is it really so bad to take a well-behaved dog on a lead into the playground?

[hatwoman]

I guess it's easier to ban all dogs rather than just banning idiots with badly behaved pit bulls. but it does seem a bit harsh. I appreciate that not everyone likes dogs and that some people are scared of them regardless of their nature or breed, but if it's on a lead I'm not sure I see what the problem is...

yes its really so bad. if dd1 sees a dog in the playground she wont leave. she physically shakes ....

Why? has she not had any contact with dogs, or has she had a bad experience?

I am not a massive dog lover but I have had one and I wonder if sometimes a fear of dogs is passed on by the parent?

Beaniesteve, dog owners often assume the child's fear must be passed on by parents. No, I imagine most parents themselves scared of dogs will do what they can for their children not to have the same fear. My children are terrified of dogs. I am not scared myself (just don't want them slobbering all over me) and DH absolutely loves dogs. Just a walk in the local park and few dogs "who just love children of course" running over to my children has been enough to scare them.

beaniesteve: dd2 was born with numerous phobias. At four days old she was screaming fit to burst when we took her pram in a lift - we were as we always assumed that being scared of something is something that you learn, either from experience or from your parents. Not so.

She is terrified of all sorts of things, from dogs to feathers, from wet sand to strange people talking to her. Some of her fears we have encouraged her to "get over" such as her terror of grass and her incessant screaming every time we hoovered.

I am not exaggerating.

She is absolutely petrified of dogs. Small ones, big ones, barky ones, jumpy ones, you name it, she is frightened of it.

We are in the process of trying to get her a bit more used to dogs by encouraging her to pet quiet ones.

We are set back in this a bit though because every time we think we are getting somewhere and she is just about stroking a dog, another one will come over all boundy and barky and bouncy and we're back to square one.

We'll get there.

Probably.

But in the meantime, I cannot even begin to describe just how scared she is. And it is not learnt from us.

DD didn't pick up fear of dogs from me. I'm from a long line of dog lovers (not in a weird twisted way, just in a pet loving family kind of way). I didn't avoid dogs...don't have the hatred of slobber...nothing anti-dog about me.

We just didn't have a dog when dd was born and have no intentions of having a dog because, when dd was smaller, we both worked. And we have a small garden, so it wouldn't have been fair.

DD was, however, scared of dogs following an incident in a playground where someones devil demon bastard friendly dog leapt up at her and gouged great chunks of flesh out of her arms. Can't imagine why she's so phobic of dogs now!!!

Please...do me a favour! Dog lovers are entitled to do whatever they want in the comfort of their own homes, but the school playgrounds should be free from beasts of all kinds (and yes, I count some of the parents in that statement too, but I'm just now quite sure how you get them banned )

This isn't a dog lover vs dog hater thread, it's a common sense vs bonkers, over the top dog lovers thread.

many of you are saying there is a rule - I am fairly certain there is no notice about no dogs at our school - and I don't think it has ever been mentioned. I will have to have a good look next time I go and see if I have missed it.

Our village playground is fenced off from the rest of the playing field to keep dogs out. I totally approve of this as don't like the idea of dogs weeing up the climbing frame.

Some idiots had their dog in their - actually on the seesaw the other week. Totally ignoring the "no dogs" sign, they didn't even have any kids. I got a mouthful when I pointed out the sign to them.

taking dogs to a kids playground (eg swings etc) is definitely not on - usually that is where kids are running around and making lots of noise - just the thing to excite a dog. Most of the ones I know have no dogs signs - which I think are generally respected.

School playgrounds at pickup time may be different.

Why are school playgrounds different? Kids running around and making lots of noise. That's different??

Er...I don't think so.

there are so many illegal pit bull things being imported from ireland now, no one feels confident of dogs

people still let the pit bulls run free in the children's playground if no one will enforce the no dog rule we're just stuck with it

though my son brought a sweet 'how to pet a dog safely' colour in from school last week.

dogs are banned now from our school because an owner let her dog shit in the playground and didn't clear it up

Also some moron brought thier staffie to dsd sports day, it got loose and ran round barking at all the kids and knocking them over, some kids were petrified.

