Are people actually insane?

[peopleareinsane]

Yesterday at my son's sports day a family brought an bully type dog onto the field in amongst the kids activities. Am I mad in thinking this is just twatish behaviour. Not all kids like dogs and they had it amongst everything, put me totally on edge.

I'm now at my daughters ballet class and sat in the wait room full of babies and toddlers and a dad has brought what I am sure is an XL bully in this room. It's tugging on the lead wanting to get off and is getting increasingly agitated.

What would you do? Are some people total fucking morons or aibu?

And posted on mumsnet at the same time

I would just add that not all 'bull breeds' are born equal by the way. Staffordshire bull terriers and English bull terriers are not the same as an XL bullies which seem to have been almost man made and designed to be aggressive.
So I'd try and be a bit clearer about the type of dog you're talking about before making a complaint. Of course all dogs, regardless of breed, should be on a lead in public. There's also no need for any dog other than an assistance dog to be in a ballet class. But you can't just go around saying 'the dog was a powerful bull breed therefore it must be dangerous' - that's simply not the case.
I say this as someone who owns a bull breed but also hates XLs with a passion.

Of course it matters if a dog is on the floor or in pram or carried!!

In London, most department stores and restaurants MAY allow small dogs that can be carried, if you have a child scared of dogs, theres a HUGE difference if a dog is being held rather than sniffing around on a leash.

By having a "Dog that is carried only" you basically rule out any muscular big fuck off type of dogs , even friendly labs, just tiny dogs that can sit in ones purse , bothering no-one.

All schools should make it clear that dogs with the exception of assistance dogs are not permitted within the school grounds. If every pupils family brought a dog to sports day it would be absolute chaos so why should one be allowed.

Not right. My spaniel would LOVE sports day.. chasing, running, jumping and throwing things for her to run after but sadsly for her she's not going anywhere near it.

It's quite possible to leave dogs at home. There are places it's inappropriate to take them

Taking her to collect someone from a class might be different though especially if walking there and not going inside. You do encounter dogs all over the place so I think that's OK PROVIDED your dog is well behaved and on a lead.

Are you sire it was an XL - lots of breeds get mistaken for them

As if the ridge back isn't a big enough give away 🤦🏻‍♀️

@Misthios when we take the dogs we get stopped multiple times so I would argue the majority is now actually in the love dogs camp. We're semi rural so they stand out as cute dogs vs working spaniels. Why should we leave them at home they enjoy a run on the beach, a trip to the cafe that does home made dog treats along side the cakes etc. Whilst sat in their pram at table height so no one can step on them.

The majority of places don't actually allow dogs so you can easily avoid them if you don't want to go there like we avoid the places that aren't dog friendly. It's nice to see schools welcoming dogs back into everyday life after all the press recently kids wouldn't be afraid if it was normal and they weren't demonised.

It's hardly far fetched is it lol but I suppose it wouldn't be Mumsnet if there wasn't at least "this can't be real" written on every post going these days

It's more the fact that everywhere the OP goes, there's an XL bully in a kids' area. And she hotfoots it out of there and immediately posts on Mumsnet.

Dogs aren't allowed on our school grounds.. any dogs, so this is crazy

Yes I left. And have reported it to the ballet school. I wasn't sure that you could report this to police as is it a crime. Now I know that I can call so next time I will.

@DrinkUpBabyDown this is not what I said. I was sitting 4 metres from the dog in the waiting room asking for peoples advice on what to do. It then escalated to the play area. I left then updated the thread. Does anyone actually read up thread?

To all the 'how do you know it was dangerous' comments: it's perfectly fair to be unsettled by large, muscular dogs not on a lead, in public spaces. Why do we only get a right to feel unsettled or scared if we can be certain that a dog is a dangerous breed?! Danger doesn't work like that, does it? If I told a friend to get in a random stranger's car, I wouldn't scoff if they said they weren't sure if the bloke was definitely decent or not. And as many people have said, it's not as simple as saying only XLs are dangerous - many breeds of large dogs can turn dangerous in the wrong moment.

I'm tired of people who think they have a right to go around making other people feel scared, and then act as if we're the ones with a problem.

@CarrotySnack spot on. I have heard a similar analogy when it comes to violent men and trying to explain how women feel.

Imagine you are put in prison with hundreds of inmates. Four of those inmates want to murder you but you don't know which ones

Our school allows dogs on leads at sports matches. Sometimes the teachers have their dogs as well. Most parents who bring dogs have very well behaved ones who just lie down by the chair. Never been any issues and they are always positively received by everyone especially the children.

I used to work in a primary school office so all the parents would come and complain to me when an incident like this happened.
Unfortunately last time I tackled it I ended up with a parent smashing the office door and promising to fucking kill me.
As you can imagine I didn’t tackle it again.

@Fairyliz I am going to predict I would have faced a similar wrath this morning if I had said anything.

That was a very unusual case and there were background circumstances that you can read about online. It was in no way representative of normal behaviour for the breed.

But what fucking twat even thinks this is a good idea

The sort who would choose an animal like this in the first place?

And it's often not difficult to work out what "type" of dog it is ... take a look at the owner and the closer their knuckles are to the ground the closer to a bully breed it'll be

I would have had a quiet word with one of the teachers if it were me. My husband was badly attacked as a small child by a bull type dog. Not everyone likes being around big boisterous dogs. I do think some of the owners of these types of dogs are out to prove a point (following the XL bully ban) by shoving them in everyone’s faces to prove how ‘harmless’ they are. Quite astonished that the school didn’t say anything to be honest. They have a duty of care towards the children on their premises and they failed.

It's quite possible to leave dogs at home

True, but then the owners wouldn't have their "I'm a big guy, me" accessory and some are clearly so inadequate that they need them to prop their egos up

For that matter it's also possible to insist on dog liceences, neuter the breeds out of existence and more, but what makes anyone think such owners would take any notice?

Edited to add - as for "the ban", what ban?? The huge estate a couple of miles from me is still crawling with the things

Are you referring to all 'bully breeds' or just the XLs?

This is part of a trend that I notice a lot. Dogs are now seen like children and have all the same rights as people. You can't go into a cafe or restaurant round mine without it being full of dogs. I actually hate dogs but even if I didn't I'd think it was inappropriate to have them in places with food.

There will be lots of people gritting their teeth and getting on with it. Don't take lack of objection to mean that it was"positively received".

Mainly the XLs inasmuch as it's possible to identify them, fusspot786

Nothing wrong with a "big" dog in appropriate places, but alarm bells start flashing when they're unmuzzled, have a multi spiked collar, are called something like Satan and come attached to an individual who clearly has fewer IQ points than they

There will be lots of people gritting their teeth and getting on with it. Don't take lack of objection to mean that it was"positively received".

Quite the opposite, they are very much welcomed and it works well. The children make a beeline for dogs to make a fuss of them as they know them all. There is plenty of space for everyone so if someone wanted to avoid the dogs they can, but everyone comes to sit amongst them. If a parent doesn't bring their dog everyone moans that they aren't there! Works very well at our school but appreciate it doesn't everywhere.