To be able to walk down a path without fighting dogs landing on top of pushchair?

[MyOtherCarIsAPorsche]

Who do I report this to?

The school don't want to know?

Parish council don't want to know?

About 50 yds from the school gates, on the path across the village green, towards the traffic lights at the main crossroads in the village - two dogs on very long leads attacked each other. Growling, snapping, baring teeth. They both jumped, slamming into each other. The larger dog knocked the slightly smaller dog right in between my grandsons. One was sat in the pushchair. One was on the buggy board. Grandsons were both facing each other. The dogs legs clattered on the pushchair as it jumped off. Neither dog was small.

My younger grandson went into a fit. (He's being investigated for epilepsy.) My older grandson lost his balance. There is mud on their jeans and the pushchair from the dog's paws. I'm still shaking like a leaf.

One dog belonged to a parent walking home, the other dog belonged to member of the public walking towards the school.

Several women asked me if we were ok. I walked home with a woman I'd never spoken to before - she was concerned that we were in shock.

I'm absolutely fuming.

Literally hundreds of children on the green at that time of day (pupils and many younger siblings). And scores of dogs.

I rang my daughter (and school and parish councillor) to tell her what had happened and she said that she'd recently commented on a social media post, where a school in our nearest city had banned parents from bringing dogs on the school run. Most parents were furious but my daughter pointed out that the children would be safer and there would be less dog fouling around the school - she said she had more than 150 'likes' for that comment.

How does this get prevented from happening again?

Luckily there are only a few red marks on the boy's legs. What if the dog had bitten in its rage?

Have you contacted your MP?

Report it to your local dog warden. The dogs shouldn't have been on long leads if they are reactive to other dogs this was irresponsible on the owners parts and the dog warden needs to investigate. I don't think there's any reason for dogs not to come on a school run but that's because same rules apply there as literally everywhere else- pick after your dog when it fouls and make sure it's well trained and can behave the way you need in a public space and use appropriate leash/muzzle if necessary. Most parents are busy so combining the walk to school with the dog walk makes a lot of sense rather than doing it separately every day.

Police? Having a dog dangerously out of control (so it unless someone or causes them fear of injury) is a criminal offence. The red marks are the least of the issue, they caused your grandchild to have an epileptic fit

www.gov.uk/control-dog-public

You should report it to the police. If the dogs are allowed to be so out of control they clatter into you like this at worst the owners need a stern talking to, at best the dogs should be put to sleep.

Unfortunately many people see dogs fighting or being aggressive as something perfectly acceptable and to be expected. It is expected that they behave like this, nature makes them dangerous killers, but they should only be in public when with someone capable of keeping them under proper control.

I would also circulate it on a neighbourhood site or Facebook page if you have on so that others are aware

That sounds awful, I hope you are your grandchildren are ok.
Those dog owners sound completely irresponsible BUT this incident happened on the village green rather than at school so unless dogs aren’t allowed there I am not sure what can be done. It’s certainly not up to the school to get involved

I've just spoken to the dog warden.

A woman reported a dog attacking another another dog in exactly same spot yesterday.

From the description - it sounds like the same man/owner. This was the man who, when I said 'Control your dog please, there's children all around here!' He replied 'Control your mouth!' 🤔

"at best the dogs should be put to sleep."

If dogs are properly trained, handled and managed there should be no reason for the dog to be put to sleep. The onus is on the owner to be responsible otherwise they are setting their dog up to hurt or be hurt and fail either way. There's loads of work can be done with reactive dogs to help them manage on walks and make them safe, they need to be removed from their owner if the owner isn't prepared to do this work. Sometimes dogs are reactive after being attacked or having health problems etc it doesn't mean they're bad dogs. The right training is everything. If a dog is reactive they should be wearing a harness signaling to other people that they need extra space, walked in a quieter area unless you're building them up to being around people and then they should really be muzzled to safeguard.

I think reporting it to the dog warden and Police is what you should do. As the dog warden has indicated there has been previous reports of similar incidents in the same location at that time of day I'd avoid it if possible.

The suggestion of getting dogs banned from the area around the school at certain times isn't viable as it's impossible to communicate that to everyone who may walk thier dogs nearby (this was attempted at our school using 'covid' as a reason 🙄 it didn't happen). Besides it's the small minority that are the problem, and they won't see themselves as such.
I hope you and your grandsons are ok

@Cw112

Yes - reactive dogs should be walked in a quiet/preferably deserted area.

They should not be on long leads. They should not be anywhere near a school at 8.55 am on a path, 50 yds from school gates' where parents and children are walking into and out of school grounds.

Pure stupidity.

@smileandsing

Luckily, thank goodness, grandsons are fine 🥰 The older one is saying repeatedly that the dog jumped on his foot. He's thinking that it's funny now

I don't think that it's funny.

My younger grandson still has a few red marks/scratches on his legs. The mud will come off his jeans and the pushchair - but that's not the point.

The dogs were very fierce - slamming into each other. They were out of control. They were barking and snarling. I was shaking, I was so scared.

And I can't avoid the area, particularly at that time of day as it is the only access path leading across the large green, up to the school gate. I don't particularly want to push the pushchair directly across the grass as the wheels will became caked in mud and dog mess. This is no good when the pushchair has to be packed into my car boot.

I did nothing wrong.

The two dog owners did. Their dogs were dangerously out of control. They were in the middle of many parents and young children using the only path available. Unfortunately, the area is chaos for approximately 20 min/half hour twice a day - it's a primary school.

Oh get a grip ffs. Yes it's an unfortunate incident but shit happens, not everything needs to be reported.

@MissMaple82

You wouldn't find a large barking/growling/snarling dog jumping on two of your grandchildren shocking?

