XL Bully "just wants to play!"

[PumpkinSly]

I was in the local park today with my 4 and 6 year old children. We have a medium sized dog ourselves. She's a bit of an old lady now so just potters about having a sniff. There was a couple with a baby walking their huge XL bully dog around the park. The first time we crossed their path the dog was on a lead but their dog was pulling strongly on the lead to try to investigate either my dog, or my children. The owner was all too willing to "let the dog say hello". I'm not comfortable with huge dogs approaching my kids or my dog so I moved everyone along very quickly and didn't engage with the dog or the owners. The next time we crossed their path the dog was off lead. It wasn't acting aggressively but it bounded up to my DD. My children were playing in a small wooded area of the park where there are felled trees for them to climb. I was helping my 6 yr old DS on one bit of the logs, while my 4 yr old dd was playing a few meters away. The dog bounded up to her and she was visibly scared. The owner was making comments about how much the dog loves kids and how playful he is etc, but to me it was a huge powerful dog that was scaring my child and it shouldn't be approaching kids at all. I told the owner that his dog shouldn't be allowed to approach children and to get it on a lead away from my kids. The owner went absolutely ballistic. Telling me that he just wants to play with them, that he loves kids, that I was prejudice against American bully dogs because of the news, that his dog is friendly, that my children should be better educated in how to handle dogs who approach them in a friendly way, and that I was an irresponsible dog owner because my dog was unsupervised while my children were playing. It's true that my dog wanders around doing her own thing but she is 11, she doesn't go far, I can always see her having a sniff about, and her recall is very good. The XL Bully became very energetic in response to the owners outburst and charged at my DD knocking her the ground. It wasn't aggressive, just boisterous and spurred on by the atmosphere and the owners response to me. The owner then grabbed his dog and left very quickly, while I was left to sort out my distressed DD. AIBU to think the owners of these massive dogs should have better awareness than to let them approach kids? Was I wrong to tell the owner to get his dog away from my children? The dog was at least three times the weight of my 4 year old, if not more, it was at least as tall as her when on all fours, and she was clearly scared by this dog because as soon as she realised it was there she called out for me and backed away.

Of course you aren’t unreasonable. One of my dogs loves kids. She has been taught not to approach unless she’s invited in. Then it’s a case of standing still to let a child stroke her. Bounding up to strange children isn’t friendly. It’s rude!!

AIBU to think the owners of these massive dogs should have better awareness than to let them approach kids?

No dog, irrespective of size or breed, should be approaching anyone. Keep your dog to yourself. If it is not trained to walk to heel or to come back immediately you shout, on the lead. I don't want a "friendly" dog anywhere near me, whether it's a labrador, yorkshire terrier or XL chav-beast.

Not unreasonable at all. I bet the aggressive owner was mortified you were proved right.

XL Bullies are terrifying to look at and their jaws can kill. No wonder you were upset and worried for your daughter.

I don't care what anyone says, I was literally just thinking this. I was lying on the sofa watching th long shadow with my spitz type dog snuggled up with her head on my neck. If she decided to stack me, she may well do dome damage to my face and hands but no way could she kill me. She weighs 8kg. So I think there IS a difference between owning a dig and owning a creature bred for the physical and behavioural traits to kill a human. I should add that spitz is called popsy and is very well trained, she might wag me to death though. I love dogs and find people who do t irritating sometimes but if I lived in the UK I would cross the road and pick up my dog. And yes, I would question why someone feels the need to brandish one and I would judge them.

I'd have called the police if it jumped up at your child. That should be considered an attack imo.

Stupid dickhead owners. I think they’re trying to prove a point to everyone that their precious Bully dog is lovely. Well I’m sorry but it’s an intimidating, ugly breed and a small child who doesn’t know it is going to find it scary. He’s an idiot and should respect the fact that not everyone finds his dog adorable and nor do they want to play with it.

This proves my point on that other thread where I said owners shouldn’t let their dogs approach people just as much as parents shouldn’t let their children approach dogs. But yet so many owners just let their dogs run up to people and claim they’re just being friendly.

My dog has never been allowed to approach anyone uninvited. Lots of kids and adults are scared of dogs, even small ones. It felt to me that the owner was trying to make the point that because the dog wasn't behaving aggressively that we should have been more accepting of it. Like everyone should be able to tell that the dog is just being playful and therefore accept it's approach. But these dogs are huge and powerful and I didn't like seeing one approach my child.

