Dogs off the lead

[LudaMusser]

I was walking with my thirteen month old in the pushchair this morning through a nature reserve type place. I've only recently found it and it's great for the two metre rule as the track is maybe six meters wide

It's quite popular with walkers, joggers and dog walkers. For the second time now an old woman (maybe sixty) has came towards me with five dogs all off the lead and none of them that close to her, she's definitely not in control of them

It really annoys me because on both occasions one of the dogs has ran straight up to the pushchair. I've then angled the pushchair to try and move it away from the dog. Two dogs are big, one a boxer type dog and the other an Alsatian. The other three are small terrier types. AIBU to want the dogs to be on a lead?

As a child I was scared of dogs as I was chased by some alsatians once and nearly bitten another time. I don't feel easy around some dogs, particularly bigger ones. I'm always concerned for my little girl, if a dog jumped up to the pram it doesn't bare thinking about

Her dogs are not behaving perfectly, but neither have you been terribly impinged upon.

I would just let it go.

Dogs do not have to walk at hell to be under control. If you walk with your dig at heel the entire, they may as well be on the lead.

One of mine is whistle trained. The other is a puppy and being whistle trained. As the younger one is still being trained they are only off lead when theres no people around. We have a big enclosed dog field that the owner is letting use or we use the local park if no one is around. If someone else comes into the park they both go on their leads. The little one does come back because she follows the older one everywhere.

I really dont like the idea that dogs always have to be on leads. However you need to be responsible.

But then I also dont think the dogs did anything horrendous, in this situation either.

Depends what “approached the buggy” means. My dog has no interest in people and limited interest in other dogs (he loves the ones he plays with but doesn’t make deliberate contact with others). If he was off lead he’d be trotting along just (10ft or so) in front or behind me. If you were walking the path towards us he’d ignore you and carry on trotting down the path sniffing. He might pass close by you and the buggy but he wouldn’t touch either and he wouldn’t even look at you. If you tried to touch him he’d hurry passed. But you could call it “approaching the buggy” as he’d be walking towards you because you were in our line of travel.

However 5 large off lead dogs that looked at you, veered of their course to come and sniff you and generally took a lot of interest in you should be called back and put on a lead.

Dogs running up to pushchairs or running up and jumping on people, is hardly observing the 2 metre rule

Dogs need exercise, and that requires them being able to run off lead sometimes.

No it doesn't. People first, always.

Of course the op will be precious about her baby, as that is the normal response! What stupid comments from some people on here! There is no way I'd be comfortable with dogs I dont know (one a boxer etc) running up to my baby! Do you not hear about all the news stories and dog bites? Any dog can bite, fact! Are you expecting the op to play Russian roulette with her child and think ooh look at the nice big friendly boxer?! Do you have a child runbitchrun?

You are def not being unreasonable, it is disgusting and that lady should be fined. She was not in control of 5 dogs not on their leads of course not!

Oh and the safety of human beings comes before a dogs exercise I'm.l sorry! Let the dog of a lead in a field when nobody is about not where people are walking! And 5 dogs should never be off their leads at the same time; that is just utterly irresponsible.

I’m a dog owner and I would call my dog back if someone with a pram, small child, in a bike etc was passing. My dog isn’t interested in people so will come back. If my dog was prone to walking up to people/not coming back or jumping up at people then I’d keep her on the lead. I think it was poor manners of this dog walker to not call her dogs back when they were near you/put them on the lead.

However, I think you might be being overly anxious because of your bad past experiences. In the nicest way possible, if you don’t resolve your own issues around dogs then you can pass this on to your child. It’s very difficult to completely avoid dogs in public spaces. I have seen children in the park who are screaming and crying because a dog has come near them - it’s no good for the child to be that stressed about dogs.

Five dogs should not be off lead around a small child. However try shouting over to ask her to call her dogs back and make it clear you don’t want them near you.

I had to do that yesterday when a family with 4 big dogs allowed theirs to approach mine when on the lead. They were very apologetic and clearly just weren’t thinking.

Home42 our dog is exactly the same as yours. He has no interest in people and will happily trot along ahead of me without interacting with them. We don't have the luxury of living next to a friend owned private wood as some upthread do, so we take Ddog on his usual walk. In normal times we'd be lucky to bump into one other set of people - usually with dog - on our one hour loop. These aren't normal times so I appreciate we need to share with a lot more people than normal so I will put ddog on the lead if I see groups of people around, but on the basis that he isn't going to interact with them or disturb them in any way I do let him off lead when I can. I guess he could live without it, but as he has been trained not to disturb humans I feel it would be very mean to him as he loves sniffing around - and as I say he's generally only off lead when I can't see other people.

Oh and btw I also hate it when dogs jump on me and get my clothes muddy. I find it maddening and as a fellow dog owner I feel I have to pretend that I don't mind - but really I do.

I don't think all dogs need to be on leads. I think they just need to be under their owners control at all dogs. There are some dogs that genuinely don't approach other people or dogs, that's absolutely fine.

What is not fine is for dogs to approach other people or dogs unless invited. I don't give a shiny shit how friendly the dog is.

I myself am a dog owner. I have a dog that regularly forgets her manners. So she is kept on a long line when in open fields, and a normal lead when next to roads.

I normally take my 5 month old and newly turned 3 year old when I take my dog for a walk. Every single day we have dogs running up approaching us trying to get my dog to play while she is on the lead and sniffing at my daughter.

