To be utterly exasperated with the ‘but she’s really friendly’ dog owners out there

[Flamingolingo]

You know the kind - the ones who holler after their bounding dog who barks and bows and jumps at you about how friendly they are.

I feel like since lockdown I’ve had multiple altercations with people and their marauding dogs. Especially either while out running or out with my small children who are terrified.

That’s not to say there aren’t loads of really responsible dog owners out there who do try and call their dog back/put it on the lead, but the few who make no attempt other than shout about their friendliness really get my goat. For clarity: we are mostly using city centre green space, that is quite busy, I think in a rural location it’s a little different.

So I guess my Aibu is about my being annoyed at people who assume everyone wants their ‘friendly’ dog to bound into their social space, and who make no attempt to call their dog back unless specifically asked to.

Yanbu, DS was bowled over by a dog when he was about 15 months. I saw the dog running for him and legged it but the dog was faster, it was terrifying.

We were in a child's play park, the dog should never have been off lead but the couldn't have given less of a shit. He never tried to recall the dog once and when I started checking DS over he came over and said "he's just being friendly"

I completely agree. I like people (mostly) and some of them have dogs.

But... I get that runners are fun to chase (if you’re a dog). As are kids (especially on scooters). But so many dog owners feel the need to mansplain to me “... just need to stand still with arms by yr sides”. No. You just need to teach your dog to come when you call it (and also actually CALL it to you!). It’ll be less “friendly” if I trip over it!

I do think people are way over the top. I also think parents should encourage kids to like dogs and not be afraid, and teach them if a dog does come over they need to stand still. We were out latish one night recently at our local park which was really quiet. Walked past a family sitting on a bench and as we walked past the little boy (must have being no older than 3) said see daddy the dog didn't come near us, the dad then told him to be quiet and that it should be on a lead. it makes me sad that parents install fear into their kids.

I don't in principle have any issue at all with people's dogs.

YANBU, definitely. The Junior Mole adores all animals and will happily pet those strange dogs who lollop lickily up to him and that's fine except that I tell him and tell him DO NOT EVER PET SOMEONE'S DOG UNLESS THEY TELL YOU IT'S OKAY FIRST.
Just do not do that thing. Not all dogs appreciate it, he'd be inconsolable if he was bitten, the dog owner would be in a world of shit. Just no.
But no, "but she's really friendly!" as if I've just in some way maligned the bloody dog's reputation.

Very annoying. Two little pugs ran up to me and my toddler- I stood in front of him as they jumped up and they scratched my hands. Owner came over told them to get down and told me how friendly they are and that they don't ever cause harm and not to be scared. I was so annoyed... because actually they had harmed me and had I not stepped in the way could have scratched my child's face.

@winetime69 so you saying if I'm at a park or on a walk with my children we should stay still and not move because someone has there dog off it lead 🤔

@winetime89 I have worked bloody hard to try to ease my child’s fear of dogs (it stems from him being knocked clean over by a GSP at about 15 months - I thought he had forgotten until we encountered a very similar dog a while back). I’ve got him to accept and even be affectionate to certain known-to-us dogs (he even has a doggy friend that he plays with). I organised for the dogs trust to visit and run a session at his nursery. I talk to him about every dog encounter afterwards and explain to him. I instruct him to stand still, and to keep calm and quiet, often very loudly so that the dog owner can hear me trying. But he’s just terrified and people need to understand that not everyone loves dogs.

Yanbu, really grates on my gears, even as a dog owner, I don’t let my dog off the lead because he doesn’t have 100% recall especially when distracted, he still gets to run because I bought him a 50ft lead, some people are irresponsible, I think you should have to have a test before you’re allowed a dog

No way can you expect young children to stand still when a dog the same size as them is bolting towards them.

I've stood in the way of a few, to protect the dc, feeling really scared. Do some people like causing that reaction??

And everyone doesn't have to like dogs.

Dog owners and lovers, need to have their dogs under effective control, whereby they cannot annoy other animals, or people.

I've had my cat dragged off a six foot fence and killed in front of me by dogs. It was our back fence. I didn't blame the dogs. I blamed the owners. It's the humans responsibility to adequately control their dogs.

I had a lady stood blocking the pavement chatting to her friend in a car holding the lead of her dog who was behind her back jumping up repeatedly at my DD who was terrified to go past - the owner eventually realised and turned round and said "oh she's only a puppy"

FFS!

How can these people be so ENTITLED!

he still gets to run because I bought him a 50ft lead

What’s the point of that? On a lead that length he might as well be running free.

