To ask dog owners to be extra vigilant around younger children?

[ponderingthisthing]

At the weekend, we were out in the meadows and having our family photos taken by a professional photographer.

A dog came near us and started jumping on the DC, who are 2 and 4. DH tried to fend it off until the owner came and dragged the dog away with some difficulty. By this time both children were extremely scared and upset and were screaming and crying. The owner may have muttered a quiet "sorry" before leaving quickly. No genuine apology or word to check if DC were OK, even though they were obviously extremely disturbed at that point with tears flooding down their faces. She just didn't seem to care.

For us though, it really put a damper on things and unsurprisingly the photography session did not go well. Both children felt unsafe following this (there were other dogs around, many not on lead) and clung to us.

It's not the first time that it's happened, DD was already afraid of dogs due to similar episodes in the past. We try to reassure her that dogs don't normally harm people and that she should just behave normally around them, but I wonder if we should also think more now about safety. Just yesterday, I came across a photo on social media of a little girl who was mauled in the face by a dog. Of course no physical harm came of this episode involving DC, thank goodness, and the dog was probably just over excited. However, the incident is making me feel somewhat uneasy about taking DC to places where dogs can run free.

AIBU to ask that dog owners be extra vigilant with small children around? And obviously, if the dogs are likely to jump up at people, to keep them on lead around small children in public places?

Yes its about 1 a month now in the UK. In the USA its over 1 a week. Then there are all the life changing injuries, the amputations, the severe facial injuries.

Why are you conparing it to something else? What is point?

Injuries with domestic violence... sure. Also injuries from having SEN children, injuries from working in care homes, injuries from traffic accidents, injuries from your job (which can be a a whole load of reasons).

What is your point? You want to ban dog ownership?

I have a dog & children. I don’t hate children & I’m not ‘entitled dog owner’ whatever that means. Weird post

I think if dogs aren't trained to not run up to random people and jump on them then they shouldn't be allowed off the lead.

Years ago I was walking my dads dog (cockapoo - dad was ill so I had him for a while) and I was walking him in a big massive grassy park which had a small childrens park in it. I got chatting to this lady who had a Labrador and both the dogs were playing well and so we let them both off the leads. We were quite near the childrens park and there was a little girl about 3 or 4 there with her grandpa. Me and the lady were talking and my dog kept going up and jumping on the little girls back. I continued speaking to the lady and kind of ignored it because he was 'just being friendly'. About the fourth time he jumped up the little girl got upset and the grandpa snapped and said, 'come on, you can see she's getting upset because your dog keeps jumping up on her, put him on a leash, it's a childrens play park' and left the park. Me and the woman just looked at each other and rolled our eyes, as in 'lighten up'.

Oh god, how I cringe when I think back to that. I have no fucking clue why I thought that was acceptable and I have my own dog now and would never, ever, allow that to happen. I don't know if it was just because I was younger and didn't see anything wrong at the time but still to this day when I think about it I wince as I was that dickhead dog owner. Wish I could apologise.

I want to ban dangerous dogs. I want more breeds/types of dogs banned. I want people to stop being hospitalised, being maimed and dying by dog attacks. Its out of control

People are already talking about arming themselves against dog attacks because the law does nothing

“At the weekend, we were out in the meadows and having our family photos taken by a professional photographer.”

I got a bit waylaid here.

Obviously it’s not funny that your kid got scared, but I’m raising a smile at the idea that you didn’t manage to pull off the staged shite.

It’s frustrating, as a responsible dog owner, when people tar a whole breed with the same brush. We have a pit bull (we have other dogs too) and he’s the sweetest, most affectionate boy and not at all dangerous. Because we are responsible. It’s annoying when people hear “he’s a pit bull” and assume he’s going to rip them to shreds. He wouldn’t know how to. He will lick someone all over but he doesn’t bite.

Pit bulls and pit bull types should be the first ones to be banned next. Extremely aggresive and dangerous breed

What a good way to increase the drain on taxpayers money without doing anything to actually address the problem.

We have a good couple of decades worth of evidence that banning breeds does not work - it isn't the answer, no matter how much it feels like it is, it still isn't.

To put it into terms you might understand - imagine thinking that banning Volvos, Audis, Landrovers and Saabs would reduce or prevent car related deaths.

Yep, it wouldn't, it is that pointless.

In fact, more so, because unlike cars, first the dog has to be identified as a prohibited breed, they don't come with a makers badge nailed to their fronts, so that requires trained professionals and usually, a court case.

Just kennelling a dog for around six months can cost around 2K, before you start thinking about the costs of a court case to determine if the dog is illegal and if the dog is in fact dangerous.

Due to the law on dangerous dog breeds, we now actually have MORE illegal 'type' dogs in the UK than we did when the ban first came into being - because that ban made 'type' dogs, ie, crossbreeds of, dogs that simply look like a banned breed (regardless of genetics!), illegal.

This is how ridiculous that ban is - two perfectly legal dogs of recognised breeds with documented dna going back generations can produce an illegal type puppy. Say a labrador x staffordshire bull terrier.

Furthermore, within a litter of puppies who have the same parents (because a bitch can have a litter with more than one father) - some puppies could grow up to be illegal type, and some could be just fine.

