Are there still any responsible dog owners left?

[Cla7]

I just got attacked by three dogs in our local park when I was out with my toddler. Knowing what might happen, I always stay right at his side so I was able to lift him up when the dogs charged at him. They started to jump up at me and nipped me, luckily not him. I screamed at the dog owners but they weren’t even that bothered, just half heartedly called them back. No apology, apparently it’s fine because they only nipped me and ‘had they actually attacked I wouldn’t be standing here talking anymore’. I have red bite marks but no broken skin. They doubled down saying that toddlers reassemble prey and that everyone with a brain should know that, so why would I take my toddler to a park where dogs are around.

Am I really expecting too much wanting to walk in the park with my toddler and not get attacked? Sadly this is not the first time it’s happened. Where have we come to and in the light of dog owners not being responsible, is it time for stricter rules?

No, we're all shit heads here to make everyone miserable with our faithful companions.

No none at all. We are all profoundly irresponsible

Thanks for confirming, although today’s incident was already confirmation enough.

🙄

I hope that there will be stricter rules and fines

phone the police. immediately. they may still be there.

Obviously all dog owners just let them do whatever. Yes we are all one awful lump of exactly the same irresponsible people 🙄

Amazing to see in these first few replies how dogs attacking people is indeed now acceptable

Not all of us are irresponsible.

You should report this to the police. You were bitten by an out of control dog.

You have to report to get the stats up to make it a public policy issue.

Also email your councillors and your MP about the need to make the space dog free.

I’d actually be reporting this to the police given the owner’s attitude - take photos of any marks before they fade. The dogs were clearly out of control, which is against the law.

It’s not all dog owners, though. There are still some decent ones around. Although the shit ones are either getting more numerous or more noticeable.

I don't get the snarky replies op. Your allowed to be really pissed off about what happened I'd be!! Sounds awful

I’ve never known a website so full of people who hate dogs so much. Yes, some dogs are vicious and/or uncontrolled, but it’s the vast minority.

OP, if this really happened as you say, and you really were bitten by a out-of-control dog, and the dogs really did try to attack your toddler, then you should report it.

Only you know whether this happened, or whether an overexcited dog just bounced around within 500 metres of your toddler, so only you can make the decision.

There are some, but they are becoming a rapidly shrinking minority.

If love to say 99% of owners i meet are responsible but its probably closer to 70% tbh! I've had two incidents this week of owners not paying attention and going 'oh he's friendly' or 'he needs to be told!' When their dogs are harassing mine and mine is giving clear 'fuck off' signals.
However, lots of fabulous owners out there too!

This is pretty close to the truth unfortunately

Look at the stats on dog attacks since 2020. It is an increasing concern as the number of dogs has rapidly increased, many badly trained.

No, it's really not.

I'm sorry this happened to you OP. Horrible
Report to police.
There are many good dog owners (I think?)
There are many bad ( and very defensive ones) that seem to congregate on mn.

It’s the thing that people just don’t care it seems..these dog owners were not in a rush to get their dogs off us. Maybe they knew that they weren’t seriously attacking and they were only medium-sized dogs, but still nipping and leaving marks is not acceptable. Not even jumping up on people is in my view. Not to mention my fear suddenly having to fight off 3 dogs when alone with my toddler, they might know (or think they know) that their dogs won’t seriously hurt us, but I can’t know that.

How the hell did you get that conclusion?!

The first few replies were maybe being facetious at your lumping all dog owners to being the same as ones you encountered today!

One of the issues is responsible dog owners often side with irresponsible dog owners, and make remarks about people 'hating dogs' if they complain about barking, biting, jumping, chasing.

It shouldn't matter whether someone likes or dislikes dogs because a properly trained and supervised dog bothers no one.

Am I really expecting too much wanting to walk in the park with my toddler and not get attacked?

🙄🙄🙄

Well everyone who owns dogs say they are but I am doubting it

My dog is well trained and always on a lead (she's deaf, I can't call her back!) but there are so many idiotic owners. I've started turning around to avoid a lot of them because they'll just smile fondly as their cockapoo tries to jump on my little dog and knock my daughter over. (It's always cockapoos where we are!)

There are still more sensible than not though.