Sick of ‘little dog’ owners.

[Ratdoghater]

Every damn walk! Every sodding walk without bloody fail a little dog attacks or lunges or snarls or chases aggressively my large (retriever) dogs.

I am sick of it. Today’s dog was a cockerpoo. Yesterday it was a JRT. Day before it was a chihuahua.

Every fucking time the useless piece of crap owners say ‘he’s just playing.’ Newsflash, if your dog is snarling, lunging at my dogs, curling their lips or jumping up and snapping it is NOT playing. If my dog is backing away, my dog is not happy. If my dog is screaming, it is not happy

Big dog owners also often suck, but at least they have the decency to say sorry and put their dog on a leash. Or often leash their dogs before we meet. Little dog owners just laugh…and say ‘well he’s little so he won’t do any damage’ and then once I’m past let their dog go again - which 9/10 times means their dog chases mine!!! Honestly, do they not understand that being attacked for most dogs, when it happens near constantly, does affect their confidence and is a prime reason why so many dog do suddenly snap and turn aggressive?? Its basic common sense.

I know this thread will make no difference - little dog owners will continue to be entitled and incompetent. And little dog owners will pop onto this thread and say ‘my dogs not aggressive.’ Great. BUT disproportionately little dogs are the main instigator in most dog fights or dog on dog attacks I’ve seen.

Your dog chewed through a harness in a matter of minutes?

I love dogs but there are just too many shit owners now.

There are so many terrible things going on in the world and you choose to get your undies in a twist over this?
A sense of perspective is needed here I think.

Using this logic would make MNs redundant!

But my argument is that big dog owners tend to be more responsible - they don't have aggressive dogs off the lead. Poorly trained, maybe. But rarely aggressive.

Whereas little dog owners seem to think that, even though their dog is aggressive, because it's little it's okay. And it's not.

one of my biggest peeves on a dog walk is people who can’t control their dog, even more so when they yell ‘its ok, he’s friendly’. 🙄
One of mine isn’t friendly - which is why he’s on a lead and under control. He doesn’t need a dog barrelling up to him and I don’t want my dog to be stressed and react because of that.
I do wonder if owners of small dogs think people won’t mind them approaching because they’re small and fluffy.🤷🏼‍♀️
I do find owners of larger dogs I’ve met tend to put them on a lead, but I’ve had all sizes approach me and my dogs and I now warn the owners that my dog isn’t friendly and ask them to put them on a lead. Just annoying, regardless of size of dog.

My little dog is absolutely aggressive, especially toward larger dogs. It mostly stems from fear of getting hurt (he has arthritis) but it’s still not allowable. We are working on minimising his reactions, but in the meantime, he’s on a lead, close to me, and I always apologise. He’s not near enough to bite, but his bark must be scary for other dogs. OP, YANBU.

Dog owners who let their dogs near my pram piss me right off. I have a stacked double buggy, and the amount of times a dog has tried to shove their nose into the bottom bunk. First thing the owner says: "Ooh I didn't see you had another one down there!". No, how about you keep your damn dog totally away from my babies?

Does it? Every time you go out?

Decent dog owners hate bad ones as much as the next person but lying and exaggerating about incidents is pointless. I walk my dog 3 times a day. Possibly approached by an off lead dog once a month and I may see a discarded dog poo once a fortnight. Its once a fortnight too many but it’s not EVERYWHERE. The exaggerations dilute the points being made and make it hard to sympathise with the poster.

I have a little dog who is walked daily. She doesn't bark (let alone 'yap'), she walks beside me, she doesn't take a second glance at any other dogs, I pick up all of her poo. My previous dogs were also small, very well behaved dogs. They were set upon by a Retriever and Alsatian who were being walked by their owner, one nearly died and both needed extensive vet care for the rest of their lives due to the trauma. So I would say not all small dogs, but rather clueless dog owners.

I have a terrier and I haven't noticed any patterns with the type of dogs that cause us problems. The problem is the ignorant owners.

