Or are dog owners getting worse? The useless ones used to be a small minority, now they're everywhere

[Greensleeves]

I go for a long walk most days, so I see a lot of dogs and their owners. I'm noticing more and more feral dogs and ineffectual or wilfully ignorant owners. Three of my walks this week have been spoiled by them! The first was a large over friendly terrier type dog who bounded up, jumped up and got muddy paws all over my coat. Owner laughed and said "oh, she likes you!". Second was a little yappy thing that barked and wove around my ankles for about 20 yards, making me struggle not to step on it. Owner only called it when I shouted to her and gave me a filthy look. The third was the worst - some sort of bull breed, very large, not aggressive but ran up to us sniffing our hands and getting in our way, I was visibly nervous and froze to the spot. Owner called out "don't worry, he's friendly", I called back "I'm not, could you call him off please" to which he replied "I've tried, he ignores me...actually if you could grab his collar for me?"

FFS! And that's aside from the epic levels of fucking dog shit all over the parks, streets and local beauty spots. I'm not an animal hater at all, but it's really starting to get me down

Uhhh I have the small yappy. We are back in dog training classes but I keep her on the lead and away from people so hopefully not that annoying. We are trying 🫠
Re all the rest, we aren’t rural and I walk on the roads but I have noticed an increase in the bully type dogs. I don’t know if the recent news has just made me more wary.
YANBU to be annoyed at your walk being spoilt - and your coat too!
I hate off leash in the dog park now. I feel constantly on edge.

I'm a dog owner and find these things annoying too. My dog is quite reactive so even though her recall is good, I'm too nervous to have her off lead anywhere public. I won't even let her go near others when on lead. You just never know. When loose dogs like the ones you describe come up to her, it's really horrible as she's powerless.

And the poop is just gross.

So, I hear you. Irresponsible dog owners need to be held accountable.

Around here, this was true about a year or two ago - basically towards the end of Covid when lots of useless people had got dogs and didn't have a clue. But it's actually settled down again now and I haven't noticed it as much. Possibly all those puppies are now proper grown up dogs and the owners have finally cracked basic training?

My dog did bark at all the parents on the school run the other day. Mortifying and she's now banned from school run again!

I'm a dog owner. I took my two to the park early this morning. Small yappy one stays on a retractable lead as he barks a lot and has no recall. My elderly retriever is off lead but she stays by my side and is well trained and reacts to commands.

While in the park a regular group of 4 or 5 owners turn up who walk around together. All their dogs off the lead. I try to keep my distance due to my little barker, but one of their dogs is a lurcher and decides my dachshund would be great to chase. The lurcher is dancing around me and trying to get my dachshund to run. Dachshund is barking his head off and tying me up with his lead. The owner of the lurcher can see what's going on, and that I'm using a walking stick, but does nothing except watch. Eventually I shouted to him to get his dog away and only then did he walk over and put it on a lead. No apology or anything, just totally ignored me. I really hate when groups like this walk around chatting and not keeping control of their boisterous dogs.

I think a lot of dog owners just expect everyone to love their dog as much as they do. I had a bull terrier type run up to me once and even through I froze on the spot and shouted out 'I'm scared of dogs', the owner made no attempt to put the lead on, just sauntered over, smiling. Felt like booting the thing into the middle of next week.

YANBU I feel exactly the same, especially about the dog shit, and something needs to be done to stop idiots owning dogs.

Simply because so many owners can't be bothered to train their dogs. They think socialisation = allowing their dog to run up and play with every dog they meet etc.
Also a lot of entitlement ie they don't see why they should train their dog.
Pure laziness and dogs which have never been given any boundaries or guidance.
Training a dog takes more than 6 weeks in a basic puppy class in a village hall yet most people stop at this stage.

I'm sorry this happened to you! When you said "little barker" I expected a dachshund as I have the same!

I hope he's okay.

This issue with dogs is a problem for society in the UK currently.

The good dog owners acknowledge it and see the problem. The bad ones defend it.

Soon the bad owners will be on this thread, either yawning about another dog thread, or comparing dogs to children, and saying how much they hate kids/people and love dogs more.

To not understand that there is a major problem with dog ownership right now, makes people look a bit dim.

I'm a dog owner. Mine doesn't like to be bothered by off lead dogs. He's always on his lead unless in an empty field with his tennis ball.
We try to avoid the off lead annoying dogs with even more annoying "he's friendly" owners.
He was great with other dogs until two little yappy ones ran round his legs barking with no owner in sight. 🙄 now neither of us have the patience for politeness.

Addicted to complaining about anything and everything is also problem in the Uk.

Which of the incidents in the OP do you consider perfectly acceptable? All of them? Do you think dog mess all over public spaces is too trivial to warrant complaint as well?

I am a dog lover and owner, and I agree fully with you.

