AIBU to think muzzling all dogs in public needs to be mandatory?

[Peskylawnseed]

Five. I encountered five unmuzzled and unfriendly dogs on my morning walk today. Three on a flexi line. Two off lead. Not one under control.

It’s not hard to muzzle train a dog. Any adult who wants a dog should be able to do it. If you can’t, don’t get a dog! I am so sick of my dog being attacked, lunged at, snarled at, snapped at or growled at by other people’s uncontrolled dogs. And all whilst the owner stands there and either ineffectually says
’no, don’t do that, bad Rosie’ or just smiles indulgently and rubs their dogs back!! Owners who do that clearly have no idea they are reinforcing their dogs behaviour and I am so sick of my walks being ruined by these people.

Highlight of today was a woman with a bull terrier, which she knows isn’t friendly as I’ve seen it’s dozens of times now, lunging and snarling at mine whilst she just stroked its back and cuddled it. Words fail me. It’s not even about my dogs safety, it’s about her own dogs safety.

And it’s always the same dog breeds. Always.

I know any dog can be aggressive, but at least if you encounter a non friendly poodle chances are it’s on the lead or muzzled!!! I know it’s partly the owner because certain types of people are attracted to these sorts of dogs and 9.9/10 times they’re not equipped to deal with them. Or think beating the dog is how you train it. Or even think it’s funny.
But I am really coming to think all dogs should be muzzled in public because the few are endangering the many. It’s the easiest solution and the most easily enforceable.

That’s not what your thread is about, you said ALL dogs, not dangerous ones

I'd hazard a guess that the vast majority of dog attacks on humans take place at home so muzzling the dog whilst outside would make very little difference.

It’s a ridiculous idea. One of ours is the friendliest little dog in the world, he just wants to play with every other dog he ever sees. Muzzling him would be unnecessary cruelty. His mum can be a bit tricky with some other dogs so she’s always on lead and held away from any we meet until I see how she’s going to react. Muzzling her is also unnecessary. I personally hate seeing muzzled dogs.

I guess she means everyone except hers

Well yes. As the crux of that story appears to be "people leave nine-year-old child alone in a confined space with a 44 kg dog", I'm not sure muzzling dogs in public places is relevant.

No.

I know you probably don’t but if not please don’t let your dog try to play with all dogs without checking with the owner first. I see too many overly friendly dogs get growled or lunged at by nervous dogs because owners just let them do it :(
I agree with you though, muzzles are cruel and should only be used when other options have been tried and failed

Exactly, it’s always the owners fault. Children suffer and dogs suffer because of negligent adults.

It's not always the same breeds. Plenty of uncontrolled Labradors and I came across the friendliest Doberman the other day who just wanted to play with my dog. But I agree to an extent, it's not often you come across a well-balanced French bulldog for example.

But, as is always the case, it's their owners who are at fault when a dog is a pita or worse. I got chatting to a man yesterday who was happy to say hello to my dog. "You can smell my dogs," he said. I asked him what he had. Three dogs. Just adopted a 6-month pup from someone who knows who runs a rescue. Going to rehome it when a year old and "socialised". They all go to an elderly relative when he's at work. He works long hours. When he's not at work, he's with the kids. Worth noting here, he was sat on a bench, rolling a cigarette when the kids played in a play area. Wouldn't have known he had kids if he hadn't have said. Pretty clear that these poor dogs rarely get walked. And if/when they do, I could imagine they'd be a nightmare. Not that a muzzle would likely do anything but the poor things must be so frustrated because their needs aren't being met.
My solution is to allow domesticated dogs to die out. Too many people just can't be trusted with them.

could be a function of location?

had our little guy for 7 years, walked him everyday at least once, never had any issues fortunately, but also never encountered any of these bull breeds, poodle mixes, labs, spaniel, the odd visla round these parts

No stats on that so it would have to be a guess.

I'm not convinced someone would report a home dog attack to the police. They would expect what exactly ?

Muzzles and short leads in all public places.

Like hoverboards and e-scooters and other things which are antisocial, they should be carefully managed in shared spaces.

What is the need of muzzling dogs?

I agree.

Dogs are not humans. They may well see a ‘friendly dog who just wants to play’ as being harassed by a dog which doesn’t pick up other dogs’ signals and shows dominant behaviour - which to us looks like play.

No because some dogs are nervous and get worse when their mouth is restricted. Also what if your dog had a muzzle on and got attacked by another dog? It wouldn’t be able to defend itself. It would be a rule that only good people abided by and the bad people wouldn’t. Their dog would still be free to bite and our dogs would be vulnerable not being able to defend themselves and their owners. I’ve been approached by a stranger aggressively shouting at me while alone in the woods. He got too close and my dog scared him off thankfully. He wouldn’t have been able to do that while muzzled.

Of course all dogs should be muzzled when out in public.
They're animals, they aren't a fur baby or a member of your family. You can't communicate with them and they don't speak human. You can't train the animal out of them, you just come to a mutual agreement on living arrangements. Just because your dog hasn't bit anyone yet does not negate the fact that all dogs are hunters and will do what they want, when they want and you saying NO in a stern voice won't matter a jot.

Say you know nothing about dogs without saying you know nothing about dogs 🙄

A well trained dog will absolutely stop if their owner says no. Dogs are pack animals and a well trained dog is submissive to their owner who is pack leader.
dogs who bite are either not trained or are threatened.

Where are you finding all of these unfriendly dogs? Rarely happens to us.

🤣 such ignorance!

Her dog is likely badly trained and jumps at other dogs making them threatened. She probably thinks it’s cute.

No they do not need to all be muzzled
I have two reactive who are always on the lead unless in their privately booked dog park
I’m more than Capable of keeping my dogs under control

Jesus! Muzzling is not cruel. Done properly it’s a good aid to have for situations that might be difficult. So dogs that like to eat things they shouldn’t or dogs that are reactive to others (because although they might be on a lead some other friendly little dogs want to play with every dog they see!) It doesn’t mean that the owners are too lazy to train them either, it usually means that the owners are trying to be responsible under circumstances that are not ideal, where damage done at an early age can’t be trained out and muzzling can be a useful tool to keep everyone safe.

And no, of course not all dogs should be muzzled, that’s ridiculous.

You definitely don't need to muzzle retrievers; they are purpose-built with flaps of skin inside their mouths so as not to damage the ducks whilst hunting.

This is never going to be a discussion, it's always going to be dog-haters saying that nobody should have dogs and all dogs should be restrained at all times and dog lovers saying 'Not All Dogs' and it's just divisive and, basically, an argument.

For the record, my dog is an absolute sod and is kept away from other dogs on principle. But I live in the middle of nowhere and rarely see others, so she'd never be muzzled, as it's not 'public'. Love her to bits but she's not really a 'pet'.

But my point is that this is just a written argument because it's too much of an 'us and them' for proper control of dogs ever to be discussed without heat.