Dog Walking *Rant*

Third Opinion

Third Opinion

Third Opinion

Soldato
Joined
3 Jun 2005
Posts
5,365
Location
West Sussex
A few months ago I took in a rescue Boxer dog. She is really lovely and very gentle. She had grown up around very small children and is excellent with them. She also loves people and is excellent with other dogs. I have children and although keep a close eye on her for sometime I deep down completely trust her.

What she hadn't been is trained very well. She had never been taken for a walk and not used to being on a lead. She is however very obedient when called and sits down when told. I have now trained her on the lead and she is getting better and better when out.

The other day I took her to the park with my children. They were having great fun throwing the ball for her etc. We were in a quite isolated part of the park. Anyway a lady came along with her children walking fairly close to us. The dog being interested ran over to her stopped and had a quick look and ran off. This women went absolutely nuts and started screaming and waving her hands in the air. I could see the dog hadn't touched her but went over to investigate and told one of my children to put the dog on the lead.

When I got there she went totally nuts at me saying why wasn't the dog on a lead and how dangerous they can be round children. I tried to explain to her the dog was use to children and people and certainly not dangerous. She had a foreign accent (European of some kind) and kept telling me in her country this would be illegal and that I would not be able to keep a dog like this. In a fit of temper I told her she was not in her country now so tough and turned around and left.

Got the kids and we returned to the car only to have a park keeper chasing after me shouting. I stopped and talked to him and he told me I was not welcome back in the park unless the dog was leashed at all times due to a complaint made. I am furious and may write to the council.



Needless to say I will not go back there again.
 
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some people just go out of their way to ruin someone elses day, find yourself another park and forget about that crazy woman :)
 
I'd leave a nappy sack in her path the next time hoping she stands in it :mad:

Honestly, forget about it, if you enjoy going to this park I wouldn't let some idiot stop me going ti it, lead or no lead.
 
Animals aren't predictable at all - you can never say for sure that he won't ever turn on someone. Personally, i'm with the woman on this one..if i had my two kids out in a park and boxer came running over towards them i'd be a little concerned - they can be very dangerous dogs regardless of how well you think you've trained them.
 
Forget about it and do as you normally do. Its a public area and unless there are signs saying "dogs must be on leads" then they cant do jack.

If she starts again then make a complaint about her dropping litter and being racially abusive.. should sort her out.

If the dog was obviously agressive then quite rightly she should kick up a fuss... but going mental over a normal dog is stupid. Most of the time its the kids that need to be on leads in my experiance!
 
With the stories about the Boxer dogs attacking children in the media is it any wonder the woman went mad (even if she was one of them foreign folk)? The dog running over to the kids probably scared her thinking it would attack them.
 
afraser2k said:
With the stories about the Boxer dogs attacking children in the media is it any wonder the woman went mad? The dog running over to the kids probably scared her thinking it would attack them.
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What stories about boxer dogs in the media? ive not heard any. Pitbulls and suchlike yeah... do you even know what a boxer is? If you are using that as an excuse then lets ban all children/teenagers and they all attack old people and stuff, it says so on the tv! ;)
 
afraser2k said:
With the stories about the Boxer dogs attacking children in the media is it any wonder the woman went mad (even if she was one of them foreign folk)? The dog running over to the kids probably scared her thinking it would attack them.
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Indeed. If a dog came running towards my son then Im not sure i'd take the word of its owner that it was fine around kids.

How often do we hear in the aftermath of an attack on a child that the dog in question had been previously well behaved?

Kids dont know how to behave around animals - what happens if a kid pokes the dog in the eye out of innocent curiosity? Pulls its ears or tail? Can one be certain that a dog would be quite so well behaved even under provocation?
 
afraser2k said:
Just search the BBC news site.
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Did a serach for "boxer dog" one story about a dog biting a man walking his dog and the rest are about people abusing dogs.
 
my son is 2 a boxer is probably bigger than him.

Put yourself in my son's position imagine an animal the same size as you running towards you.

I have a dog and love dogs but I never have him off the lead and certainly not around other people kids. He is a sweet gentle dog but he is a dog thus unpredictable.
 
Visage said:
Indeed. If a dog came running towards my son then Im not sure i'd take the word of its owner that it was fine around kids.

How often do we hear in the aftermath of an attack on a child that the dog in question had been previously well behaved?

Kids dont know how to behave around animals - what happens if a kid pokes the dog in the eye out of innocent curiosity? Pulls its ears or tail? Can one be certain that a dog would be quite so well behaved even under provocation?
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Fine ban dogs from parks then as they can cause injury and damage. Also ban kids and smokers then as they do the same. :p
 
Visage said:
Who said anything about banning dogs from parks?
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no one im just joking. Im just saying that its upto the local council to decide what the by laws are not some mad woman with a fear of dogs. The op has just as much right to take his dogs as long as he has control and is responsible in the same way she has the right to take her kids as long as she does the same. Would the park keeper be haging words with her if the op had complained about her kids being annoying? probably not.

There is an african family living on our street and the whole family seem to view dogs as rats that should be kicked, hit or shot. I caught him trying to throw a stone at my dog once when she was in our own yard just sitting in the sun. He rambled on about "dirty british.... ". I warned him off but had to bite my tongue a fair bit. Some countries have very different attitudes to dogs and they dont mix well with the overall brit attitude.
 
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AtreuS said:
The op has just as much right to take his dogs as long as he has control and is responsible in the same way she has the right to take her kids as long as she does the same.
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Well the OP didnt have control of his dog, so your point is irrelevant.
 
I can understand the woman's reaction, even if she was unreasonable after you taking the time to talk to her, and try and calm her down.

The park warden however was completely unreasonable.
 
jas72 said:
my son is 2 a boxer is probably bigger than him.

Put yourself in my son's position imagine an animal the same size as you running towards you.

I have a dog and love dogs but I never have him off the lead and certainly not around other people kids. He is a sweet gentle dog but he is a dog thus unpredictable.
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My dog is just over Knee high. And Boxer dogs are renowned for being good with children.

If people of that scared of dogs then why do they approach people with dogs?
 
its people like her that should be on a lead .... with a muzzle* (sp)

we were out with our dog (black labrador) one day in a forest park, it was a sunny-ish day but the ground was muddy/wet gravel as it had been raining on and off, needless to say the dog was soaking wet and quite dirty. we were walking round with the dog only to spot a woman wearing a white knee length fur coat.

as we got closer our dog walked over to her and her husband (as dogs do) only for her to start screaming and shouting "the coat, the coat, get that dog away from me"

she started to complain and told us that the dog was supposed to be on a lead (there were no signs up anywhere) and that she was going to report us to the forestry service (my dad is good friends with some of them, so he didnt care)

people like her that need their head seen to, wearing a fur coat... white at that, walking around a forest park
 
Visage said:
Well the OP didnt have control of his dog, so your point is irrelevant.
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From what he said he did. The dog returned when called. If the dog didnt then i agree that its not a good idea to let it off the lead.
 
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