When an owner says to me “oh he just wants to play” I answer, I don’t.

I wish you'd filmed it - I'd report to the police OP.

My dog is not allowed to approach strangers at all, let alone children. In a busy park responsible owners keep their dogs on a lead at all times.

Next time get your phone out and start filming then post it to your local Facebook page. Those dogs are massive and have no place in a park with children.

and no I don’t believe it’s always the owner that causes the problems in xl bullies, I think dogs are often typical to their breed and often have breed specific behaviour.

Idiot man.
Maybe his dog is an absolutely lovely animal who has never shown the slightest hint of aggression. And one day it might jump up at a child, with the friendliest of intentions, and the child react in a way that frightens the dog and makes it lash out and things go wrong in an instant.

Sorry op I voted yabu. Your dog was off lead so however misguided that owner was, to them having their dog off lead is the same thing. Everyone thinks their own dog wouldn’t hurt a fly

I love dogs. I own 2 big dogs. There is not a chance in hell I'd tolerate an XL Bully anywhere near my kid, "friendly" or not. They're wildly unpredictable and the fact the owner was happy to let it bound up to a child off lead would tell me everything I needed to know about the kind of irresponsible owner they are and make me even less inclined to trust that their dog meant no harm. It's just common courtesy not to let your dog, whatever the breed, go bounding up to anyone uninvited.

Rubbish. The OP's dog wasn't approaching other people or knocking them over!

@funinthesun19 The number of parents I see encouraging their small children and toddlers to approach my dog is baffling. My dog is lovely. Very gentle and soft, and cute looking. When we're in the playground she is on a lead and will happily sit so people can fuss over her. But not all dogs are like that. Some dogs hate it. I've had to remind so many parents that children should always ask if they can pet someone's dog and they look at me like I'm a complete dickhead.

Def report to the police and dog warden, very very unsafe.

I just say “ oh fuck off!”

It’s his aggression at being told to keep his dog away from her daughter though. And insisting that it just wants to play.

Good owners don’t react like that. They apologise and move their dog away. He and his dog are another attack waiting to happen.

This kind of shit enrages me! The ignorance of the owner more interested in arguing the point about the dog than having any respect for the well-being of your child. And to make matters worse they kicked off which made the dog start becoming more boisterous imagine if the dog had decided to turn aggressive because it had thought its owner was under some sort of threat with all the shouting. People really are unbelievably selfish and ignorant and they belong in prison for endangering the public with their fecking attitudes!

@stayathomer If I owned a dog prone to aggression, bred from a stock that is unstable and violent. If it was a reactive dog, or it's recall was rubbish I wouldn't let it off lead. I've had my dog for 11 years. She has been in a household that has seen the arrival of two kids, her behaviour on and off the lead is great. She's not an unpredictable puppy. She isn't a huge muscular, powerful, unstable breed. She has never charged down a child. She doesn't approach people uninvited. Her recall is great. I know my dog. She's fine off lead. It's not the same thing.

And who cares if the dog wants to play. It can play with its owner or a stick

Let’s hope it goes for the owner, rather than his DC.

that my children should be better educated in how to handle dogs who approach them in a friendly way

WTF lots of children are frightened of dogs.

Many XL Bully owners are very defensive of their ‘pets’ since the news that they may be tighter regulated with the ban coming into force (hopefully VERY soon).

We had someone walking one off lead on our land last week and he was left in no uncertain terms what we thought about these dogs. We get a lot of tourists where we live and they often rough camp and wander around. I refuse to have them anywhere near me or my animals since my lab was killed by one of these things, yet here it was off lead in a field with my horses 😡 I can assure everyone on this thread that you do not want witness one of these things attacking, from what I remember it was wagging its tail while it tore my lab to bits. I don’t care if people say they’re friendly and love children, I wouldn’t be taking any risks near them. You were right to be wary OP and I’d have done exactly the same.

That owner was bang out of order. We've got a medium sized cockerpoo who will tolerate dogs at a distance but we had someone with a staffy at Whitby just a couple of weeks ago let it just go straight up to him in a crowded place, no warning, and he quite rightly snapped because that dog crossed his threshold.