AIBU all dogs should be kept on a lead outside of specified dog walking areas

[Scrowy]

YES

I am being unreasonable.

I apologise for the deliberately inflammatory title. But this is about groundnesting birds which are in serious decline.

BUT last year we set up some wildlife cameras close to known nesting points for curlews on our farm. What we saw was the parent birds frequently being disturbed by dogs 'playing'.

Year on year curlew numbers have decreased on our farm, despite no changes in farming methods.

What has increased is dog walkers and dogs off leads. Other predator numbers are largely the same or reduced according to Natural England. We can therefore only conclude that the frequent disturbances from domestic dogs are compromising successful curlew breeding.

If you use farmland to walk your dogs please keep them on a lead during groundnesting season (1st March - 31st July). Every countryside guideline and national park also requests this, but most people ignore it.

I know it's a bit shit you can't let your dogs disappear off and enjoy themselves for a bit, but it's really not good for the environment. Feel free to do as you please during winter.

@Tinkerbellisnotafairy Poor lad there's nothing worse than the fear of dogs it's not just a minor "I don't like" it's a debilitating experience for some.

If dogs are off-lead and coming over / approaching you and your son it's no joke or trivial thing. The "Oh he's friendly" is neither use than ornament and usually means the owner hasn't a clue and can't control it.

Stop and ask the owner to either put their dog on a lead or call it back. Most decent, sensible and responsible people will put their dog on a lead straight away and apologise for having worried you.

The law in UK says (very vaguely) dogs must be under control at all times regardless. If dogs are being exercised in a park / recreation ground or other place where there isn't any specific requirement or notice to keep dogs on a lead, owners are allowed to let their dogs off but still need to have them under control.

If a dog continues to annoy, harass, intimidate and worry members of the public / other dog walkers, they can easily be classed as not having the dog under control.

Repeat offenders and owners that let dogs run riot on children's playgrounds, parks or other places you should report to the local dog warden so they can keep tabs and make a point of going and speaking to them.

Hard though I understand it is for kids with a horrible fear of dogs, the dog bite prevention website and advice for kids to "Be a tree" might help :)

*The only thing I don't recommend is teaching kids to hold arms and hands downwards. Strikes me as an odd one but instead fold your arms and tuck them up and under your arms like a toddler having a tantrum.

doggonesafe.com/Be-A-Tree

If my dog approached a child that looked very nervous i would absolutely put him on a lead. I might then say you can pat him if you like if the parents were happy about it. He's a ridiculously friendly dog who loves people.

I do hate it when parents let their children stroke a dog without asking first though and I've annoyed a couple of parents by telling their dcs that they should always ask first. My dog is fine but others might not be.

In the Peak District there are often signs asking people to keep their dogs on leads. Many farmers also put signs up.

There is a limit however as to how many signs can be put up in the countryside, and invariably people ignore signs anyway.
Dog poo on farmland can also cause abortions in cows, as it can transfer neospora parasites.

But he probably is friendly -

but Fazackerly, my son doesn't know this. He's a small five year old who doesn't like big dogs rushing up to him. It makes absolutely no difference to him if the owner tells him the dog is friendly. The dog should be taught not to rush up to strangers.

I've previously asked (very politely) for a dog to be put on the lead as it is obviously distressing my son by bounding up to him (and we're talking a large dog here), and the owner(s) have just laughed and said, "Oh he's just playful," or "don't worry about it, he won't hurt you." In my son's mind, it's not playful, it's aggressive and scary, and it looks like it might hurt him.

I will clarify that when I say heath , that’s it’s official name , the area where my dog is 30/50 m away from me is actually a playing field / council trim trail / football area all flat grass and mowed by the council . The ‘heath’ part is a wild area to the side of this and has a path around the longer wild areas , here my dog is only a couple of metres from me as otherwise he would be down a hole . That said many of the local Labrador / spaniel owners seem to use the wild part for some sort of gun dog retrieving practice as they are always throwing things into the long areas for their dogs to find . I don’t think we have any ground nesting birds , it’s mainly rabbits and foxes ( and fox poo) .

Thankfully our park has a lack of curlews. My ddog isn't interested in birds anyway, his only desire is spherical and green. We are always away of farm animals anyway when we get out of the city. I just wish the blackbirds were a little more sensible, they nest only a metre or so above the ground in our garden, and as for the vicious crows, they dive bomb us!

