I've just been screamed at by a woman in the park.

[TantrumsAndBalloons]

I have 2 staffys, one is a pup 18 weeks.

I was walking the puppy in the park, it's a massive park, lots of dogs running about off lead, no problems.

The pup was walking next to me, we passed a woman with a toddler in a pushchair on a bench. Milo went to one end of the bench to chase a plastic cup.
The woman screamed "getting your fucking dog away from my child"
I called him, he came over.

The woman then came about 2 inches from my face screaming I was an irresponsible person, I shouldn't let my dog off the lead, he was out of control, she was going to report me.

I don't know what I did wrong tbh, Milo was nowhere near the toddler but she kept saying that he was licking her child's feet, but he was nowhere near her feet and he came back as soon as I called him, he was in no way out of control.

I understand people do not like dogs but isn't this a big of an overreaction?

And it's always the ones on retractable leads, D0oin. Always.

I think retractable leads should be banned :)

No it isn't always the ones with a retractable lead. I had a beagle mix once and used one of those.

My DS is scared of dogs after being jumped on by a "friendly puppy". I'm mightly pissed of at DH for letting it happen because I've tried to teach DS to respect dogs. He knows he has to ask before stroking and stay near me when they come running at him. He's getting better.

I hate the owners who claim their friendly dog is fine when is jumping near my child. He's not yet 3, a small child, and most dogs are like giants to him. Any owner that cheerily ignores my son's distress gets a steely glare and I'll tell them that he doesn't know if it's friendly.

However I feel sorry for you OP - woman was out of order. I think dogs should be allowed off leads but have designated areas - a bit like child only bits of a park!

scottishmummy, all animals, including humans, have three basic responses to feeling threatened - fight, flight or freeze. Tantrums froze, others would have run, others would have fought.

The woman put her self in unnecessary danger while out alone with her child by choosing to threaten a stranger, with an unknown temperament. Tantrums could easily have been one of the people who would react to fear with a violent response.

That is all I was saying, I did not say it would have been the correct response. I bet if Tantrums was covered in tattoos and piercings and was accompanied by a large, burly man the woman wouldn't have said anything.

One day she will scream in the wrong person's face.

Do you know what d0oin I did wonder whether she would have done the same thing to my DH? Maybe I just look like a wimp :(

I don't think anyone has said the woman in the op's behaviour was acceptable. But expecting non dog people to know how to behave around dogs is a common dog owner's arrogance. Which, I hasten to say, the op has not shown.

But Seeker, as has been pointed it is not dog-savvy to know that screaming at a dog's owner might agitate a dog. It is common sense.

Tantrums, its because we've had 4 days of sunshine that people are saying dogs should always be on leads in public places, happens on MN every year. Sun comes out, everyone heads to park/beach, and doesn't realise that other people use these spaces for the other 361 days a year. Smile, be friendly, keep them on lead in busy areas full of nutters and remember that most of them will never see these places with a thick crunch of frost or an early morning mist.

And common sense is so very easy to access when you're scared. Or 4.

Most of the off-lead dogs in my neighbourhood are no problem. Occasionally one strays too near the baby for her or my liking, but most owners are pretty aware and act quickly. There is a minority of owners who are simply useless. Frankly, an off-lead dog with a responsible owner is much less of a problem than a dog on a lead (esp if retractable) with a stupid owner.

Tantrum in reply to your "Where can dogs go offlead" question.

Park - yes.
My DD isn't fond of dogs (but as I said, she's getting better. I just want her to not be scared , not neccessarily to want to embrace them)

When we go to the park my (excellant) DS says "Ignore the dogs. Don't look at it's eyes.Look at it's tail"
We sometimes go on the excercise equipment (there is a fenced off child area for under 10s).

Woods - yes

Beach -yes, at the Dog Time (I think May- Sept they're not on some areas)

I choose not to have a dog.
My DS is great with dogs. My DD not.

I've never had the need to yell at a dog owner.
The only near incident we had was in woods. A man had 2 dobermans that flew out of their car into the woods. My DD was about 3 at the time. She got a heck of a scare (they were huge ) and off lead, but stayed with their owner.

