To be pissed off with useless dog owners??

[Sapphire387]

This week so far:

One dog on a beach knocked my stepdaughter over in order to grab a sausage roll out of her hand. Owner came up far, far too late, to be fair he tried to offer us money to replace the food. I did say it wasn't really about the money, the dog had knocked her over (she's nine).

One dog ran up to us in a field and pissed all over my mum's bag (it was on the floor; we had stopped walking briefly). Owner not paying attention so I called him over and told him what his dog had done and he said it wasn't his fault so I told him he should keep his bloody dog under control.

I'm not a dog owner. I neither particularly like or dislike dogs. But AIBU to think that people should train their dogs out of this sort of stuff, and if they can't, they keep them on a lead? It is NOT ok to just let your dog be a nuisance to other people.

I am more annoyed by dogs recently but I think it's because there are more - so many people in our small village got a dog over COVID. Have definitely noticed more bags of dogshit left lying around, which is vile. Wildly differing standards of dog control and training. Some dude on his phone while his dog jumped up at me, nearly knocked me over, left 2 huge muddy pawprints on my coat. Dude didn't say a word. I wanted to grab two handfuls of mud and go and shove him hard in the chest - that's what it feels like.

Maybe people have not seen previous threads. Or Are new to mumsnet. Similar topics crop up all the time. Who are you to say which topics are overdone?

Why did you click on this?

They shouldn't even be coming over begging. Had a picnic with my DC in a London park ruined by the number of off-lead dogs running over and sniffing around the food. Lazy entitled owners far off checking their phones. All dogs in busy City parks should be on leads.

OP, you are not wrong of course but just like the second poster posted, it's part of life. There are irresponsible adults in all walks of life. Most bad dog owners are usually crap parents too.

Yes, it is annoying, just like poor drivers, cyclists, tractors and horse carriers blocking the road. Like GP receptionists who don't listen, phone assistant personnel who ask you a zillion questions before dealing with your issues and the list goes on.

You can't control any of these people so the best way to deal with it is to not let it get to you. As long as you and loved ones are safe, the world is good!

I have two labradors and I know for a fact, given the chance one of mine would definitely steal food from a child’s hands or a picnic, as a result she is never of lead if there are people around.

Because it’s so common now and it’s really horrible - people feel upset and want to post about it.
As these posts always get so many responses it’s clearly a very topical problem.
I too have had dogs bowling my children over like skittles and stealing food out if their hands during picnics and now my children are also scared of dogs. The cycle continues.

With the notable exception of assistance dogs, no one should be getting dogs anyway - we are in a climate EMERGENCY and carnivorous pets have a very high carbon paw print. They are a luxury the planet cannot afford.

"As long as you and your loved ones are safe"

That's rather the point
A 9 year old child was knocked over - that's an accident happened already

Dogs can be dangerous and the amount of poor dog / owner behaviour is increasing the risk to people

I disagree. Threads like these increase awareness of the problem.

I see the "fur babies can do no wrong" brigade have arrived.

I've had:

A dog bite my arm as I walked past it on the pavement. It was on a lead being walked by its owner and all I did was walk by on a standard pavement (i.e. not too narrow etc).

A dog pee on my tent when camping.

A dog pee on my camp chair when at the beach.

A dog steal a sandwich from my child when we were having a picnic.

A dog snatch a stick from my child that they were playing with.

A dog run over and jump up at my then three year old, putting its paws in her face, scratching her and knocking her backwards so she hit her head.

A dog jump up at me on my way to work with muddy paws so I had mud on my smart clothes.

I actually really like dogs. Grew up with them. Would have one if I had the time. But I'm sick to the back teeth of people letting them run wild, and even more fed up of the entitled attitude that dog owners have that leads them to claim that I and the OP must be lying about our experiences 🙄

Thank you, exactly. It was actually pretty scary to witness, let alone for DSD. I am hoping she doesn't become hugely wary/scared of dogs now, we have tried to explain it as a rude dog whose owner should have trained it properly rather than a scary dog... but I should think it is natural to develop a bit of a fear after an incident like that.

There are plenty of idiot owners out there.

My younger dog would definitely steal a picnic given half a chance and it is up to me to see that she doesn’t. If there is anyone picnicking on the beach then she’s on her lead. I don’t want her eating random sausage rolls as much as you don’t want her to steal them.

As these posts always get so many responses it’s clearly a very topical problem
The problem and the reason for the defensiveness is that one poster post about 1 or 2 incidents and all in a sudden it becomes, ALL dogs should be banned, ALL dogs should be on the lead, ALL dogs are potentially dangerous.

Then there is the dramatisation. Sorry OP but however unpleasant it is to be knock over, I wouldn't think a 9 year old falling on a beach to be qualified dangerous. It could easily have been another child not paying attention. Would you have started a thread talking about how dangerous kids are?

