'Don't worry, he's friendly'

[PraiseBee]

Too flippin friendly. Yet again, another dog running up to my four year old DC with a chunk of a branch in its mouth, firmly ignoring it's owners recall whilst they yell at me 'don't worry, Fluffyballs is friendly'. My DC loves dogs but hates dogs rushing up to him and is obviously scared. Large dogs are the same height as him and can easily knock him over. Imagine as an adult being rushed up to by a horse with a bit of tree trunk in its mouth trying to lick your face. I think most adults would be perturbed by this. It seems to be happening more often. Are dogs getting less well trained? I think the thing that makes my blood boil over is that the dog owners seem to think their dog is the most amazing thing ever so of course me and my DC want to bowled over by Fluffyballs. No we really don't and no, I give a shit what your dog is called. AIBU to be so annoyed by this happening every time we go to a children's park?!

I read many posts here as almost suggesting we should keep children on leads, should they approach their unleashed dogs.

I’m 25 and grew up with dogs all my life, but I’ve always been nervous of other peoples dogs. I was taught to never trust a dog 100%, which means our dogs stayed on leads unless the field/area was clear from other people and dogs, never left him with children. We were never left with the dog as kids either. He was an amazing dog, never hurt a fly, brilliant temperament. I can say he probably never would have hurt anyone or snapped… but that doesn’t mean we even wanted to take that risk.

I hate dogs off leads, I hate dogs running up to me, I especially hate it when I’m walking with my 18 month old DD and a dog comes up to us.

I don’t care about how good your dogs re-call is; all dogs should have to be on leads unless you’re in an area that isn’t widely public or is private.
A private field, the woods but not on a public trail then fine, but should be clipped back on if someone is spotted straight away. I don’t think they should be let off in public parks or on the street ect.

[quote greenlynx]@OhRene Did it help?

I absolutely hate it. I’m terrified of big dogs and actually the same as MarianneUnfaithful I don’t want their muddy paws and their saliva anywhere near me.[/quote]
It certainly did. The dog was small so when I threatened to basically send it flying with a good kick, they realised I was serious.
Plus they knew it wasn't allowed to be loose. It was a working farm and everyone knows what can happen, legally, to loose dogs around livestock.

Bang bang.

That's it to mention the kids on bikes in the park who pay little attention and can easy miss small dogs.

On paths at the park dogs shouldn’t be running free anyway. Maybe that would solve the problem of little dogs getting run over.

Go on a field away from a busy park.

But surely, one more reason to keep your precious little dog well away from areas where children are running free
Do you tell the same to the parents whose precious toddlers get knock off by dogs. Maybe they should keep their kids closer to them and stay away from areas where dogs run free?

I'm not calling you stupid but if you can't accept that a toddler can seriously hurt as all dog, you are lacking basic knowledge of canine physiology.

@Lweji

I've seen children who think it's "funny" to kick balls at dogs (as in, directly at their heads or faces), hit them with sticks, chuck rocks at them and more.

At people too.

But, surely, one more reason to keep dogs near you when passing children or away from children.

I never said otherwise!

Your post said children can't hurt dogs - I was just saying that's not the case. And the dog being on a lead doesn't always stop the children, unfortunately. I've had kids run up my dog and try and grab at him while their parents call "Oh, come away Mary!" but without making any effort to actually remove their child.

Luckily my dog is very tolerant of children but it's a scenario that could very easily go wrong - and it will always be the dog who gets blamed.

I do not only do that because my child is scared of dogs. I do it because you don’t approach a strange dog without checking first.

The thing is ime some parents do teach their dc to ask before they pet a dog - what they don't do is teach them to pay attention when the answer is no.

I'm a dog owner and this annoys me! I never let mine off unless were in an enclosed area as he's a greyhound and has no recall, but it's so frustrating when people go "oh mine is friendly" because they don't know if mine is! Our last dog was a Japanese Akita who was extremely dog wary and it was an absolute nightmare as she was so defensive, and if anything had happened, all the fingers would have been pointed at her because of her breed. I definitely think lots of people had got dogs for lockdown and haven't really tried to train them properly.

I nearly tripped over a bloody greyhound while out running yesterday. Not the dog's fault but the owner wasn't watching what it was doing. I was on an official race and the thing bounded up to me and got entangled in my legs. I wasn't going to stop because I wanted a good time so I just carried on and nearly fell over it. I turned round to snarl at the owners but they weren't even watching!

This is why I believe that all dogs should be kept on a lead, a retractable one is fine, and also muzzled in public. I love dogs and have owned them over the years but also bear witness to the effects of kids being traumatised by dogs too. I accept most dogs are harmless but that doesn’t change my view. It should be mandated in law that at the very least all dogs should be kept on a lead in public places.

@Penistoe

I find dog owners in general the worst type of people, all fur babies this and oh yes child rearing is just like being up my dog or I love my dogs more than my children.

Ps dogs don’t love you unconditionally!

I mean fair enough, but children don't love you unconditionally either

I hate this too. My go to response is "he might be but I'm fucking not"
Sick to death of dog owners not keeping their dogs under control.

@rantymcrantface66

I do not only do that because my child is scared of dogs. I do it because you don’t approach a strange dog without checking first.

The thing is ime some parents do teach their dc to ask before they pet a dog - what they don't do is teach them to pay attention when the answer is no.

Oh definitely, this drives me bonkers. Along with asking while already doing it. What is the point of that?

I have a dog and I hate dogs running up to me/him unless we know them or they're tiny.

People with big dogs especially need to have control or a leash.