I was shaking for a couple of hours.

And I have reported it - both dog warden and police have said that there was a report of the same happening in the same location yesterday. So someone will have reported that incident also. From our descriptions it's pointing a particular, well known to police, character.

Or is normal for out of control dogs to jump on children where you live?

The obvious question is why didn't you just call the police as it happened? It's a criminal offence for your dog to be dangerously out of control on public or private property.

Yes - would have been handy to have my phone. I could also have taken photos of the dogs and owners. Although I will know them both when I see them again.

All I got was the name of the lovely young lady who walked with me afterwards.

My phone was in my handbag at home. I saw frost on my car when I looked out this morning and rushing out to scrape my car made me forget my handbag.

As a dog owner (he's a service dog) myself, I try to avoid dogs on long leads because, in my experience, they are the worst ones. Long leads are often lazy peoples answer to proper training - they don't need to train their dog to recall, or in obedience, because it's "on a lead". Only two weeks ago I was exercising my service dog off lead in the local park and came across a pack of five humans with six dogs of various sizes from small to medium all on extending long leads. My dog (it was his non-working time) immediately crossed to stand between me and them whilst ALL the dogs stretched to the extent of their leads yapping, barking and growling at my dog (who was standing there looking at them quite calmly, although indicating that he was willing for them to "bring it on" if they tried to get close to me - his job!) and me (in a mobility scooter). And you know what - the bloke yelled at me to get my dog on a lead and under control!!!! I won't tell you what my answer was, but I served with the Forces and am fluent in several languages.

Bloody long leads should be banned - they give no control over a dog and only give licence to people to not bother training OR controlling their dog.

@Quveas
Yes!

I don't have dogs. I don't have pets. But I grew up with dogs, my family and friends have dogs. I can admire and appreciate any pet and I know how much they mean to their owners.

'Out of control' - is key.

Dogs can be on lead and still not be under the owner's control. As opposed to dogs being off lead and being adequately trained to be recalled in any situation. My friend's dog is a magnificent beast (Weimerama sp?) so gentle and so well trained. Would I trust it with my grandchildren? No.

I'm pretty sure that dogs should be on shorter leads in busy public places though.

Out of control dogs should not be allowed to come into contact with people or other animals. Leads or no leads.

You can report it to the dog warden.

It sounds like an unfortunate accident though for you. If a child wasn't looking and ran into your pushchair would you have been as angry?

Sadly there is pretty much nothing the police can do. You're lucky you have a dog warden - we don't, and the council here don't want to know. When a dog attacked mine (and I had evidence), the police told me that they can only act when a dog attacks a person. In your case, neither dog attacked a person, it's just that your grandsons got knocked during their fighting (the weren't targeting your grandsons if you see what I mean). This means that, legally, there's nothing that the police can do.

I am a dog owner and I adore dogs. But the laws in this country are a total joke: there are so many clueless, irresponsible dog owners out there, and they know that there's very little will happen to them. I've spent a long time training my girl, and although she avoids all dogs she has still been attacked 4 times, all of which were completely unprovoked, by dogs off leads and with the owners striding off in the distance, completely unaware of even where their dog was.

My friend who was bitten by a dog in the park (unprovoked): the police did find the owner but instead of anything happening to him, he was told to write her a letter saying sorry, and to keep his dog muzzled. Lo and behold, she's seen him in the park with the dog since, unmuzzled. The park is right by a primary school.

I'd go through the school and work on the suggestion of banning dogs on the school run - that's your best bet for the future. Our school banned them from the playground, and it meant far fewer in the vicinity at drop off/pick up.

If it were two children fighting then I would think the answer is yes. Way back when I found (literally, abandoned as a puppy) the stupidest dog ever created. Loved him to bits for his 16 years, but he really was stupid. He walked into stuff all the time looking for food (his main interest in life). He once walked into a five foot wide tree trunk because he didn't see it in front of him. He could've easily accidentally walked into people - he probably did but I just don't recall now. That is an accident. A two dog fight spilling over onto bystanders is not an accident.

How is it not an accident? Do you think it was a deliberate dog fight?!

@Southwig22

Well - it's funny you should say that. When my children were small I used to take the oldest to playgroup/nursery for the same time as the local high school started (9am). My younger two were in a tandem pushchair. One morning, a child who was walking towards me (I live near the High School) but looking behind him at his friends, fell full length on to my pushchair. I had stopped some distance away and was saying 'Hey, watch out.' before he fell and dropped his cigarette into my daughter's pram suit hood. It smouldered and damaged/melted the fur inside the hood as it took a while to flick it out.

The lollipop lady told me who it was (a 13 yr old boy) and I reported it to the high school because I was indeed angry.

And the parent replaced the pram suit.

The lollipop lady and her daughter are great friends of mine since that incident approximately 27 yrs ago.

So are you saying that it's just as dangerous for barking/growling/snarling children baring their teeth to fall onto a pushchair?

No it sounds like your incident involving an actual fire was more dangerous tbh.

I can't fathom this obsession with reporting everything, accidents happen and sometimes people are negligent. Sometimes people are dicks. It's life, but not a police matter.

I know this could be classed as an accident.

I know the dogs weren't attacking the pushchair or my grandchildren.

But it was an accident waiting to happen - an almost dead certainty. Two dogs on long leads - both out of control of the owners.

And I would certainly be making more of an effort to track down the owners had my grandchildren been hurt more seriously. But hey ho, what's a few scratches, a bit of mud and an induced epileptic fit in the grand scheme of things?

Apparently shit happens according to pp.

Of course it would never happen in this case but for the idiocy of dog owners.