Dangerous dog near miss?

[volcan]

I feel l Iike we had a near miss today and I feel awful about it. DC (5) was cycling around a housing estate where I was visiting a friend when he disappeared off round a corner with a group of kids. It was away from the main road so I wasn't overly concerned but when they didn't appear around the next corner I walked over to investigate. What I found was a massive bully type dog walking alongside my DC whilst it's owner was frantically trying to get it back into the house. The owner being a petite young girl holding a tiny baby. The dog was totally ignoring her and carried on tracking my DS. I told my DS to slow down so the dog would stop 'chasing' him and we got back to the car safely. My heart was in my mouth and still is. When I asked my DS what had happened he said the dog has escaped and he was trying to catch it to help the woman. I know this has been done a million times but my AIBU is that people should be prosecuted for allowing these animals out in public uncontrolled?

Basically

So what's your point? We can't just do away with people but we have no need of bully breeds in society. There is zero justification for them. It's a cruelty to them too that their breeding continues as a business un legislated just for them to end up in rescues in their thousands.

Yes it is about proportion. Exactly. These dogs are massively over represented in that statistics for dog attacks and fatalities. You can't argue with the data?

We are not talking about all dogs here. Just the breeds that humans created by selectively breeding for the qualities that @CBAanymoreTBH has described very well.

Err actually I think we're talking about your piss poor parenting, allowing a 5 year old to chase a dog on their bike that you perceive to be dangerous - and then making out like you're the only responsible one in this situation.

I'm no fan of XL Bullies but I'd sooner leave my child with one of them than under your supervision.

My 'piss poor' parenting is not really the point though is it? We are talking about the risks posed by this type of dog?

You perceive this type of dog dangerous yet you sit in a pub garden with one .

@volcan

If a breed is branded as a dangerous breed, it means that a higher percentage than average will be aggressive, not the entire breed.

I understand that you were worried for your son, but it was not a near miss with a dangerous dog in this instance. He was walking behind your son, showing no threatening behaviour.

I'm talking about this instance alone. I'm not saying that nothing should be done about XL bullies. I would be happy to get a dog licence, but the relevant authorities would never be able to keep on top of dog licences for every owner. So measures like dog licences for certain breeds, punishments for anyone either buying or selling a dog online etc etc.

Dogs are not the only risk to a five year old out of sight…..

So I think you do need to look at your parenting!

@CBAanymoreTBH

The vast majority of bull breeds are softies. Like staffies for instance. They make great pets most of the time. My dad met loads of them when he was a meter reader and never came across an aggressive one. Same for loads of other bully breeds. What do you want to happen? Thousands of responsible owners have their beloved innocent pets ripped away from then put down? Because you don't think they have a place in society? Because of a small proportion of dog attacks by individual dogs that, most of the time, have been abused by humans, leading to the aggression in the first place?

Bye. Just bye.

Might not be your point.
Can't speak for others

You can reduce the risk to almost nil if you don't own one, don't visit houses with them, and by teaching your children basic dog safety - like not chasing them and asking before stroking them - just as you hopefully teach them to cross the road safely.

While XL Bullies are vastly overrepresented in the figures, so is piss poor parenting, and a great many cases involve babies and young children left unsupervised.

Pretty much every case in the last 40 years has involved one of the following

• a member of the dog's household, including children, an invited guest, or someone otherwise known to the dog (these make up the vast majority of cases). Epileptic fits are a theme.
• a professional working with the dog
• one police dog who attacked an old woman
• two cases of relatively minor dog bites that got infected resulting in sepsis - which are a rather different category IMO
• a handful of dogs that escaped and attacked neighbours

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_dog_attacks_in_the_United_Kingdom

That is an absolutely horrific read . There are many escaped dogs attacking members of the public on that list. But many more cases of dogs attacking members of their own family. Assumedly because there is more opportunity as they are not likely to be restrained in their own homes and this is where they spend the greatest proportion of their time. How comforting.

I think you are being unjustly criticised here - it's not particularly unusual for a 5 year old to go off with other kids for a few minutes.

And a dog that will not return to its owner is not under control.

A dog that is following someone and won't leave them alone can be threatening.

Yes you can reduce the risk of problems by not having a dog and not visiting homes with dogs in them, but it's not exactly easy to avoid dogs and therefore they should always be under close control and not left with a young slight girl who isn't strong enough to keep hold of it which it sounds like was the case here. I've seen kids struggling with big dogs where I live, too.

As someone who doesn’t own one of those breeds, I do find it comforting.

Basically, the best thing you can do to protect your child is simply to not own one of those breeds.

I am a dog owner and dog lover. My dog is not a “bully breed” and yet I understand that by owning a dog, my children are at greater risk of a dog attack than if I didn’t own a dog.

So, as a responsible parent (and secondly, as a responsible dog owner) I have taught my children how to interact with dogs. My children would NEVER run up to “help catch” a strangers dog. In fact, my children pretty much ignore dogs in public (beyond the obligatory “mummy look at that Labrador it’s so cuuuute!”)

By not teaching your child this, you have increased their personal risk of dog attacks.

To me, mitigating risks of random dog attacks is just one of those things we teach our kids, like waiting for the Green man to cross the road, not taking sweets from strangers, and so on. Thankfully, random dog attacks are really rare, just like child abductions and being knocked down are. Doesn’t mean we just pretend it doesn’t happen though, nor does it mean we live our lives in constant fear.

I can see why this gave you a fright, but that doesn't make it someone else's fault. It was just a unfortunate series of events. The dog got out. Your child got out of your sight. The owner probably looked panicked because she was worried about it running off, getting lost or getting hit by a car in the street.

The dog didn't display any signs of aggression. I would put it behind you and move on.

But the dog wasn't the issue, your 5 year old chasing it is and the dog wasn't doing anything aggressive.

I'm a cat lover and don't really like dogs especially big ones but I seriously don't understand your point... put your child on a leash if you are worried😂or teacher them not to chase dogs?!

Children should be able to play outside in close proximity without worrying about dogs.