To ask dog owners to keep there dogs away from my my children?

[SparklyPeachMama]

I don't dislike dogs what I dislike is dog owners who think there dogs are more important than my children. You dog might be friendly but I'm not willing to test your theory on my babies.
Your dog should never be closer to me/my family than it is you? If your dogs recall isn't good it shouldn't be off lead when other people are around!

YANBU

100%

Not sure how anyone can vote YABU for this as if your dog can't manage recall then they need to be on a lead in public!!

Anyone who disagrees with this shouldn't own dogs.

Oh good, another dog bashing thread.

As long as your child has a similar recall! Many a time, I have had to ask the parent to stop their child hurting my dog.

YANBU.

Most of the responsible owners will have their dogs under control and kept away from you anyway.

Unfortunately, those irresponsible owners a) won't care and b) will be incapable of getting their dog under control if you do want it away from you.

They are in a minority, but are giving all dog owners a bad name I don't like dogs, and now expect every dog encounter to be unpleasant. It's a self perpetuating circle.

No, just another irresponsible owners thread. There's a lot of them because there's a lot of feckless owners with ill-trained dogs ruining public spaces for everyone else including children and the sensible dog owners.

Use your voice to call out every time if you don't want a dog near you or your children.

Make sure though that you sing make your children feel scared of dogs in the process as that will ruin many days out where there will be lots of dogs.

My dog is never off the lead around other people.

However, because she is tiny and looks like a puppy I do have to suffer small kids running up wanting to cuddle her. She has never shown aggression to anyone, ever, but there is always a first time. And I have no idea how she would react if spooked. She is fully under my control at all times in public. But I suspect I would still be held responsible of a child ran over, spooked her and she reacted.

So in the same light I'd appreciate it if parents controlled their kids as much as they want dog owners to control their dogs...so how would you feel if I said that to you when your kids come running over to me?

I have a dog and completely agree with the OP. It needs repeating as poor dog ownership is an epidemic. The number of dogs has also vastly increased in the last few years.

There is also no enforcement of dogs needing to be under control at all times.

Children are not required to be kept on a lead on a public highway, dogs legally are.
but I would warn off children and speak to their parents if approached

If a dog's recall is good it doesn't matter if they get near you - they'll walk on by no problem. It's usually children who aren't trained properly - they'll stick their hands out to a dog they don't know or straight up start petting them when they walk by.I agree dogs should be trained to recall, but in my experience most are, or are worked on lead

I wish dog owners would stop dehumanising children. I’ve let my kids near anyone’s dogs but they have been jumped on by multiple dogs. Older now but I am so sick of irresponsible owners.

Never that should say.

Nah my dog is more important than your kid.

I don't know if things have changed post-Covid but when I had a dog I was pleasantly surprised by how sensible most children were - he was a small, sweet dog so attracted children wanting to pet him, and I would estimate 95% would politely ask if it was OK to stroke him, rather than just pitching in. He was always kept on a lead in public.

It is sensible and polite to put your dog on a lead if you can't avoid closely passing young children.

With so many poorly trained dogs and entitled owners about, it is also a visual reassurance to other people and sensible dog owners that your dog is under control.

I always avoid closely passing children with my dog (even though she is lovely with DC) and gives other dogs plenty of space.

It is very rare that we meet young children on walks, didn't see any yesterday, whereas we walked past about 20 other dogs. The young children approaching your dog argument seems daft to me. If that's happening, change where you walk. I live in a residential area with lots of families, walk my dog twice a day, and it has never happened to me.

I love dogs and foster rescue dogs and I agree that dogs with poor recall should not be off lead. Unfortunately lockdown lead to lots of people getting pups and not training or socialising them and just kind of expecting them to know how to behave. I've also found that if a person encounters a poor recall dog they tend to flap about and try and kick or hurt the dog and thus their children do the same.

I don’t have a dog anymore but when I did it was a small one capable of doing very little damage and never did. I wouldn’t stop a dog from having a run it needs just because a few people don’t like dogs.

Parents need to teach their children not to approach dogs, and how to say hello if they have the owner’s permission.

Pets are a part of normal family life in the UK and there is plenty of space for both dogs and children.

I think it’s a small proportion of owners that are morons but as there are so many dogs now it seems much more prevalent. My child is so frightened of dogs now because two cocker spaniels ran up and jumped all over her, knocking her down. They were then running over her as she tried to get up, sobbing. The owners - ‘ oh don’t worry they are friendly, they just love small children.’ It happened so fast I couldn’t get her away and I had her baby brother in the sling. Absolute twats. Or the people that let their dogs run up to us smiling, as if everyone wants to pet them. Nope. Yes it’s cute but get it away from us.

It depends. If a dog is in their garden or on their land, they have every right to be off a lead. If you are walking along the adjacent footpath, as long as the dog is under control, yabu. Also most decent owners will call their dog to heel if they see someone looking nervous.

In rural communities, working dogs are usually off the lead but totally in the owners control.

Of course, a dog should always be under control, and the owner aware but you don't own the local park. Dogs are allowed to run in open spaces. Use your common sense and if you are nervous choose your walks with care. It is a compromise.

Agree. Everytime we go for a walk in the woods, dogs come up to my children, often bigger than them, obviously scaring them. My toddler squealed when this happened the other day and the owner said well if you make a noise like that he will get excited… 🤔 And yes, I am a dog lover!

You are not being unreasonable but you’d be surprised how many parents don’t keep their children away from my dogs. I’ve lost count the times I'm minding my own business with them on leads and have random kids running up behind them screaming and flailing about attracting the dogs attention. In 10 years I think I’ve had one parent actually ask if their kid can approach them and touch them. Once I had a very large nervous dog I had to keep muzzled and was about to cross the road when some stupid woman was so busy gas bagging on her phone she didn’t even notice her kid had grabbed hold of the dog and was swinging from her neck until I shouted at her to get off the dog. Literally I had just pressed the button, looked up the road for cars about to cross and the kid appeared from nowhere hanging off the dogs neck. How to get your kids bloody bitten! Another woman I told THREE times to please stop touching the dog, she’s nervous. She still kept trying to pet her until I pulled her away and walked the other way. Sadly it very much goes both ways. It’s not always the dog owner who’s the problem.

A dog that will jump up or approach families, yes, but I don't think that dogs that are just walking along sniffing the grass need to be recalled when someone else comes along. I watch out so that if people look nervous or there's a dog on a lead who might be reactive, I ensure my dog moves further away, but if I had to make her swerve everyone we came across by some significant margin that would frankly be a very tedious walk for everyone.

Children also need to learn how to behave around dogs. Mine mostly ignores children completely so it's always awkward when they want to pet her and i have to encouarge her to come closer, but I am always pleased to see children who ask if they can or who approach her calmly and i always show them how to let her sniff them and how to stroke her a little.

I had to.stop taking her on the school run years ago. I would tie her up to a tree completely off the path to school as she sometimes got a bit barky if I am not nect to her. I'd be able to see her and be just a few meters away while I dropped dc inside the gate. The number of children who would just run up to her while their parents either didn't notice or smiled indulgent! If she had snapped at one I would have felt it was the child's fault but I certainly wasn't going to risk it so stopped taking her.

My dogs have never jumped on a child (or even approached a child) as I wouldn’t allow that but have had children try and man handle them plenty of times. I think it has to work both ways.

The thing is not everyone is like you. Most dog owners will be able to tell you about multiple occasions when people have let their kids run up to dogs and start pulling them about without asking. I’m sick of irresponsible parents who don’t tell their kids not to approach dogs they don’t know and start touching them without asking, then get pissed off at me when do it for them.