Lack of training and the opinion of the owners that it's cute/adorable etc etc

Same as allowing them to jump up on people.

We have a small dog who is on the lead always. Always.

I fear it both ways - big dogs off leash attacking (has happened) and small dogs attacking (happened too).

Just really poor dog owners who always have a lame excuse - he just wants to play, he’s just excited, he is really friendly etc.

And I have in the entire time I have owned a dog (but had multiple large dogs growing up) never know (except one exceptionally trained dog) to have good recall.

Tired of those owners who are constantly calling their dogs to come and they NEVER do.

It's not the dogs size / breed it's the owners who don't put any effort in and leave the consequences of their dogs behaviour for others to manage
I have a rescue lurcher, who is leash reactive. She is getting better but progress regularly takes several steps backwards because off lead dogs approach her aggressively / full on . She has been attacked a few times by a local gormless dalmatian even though she's put it on its back everytime. The owner now avoids us thankfully, because I told her next time I was letting go of the lead and would not be preventing her from fully defending herself again. My dog has clearly had to fight in the past and she's good at it. That dalmatian has cost us £100's more in training than it should have done to get to the point where we can walk passed most dogs calmly with a little encouragement.
She was probably worked by the low life that had her before us, so there is always the chance that your sweet fluffy little darling who only wants to play will trigger the prey drive that she was bred for. Thats why shes on the lead for crying out loud. Although I'm less worried about that since she watched 2 bunnies darting accross the field she was off lead in and only wagged ger tail. Probably the reason she was dumped.
So yeah, it's not the dogs whatever the size, it's lazy feckless owners,.

I can see that! My MIL lets her weird little cockapoo off the lead even though he’s got shite recall and runs up to people, it really annoys me.

Wonder if we can have one thread where people don’t completely exaggerate about muddy paws, being tripped and pavements flooded with shit. Oh, too late
Indeed. Do small.dogs also attack without reason small dogs?

I have a small dog and she doesn't get attacked by small or larger dogs. They either ignore each other, have a quick gentle sniff or play happily together. Other owners seem very relaxed about it all.

Our two local golf courses are commonly used by dog walkers later in the evenings. In a 5 years' period of daily walks, I haven't once come across dog poo in the course.

I have had a few dogs jumping on me. That's when I stop to talk to the owners, never randomly. It's always young dogs still in training and the owners are always apologetic.

I am so happy I live where I am. Nowhere posh by any definition, but clearly much more civilised than all the unhappy posters here!

Touchy

Just bored of liars.

I’m sick of irresponsible dog owners. I don’t care what size their dog is.
Those who don’t pick up, allow their dog to fly at mine, let their bloody extension lead get wrapped round my old girl, let their dogs jump up or worry livestock.

Yes, it was an anti pull harness design with some cord attachments which we'd been using perfectly fine for several years. He'd never made any attempt to escape a harness before, it fitted well, was appropriate for his weight and he walked well to heel using it. The family with the dogs were standing there letting them jump on him and bark in his face for several minutes whilst we were pinned against a wall. My dog was understandably jumping and struggling a lot trying to get away. He bit through enough of the cord part to snap and for him to slip the harness. In hindsight I should have shouted at the idiots sooner and kicked their dogs away after the man stood there like an idiot when I politely asked him to control his dogs. I was shocked people could be that stupid and irresponsible.

