Other people’s dogs!

[HermioneKipper]

I will preface this by saying I love dogs and I had one growing up (a well behaved one!) but the amount of people who have no control/recall of their dogs is driving me mad.

We live in an area with lots of dogs and every time we try to go for a walk there’s some bouncy dog that comes bouncing up to us/jumping up with muddy paws etc.

Owners always ineffectually shout “oh he’s so friendly, he just wants to say hello!” Well I don’t want your bloody dog jumping on me!

My daughter is terrified of dogs having been knocked over by one as a toddler in this situation. And her fear is being made worse by all these huge dogs bowling up to her and nearly knocking her down again. I nearly had to kick one the other day that wouldn’t leave us alone.

Why are all these owners so irresponsible 😡

Yabu to nearly kick an animal just because it wouldn’t ‘leave us alone’. Would you kick a person for being in very friendly? No, didn’t think so.

I was at the beach with my dog a couple of days ago, happily playing fetch with him. He does NOT like to share his toys, he’s a street rescue and grew up competing for resources so he’s a bit selfish now.

A (beautiful) golden retriever came bumbling along and tried to take his ball, my dog was livid but pretty restrained, just air-snapping and barking at the thief whilst trying to hide the ball. I called over and explained to the goldie’s owners that mine wasn’t keen on sharing his toys and he was on the verge of giving their dog a proper telling-off. Of course, they shouted back ‘oh, he’s friendly, he just wants to join in the game!’ 🙄

They couldn’t recall him at all so we put the toys away and my dog and I ended up walking him back to his owners. I wasn’t happy, if my dog had nipped the goldie for constantly getting in his space, that would’ve been my fault.

Dog approaches, throw treats on floor, and walk away while dog is distracted eating treats.

It's always worked for me.

Have a

@EarthwormJane the point is dogs are more likely to approach if they smell biscuits which is the exact opposite of what the OP wants

It was jumping up and putting its paws in my children’s buggy!

Its owners were doing nothing.

i wouldn’t want to kick it but if I needed to I would’ve

It sounds like dogs are approaching the Op even without treats, so having treats to throw is hardly going to make it worse.

Are non dog walkers not allowed to have any food whatsoever on their person when out and about just in case it attracts dogs?

I adore dogs and usually will stick up for them no matter what, however I did bollock a dog owner a few weeks ago when they let their dog with zero recall run into a picnic area of the park and eat, sniff and lick everyone's food. I was furious as I had just queued up at the chippy van for close to half an hour to get tea for the kids, DH and I. It was a nice end of week treat and not something we can afford to do often.
Dog stuck his head straight in DS(5)s portion of food which caused him to drop the whole thing and then as I was trying to get the dog away from the food and comfort DS dog managed to knock over DHs portion and started to eat mine. Do that was 3 out of 5 meals ruined. I had to actually pick up the dog to stop it trying to eat everything in site and only then did the owners come over. They started to try and tell me off for picking up their dog but I was furious and demanded the money back for the ruined meals. They started to argue but soon gave in when my friends DS started recording them and promised to put it online.

Honestly owners are the problem.

Having food on your person is a different scenario than throwing dog treats around you when a dog approaches. Surely you can see that?
The former is fine as you wouldn't offer your sandwich to a stranger dog however the latter is reinforcing dogs coming up to strangers. Dogs will work on a reward principle ie if running up to 1 or 2 strangers and getting treats thrown down for them then they will run up to every stranger expecting the same result. This is basic dog psyche.

I totally agree, sorry your child has been frightened by dogs. Such a shame when they have the capacity to give so much joy!

My small dog, a border terrier, is super friendly and wouldn't hurt a fly. Unfortunately, due to me carrying treats in my pockets when first training recall, plus the number of bloody dog owners who feed him handfuls of treats from pockets and treat bags, he has been trained that strangers are usually carrying food.

We've had to start keeping him on a lead again because once he's greeted and played with a dog, he turns to the owner and starts persistently jumping up at their pockets. So embarrassing, people don't appreciate it and I don't know how to stop it now. So, back on the lead he goes until I can undo it...

