I’m so tired of people with dangerous dogs ruining the park for everyone else.

[Purplehat123]

I’m so tired of people with dangerous dogs ruining the park for everyone else.

Every time I take my children and our small cavapoo to the park, there’s always someone with an intimidating dog off the lead. Yesterday it was a man with a huge German Shepherd (and I mean huge), a bully breed on a lead, and an Akita off the lead just wandering around.

This is a busy, very suburban park, full of families and young children. And there I am, trying to scoop up my two toddlers, push the pram with the baby, grab the dog, and move away as fast as possible because I am not taking the risk of one of those dogs attacking. And let’s be honest, if something did happen, I’d have to sacrifice my dog to protect my children.

Even the two dogs that were technically on a lead, if they decided to go for another dog or child, there’s no way he could have held them back. They were enormous, powerful breeds.

And don’t get me started on the Akita. It was off-lead, trotting around freely as if that’s totally normal. Akitas were originally bred to guard property and hunt large game, including bears. They are strong, territorial, and known for being aggressive toward other dogs. They can be incredibly unpredictable and are not the type of breed you let wander freely in a public park full of children and pets.

Today it was a woman with a giant Rottweiler off-lead, paying absolutely no attention while she scrolled on her phone. Again, no control, no awareness. Rottweilers were originally bred to drive cattle and guard livestock, and they are incredibly strong, protective dogs. They have a natural guarding instinct, which can easily turn dangerous when not properly controlled. It’s no coincidence that they feature in so many fatal dog attacks, especially involving children. The number of child deaths caused by Rottweilers is horrifying and well-documented. It doesn’t matter how sweet you think your dog is at home but when a dog like that turns, it’s too late to stop it.

Far too many times my own dog, who is a total wimp and literally gets bullied by a chihuahua, has been attacked by dogs whose owners claim, “Oh, they never normally do that.” It’s always after the fact, once the damage is done.

And honestly, it’s the complete lack of awareness that really gets me. You might think your dog is friendly, but when you’re letting it freely wander up to children and other dogs, especially massive, powerful breeds, it’s terrifying. It might not scare you, but to everyone else, it’s incredibly intimidating.

I love dogs. I grew up with them. But this constant anxiety when I take my children out is exhausting. I shouldn’t have to be on high alert every time we go to the park because someone refuses to take basic responsibility for an animal that could cause serious harm.

I’m so tired of people with dangerous dogs ruining the park for everyone else.

Your title is misleading. What it should say is you're so tired of people with LARGE dogs ruining the park for YOU.

The law is crystal clear. It is an offence to have a dog "dangerously out of control" in a public place. Such behaviour - irrespective of breed or size of dog - should be reported to the police immediately.

However, what you can't do is take issue with various dogs in the park just because they're large breeds of dog and you find their size intimidating. For all you know, the Rottweiler, the German Shepherd Dog and the Akita could all have attended puppy socialisation and obedience classes. All the Working breeds are extremely bright and excel at obedience training including GSDs and Rottweilers. A friend of mine had an advanced obedience trained male Rottweiler who was a registered Pets As Therapy (PAT) dog. He was licensed to visit the sick and elderly and passed his temperament testing with flying colours. He was also massive weighing in at 11 stones. He was the very definition of a gentle giant.

Instead of focusing on your fears of what might happen - or what the dog was originally bred for many, many moons ago - you should instead focus on reading the other dog's body language The fact is not one of the large breeds you mentioned was actually behaving in an aggressive or intimidating way; even the onlead XL Bully was behaving itself.

The size of the dog doesnt matter. I actually find smaller dogs are usually more aggressive. My cousins rottweiler got attacked by two small dogs while he tried to run away with them hanging off him.

YANBU. Although the amount of smaller dogs that run up to my German Shepherd and start sniffing around her is ridiculous. They either dont listen to their owners or I get the "Don't worry, he's friendly." Because I'm aware of how powerful my dog is, she has been trained to the max. She ignores other dogs and goes to "middle" which is between my legs. Her recall is amazing and she never approaches other dogs or people unless told. Owners of large dogs need to take more responsibility for their dogs behaviour.

There needs to be a MAJOR crack down on dogs and dog owners. I will keep saying it until something actually happens. How many more people need to die or have their lives ruined by bad dogs and stupid inconsiderate dog owners until the government will acknowledge there is a problem and actually do something to rectify it.

My favourite dog in our park is a rottweiler golden retriever cross. He's huge, slobbers like a rottweiler, and walks like a goldie. He bounds across the grass as happy as anything. He makes my day when I see him. I've got a cockapoo and from being a puppy I've made him play with big dogs, stops them being scared. I used to chuck him in the dog pen and he'd play with whoever was in there. One of our doggy friends was a huge mastiff/bull breed cross, he was as soft as anything. We've not seen them since the XL ban came in as he meets the size restrictions so has to be muzzled and on a lead. I miss him, he was such a lovely boy.

The dogs who are the subject of this post did nothing wrong. Literally on a lead and out for a stroll. What are we cracking down on? Dogs the op doesn’t like the look of?

I’m baffled by the number of people saying that what OP experienced is totally fine. It’s not! We live in a small town surrounded by countryside and forests. Weekly local Facebook and Nextdoor posts from people who’ve been attacked, or had their dog, or horse, attacked by large off lead dogs.

Yes I totally accept it’s the owner and the training but how on earth do you know how the dog has been brought up, if you first encounter it running towards your toddler?