The teachers and the parents were livid, then owners were just laughing

bimey, still going. now in many ways I want to let it lie, but there are things on here that I really want to respond to

firstly (for the second time) I WAS NOT CONTEMPLATING DOING IT. and I was not asking if I was being reasonable or not (because I have not done it and will not do it, it was a hypothetical question)

secondly - and this is not now about the playground situation - more a general response to some of the things people have said - lots of people talk about having had bad experiences of dogs on leads jumping at them - I completely understand that this isn't nice and I hate it myself. but as I said in my post half way down dogs are part of life and you can avoid being jumped at by dogs on leads by not going near them. obviously if they come near you (as, I admit, one in a playground might) then that is the owner's fault. but the reality is that in most cases you can avoid being jumped at by dogs on leads. it's just a case of people (dog owners and non-dog owners) respecting each other - which kind of leads me to my next point.

I absolutely refute the idea that I think all people like dogs and that I think everyone loves my "poochie woochie". Firstly I don;t have a poochie woochie (people that do tend to be not real dog lovers imo but slightly unhinged people with a desire for a moving cuddly toy). I have a dog. And - like most dog owners I know - I accept fully that lots of people don;t like them and I know that lots of people are scared of them but I think we (dog-owners and dog-fearers/dislikers) can accomodate each other. I keep my distance, I keep my dog on a lead. If you want to come and say hello you can. that's really not so hard is it? for all of us? I won't take him in the school playground and I won;t take him in park playgrounds. (but I will breathe a sigh of relief when we move to the country and I become perceived as an ordinary run-of-the-mill person who happens to have a dog, not some poochie-woochie owner or some militant dogs rights person....just a person. with a dog.)

what I said about respect is very similar to what starlight says - keep it on a lead and you are "keeping them away until permission has been granted"

That's fine in theory hatwoman, but in a crowded playground, with a dog on a long lead, keeping your child away from a pet owner isn't straightforward.

My child did not go near the dog that leapt at her intentionally. She was just running from the school ramp to her mum, as any reception child would. The dog wasn't being held tightly enough on the lead and leapt at her, teeth bared (probably friendly, but certainly not perceived that way by a small child) and scratched her.

I accept that in this case the pet owner was irresponsible and not all pet owners are, but how do you tell the difference? Well, you don't. Not in a situation like this. You enforce a blanket rule that ensures the safety of the majority. And ffs, is it really so tiresome to leave your dog at home when you pick your kids up? I wouldn't light up in a playground...I wouldn't swear in a playground, I woudln't give out sweets in a playground. Because not all parents would approve of this behaviour and I respect their wishes.

If you put a thread in AIBU, you have to expect people to say yes, you are being unreasonable in whatever it is you're proposing. You asked, is it really that bad to take a well behaved dog into a playground?
Well, yes it is.

There may well be well behaved dogs, but due to the irresponsibility of some pet owners, children (like mine) who are also not deviant in their likes and dislikes, do not see them as such. They see them as a potential threat. And in a school yard, they shouldn't be forced to confront this fear.

Therefore, NO dog should be taken into a fenced/playground area and particularly not a school yard.

It may be the most placid dog in the world, but (a) dogs like that have been known to turn on a sixpence if provoked by kids (and kids do that kind of thing sometimes) and (b) if someone has had a bad experience of dogs, their fear will kick in anyway. It's not fair to put children in danger, real or perceived. And most playgrounds say that dogs shouldn't be allowed. They say that because it's a perceived risk.

I will happily respect any dog owner if they leave their dogs at home, rather than bringing them to the school playground. It's a mutual thing. You can do what you like in the privacy of your own home. You can take them to the park and let them run in the wide open spaces. But you don't take them inside fenced areas where it says 'no dogs', ie the playground areas. And you keep them out of my school yard.

Yes!

um... squilly, much as I agree with you... this isn't in AIBU and Hatwoman has said several times that she has not done this, and will not consider it, she just wanted some opinions.

