To be so sick of selfish dog owners...The seal pup in London

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It’s in the news that a seal pup has been mauled by an off lead dog. The seal pup now is likely to be put down.

Recent story of an off lead husky attacking lambs and sheep . A few months ago an off lead dog mauled a deer which had to be destroyed.

Numerous stories of swans being mauled by off lead dogs. On top of the numerous stories of children being attacked by off lead dogs.

Ffs why are people so bloody stupid and selfish! Keep your dog on a lead near wildlife!

I feel so sad for the seal pup . AIBU to think laws need to be tightened around off lead dogs?

I say this as a dog lover and owner .

@XenoBitch what about keeping your dog on a long line(10-20m, either trailing or you holding the end). That way they can still zoom around almost as much but they are under control and much less likely to injure wildlife or stress out people who don’t like seeing out of control dogs/won’t approach on lead dogs. Letting your dog out of your sight in a public park is irresponsible in my opinion-how will you know if it poos on a path and what if it runs into a fear aggressive dog on a lead? Sight hounds are known for having crap recall and I know of several who have got lost.

I'm with you, OP. The last three times I've visited our local park, I've had large dogs get up close and sniff around my baby (sitting on the grass) and their owners have been unable to recall them. One guy even told me "oh just push him away", as if it were my job to discipline his dog

[quote WiganNorthWest]@XenoBitch what about keeping your dog on a long line(10-20m, either trailing or you holding the end). That way they can still zoom around almost as much but they are under control and much less likely to injure wildlife or stress out people who don’t like seeing out of control dogs/won’t approach on lead dogs. Letting your dog out of your sight in a public park is irresponsible in my opinion-how will you know if it poos on a path and what if it runs into a fear aggressive dog on a lead? Sight hounds are known for having crap recall and I know of several who have got lost.[/quote]
A longline can be dangerous for an animal that can take off at 35/40mph.
Like I said, she had caught squirrels twice in her nearly 11 years. First was at 6. No reason to think she would do that before then. Most likely same as the lady with the dog that attacked the seal.

@Quirrelsotherface

*Really? The lady in question has expressed how devastated she is about the whole thing. She has also made a donation to the wildlife hospital that treated the seal. What do you want her to do? Self flagellate herself at the scene, and sacrifice her dog? Trial by Twitter, FB, or even the media is a terrible thing to encourage. People have committed suicide over it*

The problem is her attitude highlights an entitlement which is becoming more and more prevalent in society. She is clearly the type of person who does what she wants, when she wants and people are sick of attitudes like that. Even in the photographs taken at the scene, she looks very unbothered. If that was my doing that I would be beside myself and doing all I could, not leaving it to strangers to sort out.

So yeah, she apologised but the point is that she should have prevented the incident in the first place. Entitlement stinks.

Exactly

Miss Sabben-Clare said: ‘In hindsight, I wish, of course, that the dog had been on a lead but at the time it did not seem necessary'

So she read that signs and and thought 'nah don't think so'

Sorry, but being told I should not have a dog because I don't have private land. My dog is the only reason I am still alive. I also got her at a time when life was good.... things change.

...The dog attacked a sizable animal to such an extent that animal had to be euthanised. This wasn't a nip-and-run-away situation, but a savage attack - the dog even apparently bit one of the rescuers who tried to drag it off the seal.

Amd that rescuer couldnjave easily been a bitten child

As awful as it is, the dog should be put down.

Any dog that bites even just the once should be put down and the owner prosecuted. But here we are now, we live in a world where dogs off leash are being prioritised above peoples safety

Year in year out people thousands of people are hospitalised, some with life changing injuries, many of them children but selfish entitled owners poor fur baby needs to run around like a crazed spinning top and fuck everyone else

The problem is her attitude highlights an entitlement which is becoming more and more prevalent in society. She is clearly the type of person who does what she wants, when she wants and people are sick of attitudes like that. Even in the photographs taken at the scene, she looks very unbothered. If that was my doing that I would be beside myself and doing all I could, not leaving it to strangers to sort out.

So yeah, she apologised but the point is that she should have prevented the incident in the first place. Entitlement stinks.

Exactly

Miss Sabben-Clare said: ‘In hindsight, I wish, of course, that the dog had been on a lead but at the time it did not seem necessary'

So she read that signs and and thought 'nah don't think so

Yes exactly

@Flaxmeadow

...The dog attacked a sizable animal to such an extent that animal had to be euthanised. This wasn't a nip-and-run-away situation, but a savage attack - the dog even apparently bit one of the rescuers who tried to drag it off the seal.

Amd that rescuer couldnjave easily been a bitten child

As awful as it is, the dog should be put down.

Any dog that bites even just the once should be put down and the owner prosecuted. But here we are now, we live in a world where dogs off leash are being prioritised above peoples safety

Year in year out people thousands of people are hospitalised, some with life changing injuries, many of them children but selfish entitled owners poor fur baby needs to run around like a crazed spinning top and fuck everyone else

Mine doesn't run like a 'crazed spinning top' soooooo..

