Not another, ‘it’s okay, they’re friendly’

[thebemusedone]

There’s two Doberman boys that live on our estate, not in our street, but have now taken to being walked through it by their owners, as there’s a shortcut to a walking area now.

They’re littermates and the owners don’t appear to have much control, they’ve run off before or only the husband can walk them, even if the wife is present, them wearing haltis and being on the tightest, shortest leads.

They appear lately to have adopted a new strategy which is to walk them through the streets off lead. All great until my dog was on a lead, on our drive, waiting for the door to be locked so she could be put into the car for her vet check up appointment after only recently having emergency surgery and nearly dying, whilst both of these dogs charged through the street, onto our drive, at her. Whilst this is happening, the owner shouts, ‘it’s okay, they’re friendly!’

Obviously he didn’t know about her surgery but why do people still think it’s acceptable to walk their dog without a lead, out of control and then try and excuse it that they’re friendly?! Will people ever learn?!

Side note, I love Dobes but not out of control ones with the size and power to do damage to a recovering dog not even out in ‘public’ as such.

I really don't understand this attitude either. The attitude of your dog is only one half of the equation. If you allow your dog to run up to me you have no idea if I love dogs, am afraid of them or hate them and would think nothing of sticking my boot in them to keep them away from me. Same goes with running up to another dog. One woman whose dog jumped up at me said with a tinkly laugh "oh he had to choose the one person who doesn't like dogs!" - no, he didn't have to choose anyone at all!

I am terrified of dogs and hate it when this happens. Honestly I have panic attacks.

Whoever it was upthread who thinks that it's okay and yells out "it's friendly", people like you are the biggest problem. Keep your bloody animal on a leash. I don't care if its friendly. I want it to stay the hell away.

These threads always go the same way. Already calls for 'all dogs need to be on lead'.

But YANBU op. These dogs should be on a lead as they have no recall, but some dogs have and shouldn't be punished for dicks who cannot control their dogs but continue to let them off lead.

This really annoys me - I absolutely do not want your dog jumping up. My son now is afraid of large dogs due to an irresponsible owner allowing a large dog to bound up to him. The dog grabbed him by the shorts. I say this as an animal lover who has a rescue.

We only let our dog off the lead in areas where there are no others around. We have had to stop walking our dog in a field behind our house due to the neighbours dogs who have zero recall, they just let them out and leave them too it, it's so annoying. We have worked hard on recall in our garden and on a long line and tbh am still not confident to let him off lead alone.
We have to use a Haiti as well but that's cause he is very reactive to cars (collie herding nature) so we need the control when he sees one.

I hate this..
Near to me is a lovely beach, underdeveloped, very natural, but you can't walk there unless you're happy to have dogs bound up to you etc.
I overheard a dog walker say, "well, you have to expect it, walking here...."
Why?
Why do I and my children have to expect to be slobbered over, sniffed at, jumped at.
If we'd wanted that, we'd have gotten our own dogs!
And to be told, "he's friendly"
So?
We don't accept humans getting in our space, why should we expect it from dogs.
I don't dislike dogs, but I feel it should be mine or my children's choice to interact or not.

YANBU. I have a nervous rescue dog who will react when dogs come over to her. Even when I've shouted out "she's nervous and reactive" they just ignore me and still let their dog come over.

I hear ya. DH had a massive argument last week with a bloke in our local park who just cannot recall or control his bouncy labrador,, who repeatedly makes a beeline for nervous/reactive Ddog from hundreds of yards away. DH's suggestion that he puts it on a lead if he can't control it was met with a bemused expression and a shrug. DH came home covered in mud where he'd had to pick Ddog up to get her out of the way eventually and the dog was jumping up at him to try and get at Ddog in his arms. The owner just didn't care. Fuckwits like that shouldn't have dogs.

Yanbu. My 4yo daughter was bitten by a dog last year. Small yapping dog, luckily thr bite narrowly avoided her eye. We've focused hard on encouraging her to meet friendly dogs since then, which she's slowly doing. But if a dog, of any size, charges around her excitedly, she gets very scared and it sets her back. Doesn't matter how friendly it is. She thought the dog that bit her was friendly and had loved dogs until that point.

"He won't hurt you!" as the beast is literally trying to climb up my chest.

Fucking horrible and rude.

it was just visible on social media when one of them ran off and they were posting in a local group thanking the person that eventually found them.
If you have the name of the owners I would have absolutely no qualms in reporting them to the dog warden for having out of control dogs. They’re not on a lead in a residential area and they have no recall, and it is reasonable to think these animals could injure you or your own animal. I have no time for idiotic and irresponsible dog owners anymore, and I say that as a dog owner myself.

We live near a popular dog walking area so lots of dogs and owners walk past our house (on a residential street) to get there and I hate this. "I don't require them to be friendly, I require them to be under control!!!"

What did you say / do, OP?

Yeah they should not be walked off lead without perfect recall. What if they ran in front of a car? What if your dog was not friendly?

Are there regulations where you live about where dogs can be off lead? We have them now after a few too many dog attacks.

