Dog owners very irresponsible letting them of leafs on walks knowing they too can spread covid19?

[mumieone]

Today on my permitted walk in semi rural area two men having a day on the beach just let thier dog run wild with no consideration for social distancing.

With reports on dogs, cats and the latest tiger having symptoms and testing positive for covid19 should dig owners be allowed to let thier dogs just jump on passers by?

I saw the dog coming and moved about 4 metres away from the men. One just lit up a fab and did nothing and the other watched.

When I moved the dig chased me as I ran to try to climb up a hill. I threw stones near it to try to deter but didn't work and owner eventually took him and said he was being friendly. More like dangerous. I said look we are all trying to social distance and who knows if your dog has covid19 and some of us are trying to keep ourselves and others safe and social distance!

Shouldnt dog owners be more careful?

Now that the fenced off children's play areas are closed. This means children have no protection anymore from any potentially dangerous dog off lead in a park

Bloody Hell Flax you’d be best staying away from all the rabid, salivating dogs in your area. The children’s parks are closed. Find somewhere dog free to excercise your kids. Most parents will adjust their routine to keep their kids safe. Others love the drama and are happy to blame others for their shortcomings 🙄

Since you’re here Flax, what do suggest I do? Our dog is a very small, impossibly pretty Jack Russell, she’s a magnet, the entire world wants to pet her and make a fuss of her. How do I deflect them when she responds to them by wriggling with delight?

So.

No kids ever pee outside.
No kids ever cause injury to others. Or kill them.
No kids ever pee or ‘crap’ outside.
No kids spread disease or infestations.
No kids bite.

No one will give me a bad name as I am a responsible owner. As are others on here.

But don’t come your pish that children are perfect and dogs are not because that is a sweeping generalisation.

Some kids are lovely. Some are not.
Some dogs and owners are lovely. Some not so much.

Some people can’t see sense. Some are goady. There are several on this thread that continue to spout rubbish even though we have agreed with the main argument on this thread.

But you crack on with your generalisations.

I dispute that the vast majority of dog owners are responsible, if my local park is anything to go by. Dogs off leads everywhere. Very poor recall with many of them too

Aha! The crux of Flax's problem! Opinions based on the local park, rather than on society in general. A tiny an insignificant sample.

There's a bigger world, Flax, and most people in it don't mind dogs. Otherwise dog-ownership laws would have been changed long ago. You are vastly in the minority.

As a matter of interest, have you any stats (actual ones, not your opinion about dogs being off lead in your local park) about the rise in dogs attacking children, since the kids' parks were closed? A link would be good.

You notice the unruly dogs because they cause a problem. You don’t notice the many well trained dogs because they cause you no problem. Just like kids really....

This is a brilliant point.

There were 8,014 hospital admissions for dog attacks in England in 2017/2018, compared to 4,500 knife and offensive weapon offences committed by children (couldn't find a general 'violent offences' statistic, but I figured a dog's teeth amounts to an offensive weapon anyway). I think the dogs are winning on this. Also, children are defined as under 18s for the purposes of this statistic.

www.dogtips.co.uk/dog-statistics/
The number of offences for the under 18s was on the youth justice statistics PDF from gov.uk.

When it comes to urinating and defecating outside, dogs do it at least once every time they go out. Humans do it very rarely. That said, human waste is far more hazardous to human health than dog waste is.

Kids are more effective at spreading disease and infestation among people than dogs are, because lots of dog diseases don't cross the species barrier to humans.

Many kids do bite, as we know, but they are very unlikely to cause the same amount of damage as a dog is capable of. Our teeth aren't designed that way (especially milk teeth, which are usually the teeth doing the biting where people are concerned) and the jaw strength of your average biting child is significantly weaker than that of many dogs.

I am in favour of stricter controls for dog owners and think you should have to own a license to keep any pet, which should be earned by passing a basic test, akin to a driving theory test, to make damn sure people know how to look after the bloody things. All breeders or sellers should be required to make a note of the license number and check it against a computer database for verification prior to handing over any pet. I think this measure would reduce the number of out of control dogs and also the number of dog attacks. And also, very importantly, it should reduce the prevalence of cruelty against animals. All DIY pet-for-sale ads should be scrapped in favour of a more tightly regulated centralised service. Some will slip through the net of course, but it'd be a start.

@BrooHaHa

Lots of very good points. I think dog attacks v knife crime is a spurious point though. What about other weapons? What about vicious attacks without a weapon? You're ruling out an awful lot of crimes which could be added or deducted to support/disprove any opinion.

I am in favour of stricter controls for dog owners and think you should have to own a license to keep any pet, which should be earned by passing a basic test, akin to a driving theory test, to make damn sure people know how to look after the bloody things

Interesting.... At what age should the dog be for its owner to take this test? What Will the dog and owner be tested for? What should happen to all the dogs if their owners fail the test?

There’s been a far higher rise in domestic abuse since lockdown than dog attacks. Likewise there are far more deaths and hospitalisations from domestic abuse weekly than dog bites. Shall we make sure men don’t come anywhere near women, just in case the small percentage attack?
How many car accidents are there yearly? Shall we stop driving.
Come to think of it, cats can scratch and harm children, shall we lead and muzzle these too?
As usual flax your reasoning is completely skewed. You clearly have an issue with dogs. So your view is completely one sided.

