‘But he’s friendly’

[Baffledandalarmed]

On a dog walk. My dogs (two) off lead, walking to heel and generally not being pests. It’s a busy walk (along the top of a beach) so they’re keeping close until we get onto the beach.

Four people sitting on benches - facing the path and chatting. Six little dogs all running around them off the lead. Three run up to mine growling and nipping. One of my dogs makes to bolt (he’s a puppy still and very much at the ‘flight’ stage or flight or fight). I grab him and ask owners to call their dogs back.

Their response ‘but they’re friendly’ and make no move to intervene. Dogs still jumping up and growling in my dogs faces. I end up being bitten trying to get their dogs away - which wouldn’t have happened if it had been ‘play’ as dogs don’t play with their bloody canines exposed.

AIBU to think that ‘friendly dogs’ dogs don’t run up to other dogs and nip at them and growl and snarl? And ‘he/she/they are friendly is code for I can’t be bothered to train my dogs’?

Dogs growl when they play, mine do all the time, but there’s a distinct difference between the two growls. If one dog is clearly terrified then you call your damn dog back?

Classic : I said this only yesterday "classic scenario of people not training small dogs very well as they see them as harmless / cute / a baby / that's just how they are - which is super frustrating ! "

I film these type of encounters now and stay well clear where possible .

I agree.

Had an incident in a park a little while ago where someone's dog came running up to me and jumping up.
Asked owner to call their dog back but I got the 'they're friendly'.
Covered in muddy paw prints and received a dog bite to the hand, broke the skin but luckily didn't need stitches.
And still had to make a fuss for the owner to drag their dog away.

Small dogs are rarely trained they are infantilised

I don’t care if they are friendly or not. Keep your slobbering hound to yourself. I am not scared; I just don’t want your mutt near me.

When I am PM, my first law will be to make saying ‘he’s just being friendly’ illegal.

Hope you were able to clean the bite quickly? Do keep an eye on it.

We get this when I take my two out, loads of dogs running up to them. Mine are off lead, they never go anywhere. If the youngest makes a move to wander off I call her and she comes straight back. The only time they ever growl or show teeth is when other dogs come up to them and won’t leave them alone. It is frustrating.

my youngest would go up to people if I let her to say hello and get a head scratch but I can tell when she wants to do that and she always listens when I tell her no.

Bite all fine! There’s a cafe nearby which had a first aid kit so they wiped it down for me and gave me a little princess plaster! And in return I had my coffee a bit early and shared a bacon roll with my furry friends (aka they had the bacon and I ate the bun)

I'm with you.
I have a small terrier type dog, she doesn't like other dogs but is absolutely fine with people.
I never let her off the lead unless we're on a local field where I can see there's no other dogs.
I took her to a park last week which has a woods attached, every which way we turned there were off the lead dogs, in the end I gave up and came away.
I always thought the unwritten rule was if a dog is on a lead you don't let your dog approach.
The amount of times I've had to scoop her up out of harms way, it's ridiculous.
I always shout "not friendly" and if the other owner gets their dog under control I'll take the sting out of my shouting by adding "not friendly and neither is the dog" tinkly laugh 🙄
Some people just shouldn't own dogs

I hate the line “they’re friendly”… just cos your dog might be friendly (which is not always the case) it doesn’t mean mine will react friendly to being ran up to and growled at. Did the dog owners acknowledge your bite? YANBU for thinking friendly dogs don’t run up to other dogs and growl and nip but I kinda think YABU having your puppy off lead if he is as you say very much still at the flight stage when it comes to fight or flight.

My son developed a specific fear of small white dogs. Maltese, westies, bichon frise - they are the worst trained dogs in our park. The owners just laugh at him.

Who has said YABU?!

I used to absolutely love dogs. Now these stupid vapid dog people who can’t train a dog for shit are ruining it for everyone. Where did they come from?!

I don’t have a dog anymore but if someone’s whatever-poo comes and bothers me and I’m told from afar “he’s friendly” I’ll tell them I’m not and I will kick it away if it continues to bother me

We’re very fortunate where we live, I’ve never come across one of these owners. I always keep out dogs on a lead though unless on our land. I don’t think any dog should be off lead in public places, I really love dogs but you can’t trust any 100%.

I’ll tell them I’m not and I will kick it away if it continues to bother me

I suggest kicking the owner instead if you’re going to kick.

I'd have given the dog a boot if it had bitten me

Well no I’ll kick the little thing that looks like it’s going to bite me.

Saw a video recently of a horse rider using a go pro. She was cantering on a beach and some soghthound type thing rang alongside and tried to go for the horse. She shouted “She will kick it call it back” to the owner who completely lost it saying it was the horse’s fault for going too fast on a beach full of dogs 🙄

"Friendly" dogs are the reason I now have two small DC who are utterly terrified of dogs. Loved them as babies and then as soon as they were out and toddling they had dogs running up and getting in their faces. No physical harm done but funnily enough they didn't perceive it as friendly as all.

Yep. My DS is scared of them too. Don’t blame him - dogs the same size as him coming over for a good sniff because apparently “they’re just saying hello” 🙄

What was their reaction to you being bitten? I hope you reported them. I honestly feel all dogs should have to be on a lead, and maybe even muzzled as I'm seeing this more and more often. A 2 year old was attacked (by a large dog, not that it should matter) in my local playground a month ago, absolutely devastating. Owners shrugged, and quickly drove off.

I don't care whether your dog is friendly, unfriendly, indifferent, aggressive, or a soft lump.

It is YOUR job as a dog owner to keep it under control and make sure it does not come anywhere near me. This is what I hate most about entitled dog owners, they expect everyone to be as besotted with their animals as they are. Many of us are not.

Well no I’ll kick the little thing that looks like it’s going to bite me.

I just feel sorry for a dog getting kicked because their human is an irresponsible cunt. But as I said earlier, all dogs should be on leads in public areas.

We have a 3 year old Staffy. He goes off lead, never even looks at another dog,he doesn't bother them at all. We get numerous small dogs running up and yapping around his feet, and the pathetic owners are " oh don't worry, little Tarquin is only playing "
Damn sure that if my boy retaliated it would be all over the local news because of his breed.....

Yes it’s no ideal but I’ll never be someone who gets bitten on purpose.

I’m a bitch? Why 🤣 because I don’t want some ankle snapper ‘saying hello’

These cross breeds are bred for aesthetics with no consideration for anything else. I have to say any ‘friendly’ dog - including the one that made a hole in my leggings when it bit them - was a something-poo. Whenever I’ve seen a staffy or bulldog they’ve completely ignored me. The yappy tiny needy annoying ones are the ones that are the most bothersome IMO.

If that makes me a bitch then meh