Dogs at school gate

[Irishmumof02]

First off I’m an animal lover Iv pets of my own a dog included but I don’t take him to the school because I know some kids are scared of dogs. There’s a mum who always brings her dog a big thing think labradoodle or something like that. She’s no control over the thing at all and it’s not trained. She uses a retractable leash on it. It growls and barks at other dogs and all she dose is say shush. Well I kind of lost it today and I think I probably over reacted but also kind of not. It’s snowing here it’s cold and wet and her bloody dog was rubbing around people so I just stood back a bit so it wouldn’t come near me but my dd came out of the gate and the dog jumped on her and only the teacher grabbed her she would of been knocked on the ground. Her uniform is muddy with the dogs paws and the bloody owner had the cheek to say oh be careful. Well I snapped and il admit I was cheeky and told her she should stop bringing the dog on the school run especially if she has no control over it and it’s a school not a doggy daycare.
a few other parents agreed with me some even saying she dosnt pick up after it when it goes to the toilet. I’m trying to calm down a bit now but I do feel like having a word with the headmaster at school tomorrow about it but also think am I being unreasonable so Iv came here.

aibu it’s only a dog maybe shel learn and try controlling it better now or am I right dogs don’t belong on the school run.

I keep thinking what if it scared a child and the child ran out onto the road or something

When you say come out of the gate OP, do you mean straight out onto a public road - as in the dog is standing waiting with the owner on the public road rather than on school grounds? You are still definitely not being unreasonable - you shouldn’t have a dog like that anywhere near a school. But unfortunately whilst the school can give a polite message that she needs to control the dog, if it’s not on school grounds then she can just completely ignore it. It’s the same with parking issues - schools can give polite reminders but ultimately have no control over the selfish parents!

Definitely not unreasonable but if its outside of the school there might not be much they can do.

I'd ask the school to speak to that particular person and ask her to keep the dog well away. If she doesn't have it under control its really just an incident waiting to happen.

The dog assaulted your child. After what happened at the weekend in Surrey with a dog walker mauled to death I think people should be held accountable for their pets’ actions. They should not be brought to school to intimidate children.

There are so many more dogs around now since covid, our school have said they are not allowed at the gate or on the pavement where children are actually having to step in the road to get past the bunches of people standing around with their dogs.

But people are still bringing their dogs! There are some really intimidating ones in size and breed as well but it is more the fact that when passing them, if they lurch towards a young child, the child might jump into the road.

There has also been many times dogs have been growling and snapping at other dogs.

YANBU - I also can't believe how many bring their extremely large and/or aggressive dogs to "family" events. We went to a very busy Halloween event for kids locally and there was a dog barking and trying to jump up at the little kids who were obviously dressed up and had masks on etc. meanwhile the owners just stood chatting and trying to hold back their dog.
I am a big dog lover, but it was really scary.
We have a similar rule at our school where it's no dogs in the school grounds but they still wait outside blocking the pavements 😩

Speak to the head and suggest they ask people to keep dogs away from the gate. People shouldn't be forced to be near dogs if they don't want to be and dogs certainly shouldn't be jumping on anyone! I say that as someone who used to take my dog on the school run but he was always kept well away from the gate.

You think you've got problems 😀

We had to deal with a dear at the school gate every day for a long time (sadly he passed away)!

Not great photos as I've zoomed in so no faces are recognisable.

As you will see, he would also go in the local pub (and lots of other places too)!

I don't mind well behaved dogs on the school run but if they're going to be barking and leaping about like wankers then they really need to be stood back out of peoples way, not jumping up at random children.

It seems like every other person at our school on a morning has a dog with them.
School banned them from the grounds so now they all congregate at the gates in a big bunch so you can't get past.
Not to mention that I've never known a street as bad for dog mess, constantly having to dodge it on the path/kids stepping in it..

Having said that not much school can do if it's not in the actual grounds.

YANBU

Dogs are allowed in the playground here and more and more I'm finding that they are becoming a nuisance. They're all on leads but they still get in the way, they're often tied up unsupervised near the preschool, etc etc. today there were 2 Labradors on long leads jumping around in the juniors pick up area which is tiny and chaotic at the best of times. I was watching my ds4 of course but also had to look out for my ds7 coming out of school. I finally sent an email tonight asking for the policy to be revisited. Schools should be a safe place for children

You weren't cheeky at all you were doing a community service.
Similar happened at our school. A very snappy and downright bloody vicious huge German Shepherd stationed outside the school gate. Trying to actually bite people going past. Right at face height of the kids that were about to start coming out.
My friend had a huge go at the teenager holding the lead (who was with a couple of adults.) A few parents backed my friend up as obviously they were worried about their DC about to come out as well.
School sent out a blanket no dogs on the school grounds or waiting near the gates memo that night.
Someone has to be the one to pipe up and say what's right.

YANBU, dogs are only acceptable if under control and not being a nuisance.

Nationally we have had a period of tryingt obe more welcoming to dogs, it has proven to be a PITA, I think we need to go back a few steps to dogs being under control around humans.

If the dog was inside school gates then the school absolutely should issue a blanket ban. I say this as the owner of a well behaved lab who would love to come on the school run walk but I know isn’t fair to other people who might be scared/allergic to dogs. If the dog was outside the school gates though, the school prob can’t do a lot. Yanbu at all for having a go at her though.

She has the dog in the school grounds. We have two sets of school gates one coming in to the car park and one then at the drop off point and she stands right at the drop off point. Iv seen other dog owners but they don’t bring the dogs into the car park or near the kids. She’s not a responsible dog owner Iv seen the dog jump at her own kids honestly it feels like a disaster waiting to happen with the dog. When I snapped at her she looked like a child being told off and said the dog wouldn’t have hurt my dd then walked away with her head down. Il not be surprised if she still brings it tomorrow morning

Should be a blanket ban. That is not unreasonable. If you need someone to explain why then perhaps you shouldn't have a dog.

I'm having this issue at the moment. The gates of my 6yo son's school are becoming increasingly crowded with dogs (the pavement outside of the gates is only narrow then straight onto a busy road so they're taking up the little space there is and kids are being forced onto the road to get around them). Two of the dogs look like dangerous breeds and the owners seem to have little control over them and they're not muzzled. Last week I saw 3 dogs on school property so I emailed the school and they sent an email out to tell people dogs aren't allowed on school grounds and asked owners not to crowd around the gates. A 'friendly and playful' spaniel but my son's face when he was 2. It was totally unprovoked, he was holding my hand waiting to be seated in a cafe when the dog (which was on an extendable lead) just came up and bit him without me even having time to know what was going on. The owners didn't even apologise. So now my son is terrified of going into school because he has to walk closely past 4 or 5 dogs each time and they all lunge towards the kids.
Since the school sent the email out I've seen more dogs than ever outside of school. It's as if the parents are annoyed at being told not to bring their dogs so they're doing it to spite people and I feel like I'm fighting a losing battle