Dreading schools going back because of one women

[honeyrosesandwich]

AIBU to anonymously email the school when the schools go back about this women.

My DS's school has 2 entrances, 1 is on the main road so it's usually used by people driving to school, the other's at the back of the school, both used equal amounts. From my house, I'd need to walk past entrance 2 to get entrance 1 a further 5 mins away. So I've always used entrance 2. Used to be a 3rd entrance but they shut it due to it getting slipper when wet.

Last year, a women on my route to school started bringing her 2 big dogs with her every morning and every afternoon. One of them sometimes wears a muzzle. She lets her DD in reception hold the lead or has them off the lead.

Now unfortunately no matter what time I leave she seems to be on the same route either just behind or just ahead. Which means I have to watch her dogs pooping every morning in front of me when I've not even had my breakfast and it makes my stomach queasy.

Now the main issue is entrance 2 is down a very narrow alleyway and she ties her dogs up on a lamppost halfway down it and over 200 children every morning and afternoon have to literally walk into her dogs to get in and out the school. I am not sure how friendly they are but it seems like its only a matter of time before this goes wrong. When she unties them she then proceeds to just let them off the lead or her dd mess around walking with the leads. AIBU to not think its appropriate to just leave ur dogs off the lead when theres hundreds of young children about, lots of noise etc.

I'm just fed up having to walk into these dogs and get harassed by them just to get my DS into school. She also walks them in hot weather which, i've never owned dogs, but I don't think you're supposed to do.

Would I be unreasonable to complain to the school and see if they can put out a message asking people not to bring their dogs every bloody day

Have you spoken to her?

The OP says she has to walk past this entrance to use the other one.
Why not contact both the school and the local dog warden?

What is the school going to be able to do? They are not on school property.

If it's on school grounds - school and dog warden. If off - just the dog warden. Really it's the warden you want though, as even if it's on school grounds, if they tell her not to she'll just tie them up outside the school grounds, and you'll have the same issue.

The woman is inconsiderate yes but in your position personally I would leave 5 mins earlier. Hopefully it means you are through the alley before the dogs are even around and if not I have time to walk to the other entrance. To me it is not worth the fight and the impact on my own levels of stress when I can so easily avoid the whole thing.

Another Mum taking her dogs with her on the school run and her dog sniffing you is not harassment..

Our kids school definitely would send out emails to remind parents that dogs need to be kept away from the entrances.
I wouldn’t like it either OP. One of my DC was bitten by a dog at an event. It was totally unexpected and unprovoked. Many children have anxiety around dogs, friendly ones too. I’d send an email.

No dog should be off the lead outside the school, email the head and explain your concerns, and they can have a quiet word with the parent. It is not acceptable and could be dangerous. I am a dog lover by the way.

You want school to do something about a woman who walks her dogs to school but doesn’t let them on school property, just stands near the gate with them because you don’t want to walk past them? What do you think school can do about this exactly? The answer is nothing.

Agreed. It doesn't sound like the dogs have ever done anything other than stand around and sniff at people? You may not like dogs, which is fair enough, and she may not be the most considerate if it is a narrow alleyway, but I'm not sure what you want the school to do tbh.

Ugh this sounds awful! And as usual you have the die hard dog lovers on here who will say you’re being unreasonable.

The problem is, these kind of dog owners really don’t see anything they do with their dog as intrusive or inappropriate.

It drives me mad.

I love my dog, but I would never have her off lead near a school, or force people to be really close to her by tying her up in a busy alley way.

I don’t know what to suggest as a solution but you’re definitely not being unreasonable!!!

Ring the dog warden and tell them about her allowing them off the lead in a public place where’s there’s little children going to school. They’ll deal with her.

Why do you expect the school to waste their time investigating trivial anonymous emails about a public footpath?
If you are that bothered about these dogs, speak to the woman face to face. If she ignores you, and you still think there is a an issue, contact the council dog warden. Put your name to the complaint. If you want to get someone else in bother, at least have the bottle to sign your complaint.
Otherwise, set out 5 mins early and use the other entrance.

Die hard dog defender here, I don’t think this sounds like a particularly rewarding walk for the dogs, let alone the kids and parents trying to get to school past them.

Muzzles are used for a variety of reasons.

Why anonymously email school? You could email school and let them know, you don’t need to be anonymous. The school can’t do much about it as it’s not on their land, but they could send out a polite request, particularly if they have had other parents complain or they know it’s affecting any children. (I’d leave out the bit about the dog pooping though.)

ring the council ask to speak to the dog warden

What sort of dogs are they? Because there is a big difference between breeds! Certain ones I would be terrified (especially if it had a muzzle on) others not so much. I don’t think the school will/can do much.

If I was genuinely worrying so much about this, rather than ask the school to do something they can't do, I would either walk the extra 5 minutes and use the other entrance or leave the house earlier to be ahead of her.
If they're such a nuisance in the alleyway, I'm surprised no one else has tackled her about it. It shows that her judgement is severely off (confined spaces, big dogs and hoards of children they are unable to get away from is really a recipe for eventual disaster) and her skills as a dog owner questionable.
You could email the school (don't do it anonymously - that won't get you anywhere) and possibly they'll put out some general request, but if it's a public path, they can't actually enforce anything.

Are the dogs behaving aggressively or do you just not like them?

I think it's reasonable to complain about them being off lead.

is the dog tied to the lamppost blocking the path or to the side of the path? if the path is only 2m wide and dog on lead takes up 1m of path space, i can see why people would get annoyed, just the same as if someone parked a large bike or buggy in the path at a busy time.

the school is not obliged to fix this, but you could let them know about this issue and ask if they want to include a reminder in their weekly email about "please don't block the path with dogs buggies etc at busy times". but if they say 'no', you'd have to contact the council about the park rules instead.

Are the dogs on the school grounds? Our school bans dogs within the grounds.

Off lead, you can report her.

Also leave earlier and walk to the other gate it's not far for you.

Harassed as in I have to virtually walk into them to get past in the tight alleyway packed with all the other parents and theyre sniffing me
This sounds like a bit of a dramatic over exaggeration! The alleyway can't be that tight that you can't 1 metre away from them. Your comment about their pooing would indicate you are highly focused on them.

It sounds like this gas been happening for some time with no incident at all, which would indicate the issue is with you rather then the woman. She isn't doing anything illegal.

So the dogs aren’t actually doing anything except doing their business or sniffing you?

You’d be more scared of a dog in a muzzle (a tool that literally prevents biting) than one without the tool that prevents biting?

Schools can and do extend their remit a little beyond the school grounds sometimes. A school I used to work at had a squad of staff whose job was to stand at the nearby bus stops and in the park to “encourage” the teenagers to go home and not get into trouble. We also had a dialogue with local shops to ensure that the kids didn’t overwhelm the capacity. I would definitely send an email to the school. The worst they can do is tell you it’s not their problem, in which case dog warden. Believe me, teachers deal with FAR more bonkers demands than this.