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?

I think you were incredibly unlucky to have two such similar incidents happen in a two day period…….

Your sure? Considering even vets aren’t, fuck me they should’ve had you on the panel shouldn’t they! Contact defra asap. 😆

What would I do? I’d shoot the bastard dog if I could.

Totally with you OP, very stupid thing for these dog owners to do. No idea why posters might think you're making this up 🤔🤷

I’ve still got bite scars on my arm from when I was attacked in my road by a husky-type dog. Totally unprovoked. To say I was terrified is an understatement and I had to go to hospital to get my arm dressed as I was bleeding all over the place. The owner said the dog didn’t “like people walking behind him” and then ran away. If it had been a small child it could have been so much worse. Many large dogs of certain breeds can be unpredictable and should always be kept at a distance, preferably muzzled. I hate those XL bully dogs and can’t understand anybody wanting one. No wonder you felt terrified OP.

I swear dog owners have less brains than the mutts.

Sorry cant read all the replies but i’d email the school to ask how a dog was on the school grounds in the first place (we have to sign in for sports day, staff everywhere). There’s no way you would get more than 30 seconds onto the school grounds without being seen by a staff member. I’d be asking very strongly that an email is immediately sent out to remind parents no dogs. There will be kids that are extremely anxious around dogs not to mention dog mess. School needs to make sure this never happens again.

I would enjoy Mumsnet a lot more if certain people didn’t think it necessary to swear at every opportunity.

@RickyGervaislovesdogs The police also don't know I have seem so many incidences where they have seized dogs which are not XLs and do not fit the descriptors, including one where the owner did not realise she did not have to sign the paper work and by the time she had contacted an animal law specialist it was too late the dog wasn't even assessed just taken straight to the vets to be put to sleep, the amount of dogs that have died in police approved kennels waiting for an assessment is a disgrace, one who died from Parvo while in kennels, one who died in agony from a twisted gut that the kennels didn't pick up on, the list goes on and when they do get them back after being assessed someone of them are in awful states, one had lost all her fur through allergies even though the owners had taken her special food to the Police to pass on to the kennels, dogs who have lost so much weight its heart-breaking, dogs who come back fearful and not the happy dogs they were before being seized, but hey this is Mumsnet so many would not care its a big scary dog and should be killed anyway

I previously owned a bully and no we aren’t all like that. My bully was the lushest thing in the world. She was gorgeous and loved everyone. If someone didn’t like her I would not have become abusive. I would never have taken her to a school event.

Please don’t type cast people. Plenty of people own bulky breeds, treat them well and have gorgeous, loving dogs who wouldn’t hurt a fly. We aren’t all tossers.

What's the answer then? If you own a dog that is similar looking to an XL, you have to accept they might be mistaken for one. Perhaps don't buy a massive muscular meat head mutt? Or are you saying we should just lift the ban and let these freaks of nature continue to breed despite the obvious increase in dog related deaths each year?

Top tip: Full stops make posts easier to read.

No. You have to accept people don’t know any better. There is legislation in force now.
Here are extra full stops for you ………..

@Oldsu thank you for articulating that far better than I did.

‘It clearly wasn’t a bully’ - how do you know this clearly? Were you there? The op has said it was a bully type.

I was asking the previous poster what they expected to happen. I do apologise, I didn't realise you were their voice.

Can you post a photo of the dogs?

I think they were answering me. So think we are both guilty…. 😉

Ok, you've got me there 😂

A lot of schools in cities don't have their own sports fields but have a license to use areas in local parks. My children's primary did this. It's a hugely popular park for walking dogs and most are off the lead (which is allowed as long as they're under control), so there were always dogs milling about. And the school could have done nothing about it.

Us parents were invited to come along for a picnic beforehand and then watch the sports events. Many of us, including me, brought our dogs along. Ours was a small one and I usually let him wander around the edges for a bit (obviously keeping a close eye on him at all times - he had excellent recall and knew not to bother people who didn't invite him over for a stroke). As soon as people started getting food out I obviously kept him on a lead, and the same when watching the sports events (when taking part in mums' races I either handed the lead to a friend or tied it to a tree).

So I absolutely can believe that there was a dog at a school sports' day. It was obviously badly managed, but I have no doubt that it happened.

A dog at sports day? At a ballet class?

Completely unacceptable - I have never ever seen this.

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

Well, quite - and a Ridgeback doesn't look anything like a bully. I can't imagine how anyone could mistake one for the other.

@CellophaneFlower Many people had these dogs well before the ban was introduced, and yes its true the general public will mistake a similar looking dog for an xl like the OP obviously has, but its a different matter when the police also cannot tell, when they seize dogs who do not fit the descriptors put them to sleep without assessing them or take so long to assess them that dogs suffer and die in Kennels. To be honest DEFRA was told this would happen this is from the notes taken at the time of the meeting

We heard about the huge strain which will be placed on the police, courts customs, vets and rescue staff when the ban comes in. It will have a massive negative impact on all areas which are already under strain

This was also said.
Of great concern was the RSPCA stating they have pulled away from assisting government in defining breed criteria for the XL Bully, they state that the direction the government are taking will encompass many similar looking dogs of other breeds!

I’m a dog owner and I’m outraged on your behalf. My dog is an elderly rescue dog with health conditions which makes him vulnerable and I keep him on a lead permanently mainly for his own safety but also because he might snap at another dog and I can’t/won’t take that risk. I’ve also noticed the horrible entitlement of other owners, and we’ve had many near misses because of stupid and entitled owners. What I do though is report EVERYTHING and it works, because the authorities need evidence to act and the more people who report the better.
I would absolutely try and encourage others to do the same and in the play park situation approach other parents to support you if this happens again. We have a dog warden but also have enforcement officers who will patrol these areas and enforce the law. Because ultimately both the sports day and park incident are almost certainly against the law, especially if they were not under control but many areas also have a public protection order. I imagine that’s definitely the case with the play park. Ring the council and report. It does help, I promise!

to answer the OP's question "Are people insane"? Five minutes on twitter tells you that not only are they certifiable, but there are fucking legions of them.

People who own those kind of dogs usually don't give a flying who cares what about them. If they did have a drop of self awareness they wouldn't acquire the dog in the first place.

I hear a key opponent of the regulations on bully dogs has been mauled to death by her own bully dog recently.

Unfortunately this is the problem with media hysteria. People don't know what breed the dogs are but have decided it must be one of the types in the headlines because they think it looks a bit like it. That would not be the criteria used to determine a bull type or XL. For all we know they could be not remotely bully type dogs

Makes no difference. They're still in a kids playground. They shouldn't be.