I hardly take my dogs for walks anymore.

[MaryOnACrossss]

Because I'm so sick of dealing with idiots.

I've honestly lost count of the amount of times my dog (a pug who is scared of bigger dogs or any dogs really!) has been run at/bitten/snarled at/pinned of just plain intimidated by other dogs.

First we stopped going to the playing field.
. Then we stopped going to the park.

This morning we went round the circle we live on. Just round the cirle and some guy come round the corner with 2 putty on steroid looking things. One on lead, one off. This is walking round avenues, not a park or anything. And of course the one on lead start dragging him over and the one off lead runs right across the road. I tell him my dog doesn't like dogs, please keep him away.

So he grabs the off lead dog by his back leg???!! Whilst trying to grapple the one on lead away from her too.

He drags the dog by the leg until they're back on opposite side of the road and I pick my dog up and hurry away whilst looking for a gate I can get into if the off lead dog manages to escape.

I'm so fucking sick of it.

Why wasn't it on a fucking lead?

I was shaking. I have anxiety and so does my bloody dog.

It feels like every time I take her out something like this happens.

So we play in the garden alot rather than go on walks.

When owners have their head in a phone, they aren't {obviously} looking at and engaging with their dog.

My dog walks ahead off lead {not on pavements obviously} but she is always looking back, looking at me, checking in.
If my head was in a phone, I'd miss those bits of eye contact.

Also advise carrying a stout walking stick to fend off large heavy badly trained dogs {might not work against pitbull types like XL Bullies or other Bully breeds though-
The standard of ''training'' is truly dire.

If you have a dog without perfect recall, it is appallingly irresponsible to let it off the lead in public, especially in “open countryside”.

The countryside is not there to let your dog burn off steam.

Use a private garden or a private hire dog exercise field if you need to let your untrained dog loose. If you can’t manage that, exercise it properly on lead, train it, or don’t have a dog. Your unwillingness to do those things does not allow you to let your dog run riot in public spaces, including “open countryside”.

This is one of the most frustrating and ignorant posts I’ve seen on here in recent years.

I feel you. My poor old dog recently died, so I've just gotten a new pup and she was attacked the second week she was able to go out for a walk and is now much less confident as a result. I'm mid 30s, had dogs in my life literally since I was a baby and I've never had any of them attacked before. I blame all the lockdown dog buying - it was never this bad before.

It’s very reckless and irresponsible to let a loose dog approach any on lead dog-The on lead dog knows it cannot get away and may well snap.

On lead dogs are on lead for a reason- Maybe coming out of Season, maybe recovering from injury, maybe still undergoing training..

I had to release my dog when an out of control XL Bully charged us-
Dog warden said it was only thing to have done.

It was very frightening

These wretched things are a liability- along with the Romanian dogs that thankfully have largely disappeared near us now.

I just don't understand why it's got this bad ... I have a dog, he's trained, he comes back as soon as he's called, he walks to heel whether on or off lead, he can be told to lay down, go left and right at a distance by voice or hand commands, he doesn't approach people or dogs unless given permission ... the basics of dog training basically, we followed the award scheme and he got to hold around 10 months old.

Unless you are willing to put the work in don't get a dog, even small breeds!

"These wretched things are a liability- along with the Romanian dogs that thankfully have largely disappeared near us now."

They are being processed in Rwanda.