My main problem was keeping my DS was interogating the owner about his dogs age, breed, names, were they sisters or mum/daughter etc etc

But he doesn't touch a dog without express permission.

BTW was the toddler 'bovvered' by your pup.
Or was it just the mum?

I see what you're saying, seeker, but this woman wasn't 4, was she? It doesn't seem that she was scared, either, just that she wanted an excuse to shout at someone and make them feel like shit. Probably something to do with the weather... And Twelve is spot on WRT to hot days (always hot days when the retractable leads appear too. Oh yes).

seeker, IKWYM about some dog owners behaving very arrogantly in that they allow their dogs to charge at people, laugh "oh, he's just playing" when people who've been minding their own business are clearly terrified (or just a bit pissed off, which they've every right to be), etc.
Tantrums wasn't doing this. (Staff owners generally don't, IME

70 the toddler didn't notice the dog til the mum started screaming and then he started to cry. I don't know if he was crying because he was scared of the dog or the mum shouting?

Just over a month ago I took home a 5-year old rescue JRT cross and he's turned out to be perfect except for one major thing. He's displaying aggression with other dogs and I've just come back from a walk during which he attacked a mini-pinscher and injured it slightly. Luckily the owner was very understanding but it was a huge shock.

Basically he's very unpredictable; sometimes he's fine with other dogs but what can start as a friendly mutual-sniffing session comes to an abrupt end when he seems to snap and attack them. He was a stray so have no back-history and I'm thinking it's based on fear because of something that happened to him. I'm not going to let him off-lead now and DD will be too scared to walk him on her own. I'm also thinking I should get a muzzle so other owners know to give us a wide berth. Does anyone have any exprience of this, can it be trained out of him? Thanks.

Sorry,meant to start a new thread!

Try using a muzzle, Soba - you'll probably have to do some training - putting it on for a short time during walks, rewarding him with treats through mesh, encouranging him to gets used to it gently before wearing it with treat inside, etc. If he's fear-aggressive this might be a little bit of a challenge, but it's the right thing to do - he'll then be safer to be around other dogs and off lead (and you won't have to resort to using one of those hideous garrotting instruments retractable leads).

Thought you might have done

As I said, for me, most times, I would not go somewhere that dogs were offload in case there are Staffies there. I have no choice in my local Country Park, as I can't use the other route where dogs have to be leashed, as I need the accessible route.

I am not saying that I swear when faced with a Staffie that's loose, but I DO shout. And back away. I can't HELP shouting, it's how I react to any sort of fear, but when I am a safe distance away, I always call out an apology for shouting, while calmly reiterating that I don't want the Staffie anywhere near me.

And it IS common courtesy to muzzle your dog in public areas, it doesn't hurt them. I did it with my Labrador.

I will ALWAYS be scared of Staffies, no amount of counselling and CBT has helped, you can't erase what you have seen.

So if you are in Essex, and you own a Staffie, that is running offlead, and is unmuzzled, and a dark haired woman shout at you, backs away, and then apologises for shouting, but asks you to please put your dog on a lead or muzzle him, then I apologise, you've probably just met me...

Agree with muzzle, and short walks.

Also do the 3 second hello to start with, I had to do that with one of my foster dogs.
Basically take off the muzzle, walk past the dog, give him 3 seconds to sniff/say hello and walk off.

Hold on. I've just had a thought

If I thought my DD was in danger, my instinct would be to remove her from the immediate danger, not scream and carry on like a fuckwit.

Then surely she was using her child as an excuse??

I don't think anyone has said the woman the op was talking about was anything but a loon.

"And it IS common courtesy to muzzle your dog in public areas, it doesn't hurt them"

that is just a bizarre thing to say. why would you muzzle a dog without good reason? my staffie has never been muzzled in his life - he is 12 and has never shown any aggression.

i would absolutley not muzzle my dog without reason. it may not physically hurt him to be muzzled but he would find it very uncomfortable and it would affect his quality of life.