...to be cross with this dog owner.

[EvilTwins]

Have just come back from our local park with my DTs (3.4) We went to feed the ducks, and go on the swings. Whilst we were feeding the ducks, an enormous dog suddenly appeared (it did seem to come from nowhere - the duck pond is in a dip, surrounded by bushes, so we didn't see it coming, and anyway, we were engrossed in conversation about the ducks) My girls are not used to dogs, as we don't have one, and none of our family do. They are usually a bit wary anyway, and I try to deal with it with as little fuss as possible. Anyway the dog in question was huge (I'm not a dog person, so couldn't say what breed, but it was nose-to-nose the same height as the twins, and, on hind legs, would have been taller than me) and the first we knew of its presence was when all the ducks suddenly scarpered. The dog then tried to get the bread that my one daughter was holding in her hand. Not surprisingly, she thought it was trying to eat her hand. Both twins were pretty hysterical, so I was holding them both tightly, trying to to calm them down (and prevent them from flailing around and falling into the pond) Meanwhile, the owner of the dog was nowhere to be seen. I then spotted two women standing on the path above the pond, obviously looking for something, so I shouted "Is this your dog?" They meandered down to the pond, and despite the fact that they could see the twins in a state, did nothing to take the dog away. In fact, rather than grabbing the dog's collar, she grabbed one of my daughters. I got really shirty then - told her to let go of my child and take her dog away. At this point, another woman, who'd seen what had happened, came past and told me that it was ME scaring the children, NOT the dog. I was speechless. All three women and the sodding dog then wandered off,complaining loudly about what a hysterical so-and-so I was. I was livid. The twins were really shaken and both crying.

On the way out of the park, I noticed that the sign by the gate said "Dogs must be kept under control. Do not allow your dog to frighten children" so I did feel slightly vindicated.

Sorry for long post. AIBU to be cross?

The Licence cost more to administer than it did in revenue brought in. And in any case only the responsible owners ever bought one irresponsible owners never bothered.

Nigelslaterfan - if the next government did ban all dog ownership, apart from the catagories you mention, what would you do with all the dogs?

Mass cull?

This really annoys me too. I know people might think I'm precious when I pick my ds, who is 3, up when they come up to him but I'm merely doing it because of what happens next. A distraught little boy who will scream and run away or literally climb up my leg to get away.

I hate it when peope say the dog is only friendly or you should get him used to dogs. I don;t quite understand how I'm meant to do that with 3yo who has AS and is petrified of them. The other week it took me 10 minutes to get him into the car because there was a kitten that was following me around.

A women at ds nursery wont keep her dog on a lead even though she see's what a state it gets him in. He'll walk past a dog on a lead without any problems. ( well he maybe walks a bit faster than normal!)

Hear hear!!

YANBU.

My parents have a massive lurcher, who really does look like a werewolf. When they got her, they took her to training classes, she was socialised with lots of other dogs/people and my parents can control her.
If she is off the lead having a run around, all they have to do is shout "down" and she drops immediately.

Dog classes should be compulsory.

YANBU, my eldest was scared of dogs and I tried so hard to help the fear go away - introduced him to loads of people with friendly dogs etc etc, eventually it worked! Not for long though, because we kept having these encounters with jumpy-up dogs not on leads which set him right back where he started.

One day we were going to school and a woman was out for a jog with a retriever off its lead. Loads of kids about, right by the school. Of course I know that retrievers are about the nicest dogs you can get, and I often tell DS that, to no avail.

The woman ran past us, the dog following, tail awag, and DS tried to get out of its way. The dog - completely harmlessly - tried to squeeze through the gap between cowering DS and the pram. DS was terrified, screaming, in floods of tears.

I shouted after the woman: "Why haven't you got your dog on a lead? Don't you know some children are frightened of dogs?"

I expected her to say: "Sorry! He's as soppy as anything, he won't hurt him." Which would have been OK, I knew it was essentially the truth.

But what she did was shout back: "Probably because their parents have made them like that."

And ran off.

Fucking BITCH

If I hadn't had the pram with me I think I might actually have chased her. I would not have caught her, of course; I would have collapsed in a humilated breathless heap after 100 yards.