Which she has been given.

The problem is, that for every well-trained dog with a very alert and sensible owner, there will be idiots who cannot control their dogs and who would not be looking out to avoid any potential problems in a playground- you know, being observant, noticing if a child is getting a bit too friendly with dog or irritating the dog etc...

YOu just don't know how anychild is going to react to a dog, and some people do not like dogs.

ALso, imagine if evry dogowner arrived with their dogs in the palyground. Think of the potential dog on dog trouble that could arise.
So, I would say that yes,it is best to have a no dogsin playground rule.

OOPs.. Egg on my face. Not sure why I thought it was in AIBU! Is there a blush emoticon? If so, please insert here.

I certainly haven't intended to attack the op in any of my posts, but I think that the question being asked needs addressing. And the thread is still ongoing because it's more emotive than you'd think. Some parents do get bees in their bonnets about this and rightly so.

We are all programmed to keep our kids safe and
I don't feel that I can do that at the moment in our school yard. I see dogs jumping up little kids in our playground at school nearly every day and it drives me nuts. If (God forbid) there is a biting incident, everyone will blame the school. And they've asked for dogs to be kept in certain areas, but are being ignored.

Personally, I think a ban on dogs in school playgrounds goes beyond reasonable and into commonsense ground.

Apologies for the misunderstanding with the AIBU. It's the main thread I read, so I made a daft assumption. Everything else I said still applies though!

Both my dcs loves dogs, as do I, but my instant reaction was yes, it is wrong to take them into a playground. I know many children who are very scared of dogs and a playground should be a safe place for them.

However, on further reflection, at our school, the dogs are all tied up outside the gates and many stand there barking/howling the whole time their owners are insider. I would have thought that for a child who is scared of dogs, it might be better to have a few dogs scattered about on leads in the playground that they can avoid than to have to walk past the baying pack at the gates. (This of course assumes that they are all very well trained not to leave reminders of their presence where they are not wanted).

squilly - you can do a blush by doing this: [ blush ]

I think that there are several issues here - the first being that a lot of dog owners (perhaps the doggie woggie woo types) cannot actually see whether their dog is well behaved or not. My brother had a dog that he thought was perfectly behaved because it was friendly and never bit or barked in anger. It did, however, jump up at everyone who came near it and it barked in excitement all the time. The dog would not have hurt anyone, but dd2 was petrified of it. And a dog owner saying to a phobic child "it's okay, he won't hurt you" doesn't help at all

Secondly, if the rule is NO DOGS then that must surely mean NO DOGS. You wouldn't expect to be able to take your dog for a wander around Tesco. The rule is there for a reason and whether you agree with it or not, it is there.

Thirdly, there is also the issue of allergies. If you know a place is safe to take your allergic (or phobic) child because dogs are banned, and some owners ignore that ban, then nowhere is safe for you.

As another poster said waaaay down the thread, there are thousands of places you can take your dog so it really isn't a problem to leave the playground to the children.

goosey loosey - neither is okay for a child frightened of dogs.

By leaving your child away from the playground, I mean away from the playground - at home.

I don't have any objection to a well behaved, well controlled dog being at a playgroud. But I did have a very strong objection to a dog who leapt on my three year old dd1, nipping at her face, and to the owner who ineffectively tried three times to pull the dog off. It's those dog owners who give all dogs a bad name unfortunately, and who have made my dd1 scared of dogs.

I have 2 dogs and it would make my life alot easier if I could take them with me on school runs.

But if they peed in the playground it would be a bit grim for the kids to then have to play around it.

Sorry, but the rules are there for good reason. To start with yes, definitely far easier to have a blanket ban, than having to monitor individual dogs being banned. Also some children are just wary of digs, for whatever reason, and the playground is for them - not for dogs. The school playground should be a place of security for them, not one where theyr feel wary. Also, would have to monitor dogs going to the toilet in the playground - even just a week is vile. And not every dog owner cares enough to stop them.