So people who had no intentions of owning an illegal so called 'dangerous' breed could easily end up doing so, with a puppy who starts out legal and grows into a particular shape/size that falls into the illegal category.

How on earth was legislation like that EVER going to help?

So whats your solution to the problem?
Let me guess, do nothing

Have you owned one? You should meet our pit bull. He’ll lick and “kiss” you, lift his paw for you to shake and he just loves to have his ears scratched. He has never even tried to but anyone. He doesn’t have an aggressive bone in his body because we haven’t conditioned him for that. He’s a living family pet. He is very affectionate.

Have you taken class A drugs?

You do realise you can be concerned for both dog and child in attacks like this? It's absolutely devastating that a child was killed - equally it's devastating that a dog will have to be killed for something out with it's control.

You do realise dogs don't think like humans do? It didn't decide to just eat a toddler because it couldn't be arsed listening to it crying anymore? There would have been a series of events that lead up to it & none of them involving the dog just actively deciding today is the day it attacks a child?!

@NotAllDogsAreDangerous

Pit bulls are banned in the UK for good reason. Not all bull breeds are bad (and im
sure yours is lovely) however out of 11 deaths listed from 2020 to today 7 were some variation of a bull breed/SBT/American bully and the final one is yet to disclosed. 7 possibly 8 out of 11…statistically that’s not great is it.

I can’t be bothered to go into why it’s always the same ‘type’ but regardless of the why the facts are showing the opposite of what lovers of bull breeds keep going on about. Maybe people who do love bullies should get their heads together and work with the government and try and sort out the breed culture and prevent complete idiots from being able to own one and then go from there instead of constantly talking about nanny dog rubbish and refusing to believe any negativity about the breed by blaming anything but the dog.

The fact is most dogs have a genetic component to their behaviour and instead of denying it work with it to make sure that is controlled instead of pretending it isn’t there at all.
I know in my own breed it’s almost impossible to get one in the first place, I was vetted less for my children 🙈
Its almost a crime for a dog in my breed to show any aggression and one that has is pretty much named and shamed across the board and breeders are shocked to hear about it and won’t use that line again. I wish it was the same for bull breeds and maybe they wouldn’t be so ruined.

@GayParis you are a perfect example of the problem, the life of a child should never ever be worth the same as a dog and in law it isn't but ypur use of the word equally is telling isn't it. That's why we are where we are.

@XenoBitch what a bonkers serious pf posts, typical dog owner whataboutery child hater trying to detract from thr issue at hand, of course domestic violence is terrible, but that isn't what that post is about is it? You are basically saying because domestic violence is a problem somewhere we shouldn't care about dogs killing children, if you break your posts down that's what you're saying. Utterly bonkers. And yes there have been one a month almost this year.

You've answered your own issue @Questiontellme so I'm not sure what the point of that post was. In the eyes of the law the life of humans far far outweighs the rights and lives of animals, including dogs. I don't understand how I'm contributing to a problem of dogs attacking children because I sympathise with both parties in an awful event?

It's always the same sick reaction to these horrific deaths from dog owners under news reports. It goes someting like this

'RIP little one flie high with the angels anyway heres a photo of my 10 stone XL bully boi, he just wnats cuddles'

they were obviously extremely disturbed at that point with tears flooding down their faces

Do you realise how ridiculous you sound OP?

Even well looked after and well trained dogs attack for no reason at all and they enjoy attacking. This is the truth of it that dog nuts will not face up to. Look at video footage of dogs caught attacking on cctv. They wag their tails. They enjoy the sensation and even their victims screams . They are predatory carnivores and pit bulls and bull types have a very high prey drive. Its bred into them to attack

No, I'm merely describing what happened. Why is it "ridiculous" to be extremely disturbed by a dog that jumped up on you uninvited, especially for young children?

@GayParis I'd agree that this person is either high or whacko. Wouldn't bother engaging with her, it's like trying to talk physics with flat earthers, there is literally no point.

Should be as simple as unless your dog has total recall they should be on a lead. Will encourage people to train their dogs and also be a signal that a dog off the lead has at least basic training.

I once saw an article about a theory that in some cases dogs infect their owners with some kind parasite or disease that leads to the person being deranged in the mind

You're thinking of cats

@NotAllDogsAreDangerous

He wouldn’t know how to. He will lick someone all over but he doesn’t bite

And that right there is why this will keep happening. Complacent stupidity like this.

He's a DOG. Of course he knows "how" to bite ffs. What makes him dangerous isn't whether he is likely to bite (based on how he has behaved before). What makes him dangerous is the IF, for some reason, he DID decide to bite, he could fatally injure a small child faster than you could possibly stop him. And you WOULD be taken by surprise because instead of being a risk conscious, conscientious owner of a very strong, very aggressive breed, you're one of these soft idiots who end up crying in the tabloids over the body of their mutilated toddler that "he's just the biggest softie, he's never done anything like that before".

No it was dogs as well.

Dogs spread a huge amount of disease and parasites (including worms), to humans anyway. The health risks of being near dogs is something i don't think many people realise. Not just dog attacks but disease as well. There is dog disease recently discovered that can lead to heart disease in humans over time .