.

I have walked mine to do the school run a handful of times again always on the lead. Once there was another dog off the lead, who tried to attack her and scared the children. The second I tied her to the fence around the school (dog is fine with this) and came out to a group of about 7 children (around the age of 10/11) hugging her and pulling at her. While she didn’t attack them or anything like that and I would be confident that she wouldn’t, I could see she didn’t like it, I had to ask the children “can I please get my dog” before they would leave her alone. I felt so bad for her I thought it was easiest just to leave her at home and walk her at a different time.

Dogs shouldn’t be allowed near schools. I have four German shepherds, and would love to take them on the school run, but children and dogs shouldn’t be mixed. It’s just not 100% safe.