I took my 3 yr old for a walk to a local beauty spot today but we didn’t spend a lot of time in the end because of all the dog walkers. One man had 7 off lead dogs, mixture of large and small. DS isn’t scared of dogs per se but it was a constant onslaught and he ended up refusing to walk because of ~20% of them jumping up at him.

I wouldn’t go back and it’s a shame but what can anyone do 🤷🏻‍♀️

Dangerous dogs need to be banned full stop. No ifs, no buts. Destroy them. If people continue to have them, arrest them, send them to jail and destroy their dogs. Treat dogs like guns.

I refer my learned friend to the owners of the very sweet dachshunds without a thought that they were dred to flush unwilling badgers out of their sets. I can't say that I would want to dig into a badger set to get a badger out that didn't want to leave.

I second this. Over the last 30 + years, I've kept a GSD, 3 Border Collies, 1 Black Labrador and 2 BC X Labs, none of them dog-aggressive. I read the body language of any dog approaching my dogs and almost invariably it's been the smaller dogs that have been hell bent on starting trouble with their unprovoked barking and snapping. They're always accompanied by owners who either find their dog's behaviour amusing or do precisely nothing to discourage the behaviour. And these owners have always looked shocked - as indeed have their dogs - when I've swiftly intervened with a harsh tone of voice and exaggerated arm movements and sent their dog running back to them. It's probably the only time these dogs have ever been told off!
Edited for typo.

Are you for real?!

You think wariness of Akitas is 'wild'?!!

Being a dog lover doesn't mean dispelling reality.

surprise, surprise OP hasn't come back..drop the thread and run, waiting for all the haters to appear...and they did..

Rottie owner here… also interested in these statistics that they often kill children ? Please post a link 🙄
What an absolutely pointless thread bashing people who make different choices to you .

And the bait was simply, I saw 3 big dogs today.

I would too. Please put me down on your list. No bloody way I’d just stand there like an idiot letting it bite me.

We are starting to see a large increase of emotional support dogs where I work. Any breed seems to go with regards to this. The best behaved of all of them is a rottie, by far the worst is a poodle, that has shit twice and shown aggression on a number of occasions although hasn't actually bitten anyone yet.

That’s terrifying that they were off the lead, though smaller dogs can bite too.
Dogs should be on a lead in public places. If you need to let them off, book a private dog park for an hour.

Bigger off lead dogs do terrify people though even if they are perfectly well trained. How does a person actually know that?

I was on a public right of way once when a huge Dalmatian came running up barking and snarling. It was truly frightening.

The problem is that it’s Notbthe OP’s experience.
Its all well and good to say that she can’t possibly know if the dog is dangerous just looking at it, but the reality is that her dig has been attacked many times by a dog ‘who normally doesn’t react like this’.
How can anyone then ask her to blindly trust any dog coming forward rather than take steps before hand just in case?

Because yes tge dug migut be liveky and some are, as described in this thread.
Bit some aren’t. Abd tgey aren’t wearing a big sign aroubd their neck saying so.

So how are you suppose to know if you’re supposed to be relaxed or very careful?
The OP is choosing the very careful way. Which isn’t unreasonnable as she is also dealing with a baby agd toddler. Aka she has her hands full already!
If she was to chose ‘to be relaxed’ and ‘not so fearful’, and one if those drugs attack, what would you say then? ‘Oh it’s such a shame. It’s the fault of the owner. Don’t assume all dogs and owners are like this. But what a shame for your dog’….

Well….
If your dog is well behaved, has clearly a good recall, you’re looking at it rather than scrolling in your phone, and is close to you, I wouldn’t have an issue regardiess of the breed.
Id be happy to acknowledge I’m more frightened of some breed or the size if tge dog, and I wouldn’t have an avoid it but I wouldn’t put it all down to the breed.

The problem, as you well know, is that some owners don’t train their dog, don’t look at them whilst out and about, dogs have no recall and the owners would be very happy to let said dog running towards you, barking. That’s not ok by any means. And yes I would say that the breed then makes it worse. For the simple reason that those dogs have a strength than other dogs don’t have.
In that case? Yes the breed is a huge part of how i would react. And I would judge away.

I am constantly amazed by the wilful arrogance of some dog owners.

The fact is, some dogs are dangerous.

People have a right to use a park in peace without having to wonder if today's the day.

By far the biggest risk are the owners and not the dogs. If I see dogs out off lead I look at the owner to see how they are. The worst dog owners are the ones that have no understanding of dogs..and sorry OP but that's you. You assume bad intentions and poor owners because of the size of the dog. That's very wrong and judgemental. Watch a few you tube videos on dog psyche and then be able to judge which dogs are actually a threat rather than just looking at their size.

I'm hugely wary of other dogs after one of mine was badly attacked and needed 6 weeks of vet treatment afterwards. We had to work with a behaviourist and it took months of hard work to be able to walk again and him to be relaxed. There are now a huge amount of dogs in the village post lockdown, and several owners who need intervention. There's a reactive springer we avoid, a rhodesian ridgeback, a boxer and a staffy/xl bully cross. Not one of their owners has ANY control over them, and I'm permanently on watch to make sure they're not running over a field towards us. Sadly we don't have a dog warden covering the area so any reports have to go via the Police who just send a PCSO out and no one joins the dots up that these dogs are reported time and time again.

This. I'm an owner of a large reactive dog whom cannot be trusted. I've no bias.

The breeds you mention, I have never witnessed any aggression in whatsoever.

Ok I am sorry, I am an idiot 🤦‍♀️ I did already know number 6, it was number 8 that surprised me 😂

I would say it was a typo but it wasn’t. Just me being absent minded 😂