AIBU to think dog owners should actually be responsible for their dogs in public spaces?

[Dilemma87]

I’ve had a couple of situations recently that have really annoyed me.

First one I was out running along the beach and a dog coming in the opposite direction suddenly ran straight at me and jumped up. I had to shout several times to find the owner, who was on the other side of a wall and couldn’t even see their dog.

Then today in an estuary car park, two dogs came flying towards me. I shouted to the owner that I’m scared of dogs and asked him to call them back. His response was to tell me to “go to therapy” because there are “plenty of dogs around.”

I don’t have an issue with dogs being in these places at all. Plenty of owners have them on leads or keep them close and under control.

But surely if your dog is going to run up to strangers, jump up, or not respond to recall, it should be on a lead?

AIBU to think that’s just basic responsibility as a dog owner

This has to be a joke? I don’t give a shiny shit if a dog is friendly or not, I have 3 labradors and they either sit and wait or lie down on command if we see other dogs or people in the vicinity to get leads on if they’re off leash. Train your dog! Not everyone wants to have a dog approach them. If they don’t have perfect recall keep them on a lead.

Because clearly some dog owners don’t feel that way.

Today for example when I asked him to recall his dogs and told me to go therapy

My Labs are exactly the same and a pleasure to walk. I love the breed and part of the reason is exactly because they are easy to train. A lot of people seem to choose breeds based on aesthetics with no particular thought about temperament or trainability. Mine are all trained very early on and are worked every day.

The problem is that when you start flapping around, wailing and getting hysterical you draw the dogs attention to yourself even more. So yes, dog owners are responsible but you are also responsible for not creating an enormous scene and making the dog even more interested in you. You’ve described shouting to people, which is guaranteed to attract the dog even more. Don’t make eye contact and ignore the dog if you’re frightened of them, but attracting the dogs attention by shouting and getting yourself in flap is not going to do you any favours or lose the dogs attention.

Your dog wouldn't come across as friendly by running up to my autistic son's who are scared of dogs

I agree and it's especially annoying when owners say he is just being friendly and he won't hurt anyone
I don't want a dog to jump up and get their muddy paws on me.
A dog jumping up on my grandson knocking him over when he was a toddler made him scared of dogs for years.

When we're out our dogs are always on leads. No one knows how a dog will react to its surroundings, not 100% so it's leads every time.

Well he’s kind of got a point though hasn’t he? You live in a world where you are going to encounter dogs all the time so it’s in your own interests to address your own fears because not every encounter will go the way you want to. Sometimes dogs escape and there won’t be an owner to call
out to, then what? If you deal with your own underlying fears, things like this have far less impact on you and become less significant. Or you can spend the rest of your life consumed by fear in a world where you’re never going to be able to avoid every single contact with a dog.

It’s normally doodles I see careering towards me with the owner hot in pursuit shouting “he/she’s friendly”. It drives me mad especially since my boys are sat patiently waiting to be told to go ahead, their attention is on me so they ignore other dogs completely, their ball or dehydrated liver is their life 🤣. I don’t understand people who get dogs and don’t put the work in training them. I’ve had labs all my life, their the 15th,16th and 17th labs we’ve had, I love them to bits 🥰

Well you’re a dick. We don’t have to stay in because you can’t control your mutt.

I could equally say don't take your dog to places where there will people! Why is your dog's right to run up to strangers more important than human beings right to enjoy the open air?
Unless you are talking about a dog course you are being extremely selfish.
You might think you your dog is being friendly but to a small child or someone with a dog phobia it looks aggressive
You should train your dog not to approach people.

I'm stunned at the amount of altercations people on here seem to have with dogs wherever they go.

