Am I going to far/worrying too much?
Discussion
I'm no psychologist but this sounds a bit like a fear of dogs or a control thing (pretty much everything is).
If a big dog came bounding up to me and my kids, I'd be delighted as I'd get to pat a big dog, but then again I love dogs.
Perhaps carry a dog whistle/rape alarm type thing that would frighten the dog off, something that would give you piece of mind and not harm the dog should you mistake a friendly bound to you for a pat as a mad dog attack.
If a big dog came bounding up to me and my kids, I'd be delighted as I'd get to pat a big dog, but then again I love dogs.
Perhaps carry a dog whistle/rape alarm type thing that would frighten the dog off, something that would give you piece of mind and not harm the dog should you mistake a friendly bound to you for a pat as a mad dog attack.
Get a dog. Then any dog that comes near will go for your dog first.
Get a big dog so it will almost certainly win.
Just don't let it go near the kids that belong to the crazy guy who wanders about muttering "Don't come near my kids or I'm gonna get myself a new dog skin jacket." because that will only end one way.
Get a big dog so it will almost certainly win.
Just don't let it go near the kids that belong to the crazy guy who wanders about muttering "Don't come near my kids or I'm gonna get myself a new dog skin jacket." because that will only end one way.
Flat6er said:
You are over thinking. Yes the dog was off lead and therefore in the eyes of the law was out of control. But also this inept owner was doing her best to sort things out.
Regardless of this. What you are doing is raising your kids to be fearful of dogs. Not an ideal learning curve. Dogs are man's best friend. Yes you might read in the media about killer breeds and all that tripe that gets the daily mail, hard of thinking, all frothing at the mouth. But, dogs are far less likely to attack than the media would have you think.
If the worst were to happen. You seem forthright enough to step in. But the fact the owner was letting you know the pooch was not harmful was an attempt to diffuse the situation which you seemed hard wired (as a over protective parent ) to escilate.
Why not teach your children how to behave around dogs. You will encounter them where you live so it seems reasonable to expect a responsible parent to prepare them for what they might meet.
Kids that are scared of dogs, who flap, run away and generally act as their parents have subconscious taught them, are like a red rag to a bull. Dogs see this behaviour as a game and will interact. This can escilate depending on how the kids and parents react.
I'm not excusing the dog or the owner that no longer has control of their dog. I'm trying to explain that your current hought pattern will be harmful to many things. You, whichever dog you encounter, your relationship with your neighbours and the local fuzz. But most importantly it will influence how your kids grow up seeing dogs as a threat.
This in my opinion is far more likely to create the issue you are worried about with your current( knife, kill, dogs are evil) approach. What about getting between kids and dog and put yourself as the barrier? Or how about be the bigger more responsive adult and speak to the dog owner calmly if you are worried.
In the mean time. Please don't turn into a parent that teaches their kids that dogs are bad. Yes you've probably guessed I am a dog owener (so biased and my hound can do no wrong). Well that may be so but the number of kids I see on my daily walks that are fearful of dogs and are mirroring their parents reactions is a sad state of affairs to me. The kids that get down to a dogs level and ask if they can say hi, stroke ect are the ones that are less likely to encourage difficulties.
In short what i am trying to say is. Pull yourself together man. Knife to a dog walk. ? Wtf?
Spot on - absolutely agree with this. Regardless of this. What you are doing is raising your kids to be fearful of dogs. Not an ideal learning curve. Dogs are man's best friend. Yes you might read in the media about killer breeds and all that tripe that gets the daily mail, hard of thinking, all frothing at the mouth. But, dogs are far less likely to attack than the media would have you think.
If the worst were to happen. You seem forthright enough to step in. But the fact the owner was letting you know the pooch was not harmful was an attempt to diffuse the situation which you seemed hard wired (as a over protective parent ) to escilate.
Why not teach your children how to behave around dogs. You will encounter them where you live so it seems reasonable to expect a responsible parent to prepare them for what they might meet.
Kids that are scared of dogs, who flap, run away and generally act as their parents have subconscious taught them, are like a red rag to a bull. Dogs see this behaviour as a game and will interact. This can escilate depending on how the kids and parents react.
I'm not excusing the dog or the owner that no longer has control of their dog. I'm trying to explain that your current hought pattern will be harmful to many things. You, whichever dog you encounter, your relationship with your neighbours and the local fuzz. But most importantly it will influence how your kids grow up seeing dogs as a threat.
