Is this ok or would you be annoyed?

[Janiebirdy]

Our house and garden faces a park and we get a few dogs running across the gardens at times. I was working in the garden last week when a dog started running up to me and across our garden; the owner didn’t call their dog back and they didn’t say anything to me. I ignored them and carried on with gardening. Would you be annoyed or figure it’s not a problem? FTR I’ve had dogs in the past so I’m not anti.

Get a fence?

I'm no help. I'd use it as an excuse to stop working and have a quick cuddle! Any excuse for a break!

Is your garden just open to the park, or is there a fencve or something the dog had to jump?

A dog shouldn’t be running up to strangers so they should have called it back. But if your garden is open onto the park think you need a fence otherwise you can’t really be annoyed about the coming onto your property aspect

Is your garden open? Get a fence

How are these dogs getting into your garden? Is it just open straight into the park with no clear boundary like a fence or wall?

How are dogs getting on to your property? Are the gardens not fenced?

This sort of response does my head in.

The answer is not "get a fence". The answer is for fuckwit owners to control their fuckwit animals.

It would annoy me. Some dog owners are so entitled and think everyone wants their dog running up to them out of control. Fence or not, that's irrelevant, the dog owners should take responsibility.

They should have called their dog back, yes, it sounds rude. It's a bit difficult to picture, though!
Do you have a fence or a hedge that clearly outlines where your property starts or is there a chance that they thought it was part of the public, park grounds?

Of course it's not ok for a dog to be off lead on the road bounding up to anyone - whether walking on the road or in their garden.
I would have stopped what I was doing, got up and made it clear that the dog should not be in my garden.

Totally obnoxious of the owners. If they can't control their mutts they should be on leash.

It’s a strange set up here, it’s all open. The park and the gardens are separated by a pavement. A fence isn’t practical because the free wheeling dogs would get in via other people’s gardens - every other house would have to fence off their garden too to seal off all access points.

If nothing is fenced it sounds like people could easily think the pavement is just a path running through the park?

That does sound like a very unusual set up, is it actually clear these are your gardens? I'm genuinely surprised it's just the occasional dogs you're getting and not kids playing there or teens hanging out. I would fence it in, not just to stop the dogs but also for security surely you can chuck a low fence up around each side?

They should have their dog under control.

I’d be very apologetic if my dog did that, but she wouldn’t as she’d be on a lead.

This is a similar set up to our garden and park. I think it’s a clear boundary between park and garden but some may disagree. Having had dogs I can appreciate they do go off on their own but I’d have recalled and would try not to let them disturb others. I guess it was surprising that the owner wasn’t bothered.

The owner was obviously in the wrong

As a fence would be pointless would some signs help differentiate between garden and park?

I don't think that pic would be clear to everyone that it's not part of the park. I'd probably realise, especially if the seperate front gardens had noticeably different planting etc, but some people would definitely be oblivious.

Why would the neighbours need to fence too to make it secure, couldn't you fence between your neighbour on either side and at the end of your garden like a normal front garden? Are there covenants that ban fences? I can imagine that would be likely in a park location.

Actually unless the gardens are planted very clearly as a garden I don't think it is that obvious it's not part of the public space. If it's all grass like in the picture it just looks like part of the green space.

to me that all looks like one space I’m afraid.

It’s impossible to see where the park ends and the garden begins. We looked and were very taken with a house with a similar set up but there was a ditch marking the boundary. We wouldn’t have entertained yours @Janiebirdy.

We have similar set up nearby and I typically have my dog on a leash when we walk through it until we get to a wilder bit where I can let her go and roam. Having said that, I wouldn't be personally annoyed.

I agree, that looks like one space. The dog shouldn’t run up to you, but I don’t think you can complain about it being on your property. You need to mark the boundaries- even if it’s digging out some flower boarders

I agree the dog shouldn't be running up to people in a public space or a private one and should be recalled if that's happening (whether it's been actually trained and listens is another issue!) but I don't think that it's very clear from that picture so if yours is a similar set up then I think it needs to be made a bit more obvious that your bit is not a part of the park.
I would recall my dog if they approached a person but if you weren't there then I wouldn't necessarily think that part is different to the other part and allow the dog on it. If it was marked out in some way, even flower beds or pots or something, in front of a house, I'd assume it was private and keep the dog off.