I have a dog. We go to the park every day. He doesn't bother anyone and if I think he will, I put him on a lead. Eg I'll put him on a lead if I see a pushchair because he's nosey and i don't want him nosing in the pram. Or if another dog is on a lead I put him on a lead. If other dogs are walking round off lead the majority are just having a sniff. They'll play together where there are other dogs and owners throwing a ball etc. But in 40 years or so of dog ownership I seem to have had fewer altercations than some posters who go anywhere near other dogs. If what I read on here is to be believed, some people don't seem to be able to leave the house without being accosted by a dog in a park or barked at in a cafe. Where are all these dogs when I go out every single day?
Yes people should be responsible. Of course they should. No one wants a dog in their face. But I just don't see all these out of control dogs everywhere i go

YANBU. I'm getting increasing angry with irresponsible dog owners. It's getting worse. I walk on our local canal a few times per day on my "commute" to work around a mile from home. Nearly every sodding day I either nearly get tripped up by one of those stupid long leads when the owner is day dreaming or playing with their phone or busy chatting to their partner/friend etc. Or a dog will come bounding up with muddy paws and jump up at me leaving mud stains/marks on my works clothes. Even worse are the idiots who throw balls into the canal for the dog to jump in to fetch who then climb out and shake water all over whichever poor sod happens to be walking by at the time.

Put the bloody thing on a lead and keep control of it - it's not rocket science.

If you want to let it run wild, find an empty field or the beach etc. not where there are lots of people going about their business who are entitled to do so unmolested by your out of control dog!

The dog was already running at me at this point and the owner was on the other side of the wall so could not see me or the dog. So not what you recommend at that point.

A couple behind me also thought he was going to bite me

The usual responses from @didntlikeanyofthesuggestions and @UncannyFanny.

People who don’t like/are frightened of/allergic to dogs should, in your opinion, not go anywhere where there are dogs. Which is now pretty much everywhere. So cafes, shops, parks, the beach, should be exclusively for dog owners?

Anyone who prefers not to have dogs jumping around them, is not responsible when that happens. Children, in particular, are going to wail if a dog jumps at them. The responsibility lies squarely and wholly with the dog owner. If as a dog owner, you want your dog to be off lead, you should take it to an area designated for dogs off lead.

See this always interests me. Children are not born with automatic fear of dogs. Even autistic children. So I would be wondering who started flapping around in front of them when they were small and encouraged them to be scared of dogs? My niece for example used to have a melt down if she saw a fly. Nobody considered that my mother running round the house like a lunatic frantically waving her tea towel around every time a fly came in might be connected with that extreme reaction to a fly. It was learned behaviour. Years ago an old neighbours mother used to practically throw herself under the traffic if she saw a dog. Her daughter also used to run across the road with the kid in the pram if she saw a dog. And guess what happens now if the toddler sees a dog? They’ve both passed their own neuroses down to the children - who didn’t even know what a dog was until mummy and nanny started flipping out every time they saw one!

Yes, they should be, but some aren’t. 🙄

Ah yes, victim blaming, nice.

You are quite the peach

He could have easily re called them instead of letting them carry on and jump on me.

Not sure how taking the risk of unknown dog coming at me is going to take away the risk, as it seems to be untrained: out of control ones doing so. My fear is dogs that appear out of control

Dogs like yours are what caused my (still very well behaved and well mannered) German Shepherd to become incredibly on edge and guardy around his family and approaching strange off lead dogs.

When a dog is mobbed by a "friendly" dog and consequently bitten because he is too under voice control to use his own teeth when told "leave it", they tend to begin having strong reactions to dogs approaching their owner and children.

If your sog approached mine it would still be safe - but only because I would be the one intercepting it and placing it on the handy slip lead I carry for exactly this purpose.

My dog is now muzzled on walks - because it protects him from owners like you

Do people really have to put up with dogs jumping at them? It’s not about needing therapy, it’s just understanding that not everyone wants other people’s ‘fur babies’ jumping up at them. 🤷‍♀️

No he doesn't have a point. OP has said she isn't scared of dogs that are controlled she just doesn't like them approaching her which is reasonable.
If dog owners can't control their digs they should walk them somewhere without people or at a time there are no people around. The rights of people trump the rights of dogs to approach everyone they see.

My fear of dogs was because I was attacked by one in my pushchair. I’m not scared anymore but it took me years.

Saying ‘oh he’s just being friendly’ is the battle cry of awful dog owners everywhere!