To expect dog walkers to keep their giant dogs on leash around other peiple

[Thewithesarehere]

I am still quite sick after seeing a dog, nearly my DC’s size, running after my DC knocking them to the ground and running over them.
DC is covered in mud. I was taking a picture of them running to me and it happened in a flash. I shouted at the dog owner who something like put your own children on leash.
Why the hell people don’t keep such huge dogs and then let them off leash in a public park around children? DV is covered in mud, shivering and complaining that their leg hurts where it hit a rock and that they are scared of dogs. I wish I had done more but don’t know what else I could have done.
AIBU in feeling bloody furious?

I understand that dog owners are protective of their dogs and they often view that their dog has the same rights as a human being which personally I find unreasonable. Dogs are animals and are not higher in the pecking order than a human and especially a child. The law doesn't recognise they have equal rights either so it is a bit rich some owners try to pretend they do.

Having said that, clearly parents shouldn't allow a child to entice or poke a dog..although I have never seen it as children tend to be wary from my experience.

As for the rareness of dog attacks and bites. My friend is a police officer. She works in a neighbourhood team and is sick and tired of investigating dog bites arising out of dogs being walked and not under control. If a dog isn't on a lead and attacks...it isn't under control. Some of her reports include large vicious dogs attacking a small one and then turning on the owner.

The problem has been worse since lockdowns as more people are using footpaths and the dog owners insist on their dogs being let to run free. Some are very behaved but when they start jumping up and muddying someone, that person gets cross general and conflict arises. Some just attack just to the shock of their owners whose defence is usually "they have never done it before...he is so friendly"

Dogs are animals and should be treated as such

@mbosnz

Dullardmullard, I think you're entirely within your rights to tell people to back the fuck away from the dog. They shouldn't be approaching your dog without permission or invitation any more than the dog should be approaching people without their permission or invitation.

(Having said that, I was a bit startled when a dog walked briskly into my crotch yesterday, apparently the poor thing was blind and a bit deaf, and it was quite firm that this was literally the one true path - it's owner had been engrossed in conversation and hadn't realised that Tiddles had progressed without her. . . poor old Tiddles! You gotta make an exception there, right?!)

That is an exception.

My friend is a police officer
Sunflowergirl does your friend think there is any likelihood of stricter measures to combat these problems?

I understand that dog owners are protective of their dogs and they often view that their dog has the same rights as a human being which personally I find unreasonable. Dogs are animals and are not higher in the pecking order than a human and especially a child.

Sorry, but I disagree. I am an animal lover and a vegan and I see all sentient beings as equal. To me, my doggy and my cats are just as important as people and their children.

Vinyldetective, I think perhaps you are assuming that your righteous wrath at your dog hypothetically, having rushed at a person (which you assure us would never happen, so I don't know why you're getting so wound up about it), being booted, belted, or sprayed

Prephaps it’s because, like me, she is an animal lover and hates the idea of any dog being abused just for approaching a stranger or jumping up. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Thanks for the lecture @mbosnz.

@Yohoheaveho

My friend is a police officer Sunflowergirl does your friend think there is any likelihood of stricter measures to combat these problems?

I doubt it they don’t have the manpower

Sadly, so many people blackitty have not reached your superior state of evolution, and they do not view dogs as their equals. As I said, one has to take one's victim as they find them - they may not be vegan doglovers, who are willing to extend the benefit of the doubt to a strange dog's motivation in enthusiastically approaching themselves or their offspring, and they may be somewhat less backwards in coming forwards in somewhat more spirited attempts to defend themselves and theirs, as they see it, against an unwarranted onslaught. . .

@Blackitty

I understand that dog owners are protective of their dogs and they often view that their dog has the same rights as a human being which personally I find unreasonable. Dogs are animals and are not higher in the pecking order than a human and especially a child.

Sorry, but I disagree. I am an animal lover and a vegan and I see all sentient beings as equal. To me, my doggy and my cats are just as important as people and their children.

I agree and I’m not vegan

@Sunflowergirl1 that happened to my sister this week; a dog attacked her dog, she tried to pick her dog up to get it out of the way and got bitten herself. And then told to fuck off by the owner. Crazy. All has been reported.

And there again, it's not down to personal opinion, is it?

A report of a dog biting a child is going to be dealt with very differently if the law does choose to involve itself, to a person giving a dog a boot when trying to stop it rushing at one's child in what may, or may not be, an attack.

