Neighbours dog has just attacked me and DD.

[katkat90]

Have had issues with them in the past

They are elderly, with two large breed dogs (think Great Danes?). They cannot control them. Honestly the amount of times I have seen them nearly pull them over in the street/simply pull out of their grasp and go bouncing off and jumping all over people is untrue.

Was walking back from the shop and saw them coming from a distance so I stepped to the side into another neighbours driveway and next thing I know- one of them had pulled out of its owners grasp and came bounding over and knocked DD (who is just about getting confident with her toddling) over.

It was over in seconds- by the time I put the break on the pram (was stood on a slopes drive so it would of ran off into the road) and went to grab DD she was already on the floor the dog barking at her- so I kicked it to get it away, and it bit my leg.

I was furious. Owner very embarrassed an apologetic but I’ve said enough is enough and I would be contacting the police and the RSPCA.

Heaven forbid it bounded on the pram and just decided to bite my 2 week old. It would of taken her head off no doubt.

V shaken and waiting for DH to get home to call the police and RSPCA.

I’ve also messaged his daughter on Facebook

Humans take precedence over dogs always

The problem with dog friendly places is that sooner or later someone complains that they can't go there thanks to all the dogs (dog friendly cafe thread is a great example).
Eventually all dog owners are going to need to own a treadmill so their dogs can actually get some exercise.

dog friendly places are self-defeating because even dog owners don't want the nuisance of other dogs

woof

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Oh get real. Kids have no business rushing up to random dogs and trying to pet it, clumb on it at all. why on earth would you consider that ok? You dont know the dog, dont know what its reaction would be so you are crazy if you think its the dogs place to put up and shut up. If your child ran up to a strange dog and scared it then started petting it and it growled i bet you would blame the dog not your shit parenting.
If someone rushed over to you and started putting thier hands all over you you wouldnt like it/ get a fright/ wonder wtf they would do next. Dogs feel the same they are not made of stone and not toys for random kids who havent been taught not to be a bloody nuisance to other people and animals.

I like the idea of dog friendly places
we also need to have dog free places, places where humans do not have to worry about dogs

Agreed. Dog-free children's parks should stay that way and there's no need to take your dog shopping everywhere you go. I love my dog but don't want him or others in a fancy restaurant with me, but being able to go out to a dog friendly pub or cafe after a walk is wonderful.

Willow I appreciate your concern but it's Deadbudgie's dog that is nervous, not mine! Mine loves attention

I see this thread has gone the usual way.

Every play park round here is dog free (bar the usual exceptions). Playing fields are open to anybody. Tennis courts are dog free. Most shops/cafes here are dog free.

There are plenty of dog free spaces still available. A place being dog friendly is however no excuse for shitty owners or shitty parents

Sorry😶 just realised that when i refreshed thread

Apparently in the UK we have a couple of deaths per year and 200,000 non-fatal attacks as a result of dogs (this covers everything from getting scratches to life changing injuries that don't quite kill you).

This makes them the second most deadly animal in the UK.

Apparently bees and wasps together come top, which strikes me as cheating as its two very different species added together.

Anyhoo. Domestication of dogs is by no means a complete process. If it was, you wouldn't have to train dogs not to be the predators they actually are. Their training wouldn't break under mild provocation, they wouldn't revert due to sickness, age, or a change in their family environment or stress levels.

So the real question is why people decide to breed predators to live with them, and why they then consider it is reasonable to make everyone else put up with their choice, not only to have them in their home, but to take it with them to all manner of public places that the rest of us can hardly avoid.

I mean in what world does the sentence 'I took a barely trained predator on the school run with me' make any sort of sense?

Honestly I think alongside filling the oceans with plastic, keeping predatory animals as pets (pets mind you, not as the working animals they have been in past history) is going to be one of the big things that future generations will look back on with a massive dose of WTAF.