However a couple of weeks ago a group of 3 dogs approached us while we stood still waiting for the owners to pass as we were walking a lot slower. The owners didn't even call their dogs away. When the owners were a little way in the distance the dogs bounded after them. One of them barged straight into my 3 year old, lifting her up into the air causing a spiral fracture in her leg and she landed on the back of her head. The owners turned back multiple times when they heard my daughter hysterically screaming, but they didn't even slow down let alone stop. I'm now too scared to take my girls with me unless my husband is there. So my dog can't go for walks until the toddler is in bed.

People just don't give a shit. They think as long as their dog is friendly they can do whatever the fuck they like

Oh my goodness twigletfairy I hope your DD is recovering ok from that, it sounds horrendous.

Old woman......60 seriously😳

"Of course the op will be precious about her baby, as that is the normal response! What stupid comments from some people on here! There is no way I'd be comfortable with dogs I dont know (one a boxer etc) running up to my baby! Do you not hear about all the news stories and dog bites? Any dog can bite, fact! Are you expecting the op to play Russian roulette with her child and think ooh look at the nice big friendly boxer?"

Exactly. I love dogs, but I hate when they run up to me. I don't know anything about your dog so keep it away from me.

@Twigletfairy that's horrendous and a clear example of what can go wrong when dogs are out of control. Absolutely shocking dog ownership. I hope your dd is on the mend. Did the owners even stop and apologise?

My dp used to have the 'it's fine he's a friendly dog he's just saying hello' mentality and it drove mad. One time he got given a rollocking by a very displeased lady when our dog jumped at her. He came home very shamefaced and I'm glad it happened because it proved to him how upset people can get about this and how serious it can get.

I can't believe how stupid and entitled some people are.

There are a number of people who take their dog out for a shit etc that just spend their time watching their i.phone, not their dog. Keep them on a lead!

YANBU. Dog owners can be very selfish and blinkered IME. I walk through my local park/nature reserve and the number of dogs who come hurtling around corners, no owner in sight, is unreal. The owner will catch up maybe 2-3 minutes later, while I'm standing still trying to avoid touching the dog/it jumping at me. You never get an apology or even an attempt at putting the dog back on a lead, just "oh come on silly" etc.

I have asked people to call their dogs back when they are running at me, only to be told "oh it's ok, he's friendly!" It's not ok if I don't want him on me.

I've had quite a large dog jump up at me while pregnant, which really upset me. Obviously I used my arms to protect my bump but owner didn't see the problem and literally said "don't worry, she's just saying hello." I replied "and if she harms my baby?" No answer to that funnily enough, she looked sheepish but still didn't put the dog on a lead.

Different issue, but also loads of dog owners letting their dogs run off lead through fields of sheep. Absolutely astounding, entitled behaviour.

I haven't yet owned a dog myself but grew up around them, but the thing that would stop me getting one is that I never want to infringe on literally everyone else's enjoyment of a space like (some) dog owners do.

Thankyou rookie, thankfully the the fracture wasn't displaced so just a cast and should make a full recovery. She will be a lot happier at the end of this week when she's allowed to start weight bearing on the cast.

Thanks Oscar, no they didn't stop. They looked back multiple times as they were walking away, they know she was seriously hurt because they saw me on the ground holding her and we know her screams could be heard across the field as we have since spoken to other walkers that were there. I don't think I would be quite so angry if they had stopped, put their dogs on the lead and just came back to check she was ok and say sorry.

Its just really shit timing for it to happen too. Obviously no one wants to go to medical settings at the moment and we've had to take her twice so far just due to this.

They should be on a lead. Even if she chooses to walk her dogs off lead if she sees a mother and small child approaching she should put them on a lead as you approach people or train them not to approach other people.

I’m a dog lover but I don’t love dogs I don’t know and feel uncomfortable around dogs off lead.

We still want to give our dog a chance to walk off lead, run, sniff, explore. So DH is up at 5.30 each morning to walk about 5 miles with him when there's no one else about. Our dog will has good recall & will walk to heel off lead usually but these aren't usual times. There are so many extra people walking near us throughout the day, many with dogs that seem to be in charge of the owner. So when I take him out I have him on the lead. Not that I don't trust him, I just don't trust anyone else. I have lost count of the number of times when we've gone off the path or taken a diversion to try and maintain social distancing only to find another dog coming with us closely followed by the owner trying to catch it. God forbid you try and suggest they need to be in control.

You are v v unreasonable for describing a 60 year old as ‘old’ 🙄🤣

Everyone is complaining about joggers, cyclists, dog walkers and dogs at the moment. On my NextDoor, people are even demanding that jogging be banned.

Bossy signs have been put up in our Common saying dogs must be on leads ( I think the first time this has happened). Benches have been taped up so elderly people having heart palpitations must either stagger on or break an ankle collapsing onto the grass.

If people simply can’t cope with the irritations of living on a crowded island they should move somewhere less populated.

And so, OP, I would say you are being unreasonable for suggesting that all dogs everywhere should be put on a lead. I can see this one episode was disagreeable if you are not keen on dogs, and yes, the ‘old’ dog owner might be better off walking her pack away from narrowish paths but I think it unnecessarily draconian to I insist all dogs should be on leads everywhere.

If people simply can’t cope with the irritations of living on a crowded island, when the council or the park owner asks that dogs be on leash so everyone can enjoy their walk and observe social distancing in a pandemic, they should move somewhere less populated.

I think you should just say straight up. I am scared of dogs please do not let them approach me or my child.
If she doesn't recall them and put them on lead then she is 100% unreasonable.

My dog is often off lead but will come when called and therefore I can easily put him on lead if I see another dog or person approaching.

I think you have been a bit rude about the lady though.