To expect dog owners to keep their dogs under control?

[topher40]

My son and I were on the beach the other day when a dog came charging out of nowhere and almost knocked him flying .I asked the owner to be a little more considerate and she did apologise BUT 20 minutes later the same person was with another group who had 3 dogs which all came running over to where we were. Now I am not paranoid about dogs, I grew up with them, but I think it is a little off to allow your hound just to run around where there are small people especially when they are obviuosly not in the control of the owner. When I got a little testy with this person they gave me a look as if i was at fault. I have no problem with people walking their animals but is it unreasonable to expect them to keep them under control?

As a responsible dog owner I think I should bring some sanity back to this thread and talk about my greatest concern as a dog walker.

Finding a dead body on one of my early morning strolls.

Its allways dogs that find them.

????

So cross in here! Who is gabber?

slightlystressed

No idea Orm and I have been caught on a snippy day so I'm not helping no doubt, I shall step away before I start ranting.

Maybe gabber wants to come bounding towards tethersend, take a part of her anatomy in her lips and nibble and slobber all over her. And she's feeling rejected because tether doesn't want to play.

Apparently, Gabber is my new best friend, Orm... I'm a lucky lady.

Oh, and did I mention that I have a fan base? It's official

slightlystressed SO agree with you
It's a constant hazard!

My nearest big park has areas where dogs are not even allowed even on a lead which are completely separate from areas where they can be free.
It does annoy/aggravate ok infuriate me that picnickers choose the area where dogs can run free to sit on the grass (when actually the dog free areas are much more attractive) then complain when they are hassled by thieving mongrels (yes I have a thieving mongrel ).

Nah, no issues. Just reading some of the shite on this thread boils my blood.

Of course all dogs have the capacity to bite. So does any animal with teeth. And, as pointed out by tethersend earlier - cars have the capacity to run people over. Does that mean we should bad all motorised transport too? Maybe we should ban horses, considering the odd one kicks a shoe and throws their rider off, causing serious injury or death.

Maybe I'm biased because I'm a dog owner, but I just cannot see how anyone can justify the suggestion to do away with all dogs. What about guide dogs? Bomb-detecting dogs? Sniffer dogs?

What should happen is stricter controlling of breeding to stop all these idiots mass-producing staffys for the chavs to display like some kind of trophy. And some kind of licensing of dogs, a vetting procedure, or possibly even a ban on owning dogs for anyone with a criminal history.

Simples

I never said I didn't want to play, violethill... who could resist charm such as Gabber's?

"a ban on owning dogs for anyone with a criminal history"

Bullseye!

Ooh you tease tether... you mean really deep down you want to be slobbered over?

I quite like dogs.

Does that help at all?

Any port in a storm, violet

Just not sure why you didn't post what you just said instead of being quite vile to tether (was plan to see she was joshing)

btw I'm a veggie, animal loving, usually peaceful sort and though I don't own a dog I would never put them out to sea

My cat would though. She a plotter that one.

If we pretend for a minute that you actually want to debate some of the issues on this thread, Gabber, do you believe that your dog would never bite anybody?

Your cat is already with me, Gibbon. She's first mate.

In all seriousness I don't think my dogs will ever bite anyone, they've never shown any sign of aggression to anyone so have no cause to believe they would. However you can never say never about anything, anyone or any animal.

I would like to say...in all seriousness, I know my dog would never bite.

If I had even the slightest worry that he could then i wouldn't have him around my kids.

I know i can trust my dog.

I'm really not being argumentative about that. I do absolutely mean it.

As the owner of a large dog, I am totally against all dogs being on a lead. My dog would never expend all her energy on a lead. However, I am totally for all dogs being under control and if they can't be controlled off lead, they should be put on a lead.

Every now and again, I get someone (usually shouting after I've walked past) saying, "Put your dog on a lead." I challenge them as to why, when my dog was nowhere near them. My dog is usually chasing a squirrel or running off in the field while the people are on the main path.

However, when children see my dog and want to pet her, I call her to me, have her sit and I hold onto her while the children stroke her. It's good for helping the children not to be afraid of dogs and good for teaching my dog how to behave around children. I've never had a parent complain.

So really, my point is there has to be responsibility on both sides. And people making "loud comments" aren't helping the situation and certainly aren't teaching their children how to handle confrontation.

Actually that is a good point TarheelMama makes. I was walking through woods on a path behind a family with toddlers in front, my bouncy dog on extending lead and was faffing around behind them changing leads so I could have a better hold of the lead if we were to pass them. The guy turned round to his dawdling toddlers and said "hurry up or that dog will get you", at which point they legged it.

Then a couple of minutes later as I was going passed he was saying "oh look what a lovely dog, have a stroke". Poor children looked pretty wary by then and I had to say that they might be better off not stroking her on this occasion as she is quite bouncy and his children looked worried enough having been told the dog would get them.

What Tarheelmama said.

Owners should have their dog under control to the extent that it comes when called, well wlk to heel and stay put and doesnt bound up to little kids (or adults) and scare them

If you cant be bothered to train your dog, dont get one. Training a dog is really not very hard providing you're prepared to be consistent and appreciate that your dog is not a person (this last point seems quite hard for surprising number of owners to understand.)

However, well behaved dogs shouldnt have to be kept on leads just because other people are irresponsible owners.

Can I just say, that whilst I am not a huge fan of dogs, I do have a teensy crush on the Dog Whisperer. Fascinating. And it's made me realise that the things I've never liked about dogs are things that they wouldn't be doing if they were well-trained and kept under control.

Hmm. I'm beginning to get the feeling that people aren't going to put their dogs on this boat voluntarily.

I would have pushed mine on at 1am this mornign when they were crying for the toilet, tethersend.