This in my opinion is far more likely to create the issue you are worried about with your current( knife, kill, dogs are evil) approach. What about getting between kids and dog and put yourself as the barrier? Or how about be the bigger more responsive adult and speak to the dog owner calmly if you are worried.
In the mean time. Please don't turn into a parent that teaches their kids that dogs are bad. Yes you've probably guessed I am a dog owener (so biased and my hound can do no wrong). Well that may be so but the number of kids I see on my daily walks that are fearful of dogs and are mirroring their parents reactions is a sad state of affairs to me. The kids that get down to a dogs level and ask if they can say hi, stroke ect are the ones that are less likely to encourage difficulties.
In short what i am trying to say is. Pull yourself together man. Knife to a dog walk. ? Wtf?
Edited by Flat6er on Friday 28th August 08:06
I had a dog, chosen at four weeks, was like a child to me. Soft as the proverbial. Loved everyone. Early in her life she was attacked by a Doberman in a park and had to be carried home with a damaged foreleg. Never really fully recovered. As she got older she would stand up for herself but being a dopey thing and a non-aggressive breed, was never going to win many scraps. I say this because I accept that dogs scrap - most of the time it isn't a problem.
But times change and have changed. As my dog aged there were more scummy people about with more aggressive dogs. I also started to see dogs attacking other dogs in ways which went far beyond the normal scuffles over a tennis ball, etc. One day one such dog went for my dog's back legs (never a good sign). This was a biggish, younger dog and it pressed on attacking even though my dog was submissive. I kicked the f
ker as hard as I could in the ribs, which obviously broke a couple, kicked it again and it collapsed. The (yob/thug) owner went mental at me but I just told him to call the Police if he wanted to take it further.
A couple of years later I had a similar experience when an owner couldn't control his dog and it persisted in attacking my dog. The common thread was a dog off the lead unresponsive to their owner's commands. That one also got a kicking, went for me so got a shellacking from the chain lead I had for my dog. More aggro from the owner. The same response from me in terms of taking it further, along with advice about not letting your dog off a lead if you can't control it and nfa from the Police or anyone else.
As my dog aged she had hip dysplasia so was very vulnerable. After another incident, this time with the ubiquitous staffy cross, I took to carrying a couple of things, one of the potentially penetrating variety and the other chemical. I'm not going to specify what so you'll have to use your imagination but I'm confident it would have been impossible to make an offensive weapons charge stick and at the end of the day I'd have taken my chances if it meant preventing my dog from being seriously injured or worse.
I can't and never will comprehend why someone wants to own a dog that is aggressive with people and other dogs and if that trait develops, why it doesn't take a one trip to the vet. So I understand your concern OP. You'd have even less of a problem justifying injuring a dog that was attacking your child than another dog but the nightmare situation is not being able to do anything. I think you could become a bit paranoid about this. If you are only encountering boisterous dogs, then a swift kick will suffice if they don't respond to owner's commands. However, if you regularly encounter more aggressive animals (as I did, by virtue of the demographic and regular dog walking) I can understand why you might want a little insurance.
An example of how bad it's getting:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2338829/Te...
But times change and have changed. As my dog aged there were more scummy people about with more aggressive dogs. I also started to see dogs attacking other dogs in ways which went far beyond the normal scuffles over a tennis ball, etc. One day one such dog went for my dog's back legs (never a good sign). This was a biggish, younger dog and it pressed on attacking even though my dog was submissive. I kicked the f
ker as hard as I could in the ribs, which obviously broke a couple, kicked it again and it collapsed. The (yob/thug) owner went mental at me but I just told him to call the Police if he wanted to take it further.A couple of years later I had a similar experience when an owner couldn't control his dog and it persisted in attacking my dog. The common thread was a dog off the lead unresponsive to their owner's commands. That one also got a kicking, went for me so got a shellacking from the chain lead I had for my dog. More aggro from the owner. The same response from me in terms of taking it further, along with advice about not letting your dog off a lead if you can't control it and nfa from the Police or anyone else.
As my dog aged she had hip dysplasia so was very vulnerable. After another incident, this time with the ubiquitous staffy cross, I took to carrying a couple of things, one of the potentially penetrating variety and the other chemical. I'm not going to specify what so you'll have to use your imagination but I'm confident it would have been impossible to make an offensive weapons charge stick and at the end of the day I'd have taken my chances if it meant preventing my dog from being seriously injured or worse.
