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?

He's doing a UK tour in March, Jamie. Do you want to borrow my banner?

Who is this 'dog whisperer' who has taken my rightful place in Umami's heart?

Is there some sort of link?

I'll call round for yours at 1am, rainbow

I don't believe my dog would ever bite anybody, however I could never be 100% certain. No-one can be 100% certain with any dog.

If I'm out walking, and he's off lead, I'll make sure it's in a safe area for him. I'll also make sure there aren't children playing about on the field, especially with a ball that might tempt him to go and play. If I see kids about, I'll put him back on the lead. I believe that is responsible ownership.

The minority of dog owners don't take responsibility the way that they should. This doesn't mean we should persecute all dog owners for the actions of a few. Just like the majority of car owners wouldn't drink and drive, but some do - doesn't mean we should ban all booze, or all cars.

And why are you mocking my suggestion that those with a criminal record should be banned from owning animals? If they can't respect the law, and act responsibly towards society, why should they be entrusted with the ownership of an animal?

YANBU. A few years ago on a picnic in a public park this massive dog came out of nowhere, ate my bacon sandwich, ruined the lunchtime. 'Owner' appeared running after dog a good minute or two after dog started gulping down our food. She claimed to be walking the dog and I asked for some lunch money (this was a packed lunch, I was too far to go back home for lunch, it'd cost me money), said she had none. Irresponsible and disrespectful.

Sounds like you handle your dog in a sensible manner gabber, sadly some others don't.

Dog owners must keep their dogs under control.

Tethersend is lovely.

Gabber is getting one of my Hard Stares for being rude.

Dogs can swim, so the floating kennel idea might have a practical flaw.

Being serious - it is my responsibility to keep my dog under control, and I do that to the best of my ability. She is only a pup, and we are working on training her - the aim is that she will be as close to 100% reliable at coming when called. I only let her off the lead in places where there are rarely, if ever, people without dogs, and wouldn't dream of letting her off the lead with other people around, especially children.

If my dog upsets someone, I will apologise properly - I am horrified that a dog owner would not apologise for their dog dirtying someone's clothing, or eating their food, and I think weegiemum's response to the dog that bit her son was utterly reasonable.

We had the same as you FutureMum ...

Two adults and 4 small children having a picnic in a London park and a huge black lab came charging into the middle of our picnic blanket, scattering the children and gulping down/slobbering on whatever it could get to. I grabbed it's collar and hauled it out of there, all the children were crying and upset (it was a big dog and quite a shock for them) and we were extremely pissed off. Pushed it back off to it's owner who just kind of shrugged, didn't even say sorry or anything. And then the dog came back for a second round ... I was absolutely seething by that point but caught it by the collar before it charged in again - luckily the owner retrieved it and put it on a lead before I let rip ... again no apology.

I'm okay with dogs but can you imagine if that'd happened to someone to didn't like them or didn't feel comfortable in grabbing an unknown dog ... I only did it because I presumed that a labrador wouldn't go beserk being hauled out by a stranger ... but maybe it was stupid of me to have done that as it could have turned on me I suppose.

I like dogs but they should be kept under control (or on the lead if they can't be controlled) when they are in family orientated areas.

Gabber, why didn't you post this earlier instead of your bizarre attack?

My proposal to float all dogs out to sea is founded solely in my own personal dislike of them.

If you ban anyone with a criminal record from keeping a dog (and I'm guessing you've never read Dickens from your reaction to my post ), then do you also ban them from having children? Or is that ok? Would you ban someone guilty of non-payment of a TV license from keeping a dog? And would you remove dogs from people once they have been found guilty of a crime? What would happen to said dogs?

Some sort of ark could always be built I suppose...

StayingDavidTennant's girl - you sound like a lovely dog owner.

I'm still at being told that I should 'take it on the chin' if a dog comes bounding up and slobbers over my clothes. Apparently that's what I should expect if I walk anywhere that dogs might be - ie just about anywhere - parks, beaches, woods.......

Er... nope, I think not.

I used to own two large dogs - a rottweiler and a german shepherd - and I would never allow them outside of my control if there were other people around. I used to walk them on their leads right to the end of the beach where I lived, then let them off for a run where they could only annoy me/eachother. They were also both trained to come at my command, walk to heel etc. It is the most basic of responsibilties of a dog owner, and should be compulsory as far as I am concerned. If they did jump all over/slobber on/generally annoy other people I would be mortified - I cannot understand dog owners that allow their pet to molest other people then say they should just get over it. Weird.

When I was walking them other dogs would come and jump all over them. Mostly it was friendly, although once a nasty blue heeler went for the german shepherd (but quickly buggered off once the rotty growled at him!). When I complained to the owner of the heeler he told me that a woman shouldn't own big dogs anyway!! I pointed out that my dogs may be big, but I had total control over both of them, unlike him and his dog. Nobber.

As for could I guarantee that my dogs wouldn't bite - no, I couldn't. I would trust my dogs not to, but how can you be 100% on anything in life?

Also, can I vote to put any other species on your boat Tethersend? Like rabbits? (I find them a bit pointless as pets you see, plus my sister's evil fucker darling pet bit me when I was a kid and I haven't forgotten about it!)

i don't own dogs (prefer cats), but my grandmother did - my sister, as a 2 year old, stroked this sleeping mutt (scottie, or terrier of some description) who promptly bit her on the face, nearly destroying an eye (thankfully she is fine, with only two tiny scars). my grandmother's reaction? bearing in mind this is her 2-year old granddaughter being carried to hospital screaming and bleeding? "well, she shouldn't have been stroking him when he was sleeping"!!!!! .

