Dugs and Dug Owner

[just jim]

So I'm picking the girl from school and I'm walking through a little ally when a large boisterous Lab comes bounding up giving me and the two girls a bit of a scare. I don't like dogs doing that. Anyway, the common response from the owner is "Oh He's harmless - he won't bite!" or in today's case "He's just a puppy!"

Why does that make it alright? I've heard this several times from dog owners as if it's legitimate excuse.

Better put the beans on now I've got that off the chest.

edit - Thankfully they don't crap on my lawn, but they pee on my hedge.

 

[swee'pea99]

It doesn't. And (speaking as a dog owner) I reckon your best option is to calmly (and a tad coldly) say 'That may be the case, but it's still frightening to a lot of children.' ...and see what they say. Some will doubtless be brazen, but my guess is the majority might actualy think about it and exercise better control in future. (Dog owners, like parents, are often blind to others' inability to recognise instantly that the apple of their eye is perfect in every way.)

 

[Archie_tect]

It's the vicious ones that scare me.... the dogs are usually OK.

 

[Corvette chic]

as a dog owner there is no excuse for any dog not being on a lead in a public area. what if it have shot across the bloody road.... B) it's not the dog it's the useless mindless f*ckwits that give the rest of us owners bad press. whether it's picking sh*t up or generally not controlling the dog there's always some clown that says "oh it won't bite" they don't know that. next time you see them tell them to get it on a lead or you'll report them to the local dog warden or equivalent

rant over but ! useless bloody pet owners

my friend has a border collie who walks to heel but he's exceptional

 

[Coco]

You should run up to the owner in a boisterous manner and when you get to within a foot of them say "Its ok I won't hurt you"

 

[just jim]

I suppose it's the implication that I don't "understand" their animal.
I do understand it. I just don't like it.

 

[Corvette chic]

and their whiney excuse would be what if the dog had knocked over your child eh? it's like having a 2/3 year old kid come running up to you and giving you a kick what would the excuse be there then "oh it's just the toddler" ffs

as you can probably tell it's one of my pet lol hates

 

[661-Pete]

Also off-limits is the dog that runs up to you and jumps on you putting its paws on your clothes - especially on a muddy footpath! I've had owners fail to apologise for that, after the event. They get a very vinegary eyeballing from me if that happens!

And, the opposite extreme. It may happen that I'm cycling towards a perfectly docile and well-behaved pooch (e.g. cocker spaniel) walking quietly beside owner. It's irksome to be patronizingly told, as I slow down my approach, "don't worry she won't hurt you". I know that! The reason I slow down, Mr/Ms Responsible Dog-owner, is that I want to see that the dog is on its lead, and not one of those expander jobs either, and not about to run into my path, before I hurtle past the happy couple at 20mph....

 

[Archie_tect]

....my friend has a border collie who walks to heel but he's exceptional

B) ...and the border collie?

 

[just jim]

My niece who's the same age as my eldest girl has a scar on her arm where a dog bit her. That upsets me. I don't think there's any excuse and it's in the back of my mind when dogs come up to us.

 

[Globalti]

I was out for a nice little walk once with my agent on a visit from Pakistan when we met one of these harmless doggies that came up wagging its tail. In his country dogs are not kept as pets, they bite, and poor Tarique neraly shat himself. He screamed and ran behind me for protection, grabbing my jacket and yelling "Oh My God! Oh My God!" The pet owner came out with the usual "Oh, he's only being friendly" but it did rather spoil Tarique's first ever walk in the British countryside.

 

[gavintc]

I caused an incident on this very subject. I am not a dog lover, if I am honest, they frighten me a little. Dog bounds up to me clearly going to launch up, so I smacked it hard on the face to deflect it. Cue; scream of claims of abuse. I claimed it was simply self defence - she was hysterical. So I simply walked off, telling her to control her dog. She claimed she was going to call the police.

 

[longers]

If my dog did that to someone, I'd be mortified, apologise and if they acted as Gavin did then I'd have no problem with it at all. Then I'd probably apologise again.

 

[scots_lass]

Same type of thing when I am in the vet with my cat. Dog owner always sit down beside me and say while their dog is slavering over the cat basket, 'oh, he's used to cats'. That may be but my cats are not used to dogs!

 

[Mr Pig]

You should run up to the owner in a boisterous manner and when you get to within a foot of them say "Its ok I won't hurt you"

Oh that's good. I must remember that.