What should I say if I see this dog owner again?

[YankNCock]

This past weekend I was at the park with DH, DS (16mo) and our puppy. DH had the puppy, DS was out of his pushchair walking along as we came out of the kids play area.

We turned a corner and saw about 4-5 dogs/owners about 25 metres away and were starting to walk that way. Most dogs were off leads, and 3 of them starting coming towards us. Our puppy was on his lead as he can't be trusted to come when called (he is nearly 5 months).

One dog in particular was very boisterous, came up to DS and I grabbed its collar to stop it jumping on DS and the puppy. It seemed nice enough, just way too excited. The owner was calling it so I let it go and it ran back, then turned around, ran straight at DS, jumped at him knocking him flat on his back and then jumped on top of him.

The dog jumped off straight away and I was more concerned with getting DS to his feet and making sure he was ok than shouting at the owner, and I was biting my tongue because I knew the only thing likely to come out of my mouth was a string of obscenities. Basically I was stunned into silence, as was DH. She just said 'oh sorry' and scuttled off, barely seemed to acknowledge her dog had essentially attacked a toddler.

Now I can't stop thinking about it and really want to confront this woman about how fucking irresponsible she was to have her dog off lead if she can't control it. If I was not a dog lover, or if DS had been hurt, she'd be looking at prosecution.

So if I meet her again, I'm going to say something...but what is the most constructive way to go about this and how can I make sure I don't go completely mental at her (particularly if I see her with her dog off lead again?)

Thought I would ask 'dog' people this question rather than general MN population, sorry OP is so long.

I don't really see it as her dog attacked a toddler but I do agree that she shouldn't have it off lead if she knows it won't listen to her.
My almost 8 month old pup wants to play with everyone and is more than likely to jump up at people in excitement. Because I know this, I don't let him off lead if little kids are around, unless I know them.

If you see the owner again, could you make sure your ds is close to you so you can block him getting knocked over?
I'd probably have to say something to the owner if I were in your shoes. I'd probably say she should keep her dog closer if he/she can't be trusted to come back.
Maybe she knows her dog wouldn't hurt anyone, but your 16 mo does not know this and it could build up a fear of dogs.

but it did 'hurt' someone, it knocked a toddler over.

In the scheme of things it isnt at attack, but it is badly behaved and needs to be on a lead.

how you controlled yourself is beyong me - I would have said something, probably loudly, probably obscenities... definitely not classy!

Tell her you are not pleased, tell her that your toddler was upset and tell her she NEEDS to get her dogs recall under control ASAP/kept on a lead until she can control it.

kid, DS was close to me, he was about two feet away. It happened so quickly and I thought the dog was going back to its owner.

What pisses me off is, I shouldn't have to be afraid to let him walk. He's sick of being in his pushchair all the time and in a park like that where there are paved paths to walk on, it should be safe for him to be out.

Jax, keeping silent is most unlike me, I still can't believe I didn't say anything. By the time I'd composed myself enough not to have every other word be 'fuck', she'd scarpered.

And it wasn't like the dog knocked him down running past him, it went straight for DS, jumped up on him knocking him flat, and then jumped on top of him and stepped on his face! To me, that's an attack, even if it didn't involve a bite.

I agree that your ds should be allowed to walk, especially in a park.
I know I would have blurted something out before my brain had time to register what I was saying!

I'm glad your ds wasn't hurt, he could have easily have hit his head and been injured that way, but I assume the dog was being over friendly rather than trying to hurt your ds, therefore, I don't consider it as an attack. I know it's not a pleasant experience either way and the owner does need to make sure she has her dog under control if it is to be off lead.

I think it depends on what effect you want really, I mean do you want her to know you are pissed off or would you like to make sure it doesn't happen again with this woman's dog?

Because I think that telling her what to do with her dog and saying it attacked your family will only make her hostile and achieve the first, whereas if you want the second you probably need a more positive strategy like chatting about your dogs and explaining hers really took your DC by surprise and as you don't want him to get scared, could she pop it on a lead when it starts getting 'over-enthusiastic' around little ones.

Yank, I'm so sorry to hear this. This is exactly the type of incident that gives responsible dog owners a bad name. It's not up to you or your poor little boy to work out whether the dog is "being friendly" - knocking someone over is an attack, whether the victim is a small child, frail elderly person or another dog.

Some suggestions - contact the local Council dog wardens and mention that there are problems with out of control dogs in the park and ask them to step up patrols in the area. In any case, you invariably find these sorts of owners rarely clean up so dog wardens may be able to enforce a few dog poo fixed penalties while they are at it.

Mention the problem to your local Councillor and ask them to take it up with the park manager - they might want to consider keeping dogs out of the childrens play area, or again stepping up patrols.

Longer term, if that doesn't help the problem, you might want to think about lobbying the Council for Dog Control Orders in the park.

The key in any case is to make sure you complain regularly and get it documented/recorded. I might even go as far as mentioning it to PCSO or at PACT meetings - again, what gets prioritised is what gets complained about.

Good luck and I do hope your son has not been permanently frightened by what happened.