This has driven me mad during lockdown. The worst actually seems to be older men, they are either chatting to others and ignoring their dog, or on their phones and not paying attention. On our daily walk we've had so many dogs bounding up to us with the owner distracted or miles behind. My eldest is very scared of even little dogs, and even a mid sized dog is bigger than my youngest so appears quite scary even though she loves them! At first when nobody was fully sure how Covid was spreading, owners letting their dogs run and lick my kids or my legs were really out of order.

The worst, most entitled, thing I've seen was on a run, a man took up the whole path to clear up poo... then used leaves to wipe it's arse, then just left the leaves on the path. I had to stop and wait for him to do this, he knew I was there and made zero effort to move or take home his shit covered leaves.

This has driven me mad during lockdown. The worst actually seems to be older men, they are either chatting to others and ignoring their dog, or on their phones and not paying attention. On our daily walk we've had so many dogs bounding up to us with the owner distracted or miles behind. My eldest is very scared of even little dogs, and even a mid sized dog is bigger than my youngest so appears quite scary even though she loves them! At first when nobody was fully sure how Covid was spreading, owners letting their dogs run and lick my kids or my legs were really out of order.

The worst, most entitled, thing I've seen was on a run, a man took up the whole path to clear up poo... then used leaves to wipe it's arse, then just left the leaves on the path. I had to stop and wait for him to do this, he knew I was there and made zero effort to move or take home his shit covered leaves.

YANBU. Whilst in the local park a couple of weeks ago DD was knocked to the ground by a dog that tried to lick her face. Owner just stood there so I grabbed the dog carried it over to him and said 'see that lead in your hand, i suggest you use it' DD was sobbing and wanted to come home. If you check your local councils public space protection order you can see in which areas of park land its mandatory for a dog to be on a lead and where they can be off lead. However, if they are in an off lead area they must still be controlled. Ive checked for our park areas and now we only go to the bit where dogs must be on a lead and i know i can ask owners to use the lead as per the order if their dogs are running round the DC. DD wont go to the park unless she knows dogs have to be on a lead because she is scared of them now.

YANBU - I'm not bothered by dogs one way or the other, but if I wanted to have one jumping up at me and wanting a fuss/to play, then I'd have a dog myself.

Yanbu. I like dogs but it's a bit much to feel their teeth on your hand while the owner happily tells you that they are " just friendly"!

My 2 DS football was destroyed when a dog bounded up and grabbed it , puncturing it beyond repair. No sign of the owners.

Yanbu. I own a hyper but harmless spaniel who wouldn't hurt a fly but I don't expect ppl to appreciate her like I do. I call her away on walks even tho she will usually roll over at someone's feet or ignore them completely. However today a lady on a bike annoyed me when my dog was minding its own business on the common and she made a massive deal by stopping on the path and waiting for her to mooch past before setting off again. Cyclist went all passive aggressive and said 'doggy doesn't mind cyclists then?' obvs pissed if I hadn't put her on the lead so she could sail past without concern. Sometimes ppl do get snippy about dogs for nothing.

@stressing - there is a small possibility you are my neighbour. And if you are, I love your dog. She’s great

I was out running recently and a dog approached me.i am a wuss about dogs but I thought it was advised to stand still so they wont chase you, so I just stopped and waited for it to pass. Owner (about 20 metres behind) shouts "it's ok he wont do anything" the dog started crouching and growling at me and then jumped up at me. Owner came leisurely over, reprimanded the dog, didnt apologise and went on their way.

I can’t tell you how many times an off the lead dog has eaten our lunch, without a single word of apology from the owners. We were at a park and a dog literally came and took a pie out of my then 3 year olds hand as she was bringing it to her mouth. You can imagine how close those teeth were to her face. Owner didn’t even acknowledge, though I did unleash a few choice words at him.

Another time at a festival, a dog came up and ate our entire pizza!! You can imagine at festival prices how much that cost and I’d waited in like a 30 minute queue to get it for my starving dc. Owner giggled and was like “oh, you!!” and just walked away. (not envy)

I am so strict with my dc for this exact reason. The vast majority of dogs around here (rural area) are very poorly controlled and people think they can do anything. We had one run up to us in a woodland yesterday. Owners nowhere to be seen, completely out of sight. I wouldn’t let my dc touch it (because they aren’t allowed to touch or approach any dog without asking permission). Dog then ran on past us, across a field and was jumping up on someone else’s kids...while those people shot us daggers thinking it was our poorly controlled dog! Owners finally appeared about 5 minutes later completely unbothered by their bouncing dog like 1/4 mile down the lane until they did eventually call it back to get in the car.

Oh haha, flamingo. It would be a coincidence!

People that don't call their dogs to them when they can tell you're not a fan are also dicks.

I never trust dog owners now after I saw a dog off the lead run up to two small dogs, the owner shouted "it's OK, he's friendly". A few seconds later a fight broke out and one of the small dogs ended up injured. :(