But I still fantasise about meeting her again, tripping her up as she jogs past and saying; "Trip you up? Me? Of course not, your parents must have made you think that."

Did I call her a fucking bitch? No FUCKING BITCH!

I wanted to add to my post above same park a few hours later.

Very large dog came bounding over to join in our game of "football", owner called dog, dog instantly stopped stood still. Gave my dds the opportunity to pet a large dog and part reassure my dd3 that most dogs are friendly and she is unlikely to ever be bitten again.

Sadly the negative experiences seem to outweigh the positive ones. Plus a 6 year old clearly understands that whilst she is happy with dog she knows every dog she doesn't know could potentially bite her even if it's on a lead. Am still trying to brain wash her that it's highly unlikely to happen again.

YANBU at all. I'm really scared of big dogs after several nasty experiences as a small child and am trying really hard not to pass on fear to the DCs, cos I know dogs just sense that. If I'm on my own with teh DCs, I have to say, I tend to avoid places where dog walkers go, as I find the majority are pretty unaware/not bothered that other people might not relish a face-to-face with their dog. Don't even get me started on the owners who don't clear up after their dogs...

Stayingsunnygirl , it ain't never gonna happen here. We Brits prefer our dogs to people.

But why not?! Obviously without any suffering.

If people don't care properly for them.

If the dogs behaviour impinges on other citizens negatively.

They should not have dogs.

Landowners with working dogs on their land - fine.
Guide dogs - fantastic, brilliant wonderful
Police dogs - ditto
Rescue dogs ditto
working dogs ditto.

Great lumbering untrained galloping eejit furballs crapping everywhere and jumping all over me and mydc.
Get rid of them. I'd be happy with that, put them ALL to sleep!
Obviously would never happen though!

Riven - I would go along with most of that - though I think that all dogs on leads except in special dog parks would be too strict in some circumstances. For example, we live in a largish village, and there are plenty of places I can walk the dog and never meet anyone else, apart from the occasional other dog owner, so I do let my puppy off her lead so she gets enough exercise.

I wouldn't take her to somewhere where she'd cause hassle to other people if off the lead. Imo, it takes a little common sense on the part of the dog owner to choose the places and times where a dog can be off the lead without being a pain to other people.

I do realise that special dog parks would be necessary in towns/cities.

YANBU.

I had a sette from a very small age that was trained, in fact I used to take her to obedience shows at the age of 6 and win prizes, so I take a veyr dim view of people who don;t teach their dogs basic 'manners'

MIL has a new puppy, after the previous dog's habit of jumping, and me kicking it after it tried to bite DD1 and bit me instead I was a bit nervous but she is taking it to puppy training and doing it properly.

DD's react well to strange dogs. They don;t put their hands out or over their face. They wil stand quietly until told it is okay to pat the dog(which they both love to do), but the amount of times the owner has said it is okay to approach and the dog has jumped is unreal. I get very angry with owners who think it is 'funny' or 'cute' as it isn't when you are small.

wot riven said

have to say its not

Riven, i agree with your above post, i would also like to see all dogs muzzled.

I have seen many children in charge of very large dogs who can quite easily pull away from them.

I don't dislike dogs, but the amount of walks/days out we have had spoiled by either, dog crap on shoes or buggy,
having a dog jump up on me or my child,
dog knocking my child over,
dog running towards us when you have no way of knowing whether dog is friendly or going to attack.

The majority of dog owners seem to think the above are acceptable, have happened numerous times and i have never had an apology, just a mouthful of abuse when i politely ask them to keep their dog under control.

Luckily DS is not scared of dogs, i have friends with dogs and he knows how to behave round them etc.

YANBU

I also don't get why people insist on bringing their (I have no idea about breeds) 'dangerous dog' looking dog into a childrens play park and then acting suprised when everyone ushers their children hurridly out if the park "oh, but he wouldn't hurt a fly, don't be so dramatic..."

Nigelslaterfan - what about responsible dog owners with well-trained dogs - why couldn't they keep their pets?