Yes these incidents shouldn't have happened, but it doesn't justify the outrage that follows and generalisation about all dogs. How many dogs have you encountered in the last week that has caused you no issue at all?

. It could easily have been another child not paying attention
But it wasn’t? It was a dog? “It could easily have been something else entirely, but it wasn’t.”

Yet another dog hating thread. I think MN needs a dog hating corner.

As a pup my dog once stole a scone from the tray of a buggy but not since. While I wouldn’t 100% trust her as she loves her food, the only time I can imagine her stealing food is (possibly) from a toddler in a buggy (so her height) who had food in their hand but not actually eating it….she may think they’re offering it to her. I take her to a Farmers Market on Sundays (there’s a butcher there who sells bones so it’s her treat) and as there’s normally kids there eating cakes, burgers etc so I keep her on a tight lead to prevent it but to be fair she’s never tried. I have trained her she can only take food when we say yes.

Mumsnet though hates dogs with a passion. The other day I was going to ask for advice after an incident with her but I knew I’d get piled on and told she needed putting down for a normal dog reaction when stressed out.

It's not hating dogs

It's hating owners who allow their dogs to be dangerous and harm others

However people who have been harmed by out of control dogs will start to fear and hate dogs because that's a normal response to harm

Especially when people seem to want to trivialise the harm

I would be pissed off if a dog ran up and knocked over my DC or jumped up and stole food. I've got two dogs as well. I don't get the posters who are saying this is acceptable / normal / just a thing that happens. I'd be passed off if a seagull swooped down and stole their ice cream too. There's one obvious difference though isn't there?

I don't think this is dog hating, it's shitty owner hating.

Pissed* off 😂

Agree OP, far too many of the fecking things everywhere with their thick owners. Should be a huge licence fee and mandatory training for both dog and human in how to behave responsibly in public.

@coffeecupsandwaxmelts I've literally never seen that happen in 20 years of dog ownership. I've only had girls and they don't cock their legs at all. My current dog will wee only on grass so when we go for a walk she will squat over a dandelion growing through the pavement or similar
, she isn't interested in where other dogs were, and when she is she doesn't wee over it!

Dog ownership is hard, you've got to put the work in. Our dog is small and extremely well behaved. She will lie under a table silently, she walks to heel On a loose lead, she has excellent recall. She ignores strangers and is genuinely the best dog I've ever had.. however! It has taken a lot of training and hard work to get a dog who is public friendly so we can go out and do our own thing.

The bad dog owners who's dogs jump around and have no recall and run up to people and steal things give us a bad name!

I've literally never seen that happen in 20 years of dog ownership. I've only had girls and they don't cock their legs at all.

I've shared this before but it's linked to which puppies are around them in the womb. Bitches sandwiched between two males tend to get higher exposure to testosterone and are more likely to cock their legs when adult.

It's actually not that uncommon, though not usual - iyswim.

My huge doods are fabulous. Well trained, know their manners, great recall.

Great with children, regular visitors to our local care home & gentle with elderly relatives & friends, happy around other dogs.

However I keep them on their leads in public because… they’re dogs. I will never be able to guarantee in any given circumstance the behaviour of other people & their dogs.

Although I can mitigate against poor behaviour of my boys, no one can guarantee 100% that their dog wouldn’t respond to the action or behaviour of others in a scenario they may never have encountered. My boys have never seen a sheep. They’ve met other prey animals & wildlife, but as sheep are an unknown within their knowledge base, I cannot guarantee they would know how to behave around sheep.

That’s aside, of course, from the fact that sheep aren’t just grazing clouds wandering in a field for my enjoyment & are actually someone’s livestock & livelihood.

If I want to let them run free, I pay to have the the sole use of whole dog’s playground & field for an hour. There are lots of dog fields for hire since COVID locally.

Otherwise they exercise on long leads, with DH & I having full control.

The real issue is, of course, people. Those of us that have well behaved dogs, keep them trained & on leads will keep being responsible owners.

The idiots whose dogs cause 99% of incidents, picnic raids, people piddling & at the extreme, dog attacks will not heed any legislation in place to protect the public, let alone moaning posts on here.

Oddly, my female dachshund comes from an all girl litter and cocks her leg all the bloody time. She also has quite a lot of other 'male' traits, so who knows? She's clearly just a weird little anomaly 😂

But it wasn’t? It was a dog? “It could easily have been something else entirely, but it wasn’t.”
And you totally missed the point, conveniently to stand on your position that because it WAS a dog, it was especially dangerous and justify the outrage it otherwise wouldn't be.

My girl also cocks her leg, it's quite funny. She has never weed on anything inappropriate.

Your last paragraph is the one! The kind of twatty owners that additional legislation would be aimed at are exactly the ones who would ignore it. They are also the pricks that run up, flapping their arms ineffectual, screaming 'he's friendly!' when their offlead boisterous dog gets in the face of shy, on lead dogs.