I can't and never will comprehend why someone wants to own a dog that is aggressive with people and other dogs and if that trait develops, why it doesn't take a one trip to the vet. So I understand your concern OP. You'd have even less of a problem justifying injuring a dog that was attacking your child than another dog but the nightmare situation is not being able to do anything. I think you could become a bit paranoid about this. If you are only encountering boisterous dogs, then a swift kick will suffice if they don't respond to owner's commands. However, if you regularly encounter more aggressive animals (as I did, by virtue of the demographic and regular dog walking) I can understand why you might want a little insurance.
An example of how bad it's getting:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2338829/Te...
Out of control dogs are a menace. I recently moved to village which has lots of countryside walks, as me and the daughter want to get/keep fit. Problem is, every time we go out we get charged, barked and snapped at. I did some research and the best thing to do is carry things like others here have suggested, to distract them, which works in most cases, but why should we have to? The problem is that dog owners enjoy the havoc they cause, it makes them feel big, and if you ask them to get their dog under control they blame you for it - it's never their precious pet's fault. My daughter is now terrified of leaving the house due to the frequency of it and the vast amount of dogs around. Selfish selfish owners. Why can't they obey the signs and keep it on a lead for goodness sake.
Staffies are rarely aggressive in my experience, just a few idiot owners. Due to one of those owners apparently encouraging his dog to attack others at a place I used to take the dogs, I used to wear a pair of heavy leather boots for a while when I took my dogs out (a staffy cross that wouldn't have hurt a fly and a daft Jack Russell who would defend himself or my other dog). Never came across the idiot though.
My 7 month old son absolutely loves dogs. A big mongrel ran straight into his pushchair at the woods the other day while playing with our dogs and I thought the tears would come, instead he just giggled. No fear of them at all. A little worrying perhaps, but our Jack Russells (lost our staffy cross last year) are very protective of him and if anything wants to go near him, they have to go through the rats first.
My 7 month old son absolutely loves dogs. A big mongrel ran straight into his pushchair at the woods the other day while playing with our dogs and I thought the tears would come, instead he just giggled. No fear of them at all. A little worrying perhaps, but our Jack Russells (lost our staffy cross last year) are very protective of him and if anything wants to go near him, they have to go through the rats first.
IMO, all dogs in public areas should, either, a) be on a lead, or b) be muzzled. Having a dog is a life style choice, as is having a family. However, I know which I would put first, and I have neither a pet or a child. Just seems common sense to me, but that needs a change in the law, IMO, that can't come soon enough!
daqinggegg said:
IMO, all dogs in public areas should, either, a) be on a lead, or b) be muzzled. Having a dog is a life style choice, as is having a family. However, I know which I would put first, and I have neither a pet or a child. Just seems common sense to me, but that needs a change in the law, IMO, that can't come soon enough!
Which would be a ridiculous over reaction.
Which would be a ridiculous over reaction.
lord trumpton said:
but the upshot was they were locked onto eachother - staffordshire had ours on his neck and ours had the staff by the face and eye. They were thrashing round but neither would let go.
We tried everything to separate them, even kicking had no effect (drastic measures but there was blood streaming from both dogs)
I'd agree with this, years back we had two bWe tried everything to separate them, even kicking had no effect (drastic measures but there was blood streaming from both dogs)
hes, what I would consider small dogs, probably 10-15 kgs each, they were sisters out of the same litter, one had collie tendencies the other was a bit lab like. Occasionally they'd lock on and there was no separating them, it only happened once or twice and the only thing that worked was to grab both of them by the scruff of the neck (whilst still locked on) and dump them both into the garden water butt, swimming and breathing then became more important than killing each other.
Out and about though, you are the pack leader (whether you are with dogs or children or both) I'd always meet other people or dogs with my dogs/children behind me (this was rural stuff so the dogs were rarely on leads). If they got ahead and a situation developed then I knew I was in trouble and unlikely to be able to do much.
My work takes me to a lot of different homes and often I guess my scent carries smells of horses, cats, dog etc, usually when confronted by barking dogs I just completely ignore them, and usually it seems to work ok, because after all I'm an unknown quantity to them.
As for out walking in the park with your kids, if a dog comes bounding over, just be the leader of your pack, don't show aggression, don't show fear, just be the pack leader at the front of your pack. Most aggressive dogs will usually stop short of going 'straight in for the kill' if you just stand your ground in a calm assertive manner.
