Dogs on lead, dogs off lead - rant

orlao

lazer wrote: »

So you think allow a dog to jump on someone makes them a slightly underpar owner - I think it makes them a seriously underpar owner as they do not have control of their animal.

Humans are people so if they behave poorly, they themselves are responsible (or their parents if children).
I don't know of anyone who actively takes their cat to a park or somewhere for a walk - do you?

The response was not massively disproportionate - it is not acceptable for dogs to jump on people at all, whereas you seem to think that it is only a slight nuisance.

I have previously stated that their should be parks (or allocated times in current parks etc) where dogs can roam free and those who are afraid/allergic to or simply do not like dogs know to avoid these.

It is the attitude of the majority of dog owners that annoys me in general, quite simply if you have your dog out in public without a lead, keep it away from people, and if you can't do this without putting a lead on it, then put a lead on it,

I do not want to be out for a walk and have a dog sniffing around at my feet, just to be told by the owner, that don't worry, it won't actually touch you - I don't care that it won't touch me, I want to be able to go for a walk without being annoyed by it!

I know of at least 3 people, who refuse to go for a walk in my local forest park due to the number of dogs around as they are afraid of them.
I would like to see the park divided into different areas so both dog owners and those afraid of dogs can enjoy them!

I am not afraid of dogs - I am indifferent to dogs, maybe even like some, but i do not like dogs jumping on me or coming anywhere near me, unless it as a dog i know and trust!

I can see your point about not wanting to be bothered by dogs if you are out for a stroll but you are in public areas - dog owners/walkers are members of the public too you know - and they are just as entitled to use them too. Public open space is at a premium and we all have to make compromises and share...while showing tolerance maybe?

VictoriaBlyth

Where did common sense go?

I have an old, old lab, she is never on a lead unless we are walking on the lane (we live in the country), I know she has no interest in other dogs, or people, unless they have dog treats in their pocket...
BUT, if I see someone coming toward me with their dog on a lead, I always put mine on. If theirs is off lead, I just shout "mine is alright if yours is".
Anyone waliking dogless? Older people and children, I put her on a lead, just to reassure them as I know she will just ignore them. Anyone else, I just call her to walk close by me.

It's not brain surgery - the worst thing I have seen lately is a woman with a puppy, on lead and not allowed to socialise with either human or dog. Interesting to see how that one turns out.

lazer

orlao wrote: »

I can see your point about not wanting to be bothered by dogs if you are out for a stroll but you are in public areas - dog owners/walkers are members of the public too you know - and they are just as entitled to use them too. Public open space is at a premium and we all have to make compromises and share...while showing tolerance maybe?

However, dogs aren't members of the public!

I can show tolerance, if the dog is off a lead and controlled, that is tolerable (Although - I would prefer it on a lead still)
If your dog is not controlled (ie: bothers people in a park), then I have no tolerance for it not being on a lead!

And yes - we should share, in every park or beach there should at a minimum be times when all dogs must be on a lead - so everyone can enjoy the park at least sometimes!

gemmalouanna

tango wrote: »

It seems to me that a high percentage of dogs would be fine if their owners relaxed a bit ?

I think so too - a lot of the problems stem from over worried owners.

Peoples perceptions of dogs being 'attacked' can be very different and over the top. A dog coming steaming over and charging straight into a fight is my definition of attacked(never seen this) but 2 dogs who take the rough play too far and end up having a scrap - well that's just dogs and they will sort it for themselves (see it quite often).

What bugs me is the people walking tiny dogs who pick them up when they come towards another dog- of course the other dogs are going to jump up and play the game to get to the small dog!

orlao

lazer wrote: »

However, dogs aren't members of the public!

I can show tolerance, if the dog is off a lead and controlled, that is tolerable (Although - I would prefer it on a lead still)
If your dog is not controlled (ie: bothers people in a park), then I have no tolerance for it not being on a lead!

And yes - we should share, in every park or beach there should at a minimum be times when all dogs must be on a lead - so everyone can enjoy the park at least sometimes!

Fair enough

dizziblonde

I'm ignoring the mandatory dog-hating trolls and returning to the topic in hand.