I wonder if it's partly down to more people having dogs. As the number of dog owners increases, so does the chance of running into a crap one. Same with cars, the more cars on the road the more we run into shit drivers.

Add in a seemingly ever decreasing sense of personal responsibility and a reduction in community spirit and responsibility.

It's not just dog ownership, it's the amount of litter, bags on seats, watching/listening to things without headphones, and so much more. More and more I find people don't give thought to, or care, about the impact they are having on others. Everyone is becoming increasingly individualistic, and it's a snowball affect. The worse it gets the less people feel inclined to make an effort to act in a community minded way, and the circle goes on and on.

Don’t worry OP. They’ll all disappear over winter and only the more decent dog owners will remain.

Absolutely. Also an increase on complaining about complaining and commenting on things that don’t interest them just to make a point.

I'm a dog owner and have begun hating being a dog owner, it's just awful

Lockdown. Many stupid people bought dogs because it was a reason to go out, and they were bored.

We are now stuck with a lot of hopeless dog owners.🙄

Yes and many of them post on MN.

They don’t know how to behave around people and just bleat: ‘I prefer dogs to kids’.

Yes, I went for a walk yesterday (I’m
6 months pregnant and just wanted to some gentle exercise) only to be ambushed by a pack of dogs running round me (luckily all friendly) being in walked by a dog walker. I just want to go a walk in peace without feeling on edge because of bloody dogs and irresponsible owners/dog walkers letting them run up to you! We don’t all love dogs! And don’t get me started on the dog shit everywhere that I have to navigate.

I think it should be the law that all dogs are kept on leads at all times unless in specified dog walking parks and fields.

Even a well trained dog can decided to ignore you

My partner has a dog who is well trained. We had her take extra recall classes and her recall was strong. I took her out once in what I thought was an empty field and took her off. A runner appeared. I called her to put her back on the lead and she bolted. Then spent 20 mins shouting for her to come back and trying to get her and her running off. Then a walker entered the field who she bounded over to who turned out to be scared of dogs and went apeshit and kicked my dog in the face and then got all up in my face shouting at me. Was awful. Finally managed to get the dog back but I was really shook up by it all. I have never taken her off lead since.

My partner still does take her off lead and her recall is 99% perfect. But he's had it happen twice in the 2 years since my stressful incident where she just randomly decided for no reason not to come back and thinks she's playing some weird game where you have to catch her.

Tbh the whole thing has completely put me off the "well trained dog" thing. She is a well trained dog. We get compliments about her training but even she just occasionally decides to do whatever she likes.

Should be mandatory to keep all dogs on a lead.

I agree with you. I have 3 dogs who all have excellent recall. I drive to quiet places to walk them off the lead at a time when I know I am unlikely to encounter other dogs. I would also never dream of taking them into a shop, pub or restaurant.

I am a dog owner/trainer & I absolutely agree. No dog should ever be off lead unless they have impeccable recall. The problem I have encountered with (stupid) dog owners is that they expect the dog to suddenly grow out of bad behaviour & miraculously start being obedient without any training. I cannot stand dogs that approach mine & relentlessly follow on my walks, I tell the owner immediately that they need to call off their dog & most can’t as no recall. I take great pleasure in reprimanding them & pointing out what a crap owner they are.

Haven't seen a "friendly" dog for a while, with all the stormy weather. Anyone would think that these owners didn't walk them if it doesn't suit them...

Absolutely agree with this.
I have a 7 year old dog who loves people but hates other dogs 'in her face' - so she will leave dogs/humans when I say 'leave' and 'wait' politely on the far side of me.

Then an unruly dog and owner comes over to 'say hello'.
No she does not want to 'say hello' - if she was a human she would be an introvert.

Every open space , including nature reserves and people parks - now seem to be de facto free 'dog fields'.
I can't see it ending well - these dogs will still be with their 'could not care less' owners for at least 5-10 years.

I'm a dog owner, have been my entire life, you're absolutely right. There's been a massive increase in shit owners the last few years, exacerbated by lockdown I think.

Dog shit everywhere is a huge problem that never used to be a thing and does my head in. And putting in a bag and leaving it on the ground, wtf is that all about? Great idea, extend its shelf life.

Badly behaved dogs absolutely wind me up, especially when the owners expect you to find it funny and cute that their abysmally trained cockapoo just jumped all over you and got muddy paw prints all over your trousers. I think they expect because I've got three big dogs that I won't mind. I mind. I worked very hard to train my three to keep all four paws on the ground no matter how excited they are, and to lie down with heads on paws when approached by children or small dogs. It feels wasted when Bailey and Alfie and Luna do everything in their power to cover both me and my dogs in whatever crud they've been tracking through and their owners do piss all to stop them.

And dogs being taken literally everywhere like children. Train your dogs to be comfortable home alone for a few hours, it's really really not difficult and better for the dog than being dragged around crowded shopping centres and supermarkets which is stressful for them.

That's my big rant for the day I think, apologies