to give these dog owners a piece of my mind? (long sorry!)

[Undercovasanta]

2 nights ago my DH was returning from work when he saw a dog running down the middle of the main road near us. He stopped and opened the door to shoo the dog off the road, and the dog jumped into his car. DH rang me and told me what happened and described the dog, and I thought I knew where it lived. DH went round there with the dog and left it with the next door neighbour who said the dog kept getting out due to not being fenced in properly.

Today, I was walking home, with DD (3) and with baby DS in pushchair. All of a sudden this same dog came from nowhere and knocked my DD over and started jumping on her and licking her. DD was really really upset, and kept being knocked over again and again, whilst I tried to hold the pushchair (we were on a hill), move the dog and pull DD to standing. The dog then jumped on to the pushchair , so I had to push him off and pull the pushchair hood down to protect DS.

The dog then proceeded to follow us all the way home, despite me shooing him, with him intermittantly jumping up at DD, causing her to freak out. I ended up having to carry DD, and push the pushchair, with DS screaming cos he couldn't see out of the pushchair properly.
It was a nightmare.

When we got home the dog was still wandering up and down our street. I phoned DH and he said I should try to take the dog back home . I said it wasn't possible with the 2 kids, but I would keep an eye out for him and see if my neighbour could help.

AIBU to give the dogs owners a piece of my mind about being so irresponsible? I feel furioius as my DD was not a big fan of dogs before and I can see that this is bound to set off a huge phobia.

i would phone the local police/dog warden type person. if it runs in the road it could get hurt or cause an accident

Absolutely agree with Nancy75.

Call the dog warden.

THis dog is not being look after properly and is a danger to himself and other people.

If he is out near a road he could cause an accident when some poor driver slams on their brakes or swerves to avoid him.

His owners are clearly not responsible enough to look after him and he would be better off being re-homed by the sounds of it!

Do you have an animal warden? Phone your council and ask. They should be able to tell you and then you can report the owners.
If you take the dog back home everytime the owners won't need to do anything about it. Maybe if you shock them into collecting the dog from the police or the dog warden it will make them a bit more careful.

You shoud definately say something to them. how awfull for you dc. Dd2 was jumped on by a dog trying to get to the other side of the buggy to get to my dog. Luckily dd2 loves dogs and thought it was trying to play with her. But it is terrifying isn't it?

Also how long will it be before the dog gets ran over/abused by some less forgiving passers by?

Definitely call the dog warden. They will have to pay to get the animal released to them so they might give it some thought.

Phone the dog warden.

Even though we have a dog, I still get nervous having a dog running around without it's owner on the street, so I really feel for you, esp with little ones. It's making you feel trapped in your house which isn't on.

I would try not to give them a piece of your mind though, as this'll only get their backs up. If I were you I'd lay it on thick and let them know how much it upsets you and your DC without any anger, you've still got to live near them, even if they are dickwads.

For what it's worth, it can be a nightmare keeping a dog in a garden. I'd class us as responsible dog owners, (well, I would wouldn't I?? ) but ours had a phase of doing her Houdini act and getting out even when we'd thought we'd seen every gap, so the neighbour might not just being lax.

I've called the dog warden in the past and found them no use whatsoever. There was one warden for half the county and they could only get out and see if they could see the dog I was calling about in a weeks time! Yeah, that's a lot of use

Call the dog warden now (99% don't have an out of hours sservice any more and the Police no longer have anything to do with strays whatsoever unless its a dangerous dog).

If you have no joy please post back here, preferably wth your area, and I may be able to advise further (I have dog rescue, animal welfare etc etc contacts across the country as its what I do). Personally I would have taken him in as the chances are he could get run over otherwise.

The Dog Warden might take the dog back and bollock the owner (he SHOULD do this but there are some assy ones out there), but he may well take the dog to council kennels/the pound if this is not the first time he's had to pick this dog up as a stray. The theory is that if the owner has to pay for the dog's release they will be less likely to let him stray again - great when it works, not so funny when the owner refuses to pay the fee and the dog ends up in a pound and dead at the end of the week as a result.

People like this owner make me sick ... if I'm even more honest and I had access to the poor bloody dog I'd take him in and see him rehomed to a responsible owner as clearly the current ones don't give a toss about him, and despite his jumping all over your DC, he sounds a very friendly soul.