'Dangerous dogs' - should I report?

David__P_3

Hi, first post, and I am here for advice.

OK, earlier today I was out walking with my two year old daughter down a quiet road very close to our house, and a road which I walk along on a daily basis. All of a sudden, two large rottweilers came sprinting from their house, across the road and confronted me and my daughter. For whatever reason, (perhaps because she is small?) they both surrounded her and began to walk around her.

Petrified, I frantically shouted for help. I thought that me going to pick her up might have made the situation worse, so I stayed as still as I could and informed my daughter (who was now crying) to do likewise.

This went on for about a minute before a man came running out of the house where the dogs had come from and grabbed the animals, before taking them back inside. He aploigised, and claimed that he had "left the front door open with it being so warm". He was even laughing as he said it, which showed how lightly he had taken the situation.

I was so shook up that I couldn't bring myself to say anything back and was more concerned with taking my daughter back home. I'm now unsure what to do. Do i report this? If so, who to? Secondly, if i do choose to report the incident, can i do it anonymously? The last thing I want is for the dogs' owner to find out it was me who made the complaint, as I have to walk past his house everyday to get to and from our local train station.

I'm totally unsure what to do here, so if anyone has any advice or experience with these sort of matters, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks for taking the time to read.

McKneff

I would report the incident in a heartbeat to be honest.

Speak to the police and see what they say.

his_missus

Most definitely. You'd be wracked with guilt if you read/heard that these dogs had done this again and attacked someone?

Maybe he feels his dogs are safe but you never can tell.

MrsAtobe

I doubt very much that this will be the first or last incident, I think a chat with your local dog warden would be a good idea.

Hope your daughter's gotten over the shock.

David__P_3

OK, thanks for your replies. Is there a specific number to make an anonymous call? I'm also not entirely sure what number the house is, but I can find that out. I assume all the investigators need is the house number?

lynnemcf

https://www.gov.uk/control-dog-public/report-a-dog

Hope that helps

pawsies

I think it sounds like an honest mistake...

David__P_3

lynnemcf wrote: »

Hope that helps

It does. Thank you.

clarkee22

sorry, I disagree, if all they did was walk around her for a minute or so I don't class that as dangerous. I would think about reporting the dogs' owner for being careless and causing upset and worry, but I don't see how these dogs were being 'dangerous'. Were they exposing their teeth and growling?

David__P_3

pawsies wrote: »

I think it sounds like an honest mistake...

How so? I would also like to point out something which I didn't include in the original post, and that is that I myself am a dog owner. This is not just a knee jerk reaction from someone who hates animals, far from it, in fact.

zaksmum

Did the dogs actually do anything or is it the fact that they came out of their house that scared you? You say they walked around your daughter...were they avoiding her, or were they growling and aggressive?