I was sick of being embarrassed by my MIL's dogs, thankfully partner doesn't live with her anymore so we aren't guilted into taking them for walks when i visit him. JRT's, (were 3 but one has passed since moving) and one in particular was really reactive to other dogs. She'd lunge, bark, etc, I'd have to shorten her lead to the point her front legs were barely touching the floor and stand between her and other dogs, i was forever apologising to other dog owners and just wanted to scream "It's not my dog! I'd have trained it better if it was!" She was a pain in all aspects on walks, would either refuse to walk or pull like mad, several times i ended up having to pick her up and carry her back.
TBH i'm glad i never have to be around either of the 2 left again, they were super badly trained in general, toileting in the house even when you tried to get them to go out, they'd refuse. I stopped staying over when his mum was away as they would keep me up all night playing the stupid olympics, on and off the bed, wanting to be let downstairs, then wanting back in because they didn't want to be on their own. Over and over as they wanted to be downstairs, but with me down there with them. When they did settle on the bed they'd crowd you and insist on laying against you which i hated, one would insist on getting under the covers etc. If you kicked them out of the room they'd scratch and cry at the door, which wound up my ASD partner who expected me to be the one being the human yo-yo sorting them out as he has to be on heavy meds to sleep.

I do not ever want to live with a dog again, ever!

You obviously don’t like small dogs, but I think it’s a generalisation. More an issue of owners of any dogs not having control of their dogs . As a small dog owner ( did think they would get a bit bigger!) I get fed up of medium and big dog owners who let their “playful/ wants to play/ loved all dogs” dog terrorise my dog , rolling her over practically and batting her about. They have no control and don’t react to me keeping mine close by out of the way. They don’t make any attempt to gather them despite them clearly being too rough. She’s got her big dog friends - Greek mountain dog, a GS mix but they don’t behave like that and time it down for her size. If I see a big bouncy dog heading our way i make sure my dogs is on the lead. That is very rarely returned.
All about the owners so let’s not demonise all small dogs and their owners.

I feel so sorry for all those dog owners in the UK for whom leaving their door with their dog is so regularly such a source of stress an anger. Let alone for the non dog owners and those who don't like dogs.

For me, it's just a source of great pleasure and relaxation. It's an opportunity to socialise kindly with new owners and indeed meet new people. One is a childless widow in her mid 70s who loves a nice chatter in the park during the day. Her conversation is very pleasant and it's a nice breakfast my stressful work day. Her little dog is quite a character. He barks at bigger dogs, but bigger dogs find him funny. He's never attacked any of them. Owners fin it funny to see this adorable cuddly thing thinking he's a lion! We all laugh! It's great to laugh with strangers, it gets the endorphins going!

my mum has a deerhound lurcher. she's a big girl. she can be a bit overbearing at times, because she gets really excited and wants to meat everyone. but when we see other dogs, we shorten her lead and get her to settle down as they pass. some days she'll leap around on the spot with excitement, but we make sure she doesn't harass other dogs. yes, she just wants to play, but she's BIG and boisterous, and I can understand that could be overwhelming for most dogs.

we were out with her once, and a load of chihuahuas went for her. she hit the deck, while they were snarling and snapping at her, and their owner just ignored it. didn't even shorten their lead. we did say, "oh would you be so indifferent if she went for THEM like that?" he ignored us. unfortunately, there are some small dog owners that don't think their dog being aggressive is a problem because "they're only little"
she did end up with a few scrapes.

Very similarly I have a lovely big Lurcher, he is brilliant when out walking and very relaxed, he has zero interest in people or other dogs but will be nice if approached.

Little dogs often go absolutely mental barking at him, their owners pulling them away with looks to us like our dog is the problem, as he just stands there placidly watching the commotion. On one walk there was someone with a pack of chihuahuas, five or six, who all went absolutely batshit at my lovely big boy who didn’t react at all. The owner was trying to disentangle them all from each other as they went mental and was shouting at us to ‘keep that thing away’…. that thing? Loads of tiny snarly dogs causing chaos while my boy literally just stands there watching, not going anywhere near them and yet he is the problem?

I do agree with all posts that say there are a lot of problem dogs though, big and small. Its a problem that needs to be addressed but no idea how.

You have clearly been very fortunate. It is difficult not to feel stressed once your dog has needed urgent urgent veterinary treatment after being attacked. It does affect how you feel about going out for walks. Believe me, if your own dog is ever attacked and injured, you won't find your walks so relaxing or pleasurable any more. You do start to live in fear of it happening again.