Just fucking sick of dogs

[crazyaginglady]

Sorry but I am. I was cycling home from
picking up DS from school with him on the back and a dog came running up beside
me snarling and snapping at my feet on the pedals. I nearly bloody went over but managed to keep my balance and get past it (electric bike). Owner called an apology and I just rode on as it was still off the lead and I was worried for DS.

This is a national cycling path and much used school route so there are always bikes and children 8-9 and 3-4.

A sausage dog decided to bolt towards my 2 year old last month in the park for no apparent reason and I had to scoop him
up to avoid contact.

And don’t get me started in the ‘oh he’s just being friendly’. I don’t want your fucking dog jumping on me or my children or scaring my kids when we are just going about our day.

They should ALL be on leads unless they are in a dog park/field.

Not always. A lovely lady walks her dog every morning. Her dog is a twat and hates bikes so just goes mental when I ride by on the road. She apologises every time but one day, I swear me and my bike are screwed!

@kitsuneghost not sure why that’s so difficult for you to comprehend! Doesn’t take long and I like a clean home😌

@LuckySantangelo35 don’t be vulgar.

Entirely unacceptable that dogs are allowed to run up to others and even worse that one was snapping at you. I say that as a dog walker. I put all of the dogs I walk on lead if I see a person/people without dogs coming, or if I see a person with a dog on a lead. In general, I try to stay as far away from others as possible. Not everyone likes dogs and everyone should be mindful of that.
I don't agree that all dogs should be on leads in public though. Lots of dog owners have good control and recall, so I don't see why they should need to do this.
As a rule, dogs like to chase. If you stop running or cycling, they will stop. However, I appreciate that one snapping at the pedals makes that difficult!

I think this is the crux. Empathy and a willingness to aknowledge that the people around us need respecting. Sadly this seems to be something lacking in society at the moment and personally, I find that individualism and entitlement seems to have been on the up and up since covid, I've no idea why, but that is my experience.

@Missingmyusername

lol. It’s what dogs do though 🤷‍♀️ ain’t my fault

I have a relative who owns a large dog. He is a useless owner. Granted he does pick up the dogs poop, but he has no control of that dog and won’t keep him on a leash, even in areas that have signage explicitly saying that dogs should be kept on leads.

He couldn’t possibly not let his baby run free. He’ll call ‘he’s friendly’ as the dog barrels through people walking along. He genuinely believes everyone loves his dog. The dog has raced off and grabbed and killed squirrels and rabbits.

He hates that I don’t bother with the animal and even calls me ‘auntie’ when talking about me to the dog. ‘oh look who it is, it’s auntie Fran!’ (My names not Fran btw, I just slotted in there). I like to correct my sibling that ‘no, the dog is not my nephew’. It’s taken quite sadly that I don’t buy for the dog on his birthday or at Christmas.

The dog has wrecked his walls; doors; three sofas; beds; plaster board and skirting boards…but it’s apparently endearing.

His dog makes me hate all dogs. It’s an excitable, irritating, slobbering, stinky thing. YANBU.

@GonnaGetGoingReturns Sounds like a greedy retriever type.
It’s owners were completely unreasonable not to have retrieved their dog and kept it on a leash under the table.
Yapping dogs in cafés are irritating too.
Yapping for scraps from the owner’s table.

A person near us pushes two able bodied dogs around in a pram for dogs.

The woman takes them into DOG FREE parts of a local café and that’s just so self entitled and cheeky .
They yap a lot as well.

Do you know what. YANBU

It's never really bothered me, but me and my DD visit the park most weekends. Its a big country park, pond, nice walks, a library, nice bike bath and a kids playground.
Since she's been able to walk. I have to be on full alert. Just last week she was toddling along munching on a snack, watching the ducks on the pond, and not one but TWO dogs came bounding towards her trying to take food from her hands. She's a teeny tiny 17 month old. My heart was in my mouth as I scopped her up, and tbh I've always been a dog lover *not owner.
Cue the calls of "don't worry he's friendly"
Put them on a fucking lead.

As a dog owner I absolutely hate people who don't control their dogs and I don't care if they "are just being friendly" if you can't control your dog dont have one. Sadly I think a lot of people CAN control their dogs just choose not to

I'm a dog owner, and I agree with you, @crazyaginglady

The woods near me seem to be packed with owners saying "ohhhh s/he just wants to play" while their aggressive mutt tries to savage mine.

They can fuck off with their "just wants to play".

There ought to be some system to vet potential dog owners before they are actually allowed to buy a dog.