Normally it's dogs with issues on-lead complaining of dogs off-lead coming up. Reverse happened the other morning - I was bumbling along with woofy on the lead because it had just stopped raining and I couldn't be bothered with a sopping wet dog if he ran through the bushes, dog comes running up to us off-lead and starts sniffing around. Now, I adopt the equality of bumsniff approach - if you sniff his butt - he's fully entitled to sniff yours back. Daft owner comes up and starts yelling that I should tell my dog off for sniffing her dog, the dog that had come charging up to US!

Like go away and do one - your dog approached US and has issues with its butt being sniffed (it had happily given and taken the mutual bum sniff routine incidentally) and you're yelling at ME to sanction my on-lead dog?!

Person_one

lazer wrote: »

However, dogs aren't members of the public!

I can show tolerance, if the dog is off a lead and controlled, that is tolerable (Although - I would prefer it on a lead still)
If your dog is not controlled (ie: bothers people in a park), then I have no tolerance for it not being on a lead!

And yes - we should share, in every park or beach there should at a minimum be times when all dogs must be on a lead - so everyone can enjoy the park at least sometimes!

Not wanting a dog to even walk too close to you even though it doesn't actually touch you is not tolerant at all. I think you are seriously over sensitive regarding dogs and thankfully not representative of most people. There are countries with rules similar to the ones you desire, its easy to move around within the EU.

lazer

Person_one wrote: »

Not wanting a dog to even walk too close to you even though it doesn't actually touch you is not tolerant at all. I think you are seriously over sensitive regarding dogs and thankfully not representative of most people. There are countries with rules similar to the ones you desire, its easy to move around within the EU.

It can walk close to me as long as its owner is close to it as well - it cannot come sniffng round me though.

I am not over senstive, like i said i'm actually indifferent to dogs, i just think an owner should be responsible for keeping them under control.

Also - I think you will find a lot of people with my views, which is why dogs are banned unless on a lead in a vast number of national trust properties etc.

I desire owners to be responsible, and to stop telling people when a dog is jumping you or sniffing around you, thats it nots going to hurt them, instead i expect them to not let the dog jump on me in the first place - perfectly reasonable i think

moomin5

My dogs stay on lead due to unreliable recall making it unsafe, it does get annoying when someone dogs is being a nuisance (over friendly, trying to hump etc) and they've no recall so you stuck with it following you & owner takes an age to retrieve it as their too lazy so keep calling instead. The biggest issue is that people just aren't considerate of others.

Even if there were dog specific parks with leash laws elsewhere like in the states they'd still be the same people ignorant to their dogs behaviour and those that think the rules doesn't apply to them so let their dogs off. I go on US breed forum and if anything it seems like they have more issues with unsocial behaviour & dog on dog attacks than we do.

bagginslover

Roystonb wrote: »

I have two sighthounds. One I let off lead when I am sure it is safe. This means that I can see there are no aggresive or unknown dogs around and I also keep him on a lead if there are young children, cyclists or horse riders about. The other dog has poor recall, so I keep him on a lead in public. I, too, get fed up when people ask me to put my dog on a lead because their dog is aggressive. The law clearly states that a dog owner is responsible for their dog, and should have it under control when in public. If a dog is aggressive it should be walked away from other dogs, never be let off lead and wear a muzzle when out. As has been said before, the main problems seem to be that people don't socialise puppies (not always possible when you get an older rescue dog) and a failure of so many dog owners to realise that an out of control dog is a lethal weapon. Dog owners who get upset when they are criticised for having an out of control dog, whether it is aggressive or "over-friendly" by jumping up and frightening non-dog owners, are as much a nuisance as those who don't clean up after their dogs. Eventually those owners who are responsible will end up paying the price, when we can no longer exercise our dogs anywhere.

Sorry, rant over.

The 2 bits I have bolded directly contradict each other, if your dog is always on lead when unknown dogs are around, how can anyone tell you to put yours on lead because theirs is agresssive? Or are you saying that you know te dog,and even though you know it to be agressive, you still let yours off?

The fact is, when your dog is loose, the onus is on YOU to control him. The agressive dog is controlled by being on lead.If you cannot stop yourdog charging upto another dog because his recall isn't up to par, its YOUR fault if your dog is injured, just as it would be your fault if it caused a car accident, or attacked a human whilst off lead.