When I first trialed taking my dog to an off lead area she strayed over a path into a leash only part. She was 15 metres across the boundary and I got a terrible bollocking from a passing cyclist.
She can’t see the arbitrary boundaries but he had a point. I didn’t dare take her back there until we’d not only improved recall but she’d also learnt “stop”.

but some dogs have and shouldn't be punished for dicks who cannot control their dogs but continue to let them off lead

A lead is not a punishment for a dog. Every day out with my daughter is ruined by dicks who believe their precious dog should be allowed to do whatever they want because their dog is well behaved. All the current advice says where a dog is around people or animals, it should be under control. Very few dogs have perfect recall. If you are convinced your dog has, and it comes over to my daughter who can’t just run away and is at risk of being knocked down by all but the smallest of dogs, be prepared to be told it should be on a lead.

It's so selfish. How would they like it if an animal they didn't like, which was bigger than them, jumped up at them?

I hate this! My 3yo boy is really timid as he’s been knocked over by ‘friendly’ dogs a few times. One ran up out of nowhere and licked him in the face the other day, he was terrified We’ve been trying to stop and stroke placid friendly dogs (with the owners permission) when out and about to hopefully get him feeling less scared, he likes them and thinks they’re cute but won’t dare stroke them now.

It is frustrating, but there are far more lovely and sensible owners than not at least!

@Womendohavevaginasnick

I don't care how friendly anyone's dog is, I don't want it on my property and they should properly control it. Few weeks ago my 5 year old gave someone a stern about it. "Errr, do you mind, keep your dog off my garden, I don't want to play where it wees and poos. Eww. I'm allergic to dogs you know" in a snarky voice and flounced off. I couldn't contain myself 🤣 Said woman's had it on a short lead ever since....

Your daughter sounds amazing!

Sorry to hear about your darling dog

My two are off lead the majority of the time, BUT they have excellent recall and we live rurally so not near any roads. We also put them on their leads when we can see a dog approaching on a lead. Makes me cross when I see people just letting their dogs run up to on-lead dogs, where I live, as we are not near any roads, when a dog is on a lead, there is a reason for it.

(Like you, I love Dobermans, they are a lovely breed)

YANBU I have two big dogs, both are walked on lead in very specific places. Both are friendly with people and other dogs when off lead but one is terrified of other dogs when she is on the lead. Usually this just results in her trying to hide between my legs and crying while I shoo the other dog away but on occasion she will react out of fear and try to bite. So frustrating when people let dogs bound over to her shouting that they're friendly then get annoyed if she growls/barks/snaps at them. If we are in a place where i can just unclip her lead quickly I do but often we are on roads where I can't do that. Obviously its always my fault for having a bad dog on a lead rather than their fault for letting their dog approach

We live near a popular dog walking area so lots of dogs and owners walk past our house (on a residential street) to get there and I hate this. "I don't require them to be friendly, I require them to be under control!!!"

We are the same here. The worst is we have 2 cats and the off lead dogs have chased them in their own garden before. I dread to think what will happen if they ever catch them. I had a right go at one of the owners about it and she said she would keep them on a lead - still doesn't

@MintyMabel

but some dogs have and shouldn't be punished for dicks who cannot control their dogs but continue to let them off lead

A lead is not a punishment for a dog. Every day out with my daughter is ruined by dicks who believe their precious dog should be allowed to do whatever they want because their dog is well behaved. All the current advice says where a dog is around people or animals, it should be under control. Very few dogs have perfect recall. If you are convinced your dog has, and it comes over to my daughter who can’t just run away and is at risk of being knocked down by all but the smallest of dogs, be prepared to be told it should be on a lead.

Dogs don't have to be on a lead to be under control. My dog does have recall. He has never failed to recall and doesn't even look at other people or dogs when we are out and he is off his lead playing with his ball. A lead would be a punishment to him if he wasn't allowed off lead.

People need to take responsibility for their pets and stop pretending they can’t help when they are bothering others.

My dog has been bitten and attacked many times while on a lead. He now gets very stressed when a dog bounds up to him. One time a dog appeared with no owner in sight trying to grab mine by the neck, I had to pick my dog up and carry him above my head, waiting for someone to come collect their dog that kept jumping up at me. A few minutes later a couple of children turned up telling me it was okay she was friendly.

Another time, we were playing fetch with his ball and when I seen people and dogs coming I put him on a lead. The dogs ran over and one ran away with his ball. The owner said there was no prying it out of their mouth. My dog spent the rest of his walk crying for his ball.

YANBU and I wish your girl a speedy and restful recovery!

Thank you those that have sent good wishes for her, she’s slowly on the mend. The response to the man was it was not okay and to get his dogs but he didn’t seem to get the picture and tried to make small talk asking how old she was etc?! He clearly is on another planet.

So awful how many posters little ones have had negative dog incidents, it just takes something like that to set them up with a big, reasonable fear for a long time and even worse if they’re injured because of it.

Also how terrifying it must be for another dog who doesn’t want that approach, especially if they’re nervous or reactive. Sets them up to be made into the ‘bad’ dog when it’s really not them at all. I love dogs but not the entitlement some owners afford them.

The twosome struck again today, off lead walked through the street. DP’s brother was leaving and they sprinted off away from the owner at him.