My dog is pretty little and kinda trained (unless startled) so I usually have control, unless someone ran past suddenly with no warning. If I saw us approaching a child or runner, my dog gets put on leash and made to wait as they're unpredictable creatures.

I love dogs (though I don't currently have one owing to our four cats) but totally agree.

Two fawns have been killed by dogs being walked in our local woods in the last week.

I read many posts here as almost suggesting we should keep children on leads, should they approach their unleashed dogs
Well you should control your kids the sane dog owners should control their dogs.

I accept most dogs are harmless but that doesn’t change my view. It should be mandated in law that at the very least all dogs should be kept on a lead in public places
Thankfully most disagree with you. As said, my dog is much less a danger to the public than the public is to my dog.

YANBU. 6yo DS is only just getting marginally less scared of dogs after having so many chase and jump up at him when he was younger. Now he’s that bit older he knows to stand still with his arms crossed instead of running away. We were walking down a residential street when a dog ran out of its house and jumped all over him. I pulled DS away. The dog owner found it funny and shouted “sorry babe” at me. Also have had dogs running at us eating picnics. I don’t give a fuck if your dog is friendly, I don’t want it eating our food!

We were walking past a playground on the school run once and there was a dog running around inside. It was a small fenced playground specifically for toddlers, with a “no dogs” sign. DS who was 4 at the time said very loudly “what is that dog doing? Dogs are not allowed!”

But these threads always turn into whataboutery with some kids running up to dogs. Yes but that’s not what we are talking about is it. FYI my 3yo DS likes dogs but I have never allowed him to approach a strange dog.

No one is saying that there aren’t any badly behaved children. We see them running around in restaurants and grabbing things in supermarkets. Of course some run towards dogs in parks. Parents should have their children under control and not let them do this.

But this thread isn’t about that. It’s about badly behaved dogs, who owners haven’t bothered to train and who therefore annoy people who don’t like them and scare children and other dogs. If your dog doesn’t do this, then quite clearly this thread isn’t about them.

I love dogs and have one of my own but this "don't worry, he's friendly" really annoys me.

Yes he may be "friendly" but I don't want muddy paw marks on my coat and If I'm accompanied by my own dog - HE can be far from friendly when another dog charges up on him (and is therefore always on a lead) and I'm having to stop a snarling ball of fury from venting that fury.....

I'm not saying that little dogs should be allowed to run up to people, just that I don't hate that/get scared.

All dogs should be kept away from people and only approach if okayed.

On the instances where my dog has ran at people (he barks/tries to scare them - never once jumped up at a stranger) I have apologised profusely and they can tell I'm mortified by it.

It really doesn't matter if the dog is friendly does it?

I mean it should be under control & not approaching kids/adults/other dogs.

I hate the dog owners who think that because it is the countryside their dog can roam free. So on a country walk, they won't put recall their dog or put it on a lead (despite it heading for these other people, perhaps barking).
The countryside is for humans not just dogs, and that includes humans who don't have dogs.
If you have a dog and other people are approaching, please make sure you have your dog under control even in the countryside.

A neighbour's "friendly" dog suddenly decided it didn't like the sound of her crying in her buggy one day while I was setting the alarm & locking the door. In those 10 seconds it had got out of their yard, down the back steet, & into our open yard. I was just turn round from locking the door & it was running towards her full speed, barking & growling, it skidded to a stop about 4 feet away from me, I was standing right in front of the buggy. I yelled at it several times but it just kept creeping towards me, growling, & I was ready to kill the little bastard with my bare hands & house keys before the owner realised there was a problem & shouted it to come home, it eventually went. They never let it out again & we never used the alarm again unless DH & I were both going out together so one of us could be outside with DD while the other one did the alarm. I didn't realise until later but a few neighbours had heard me shout at it to "get away from my baby" & had rushed out, so had witnessed quite a bit of what had gone on. Apparently a couple of them had had a go later at the owner for not running straight round & dragging the dog away, I didn't find out until quite a while later. The other neighbours couldn't easily have helped, but could see perfectly well, because of the weird street layout.

Thankfully DD has no memory if it as she was very young, & loves dogs.

Edit: they won't put recall their dog or put it on a lead if other people are approaching

My ex mil always had dogs (poodles) and my son then 3 loved them. When her poodle died she bought another dog this time a Doberman. As she never walked the poodle very often just let it run in the back garden I suspected the Doberman might have a lot of pent up energy so before I took my son to see the dog I went to check it out for myself. I was sitting on the sofa eating a mince pie when the dog snatched it out of my hand by jumping up and practically hurdled over the sofa ( obviously still with mince pie in mouth) which meant he jumped over me. My ex mil said the normal “ oh look how cute that is” meanwhile I was transfixed thinking what if my son had been there. I said that I would not be bringing my son to that house all the time the dog lived there. He loved dogs but I suspected that one visit from the mince pie hurdling dog may give him a fright which could affect him for life. I was told I was being a drama queen and the dog was gentle and wouldn’t hurt anyone etc etc etc but I stuck to my guns. My husband actually agreed with me and we said we were happy to meet up anywhere with in laws but would not go back to their house. Fast forward 2 months and the dog bit my mil. Turns out it wasn’t the first time and he had actually bitten her a week before our visit so it appeared she had been happy to put my son at risk if I hadn’t gone on a trial visit first on my own. Anyway the dog had to be rehomed to someone who could train it properly and give it the exercise that it needed. My mil was a lovely lady but became one of “ those dog owners “ who can’t see how scary their animals can be even when faced with the evidence slap bang in front of them! Needless to say the next dog was another poodle!