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.

YABVU.

The only time our dog is muzzled is if she's having her nails clipped at the vets, when she has threatened to nip out of fear. Tbf she shakes when she visits the vet so it is understandable. She's 13 and has never bitten a dog or human but its best not to take a chance at the vets. Its compromise.

Is your dog muzzeled though?

My greyhound was the same. It was the kennel cough vaccine that she hated. They ended up putting a fabric muzzle on her, which is horrid as it clamps their mouth shut.
They then took her out the room. I assume she was being restrained in a way that would have been distressing for me to see. So I opted for no more vaccine.

errrr no, I have the lushest most friendly spaniel and I would never muzzle her as there is no need. Some dogs/breeds then yes but don’t tar them all with the same brush

No. My dog quite literally doesn’t care about other dogs. He just goes about his business on his walks and enjoys himself. He will happily play if another dog is keen but he doesn’t need to be muzzled and he wouldn’t understand why he suddenly
is. The dogs who need to be muzzled should be, but not all dogs no that’s ridiculous

Ours is terrified of the vet following her emergency C section three years ago. The vet totally disapproves of muzzling so she’s sedated for every vet visit now. Better all round.

Explain to me how (or why) you would muzzle a pug. Or a Pomeranian.

Idiotic suggestion.

You can get muzzles for them, but they look absolutely ridiculous.

No. And where on earth are you walking? I walk miles and miles with my dogs, in various parts of the country. I can count on one hand the number of times we’ve encountered a “lunging and snarling” dog in more than 30 years.

Well maybe ( I feel I need to google it) - but why?? I never heard of anyone being mauled by a Pomeranian.

All dogs should be on leads in public spaces .. including beaches, parks, and the countryside.

YANBU. I got bitten when I was about 7 by this horrible little yappy thing (can’t remember the breed) so it’s not just the big breeds that should be muzzled.

This is MN.
Toddlers get bowled over like skittles by out of control dogs every time they leave the house.
Every single picnic has a marauding lab come and snaffle all their sandwiches.
The tiniest little pooch in a dog friendly café absolutely stinks up the place and sets off allergies.

My greyhound was attacked by a pug. Pug jumped up and tried to rip at her neck. Then tried her stomach. Whatever was in reach.
The owner was mortified and swiftly came and carried the pug away.

The way pugs are built, I doubt they would have caused any damage anyway. But the intent was there.

Chihuahuas are notorious for their bad attitude and can bite.

I can’t muzzle my bracephelic dogs (or they’ll die) so it’s a no from me.

If it became law, someone would design one that could be worn by brachycephalic dogs. Its unlikely to become law though, even though it could be an absolute money making scheme for local councils what with the proliferation of camera phones, I suppose it would need some sort of licensing scheme for that to work though.

It's french bulldogs near us, we've had a least 5 incidents in the last couple of months, one loose one even attacked my as I was walking without my dog! They are nasty little shits IMO, always lunging and snarling, one ran out of a gate last week across a road and threw itself at my (on lead) lurcher, they seem very ineffective in their attacks luckily, but my dog will not tolerate any sort of crap/aggressive/bolshy behaviour from other dogs so I had to hold him up in the air by his collar to stop him savaging it while trying to shoo it away with my foot to stop it biting. luckily the owner heard the commotion and came running out.

We get approached at least once a week by dogs like OP describes with idiot owners. I don't think dogs should be muzzled in public, but seeing as common sense isn't a thing anymore, dogs being out of control should be more of a punishable offence.

Well I had a very vicious hamster once but i doubt it would ever do much damage beyond drawing a few beads of blood from my finger.

A dog that is trying to attack another dog, no matter how ineffective the attack would be due to anatomy, is still a dog that needs controlling. It is still a dog that should have been on a lead. Still out of control and dangerous.

But it seems owners of small dogs that are reactive just laugh it off because their dog is small and they can just pick them up and carry them away.

Five unfriendly dogs would say your dog is the issue. Is it an intact male?

Kid’s are more likely to bite than my daughter’s teeny dog who adores everyone she meets. Sone kids can be little shits, the dog I know loves people. So following the OP’s ‘logic’ all children should be muzzled as potentially aggressive.

Or better controlled by their parents, which should be happening anyway.

Well this is a point? Small/ light dogs could still bite - but so can cats, for example.

I was mauled by a pom, it's waaaaaaay more common than you think according to the police. I nearly lost three digits, spent two weeks in ITU, and six months in specialist physio.

The dog already had a muzzle order on it but of course wasn't wearing it. The owner was a police officer who had left his dog tied up on a lampost next to a busy A road and when I walked past with a toddler in a pushchair it went for the toddlers face, managed to put my hand to protect the hand, but ended up in the state I did.

Agreed

It shouldn't matter if it is an intact male! If dogs are known to attack intact males, they need to be on a lead. Talk about victim blaming!

I have an intact male. Current guidance is to not castrate certain breeds unless it's medically needed, so there are lots of intact males everywhere now. I have never had a problem. He gets on well with other intact males, and there is a mutual respect there. He never tries to dominate and actively avoids conflict. If he clocks another dog that looks 'iffy' he will slow down to a walk and give them a wide berth. He never gets targeted by other dogs.