Well yours might not run around like a spinning top but plenty do. And this is the problem...owners love their dogs and think they know them, the public don't.
As a child i got attacked by a pit pull and my dad had to drag it off me whilst the useless owner just said that it was

' friendly.' Well most dogs are friendly to their owners moron. Luckily i got only a graze on the bum but it needed stitches.

@malificent7

Well yours might not run around like a spinning top but plenty do. And this is the problem...owners love their dogs and think they know them, the public don't. As a child i got attacked by a pit pull and my dad had to drag it off me whilst the useless owner just said that it was ' friendly.' Well most dogs are friendly to their owners moron. Luckily i got only a graze on the bum but it needed stitches.

So this is my argument. We keep ourselves to ourselves. My dog hasn't ever bothered anyone else, he has never even chased a pigeon. If there is a strange cat in the garden he waits at the door until it goes. Why should he have to suffer because there are arseholes who can't control their dogs?

@malificent7 you didn’t get attacked by a Pitbull if all you had was a graze on your bum.

@Wolfiefan did you miss the bit about needing stitches? Completely unacceptable.

@Flaxmeadow humans hurt humans far worse
No need for outright ban just sensible measures
When i was a kid far more dogs ran around off lead , on my estate some roamed freely
Around europe in some countries dogs roam free and their are many strays

@Fridacaninelo many people would consider you cruel for having indoor cats as they may not be wild but they still have natural instincts one of which is they often like roaming , hunting ( i have no issues you keeping them in, but many would )
You domesticate but don't loose all natural instincts , I have a collie he has not been near a sheep , neither have his parents etc but he has natural herding instincts, a good dog owner knows how to manage those instincts thats the difference.
I know my collie would not do well if placed in a small area with a load of kids running around off lead as he would try and herd them all together.

@Flaxmeadow are you also aware lots if dog bites etc take place in peoples homes not all wild dogs running around
Most dogs give clues when they are not happy/stressed etc its just not all owners understand them and they can be missed.
Some parents have shitty attitudes , with my old dog , my sil would visit with nephew and he would try and torment the dog , when I would go and get her and crate her away , she wound tell me to leave it and her son would learn if he got nipped or bitten and she never understood why I didn't want my dog to be in that position.
They then got a dog themselves and kids often had scratches and little nips of their own dog.

[quote donewithitalltodayandxmas]@Fridacaninelo many people would consider you cruel for having indoor cats as they may not be wild but they still have natural instincts one of which is they often like roaming , hunting ( i have no issues you keeping them in, but many would )
You domesticate but don't loose all natural instincts , I have a collie he has not been near a sheep , neither have his parents etc but he has natural herding instincts, a good dog owner knows how to manage those instincts thats the difference.
I know my collie would not do well if placed in a small area with a load of kids running around off lead as he would try and herd them all together. [/quote]
Collies yes... such alien behavior to me as a retriever owner! They are remarkable. I just wouldn't know what to do with a collie whereas with a retriever, well, they retrieve! And they get a real kick out of it. Hard to let a retriever be a retriever if it's on a lead too.
I think if we have domesticated animals we have to allow some of their (acceptable) instincts to be catered for.

many people would consider you cruel for having indoor cats as they may not be wild but they still have natural instincts one of which is they often like roaming , hunting ( i have no issues you keeping them in, but many would )

My cats can't be let out as one is blind and the other is FIV positive.

However, if I had cats who could go outdoors I still wouldn't let them roam. I would cat proof my garden instead.

My collie would hate dog parks. He likes to keep himself to himself and not get jumped on by unruly dogs

I have to say that any collies I've come across are usually exquisitely behaved.

‘I think if we have domesticated animals we have to allow some of their (acceptable) instincts to be catered for.’

Not only this, but huge numbers of people gain enjoyment from owning dogs and seeing those dogs happy. It’s balancing the happiness and benefit to the owners to the risk and inconvenience to other people.

This is the same with many other activities people engage in in public. I accept the small risk cyclists pose to me because of the enjoyment they get from cycling. The same with skateboarders, people playing ball games, horse riders and so on.

We all share public space, the vast majority of people do so responsibly, and we live with a small level of risk.

Cyclists cycling through the park ignoring the clear sign to dismount is also infuriating.

Generally being inconsiderate towards others is what does it.

we have to allow some of their (acceptable) instincts to be catered for.

But how do you decide what the acceptable instincts are. To run off lead? Sure. But what if they kill another creature because of that? Still OK? How do you decide what is and isn't an acceptable instinct to nuture?

Frida, I would say part of that is the breed of dog, and maybe we should be looking at narrowing the breeds of dogs that it is legal to own.

You'd find that hard to do with cross breeds presumably.

In my professional experience the dogs with aggression issues were staffies (I'm sorry to say because I know they often get vehemently defended - I've known lovely ones but they are often used as status symbol dogs by idiots who don't know how to train or socialise them), Jack Russells and some other terrier types, certain kinds of spaniel, chihuahuas and husky or akita types (which should NEVER be owned unless you have a massive, massive garden and the ability to walk them for hours each day, again the fault of stupid owners). Labradors while generally not aggressive can be an absolute liability if not properly trained.