How about dogs who have never shown any interest in chasing wildlife? Do they need to suffer too?

Trained so well that he was never allowed off lead or even to the beach? Ours all love the beach and there’s miles and miles of coastline that aren’t the popular tourist spots.

We don't believe dogs belong at the beach as their urine is bad for the lakes and rivers where we live, in fact, it's illegal on many beaches to bring a dog (we don't live in UK). It's not about training, it's about not bringing dogs places they shouldn't be. He was off the lead in our fenced garden which was very large.

I’m with you OP. Sick of the poo, of watching for it in the woods when out with the children, of them coming bounding up to us and of them being absolutely everywhere now - where we eat out, in the playground, even at museums etc. Service dogs and working dogs are entirely exceptions.

Also agree with "put them on a fucking lead" around children. Dogs are dogs, and will sometimes behave like dogs, however well brought up they are. Having a loose dog around children is a dick move.

Do you want to walk around with shit in your pocket
I know I don't.

@SoShallINever

Keswick is a holiday town. Lots of people bring their dogs on holiday with them. It is designed to be a place you can bring your dogs too. I live in Keswick. The main attraction is for walking and a lot of walkers take their dogs with them. I can honestly say there isn't skidmarks everywhere and it absolutely does not stink of dog wee.

The patches of green mould you see on lamp posts and tailings could be dog pee, but more likely to be caused by rain. The Lake District is the wettest place in the UK and even a town full of dogs aren't capable of peeing several inches of water a day like rainclouds can.

I love dogs, currently have three in the house.

Would never, EVER dream of not picking up their waste or of them going off lead anywhere except the forest near where we live, where many walk their dogs and there's plenty of room to get your dog to give others a wide berth, or other local dog parks and outdoor natural areas where dogs are often walked.

I'm with you OP - dogs should not be off leads except in appropriate natural areas, even if their recall is 100% - and I've yet to meet such a dog.

Dogs in cafes, well, I don't think it needs to be a blanket no in itself as I would hope nobody is eating off the floor in a public place, much less letting their kids - but really they shouldn't be taken into any shops, cafes or any other indoor places unless they are well trained, well adjusted, and on a very short lead imo, and of course only places that explicitly welcome dogs. Service dogs aside ofc.

@LuckySantangelo35 Humans do it too. We are equally pretty gross.

@oakleaffy, to be fair to dogs most dogs I see in pubs and restaurants/bars are very well behaved.

I haven’t had any of your experiences either.

I just take issue with the fact that if more establishments allow dogs in, you can’t always control all their behaviour.

A friend of mine her young DS is scared of dogs, not sure why as never had a scary interaction with them but why should a dog in a cafe take priority to be there over him?

Snap. Same for me. And even if they're not aggressive, I either pop mine on or ask him to wait at my side for them to pass. For most decent owners, this a que for them to put the lead on. For many others, not a chance (incidently, also the people that don't pick their shit up and im fed up of picking cold, strange dog shit up with my poop bags)

If I can change that to adult humans, and to the majority of them MrsDoyles, then I whole heartedly agree with you!

Totally agree. The stupid smiles and “oh he’s very good with kids” whilst some dog tries to steal my 2 year olds food out of his hands on the street dries me crazy. Nobody wants your stinking dog anywhere near them.
The whinges every firework season- what do you want us to do? Never have fireworks because your dog doesn’t like it? Your dog doesn’t want to be your pet it wants to live with the mother it was separated from for your own selfish desires.

Dog poo everywhere despite every dog owner insisting they pick up the poop.
Owning a dog is a completely selfish pursuit. Don’t try and tell me otherwise!!

@kitsuneghost

you keep a hold of it until you can put it in a bin. No one is forced to have a dog.
hanging it on a tree is fucking gross.

Off lead dogs have:

• stolen my lunch - all of it and ran off with it
• barked at my toddler and made them cry (they hate dogs now)
• jumped up and covered me in mud when I was on the way to the dentist - the dentist wouldn't do the treatment due to hygiene worries
• circled me, growled and barked at me aggressively for ages until owner came - I had to stand on a bench for 10 minutes - luckily they were dachshunds so couldn't get up
• shat on our street whilst their boho owner walked ahead obliviously - I imagine this happens accidentally on purpose so they don't have to get their velvet gloves dirty
• ran into the road almost causing a collision. This has happen 4 times in my life. 1 time the dog got hit and ran off into the woods yelping - god knows what happened to that poor thing.

On the street, in towns, on public transport, in cafes dogs should be on leads. It's a no-brainer

Don't own a dog then.