I missed @twistyizzy 's post before I posted my reply, so my dog proves their point. My dog has been reinforced for running and jumping up at strangers by them giving him food (because they're dog lovers, "don't mind" and think he's cute).

Unfortunately, I failed to prevent it and now my small dog jumps up at everyone hoping for a treat. That's on me, I need to work out how to unravel it (any tips from anyone welcome, the dog is two and a half and very food motivated).

Stop feeding everything Ffs.

it might 'work for you' but gir various reasons it's a bad idea!

you're encouraging dogs to you
youre encouraging them to approach others
youre feeding someone else's animal without permission

you're causing problems. If you don't have the self control to stop doing it yourself, despite being told by many people it's not a good idea, then at least stop encouraging others to start doing something stupid.

Ask them not to feed him, call him to you and give him treats, he'll learn. 🐶

Put on lead and put into sit position every time you see someone. Reward the dog for focusing on you and not the other people. The penny will drop eventually but it may take some time to reprogramme his brain. Ask people not to approach or pet your dog whilst in sit position.

What a silly and ignorant comment! It also comes across as rather threatening. What is meant by "you won't like the consequences"? It sounds like a veiled threat.

If owners don't want their dog to be kicked by someone in self defence, then they should not allow the dog to get within kicking distance of other people! There you go, problem solved in an instant!

Dogs that cannot be effectively controlled by their owners should be kept on a lead at all times when out in public. If a member of the public feels threatened or endangered by an out-of-control dog, then the dog's owner should accept that the person may attempt to fend off the said dog, with a stick or by giving it a shove or a kick.

If these so-called "consequences" involve physical violence of any kind upon the other person, then that is assault and is a criminal offence. It's also a criminal offence to be in charge of a dangerously out-of-control dog, by the way.

Personally, I would be very tempted to kick a stranger if they were licking a child's face and wouldn't stop.

My god what a lot of drama on this thread. Dogs running over, snarling, growling, attacking, being aggressive to people for absolutely no reason. People needing to kick dogs for jumping up at them. People attributing life long fears to a Labrador nicking food from a toddler.

I get it, dogs are annoying if you don’t know or like them but some of the crap on this thread is absolutely ridiculous. I don’t believe for a moment these dogs are half as aggressive as people are making out.

we seem to be having these “I hate dogs” threads daily atm. Like the woman who said a dog aggressively ran at her the other day but it turned out the dog was just running in her direction

WOW! Victim blaming a toddler!

Where do you suggest the OP walks? It's impossible to avoid dogs where I am. So do I just stay indoors as I don't want someone's dog jumping up at me?

Most of the posters on here are dog owners so it isn't a dog hate post🙄 It is a "we hate owners who don't train their dogs to have manners" post and responses.
Owners have a responsibility to train their dogs. I say that as a dog owner.

I will be abolutely flamed for saying this, but dogs completely bore me to death.

Well dogs and their adoring owners who think you should be oh so interested in, play with, facilitate etc. THEIR dog.... I just want to go for a walk in peace, but these days it is like navigating a herd of hyenas (those are the owners lol), and playful dogs that I do not want to acknowledge or entertain. Ever, I am sorry - I am not interested.

If only there were dog parks. Oh yes there is a wonderful place five minutes from me, but it is rarely used, however the lovely park at the back is overrun with kids, bikes, playing ball etc. (wonderful to see), and dogs everywhere too, and of course tears and fear when said dogs want to play with the kid's food, toys, chase after them and owner is nowhere to be seen, or is nattering away to their dog owning friends.

Thanks @WinterMusings and @twistyizzy Will commence Operation People-Don't-Mean-Food-You-Knob 👍

Agree with you which is why mine are trained never to approach other people. Why should non-dog owners have to tolerate dogs invading their space?

🤣

@coffeetofunction if someone looks uncomfortable with your dog near them then a responsible owner should take full control of the dog.

NO! It’s nothing to do with whether or not someone “looks uncomfortable” , a responsible owner should have full control of the dog at all times.

That’s not my opinion, that is the law, no ifs or buts.

I see this post every week on MN and it also has the same features.It has been done to death.