It's a shame people are so reluctant to protect their animals from those less loving, understanding, and kindly disposed towards them. . .

@VinylDetective

Thanks for the lecture *@mbosnz*.

You're welcome Vinyldetective!

[quote bestbefore]@Sunflowergirl1 that happened to my sister this week; a dog attacked her dog, she tried to pick her dog up to get it out of the way and got bitten herself. And then told to fuck off by the owner. Crazy. All has been reported. [/quote]
What do expect to happen in this climate yes it’ll be logged but nothing will happen they just don’t have the manpower

I thought I would be @mbosnz 😉

What do expect to happen in this climate yes it’ll be logged but nothing will happen they just don’t have the manpower.

So what is more likely to happen?

1. People think, oh well, them's the breaks, I'll just have to stop going out for walks with my dogs or my kids, in case I get attacked by some other arsehole's dog, or assume the dear wee doggy is friendly, and if I just turn my back and don't make eyecontact, me and Junior will be fine, or

1. People are going to get bloody fed up, and take the law into their own hands, and yes, dogs are going to get belted, booted, or sprayed? And the threshold for giving the benefit of the doubt, with each encounter, for many people, is going to get steadily eroded.

I feel for the dogs. And yes, the responsible owners. But with the increase in new, and ill educated owners of dogs in Covid times, the responsible owners, and well trained dogs, I fear, are if not becoming the minority, are increasingly being perceived as such.

@VinylDetective

I thought I would be *@mbosnz* 😉

Isn't it wonderful? Such a meeting of minds - it's practically telepathic!

Yabu to assume an approaching doggy is going to attack unless it is growling/bearing teeth. Yanbu to not want to be jumped on by strange doggies.

No, you are not being unreasonable, because you've generally got a split second, you are going to make certain assumptions based on the breed and size of dog, the look of the owner, and experiences you've had in the past, not to mention the vulnerability you feel - eg. aged, pregnant, very small child, limited mobility, which might heighten your anxiety - and your genuine vulnerability.

You are being very unreasonable if you allow your doggy to approach people in such a way that people may have to make these split second assessments.

@ItwasmeIswear
Sorry to read this.
@VinylDetective
If it is impossible to police dog owners, it’s also impossible to police pepper sprays. I have told you it works both ways.

And I know for a fact that my mastiff's welcoming grin would have looked like a murderous snarl to many. . .

This is such a perennial MN thread. I have two dogs knee high to a grasshopper. I look out and if they are going to annoy an adult or a child they are back on the lead ( and only let off lead where they are allowed so not pavement or areas in parks where they have to be on lead )

Once - there is a park near to where I lived and there is a very specific area where dogs are allowed, It has a little cafe in it - where you have to keep your dogs on a lead - I did. A woman let her child roam around the cafe & he got a stick & thought it was funny to stick in my dogs's eyes. I asked him not to - I asked the Mum not to ( but she was too busy on her phone) - We left- my dogs have been trained and are fine.

In no way do I think that dogs should not be trained to not annoy children or adults. But people have dogs & I do to think there should be a way that as long as the owners are good - people should be able to cope with a well behaved dog ( phobias aside )

Also, it is most definitely worth carrying it, considering the alternative.

dogs are going to get belted, booted, or sprayed?
personally I'd avoid the boot option unless I had something long and biteproof on my feet, I'd favour some sort of extendable stick, just to keep the animal at bay
if it's near enough to kick then it's near enough to grab your leg with it's teeth
and if you kick it the thug owner will give YOU a kicking

LOL Yohoheaveho, I'd avoid it too, because I don't want to hurt animals. However, if I genuinely feel that I'm going to be attacked, or my child is going to be attacked (and I'm not particularly neurotic about these things), then I'm going to be prepared to use whatever's at hand. Or foot, so to speak. And as I said, if I'm at that point, I'm going to be pretty bloody hyped up and aggro myself, so I'm not going to be some timid little country mouse apologising for defending myself against what I genuinely believed to be a real threat.

@BasiliskStare
I have repeated posted that I have no issues with dogs on lead and with designated spaces. But based on the incidents I have faced so far and the statistics of dog incidents that are on the rise, you can’t expect me to do nothing in the few milli seconds I have to react before the dog either jumps and runs over my child ‘playfully’, making him fall and get hurt, or goes for his throat.
That is far too much to ask.