Serious question to the dog owners here - how do you best train a puppy not to jump up at people? We grab her when someone new comes to the house, and tell her to sit etc; and I've also done a couple of sessions where we've had visitors, and I've kept the dog's attention on me with treats, and rewarded good behaviour.

PIL have a dog, who I've grown to kind of like over the years and it has helped me a bit with my fear/dislike. But ILs are pretty gross with him - when they first got him, he was allowed to lick the plates after a meal (I've never made so many excuses not to eat in my life!) and they do the whole dog-kissing thing, which makes me want to barf. I've had a go at them a couple of times when they haven't picked up his crap and now they always do when we're with them, but then you get to go on a long walk with MIL gaily swinging a nappy sack of dog shit, which also has its drawbacks.

I've had similar scenarios with my DC's who are both terrified. IME people who love dogs just don't get it - they think you are a freak for not loving their pet in the same way that some mums van be PFB about their babes.

They are not this way because of me (although I am not keen) they are this way because the only interaction they get with dogs is when one big, slobbery out of control mut comes bounding up to them and tries to jump on them.

I'd find that pretty terrifying if the animal was bigger than me.

All dogs muzzled!! What?

Riven - I can't go with the things you suggest. You can be a responsible dog owner, but not have £500 to spare. Just because you're rich doesn't mean you'll be responsible.

I walk my dog over the fields. I don't put her on a lead when other people appear - she ignores them. I do get hold of her if children appear. I let her off in the village park if there's no-one but us around.

I'm scared of big dogs after a German Shepherd bit my brother when we were children. I've always been very wary about dogs off the lead and was highly hacked off when I had DD in her buggy when she was about a year old and an over excited border collie who was careering around, landed on her.

We got a puppy about 6 weeks ago and I am working my backside off training her. She does go off lead but is called back when there is a jogger, cyclist, other people, dogs and I'm getting her to practice sitting whilst people go by or to walk next to me and focus on walking to heel. She will jump on people if given the chance so she doesn't get a chance. Hopefully what we do now will pay off in the future and I will end up with a well trained dog who I can be proud of.

We saw a man with twin girls around 3 years old yesterday. I had her back on the lead and was all ready to get her to sit and wait for them to pass but they went off down a little track. I suspect it was because he saw a not small puppy approach and didn't want to run the risk of his girls being jumped on, can't blame him. I was proud of my dog though, when we got to the spot where they had turned off she looked to see where they were and sat, so I guess I am getting somewhere on the training.

I have a friend who has a lab and hasn't trained her. She is a complete nightmare and jumps all over everyone and she can't control her. They were up at school the other day, in the middle of the pavement which is the main exit for about 500 children. The dog was jumping and children were having to go in the road to get by and some were visibly scared. I had to give her my treats that I always have on me these days and get her to try to make her sit between her and the fence. One of the other mothers there nearly came over and had a go, I wish she had really. In the end I said the next day that someone had nearly come over and some of the children looked quite scared and she has said she won't bring her up again. How sad though that she couldn't work out that she was completely out of order.

Can I add microchipping to the licence list ?

Stayingsunnygirl - we trained her not to jump up, by ignoring her when she jumped when she was a tiny pup. She never jumps up at people when we're out. She does try to jump up at people when they come into the house, but we turn our backs and she stops.

YANBU. But then again, I don't like dogs, specially the nasty ones(that'll start a shouting frenzy) and expect their owners to keep them on leash while in public.

My mum used to breed (and train) staffies years back.
One big problem in this country is that dogs are seen as accessories (by a lot of people, although not all) so you have the idiot tough guy with his massive rottweiler or staffy with a spiky collar. Then you get the silly it girl types who think dogs are supposed to be little, yappy, wear pink clothes and be carted around in a handbag. you also get people who treat their dog as their baby, which is still silly.
And then also the people who just don't know how to train/control their dogs
A dog of ANY size can be a menace if it's not properly trained. I agree with the idea of a licence and compulsory courses.

But it doesn't address the issue that just because you've got the money means that the dog will be well trained and the owners will be responsible.

We have had our dog microchipped, done the classes and pay the insurance.

BTW our cat cost us a bloody fortune as we didn't have her insured and she got an expensive illness!!