I do appreciate that most dog owners (including my parents, thanks to same sister "lending" them her dog while she lives in London!) are responsible, but i am amazed at the stories of owners not having the gumption to apologise when their dog does something doggy. and if a dog bites a child.....

oh, and tethersend, you make some excellent and well thought-out points. and are lovely.

Erm... Most dog-owners are responsible, I'm sure. But some are not. And, surely, that's what creates bad feeling.

XDH was once bitten by a dog whose owner came up and looked at the blood dripping off X's hand, then swore his dog 'never bit anyone ...'

(I agree this is a rare occurrence, btw.)

Tethers is (partly) joshing, I think. And she isn't she the OP, so please don't
shout 'YABU' at her.

catastrojb - out of interest what did your parents do about the dog?

We had the same experience with our grandparents dog and my parents banned it from their home (to the extent that my grandfather was sent home on xmas day as he brought the dog with him "as its family" and the dog was refused in the house). If we went to the grandparents my mum insisted it was on a lead

I'm just glad my mum's lab came back when I called it mid-run to sniff another dog.

That's the level of control dog owners should have - that the dog abandons what they are doing immediately; even if it is as exciting as going to meet another dog

Tethers - a FIVER! But you promised me a rose garden or at least some bone marrow ...

I'm just astounded by how so many otherwise intelligent people seem to lose all common sense and perspective when it comes to their dogs.

Look...at the end of the day it's an animal.

ANY dog who attacks a child (or even an adult for that matter) should be put to sleep.

I speak as someone who likes dogs and hates animal cruelty btw.

I can't really judge the OP's situation, because she doesn't really describe what happened. She says the dog could have knocked her child flying, but I have no idea why as the dog didn't come into contact with the child and the OP doesn't suggest the dog was approaching her child, just passing.

The German idea sounds sensible. Some areas are allocated for off the lead dogs. The problem with it could be that the OP's beach becomes a dog off lead beach all year round - then she'd be really furious.

I go on holiday to Northumberland, because there are lots of beaches that dogs can go on all year round. Many beaches in the UK don't allow dogs all year round, including some beaches in Northumberland. I am quite happy to keep off those beaches, and think Northumberland have taken a good approach to managing things. So local authorities are sort of taking the German approach.

The OP should start a campaign to get a beach in her local authority made dog free.

I don't take my dogs to the park as I am in a rural area so have no need. But there are dog parts of the park and dog free parts. It seems straightforward.

2boys2 - i don't think they did anything at the time other than try to keep us away from the dog (who didn't last much longer anyway), but i know they tried to persuade her to put it down - she didn't. i don't think my mother has ever really forgiven her, although they generally get on okish.

MillyR
Can you read/ I state that the first instance occured when the animal came running at us and nearly knocked my son flying. Does that not denote that the dog was not really under control? I then mention that the same women then met friends who had another 3 dogs which then did something similair even though I had words with the first woman. She obviously did not give a monkeys or she could have said something to her friends as in lets control our dogs a little better. Please go back and read all my posts. My point was, and is, why should I be put in the position were I have to worry about the intentions of an animal approaching my son? if you read all the posts you will see that all I ask for is that people control and train their animals and do not allow them to charge at other people children or adults. I dont want to waste my time writing out what I have already written about so please before you comment read all my threads. If you had you would not have being using She when you should have been using HE.

topher40 - I don't think anyone would disagree with your question 'aibu to expect owners to keep their dogs under control'.

I think the point that MillyR is making is that it's difficult, if not impossible, for anyone to judge the specific situation you describe. We don't know if the dog (s) came running up to you aggressively or playfully or if they weren't in fact interested in you at all, you just perceived a threat when they ran near you. We don't know if you're the sort of person who would run screaming from a yorkshire terrier or whether the dogs were slavering rotweillers eyeing up your son as a mid-morning snack. I don't think it's reasonable to expect dogs to walk to heel when they have been taken to a beach to run around and have some exercise. But none of the dogs I've ever known are very interested in small children as they often don't know how to behave with animals and can frighten or hurt them.

YANBU
If i had a pound for every time a dog has come bounding up to us and jumped up at my two year old DD then I'd have about oo, say 8-10 quid by now.
I just think the best thing you can do is say o silly dog go away and push them off. That seems to have worked for us anyway, my daughter is now quite calm about dog incidents, one even came up to her today thinking that her orange was a ball and tried to grab it. She just said Mummy that doggy wanted my orange didn't he.
I think my point is there are so many people that let their dogs run and jump up that you are unfortuneately fighting a losing battle if you want to reprimand each one.

"If i had a pound for every time a dog has come bounding up to us and jumped up at my two year old DD then I'd have about oo, say 8-10 quid by now."

If I had a pound for every time a child has rushed up to my very cuddly dog and terrified her with their squealing and over-enthusiastic patting and hugging, I'd have a bit more than 8-10 pounds. Not mentioning the toddler who thought it was OK to whack her hard on the head with his toy car while dad looked on advising his son to be careful as 'it might bite'. I wish some parents would keep their kids under control and teach them how to behave appropriately with animals.