rottweiler at school gates - opinions?

katglasgow

Although an animal lover I am very squeamish and overly sensitive to large dogs. SO I was distressed today to see a woman standing at the school gates holding a very large rotweiller. She was on the pavement so just outside school property but only just and IMHO did not have a very firm grip on the dog's lead. It is a huge powerful looking dog. I felt really uncomfortable walking thru the narrow gateway past her with my 6 year old child and toddler in a pushchair. I didnt say anything, but wondered if I should have/could have? I dont know the woman personally, but have seen her about and kind of have a feeling I might have got a bit of lip back (dont think she is a verr clever lady either). But thats hardly the point - to me it just doesnt seem appropriate to be sttod right at the gates of a primary school witha huge rottweiler! By the way - I have just joined the school parent council, so perhaps I should also feel a bit responsible for other parents too?
I would really appreciate opinons from others if they would have felt put out / what I could do?
Thanks!

dizziblonde

If she was inside the school grounds you could have a word with the head... if she's on the path outside the school then there's very little the school can do (apart from ask nicely).

puddy

well bearing in mind the recent death of the boy in liverpool, i would imagine its exactly the time to raise the issue at the parent council and see what strategies you can all think of. v difficult though as she is not on school property, there is usually a police liaison officer for schools, could you involve him/her

alyth

Would you like to make any more assumptions about the woman and the dog? The woman is not very clever in your opinion, she did not have a firm grip of the dog's lead in your opinion, and due to your sensitiveness to large animals she should not have been standing there.

Presumably as she was standing at the school gates she was waiting for her child?

Have you spoken to any of the other parents as to how they feel about this woman?

pisces_cat

Our primary school requests that parents don't bring dogs near the school gates (via the monthly newsletter) though not everyone pays attention to this. Lots of kids are scared or nervous of dogs so this really isn't fair

LilacPixie

Was the dog showing signs of aggression??

Might seem a silly to some but I know several people with this breed of dog and it would not of bothered me at all. I was actually attacked by a dog when i was 4 and still have the scars. The dog in question was a jack russell.

stormbreaker

katglasgow wrote: »

a very large rotweiller.

Is it the fact that it is a large or the breed?

We had a rotweiller long before all the bad press. People would cross the road to comment on her and pet her.She was the softest most obedient dog we have ever had and she was very rarely on a lead.

After the incident on the West coast of Scotland people would cross the road to avoid her.

I respected how they felt as I would no doubt feel the same.

I would however have been annoyed had someone made a negative comment about her or about where we could reasonably take her, as you are suggesting you were going to do.

I never encouraged anyone to pet her and still don't encourage anyone to pet our current springer as there is no knowing when a dog might turn.

When push comes to shove no dog can be trusted regardless of the size and breed.

becs

Was the dog showing any sign of agression or just standing quietly and as someone else said perhaps waiting for the owners child to also come out of school? Lets not get hysterical because an illegal breed of dog tragically killed a little boy in the middle of the night. All dogs and owners do not need to be tarred with the same brush. I'm not a rotweiller lover myself but I have to say I have yet to meet one that has shown any agression towards me as a random stranger. Just because a dog is large and you find it threatening does not make it a dangerous dog. She had the dog on a lead which shows responsability unlike the owners of the dogs that have killed children. Don't encourage children to be frightened of dogs as they can bring so much to a childs life if the owner is responsible. We should be educating our children about dogs and not randomly and without reason striking fear into them.

Mado

Like others have said, there is little you can do if she isn't on the school grounds.
But if she obstructs the way in, she could be asked to move the dog a liitle further.
Regardless of whether the dog is nice or not, small children can be very intimidated by a dog as big as they are.

ceebeeby

My only though was whether it had a muzzle on. If it did, then at least she's considered the kids safety. If it didn't then imho very inappropriate to have close to lots of noisy, jumpy children.

Perhaps the woman could have been a bit more sensitive to the recent press and the even more recent tragedy involving a child.

I would have said something to be honest if it didn't have a muzzle on.

stormbreaker

jenner wrote: »

well bearing in mind the recent death of the boy in liverpool, i would imagine its exactly the time to raise the issue at the parent council and see what strategies you can all think of. v difficult though as she is not on school property, there is usually a police liaison officer for schools, could you involve him/her

The death in Liverpool was caused by an illegal breed of dog.

Why would the police be interested in someone taking their pet to the school?