Just put yourself as the lead of the pack (you and your kids).
I was doing an install in a house the other day, two 'fat and overfed' Jack Russel terriers, one quiet and one yappy and as gobby as you like. No issue until I have to start going up the stairs. One is laying on the bottom step calm as you like, the other on the top step barking and growling. I just stepped over the bottom step one that doesn't care and then walked past the one on the top step like I didn't care.
Repeated this going down and up and down all day long.
I never greet dogs when out, I just ignore them, they can bark and snarl all they like, I've never actually had one go for me, many stand off growling, snarling, I don't care, I'm not there to deal with the dog, I'm there to do my job, normally the dogs soon realise that they are not going to get a response from me and they p
s off to do what ever the normally do - lay in their basket watching me out of the corner of their eye 
Wow, just wow. I would suggest you look up the laws on carrying knives and consider whether being a father would be tricky from prison or not. Also if a dog did latch itself onto your child and you started wildly stabbing away you're as likely to stab the kid as the dog.
It sounds like you have issues with dogs which you are likely to pass on to your children, they (both dogs and kids) can sense your fear/aggression and are more likely to respond in kind. I would recommend spending time around dogs belonging to people you know, dealing with this fear and learning to read their behaviour. Alternatively get your own, that'll soon do the trick!
Jasandjules said:
Learn to read and understand dog body language.
This is a sensible comment, it is extremely obvious from a distance to anyone with a clue whether a dog is aggressive or just overly friendly and boisterous. Very very few dogs will attack humans with no provocation and those extremely rare ones that might are far more likely to attack you as a grown man than your children if you are together. Generally in the situation described the worst likely outcome is a face-licking or being knocked over, neither of which will do them any harm.It sounds like you have issues with dogs which you are likely to pass on to your children, they (both dogs and kids) can sense your fear/aggression and are more likely to respond in kind. I would recommend spending time around dogs belonging to people you know, dealing with this fear and learning to read their behaviour. Alternatively get your own, that'll soon do the trick!
Waaaaaay way over the top, firstly with the thought, secondly with the thought of taking a knife out.
If you're that bothered a dog will rip your kids face off you can stop it fairly quickly with a finger up the bumhole, the startled look and resulting yelp will see it heading off in the opposite direction fairly quickly. Just dont bite your nails afterwards
If you're that bothered a dog will rip your kids face off you can stop it fairly quickly with a finger up the bumhole, the startled look and resulting yelp will see it heading off in the opposite direction fairly quickly. Just dont bite your nails afterwards
TurboHatchback said:
Wow, just wow. I would suggest you look up the laws on carrying knives and consider whether being a father would be tricky from prison or not. Also if a dog did latch itself onto your child and you started wildly stabbing away you're as likely to stab the kid as the dog.
It sounds like you have issues with dogs which you are likely to pass on to your children, they (both dogs and kids) can sense your fear/aggression and are more likely to respond in kind. I would recommend spending time around dogs belonging to people you know, dealing with this fear and learning to read their behaviour. Alternatively get your own, that'll soon do the trick!
Agree with most of this except the bolded bit, i have seen dogs of leads in parks and wooded areas bound up to folk and youg kids, i have seen kids be knocked over onto tarmac and cut the back of their head badly. Dog meant no harm, but caused a lot of distress for the family.Jasandjules said:
Learn to read and understand dog body language.
This is a sensible comment, it is extremely obvious from a distance to anyone with a clue whether a dog is aggressive or just overly friendly and boisterous. Very very few dogs will attack humans with no provocation and those extremely rare ones that might are far more likely to attack you as a grown man than your children if you are together. Generally in the situation described the worst likely outcome is a face-licking or being knocked over, neither of which will do them any harm.It sounds like you have issues with dogs which you are likely to pass on to your children, they (both dogs and kids) can sense your fear/aggression and are more likely to respond in kind. I would recommend spending time around dogs belonging to people you know, dealing with this fear and learning to read their behaviour. Alternatively get your own, that'll soon do the trick!
Again though, its bad owners, not dogs.
A friend who was fearful of the same thing, due to having a public footpath running through his back garden, told me the thing he got told to do with an attacking dog was grab the front legs of the animal and rip them apart. How easy this would be with a set of jaws coming at you would be another matter..!
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