@Silverbangle I think there could be a test of ownership regardless of whether or not there was a dog. Like the driving theory test. You don't have to have ever even seen a car to pass it, but it does give a baseline of how not to be an irresponsible prat who endangers others.

I am curious to know what the anti-dog movement would suggest we do with all the dogs, though, to fix society more to their whims.

I think dog attacks v knife crime is a spurious point though. What about other weapons?

It includes all offensive weapons. There are other attacks without offensive weapons, I grant you, but most of the ones where people are kicked and punched into hospital will have more than one perpetrator, so wouldn't be comparing like for like (as much as you can with dogs Vs people). There probably will be a total violent offences statistic somewhere, but that would presumably include those that didn't require hospitalisation too, which again is tricky. If you included all dog bites without hospital admission, the number would be much higher there too.

@SilverBangle

You generally can't apply laws retroactively. The law would come in and all dog purchasers from that point on would need to hold a valid license in order to acquire a dog.

What would be the point of a licence? Would a licence holder suddenly become a responsible dog owner because he has bought a licence? There were dog licences at one time. Cost 37p. The licence didn’t automatically ensure the person who bought it was a great dog owner. It merely stated they owned a dog.

Eckhart If there was to be a test for dog owners to prove their skills then there would have to be a dog. What age would the dog be? What areas would be tested and what should happen to the dogs if the owner failed?

@Silverbangle Hazard perception and awareness of possible outcomes of various risk situations. You don't need a dog to prove you have an awareness of responsible dog ownership. Otherwise non owners wouldn't be able to have an opinion about other people's muddy dogs jumping all over them (for example)

A test wouldn't fix all the problems, but it would provide some sort of filter. There are definitely owners who should not be allowed dogs, currently.

There are many people that are reckless dangerous drivers, yet they’ve still passed their driving tests... it doesn’t translate.

It wouldn't solve the problem, no, doghair. Do you suggest we scrap driving tests? Or do you think they're helping keep the roads safer, to some extent?

I think the whole driving tests need relooking at, regular re-tests throughout a drivers life, particularly when one gets older.
I don’t see how a dog license can work, in principle yes, especially for certain breeds, however it would prove difficult in a practical sense. How would anyone out and about know if another dog owner has a license or not? People would be reporting others constantly, even if they did have a license as no one would know. Where’s the funding coming from to enable this to happen and councils/whoever to enforce it and carry out inspections? There’s not anywhere near enough police as it is. They can’t have their duties stretched further as far as I can see.

We're not doing a funding application, we're just suggesting ideas. And if you think the driving test should be repeated throughout drivers lives, surely you're making an argument for testing, rather than against it?

Urm I mean is this even a thing! A fence would offer no protection even if these dogs are as bloodthirsty as you say. They could jump it if very determined.

Yes of course it's a thing. When were you last in a park

Areas around childrens swings, roundabouts, slides etc are fenced off. Some of these fences are very high BTW. Also with gates and signs 'no dogs allowed'.

This is to prevent dog attacks and prevent children having to play near dog crap and urine

But now these play areas are taped or blocked off due to the virus being survivable on metal surfaces, and to prevent loitering. But children do not have this protective space anymore in parks.

Why can't you just keep your dogs on leads everywhere, even just for the lockdown period. What's the problem?

Same old pish. Different hour.

No thoughts on my dog and the constant petting, Flax?

Eckhart yes I think for some breeds it is a good idea. My post wasn’t addressed at or towards you, apologies. I think I have mentally agreed with all your comments that I’ve read. It was towards one poster and her inane talk of dog attacks in parks/anything to do with dogs. I was trying to show the ridiculous nature of her arguments of dogs vs other dangers in society.

Same old pish. Different hour.
Too true.

This is to prevent dog attacks and prevent children having to play near dog crap and urine
It keeps the dogs out of the play area to keep it safe as excitable children can scare dogs and because of that it's best for everyone to have no dogs in, not because dogs are inherently vicious and are programmed to attack children.

Nothing to do with dog mess because I hate to break it to you but birds can still poo, cats can still do their business, foxes, mice and any other range of creatures. At various points I'm sure the spiders might rub their willies on the play equipment too and that's before you consider the germs all over benches, gates, play equipment from humans not washing their hands after going to the toilet.

I can't remember if you're the poster from up thread complaining about not being able to have a picnic in the park because dogs might have peed there once, as if the grass would be pristine in the absence of dogs, but it's the same illogical argument.

Why can't you just keep your dogs on leads everywhere, even just for the lockdown period. What's the problem

It's not necessary. You don't make the law. If it needed to be law, it would be made law.

It is legal to walk dogs off lead in parks, however much you don't like it. I suggest that if, as it seems, you are wildly more sensitive than most, then you stay away from areas where dogs are allowed by the authorities to be off their leads. You need to take care of yourself, Flax, given that all these dogs are ceaselessly attacking you whenever you step out the door, and slathering their COVID19 germs all over you.

doghair, I think we're on roughly the same page

@Flaxmeadow some
Dogs can jump very high? Some dogs can fit through the gaps in the bars. My dog is kept on a lead at the moment and we don't let her off around other dogs at the park anyway as she's nervous of them. However this scenario you've made up in your head is just that - made up.
In your local area how many children have been attacked by dogs? And by that I don't mean a dog running up to them or even jumping up at them I mean biting them?
You are being ridiculous and paranoid. Get a grip