Having a dog is a choice, just like everything else. No doubt in the future people will look at many of the choices we make & shake their heads.

great post @M3lon
why indeed do people want to have as pets large predators capable of killing other humans
What the actual fuck

I much prefer dogs to people

How about those notoriously big predatory chihuahuas, Word?

Sorry, don’t know what happened there!

Unfortunately I didn’t grow up with dogs and know nothing about them, and most of my experiences with them at close quarters have been negative. Perhaps most folks get a dog without realising how much care and training they actually need. Or maybe I’ve just been unfortunate in meeting lousy owners who are also crappy human beings!

I get the feeling Wordthe doesn't like dogs...

@ChardonnaysPrettySister

It’s no fun having a husky lunging for your two year old. That was a big animal the owner couldn’t control.

I think it's a fair assessment that dog lovers are the cruellest of any people towards animals. They frequently have no respect for dogs' dignity at all.

some dog owners dress their dogs up like twats. Not all. Don't stereotype

True, but you cannot lump all dogs together as a huge predatory mass.

Some dogs are badly behaved, some owners too but to call them all vermin and big predators is a bit uncalled for.

M3lon where are you getting those stats from exactly? I can't seem to find anything that matches those for the UK, and even if 200k was anywhere near accurate, a
couple of fatalities and then non fatal attacks doesn't make dogs the second most 'deadly' animal. That's not what 'deadly' means...

Incidentally, the reliability of any sort of self reporting survey relies on the question being asked. It's all open to bias.

If I wanted to show that dogs were dangerous I'd ask:

Have I ever been injured (even to a minor degree) by a dog? Yes, mine has scratched me (no breaking of the skin) and once bruised me (nipped).

If I wanted to find stats for genuine injury or attack I'd look at hospital reports or ask:

Have I ever been attacked by a dog (and then outline the definition of attack)? No. The scratches were from playing and the equivalent of someone stepping on your foot or accidentally knocking you over while playing sports. The nip was because he was a 9 week old puppy that was still learning how to behave appropriately and the equivalent of a two year old biting someone.

It's probably overreacting to say that the dog that bit after being kicked should be put down, but certainly they need training & possibly rehoming.

I hate that dogs get destroyed because of useless owners.

A lot of us would have probably reacted as Op did.

The video posted earlier-is "back away" a command that many dogs know??

Wordthe
great post @M3lon
why indeed do people want to have as pets large predators capable of killing other humans

What the actual fuck

--

I've just had a rummage through today's headlines and guess what I found?
Story after story of large predators killing other humans.

Should be a law against people going out without a lead on.

This makes them the second most deadly animal in the UK. Nope. Not how that works... Also its a wild estimate because getting scratches will not be recorded anywhere.

Btw, in the UK the results for fatal attacks are:

1. Horses: about 10 a year
2. Cows: about 5 a year
3. Domestic dogs: about 4 per year
4. Bees & Wasps: about 3 per year
5. Deer –attacks about 1 per year

and that's only really because we are in close contact with them.

So sorry for you OP.

It is entirely the responsibility of a dog's owner to ensure that it behaves in public and does not cause a nuisance to anyone else. The law is quite clear on the subject of out-of-control dogs.

Many people - not just young children - are frightened by dogs and should have the right to use public places and footpaths in rural areas without having a dog of any size or psychological condition come hurtling towards them and jump up all over them. I do a lot of wildlife monitoring and have been knocked over several times by large dogs 'just being friendly', even ending up in a river at one point because two boxers didn't like me being there. Their owner told me in no uncertain terms to "Leave her dogs alone". Charming.

And no, I don't want advice on how to deal with dogs being aggressive. They are not indigenous wild or semi-domesticated animals that I might encounter in the countryside. I know how to deal with stampeding cattle or an aggressive horse because they are out on their own. Dogs aren't.

Dog owners - please please understand that some people don't like dogs; others are terrified by them. We tolerate your dogs being out in public as long as they are under control. Please tolerate us.