To think all dogs should be muzzled in public?

[ToughTalker]

By law.

Many things have been banned as dangerous where less people have been injured and killed.

Obviously we can’t ban dogs but it should be law to have them muzzled outside of your own property to reduce the injuries and deaths they cause.

My springer has a scavenger muzzle that she wears inside the house to stop her swallowing socks - she would literally pull them off people's feet. She can open doors, open the fridge, jump everywhere... she's not at all aggressive but people assume she is if they see the muzzle. Muzzles are rarely for aggression and usually for scavenging. Most dogs can actually remove their muzzle if they try hard enough (mine certainly can) so a muzzle isn't much used against a determined and sustained attack.

My baby was bitten by another child, maybe I should never trust another child?

Oh look, time for a ridiculous dog thread. We all have scary experiences we have to process especially as parents.

No to muzzling but, even as a dog owner, I am fed up of uncontrolled dogs in public spaces. The explosion in dog ownership and irresponsible breeding that occurred during lockdowns has led to too many people owning dogs without the knowledge, skills or time to properly train them. I'd support more breeds being banned and stricter controls on breeding and ownership.

A muzzle won't change this.

Keeping dogs on leads and encouraging responsible ownership would.

Shall we start by making it law that all dogs are on a lead in public. The amount of dogs with no recall running around is growing

Yes I fully agree.

Then we must also make wearing helmets for cycling law

And knee and elbow pad law for skateboarding

And a law on obesity
And ban smoking and drinking

And make laws on extreme sports that might be dangerous

And make laws that muzzle all animals that can bite - muzzles for hamsters ?

Let's make it law to only cross the road at a pelican crossing

And never to drive over 30 mph

Can we ban tics as they cause disease
And muzzle all bacteria that can cause illness .

Let's ban swimming with long hair in case a freak accident happens and hair gets caught in a drain

And let's ban those E scooter things too

Let's just make it compulsory to get into big fluffy cotton wool suits and then into big plastic bubbles so nothing bad can ever happen .

While we're at it let's ban drugs . They're dangerous and banning stuff works . Oh .....
Bugger .

Suspect if there was a lead law it would eliminate a lot of complaints. What pisses people off is dogs not under control.

Most of your examples hurt the perpetrator only.

£2500?! Are they on crack?

@MavisMcMinty and @XenoBitch

I completely agree children need to be educated on canine behavior. I rarely walk my two together during the day but on the odd occassions I do the wee Chi is hounded by kids. She's very shy. Her body language to anyone with half a clue clearly shows that she does not want to interact with anyone or anything except me and the other dog.

The rotty cross who adores kids and thinks every living thing is a potential new best friend is largely ignored.

My Chi has never snapped or growled at a stranger, she usually runs to me and asks to be picked up instead, but she is 100 times more likely to show fear aggression than the rotty.

If parents bother to ask I pick the Chi up and let them feed her treats to befriend her but they rarely ask. They just assume the smaller dog is the friendly one.

The lead law could be quite easy to enforce. You just issue a fixed penalty notice on the spot for a small sum. Say £50. The police are already authorized to do this so it would work.

Not really. It’s to prevent the risk of attacks and bites. It’s like saying stop wearing a seat belt as most car journeys don’t involve injury.
I have had so many negative experiences with dogs.
With the notable exception of assistance and working dogs no one should be getting a dog anyway in this time of climate emergency - they have a high carbon paw- print and are a luxury the planet cannot afford. They might be nice for some people to have but we need to think urgently about the climate.

As a giant breed dog owner, I'm absolutely a ok with this coming in as a law.

I'm fed up of dogs bounding up to mine and shoving their noses in his face, jumping at him, he doesn't want to play, he's a good dog and will tolerate it well and is friendly in return but my god can't I just walk him in peace without some deranged cockapoo jumping on me and him.

I'm 🤏🏻 close to just booting the next fashion dog/small/toy breed that comes jumping up at me or dog in the face, whilst their owner screams "pepsi come back" from half a mile away. Fucking Pepsi is going to get converted like a rugby ball one day. 😒

Put your rat with a false passport on a bloody lead.

I dunno about muzzle but they should be on leads. Dog owning in general is pretty problematic. I mean it's nice for the dog owner (until they get their face bitten off) but it does impact the environment/society/wildlife. It's not a neutral activity. I think because it involves animals people assume they get a bit of a pass in terms of public goodwill but maybe we need to start thinking about what the real effects are re things like waste, public use of green spaces (especially in urban areas), wildlife habitats and so on. The number of dog owners has increased dramatically in the past five decades or so and this does have an effect on all of those things.

Ah yes, we've all met Pepsi in the park

American bulldogs and pocket bull dogs seem to be the new French ball dog at the moment, the dog people want. I have nothing against bull breeds, I actually really like them but if they get into the wrong hands they could easily cause serious damage. I do think people should need a license to own a dog, I don’t like the fact anyone can just go out and buy one. I bought my first dog when I was 18, I bought it from a local newspaper, called them and went and collected it, they didn’t ask me many questions, just took my money and I went home with a puppy. I think the fact that the price of puppies have gone up significantly has helped a little, the average puppy here cost £1500+, they now have to be chipped and have their first vaccinations? Things have changed a little but it’s still not enough, anyone can still go buy a dog.

What an over reaction let’s muzzle all dogs ffs

its not the dogs fault it has arseholes for owners

oh and dogs are walked of lead in Australia too so where you get that idea from is bull.

My dog is 5kg and always on a lead. He doesn't need a muzzle.
There is however a serious problem with dogs now.

No there are people killed by peddle cycles . Let's ban them .

Cars kill lots of people. Let's ban them .

Bugs kill people . Let's ban them . Or manufacture microscopic muzzles .

Can we muzzle smokers - secondary smoke kills

Cats carry toxoplasmosis. Let's ban cat poo.

Oh and bird flu . Let's chain up the ducks .

Swine flu . ? Ban pork .

Bse kills people. Let's muzzle the cows and ban eating them .

Oh and sex . AIDS killed lots of people. Let's make it compulsory to wear condoms and space suits when engaging in any sexual activity in case it's bad for people.

People kill people with knives and guns and fists and feet . Can we muzzle them please. Let's make all knives bendy and less sharp . And let's tie knots in guns like they do in cartoons for comedy affect .
Oh and those pesky bats that caused covid . Let's muzzle them .

And that monkey pox doing the rounds - in fact let's just muzzle everyone and all living things that have potential to kill. That should sort it .

Right whose gonna muzzle the lions ? Volunteers form an orderly queue .

Oh, the high climate "paw print" was already on my MN Dog Hater Bingo Card. Do you know what has an even higher carbon footprint? Kids. Humans.
Dogs are not wrecking the planet... humans are.

I'd like to muzzle people like you OP.

Such nonsense.

The majority of dogs who have been well trained and cared for by their owners will never harm anyone.

Would you like to muzzle a few men as well?

Because the majority of people who are physically attacked/assaulted will suffer harm from another human, usually a male, rather than a pet dog...

I think it depends where you live. Springers and Labs, who all have nature names like Bracken or Holly, are the biggest PITA in my area.

Again, if you want to interact with my dogs ask me I will let my rotty x off lead and he will happily entertain Bracken for hours and hours no matter how rude and pushy bracken is, just don't ask me to keep them out of the mud. That's not gonna happen.

Trying to picture a pug in a muzzle 😂what a ridiculous idea.

Owning dogs is one of the ways humans are wrecking the planet.

Pet ownership is a human activity. This isn't about the abstract concept of dogs.