I once lived in an area of Canada where there were well defined 'off lead' dog parks. You had to have your dog on a lead by law if you weren't in one of those areas (or your own garden). I assumed that was normal everywhere but sadly not.

It's draconian in Canada, quite shocking that dogs can't even go for a swim in Vancouver. (Obviously ddog was not with us as he wouldn't have appreciated 10 hours in the cargo hold each way!)

Fazackerly clearly doesn't get it at all. My kids have been terrified more than once by so-called friendly dogs and their clueless incompetent owners that don't have nt card ntrol them appropriately in public places. Trail of destruction blithely left behind them.

Draconian but benefits pretty much everyone soo.....

I am not a clueless incompetent owner. I am sorry your kids are scared of dogs but it's not against the law to have a well behaved dog off lead - or a manic bouncy one either tbh - so cool your jets and maybe try and teach your kids that they aren't going to get killed if a friendly dog looks at them for a pat!

Quite hard to explain to a two year old. And the point of my post is maybe it should be illegal.

Of course it's not hard to explain. You could even teach him to actively like dogs if you really wanted to. I suggest getting your own dog, it works wonders with nervous children.

@LowLifeOpinions would be Shame if it had to come to that. I'm amazed anyone would allow their off lead dog to approach someone they don't know. Not everyone likes dogs and it's just common courtesy to not allow it.

I have 2 dogs I walk off lead. One is always put on lead when I see someone as he would approach and the other I call to my side by don't put on lead as no need as he won't pay any attention to who we are walking be. Simples.

@Fazackerley It is against the law to have a dog out of control. If you can’t stop your dog bouncing all over someone then you’re not in control. The law says all that has to happen is that someone says their behaviour made them scared and your dog is labelled a dangerous dog.
My dog is off lead in public. Never in fields containing crops or livestock. Never where kids are playing football. But in appropriate places she’s off lead. She won’t approach people she doesn’t know and will respond to a command to move off the path or stop if we meet a runner etc.
@PrayingandHoping has it right. “Common courtesy”. Unfortunately too many people are selfish, stupid, entitled twits. Some of those twits own dogs.

The law says all that has to happen is that someone says their behaviour made them scared and your dog is labelled a dangerous dog

This is not quite true. The dog has to have displayed aggression and genuinely looked as though it was going to bite someone. It has to be witnessed and I doubt the police would.do anything for a first report. Someone being nervous of a dog going near them will not warrant a police investigation.

And where did I say I let my dog bounce all over people? He's not allowed to do that. I do realise that there are weird people out there that don't like dogs so I do make eye contact if he's wandering near and judge the situation. I don't stand back cackling as he clambers over a screaming toddler.

BUT it isn't against the law for a dog to bounce up to anyone. You'd have to be properly determined to waste police time if you made a complaint about a dog coming over to say hello in a place where dogs were allowed off lead !

@Fazackerley not any more I'm afraid

". The legislation also makes it an offence if a person is worried or afraid (the term is ‘reasonable apprehension’)"

www.rspca.org.uk/getinvolved/campaign/dogownership/bsl/dda

If your dog now makes anyone even feel afraid it is contravening the dangerous dog act

Agreed proving it and anything being done without a bite occurring is unlikely but by making anyone worried by your dogs actions you are technically breaking the DDA as it stands

Reasonable apprehension has to be reasonable though.

@Fazackerley
It doesn’t have to be aggressive. Just out of control.
www.rspca.org.uk/getinvolved/campaign/dogownership/bsl/dda

X post
Nobody should be reporting a dog for no good reason. But by law they could report you if your dog bounces over and made them intimidated. I wouldn’t want to take the risk.

@Fazackerley knowing people who are genuinely afraid of dogs it doesn't take a lot. If someone says they are afraid then you can't debate it with them. 🤷‍♀️

I agree with you, as the owner of an on-lead dog who doesn't appreciate being ran at.

As a dog owner who lives on the moor I agree with you.
I don't know much about ground nesting birds, however out landlord lost 8 lambs last year to out of control dogs. He shot 2.
Last week I watched as 3 farmers came flying up onto the moor after getting a call about dogs running wild and harassing sheep.
I let my dog off lead on bridleways, my parents fields, the beach (not cliff walks). There are plenty of places to do so without endangering livestock or wildlife... unfortunately it's lazy owners.

Also when my dog is off lead, I know I have control still as we made sure her recall and place in the pack was established before allowing off lead.