“Don’t worry, he’s friendly”

[Anonymous]

We live in the PNW in an area that’s very very very dog friendly. There are as many dog parks as their are parks with playgrounds.

There are a few parks near us with really cool playgrounds next to soccer fields with a pathway around it and people will often walk their dogs. They have strict leash laws

There are several other parks where there are no leash laws plus the plethora of dog specific parks.

Yet we (and other parents) had issues with unleashes dogs running up to them and their children while between playground equipment or in the soccer fields.

Yes. 9/10 these dogs are friendly. Some just run up and sniff but others jump up on excitement and have accidentally scratched or gotten clothing dirty or even knocked down smaller kids.

Everyone, the owner comes slowly walking “oh, don’t worry he’s friendly”.

Yes, very clearly friendly and untrained. I do not want a dog jumping up on me. I do not want a dog running after my kids when I have no idea how this dog reacts to children. I do not trust dog owners who can’t follow basic leash laws to also have well-trained dogs. I don’t trust that they’re all friendly.

Thankfully we’ve never had any incidences beyond being knocked down or a scratch but a medium size dog bit an older kid playing soccer off leash and it’s created a Nextdoor debacle.

Dog owners vs. Kid owners. Dog owners feel just as entitled to the same space as kids and families. When we point out the leash laws they huff and basically say they’ll do as they please.

I’m not sure if this is just a very centralized issue or if you’ve experienced something similar?

[Anonymous]

I have kids and I have a dog. I will not let my dog off leash in an area that's not specifically for dogs or is enclosed for dogs. Definitely not around a children't playground. No way. Never.

I have a wheaten terrier who is good with kids. Still, I would never let him loose in a public place that's not fenced in just for dogs. I don't get the mindset of owners who do that.

In the same vein, I get irritated when people let their kids run around in enclosed dog parks. But, that's not too common.

[Anonymous]

This thread is so unusual and is going to be super productive!

You just put out the bat call for the insane people who fantasize about kicking, stabbing, and shooting dogs.

[Anonymous]

I live in a MoCo suburb where dog owners are overwhelmingly compliant with leash laws (and we don’t even have awesome dog parks), but the few who aren’t compliant will do as they please. There are definitely some owners who think their dog is special and the rules are for other dogs, who aren’t as awesome as their dog is.

[Anonymous]

It's common almost everywhere. I love dogs, I have had a few dogs that are good off-leash, but 95% of dogs don't have the recall for being off leash; no one should have their dog off leash when it is prohibited; and a lot of dog owners equate "has never bitten/snapped at anyone" with "perfectly trained," which is a very low bar. Plus, even a perfectly trained dog can be intimidating/scary to a little kid, and it's not up to the dog owner to decide the kids' boundaries don't matter as long as they don't get attacked.

[Anonymous]

On one hand - absolutely these dogs should not be running up to children on a playground. That's totally unacceptable. As you note, you have no way of knowing if a dog is dangerous, but even beyond that, a kid could be scared of dogs or allergic to dogs. Those owners are behaving in a crappy way.

On the other hand - there's the question of what I would actually do in the moment, which is tougher. If my kid did have an allergy of a fear, I would say so. Something like "please leash your dog and keep him away from my child - he's allergic!" If the dog is a pit bull (even a friendly one) or is jumping, I would put myself between the dog and my child (or pick up my child, depending on the circumstance) and say "please leash your dog and keep him away from my child."

But honestly, if it was just like a friendly golden retriever sniffing around, I'd roll my eyes internally and let it go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have kids and I have a dog. I will not let my dog off leash in an area that's not specifically for dogs or is enclosed for dogs. Definitely not around a children't playground. No way. Never.

I have a wheaten terrier who is good with kids. Still, I would never let him loose in a public place that's not fenced in just for dogs. I don't get the mindset of owners who do that.

In the same vein, I get irritated when people let their kids run around in enclosed dog parks. But, that's not too common.

I appreciate this.

I love dogs but my kid is TERRIFIED of them. We don't know why, we are working on it. I have come to really resent people who let dogs off leash in non-designated areas because if a dog comes bounding up to my kid, even if the dog is friendly and not dangerous, she will lose it. It's terrifying to her. I do get it on some level because she's still small and a lot of dogs are bigger than her (though she is also terrified of small dogs, so it's not just this).

I am careful not to take my kid to parks with a ton of dogs (even if people are good at keeping them on leash, it's too much of her) and would of course never take her to an actual dog park. So it makes me mad when people let their dogs off leash on parks with clearly signed restrictions on this. We also have a number of playgrounds near us where dogs are not allowed and it's clearly signed and it makes me really angry when people bring their dogs to these places, even on a leash. These are some of the few places in our neighborhood where we can feel confident there won't be dogs. When people break those rules, it just makes it even harder for us.

And all of this is making it tougher to acclimate our kid to dogs, and maybe even get one some day. The more she encounters off-leash dogs, or dogs on playgrounds, the harder it is to get her to understand that dogs can be safe and even wonderful.

Please do not let your dog off leash in places where that is not allowed, and do not take your dog to schools/playgrounds where they aren't allowed. No matter how friendly and harmless they are. You cannot assume that everyone is excited to have a dog come up right up to them, for some people (especially some kids) that is terrifying.

[Anonymous]

Dog-obsessed dog owner here. I do not agree with dogs being allowed off leash in public unless it is in a dog park (and your community likely has rules/law to this effect). It's not safe; sure people think their dog is friendly but 1) every dog is friendly until it is in a situation where it suddenly isn't, and that is often with children, and 2) unleashed dogs terrify my leashed rescue dog -- it doesn't matter if the dog is friendly or not, actually the friendly ones are the worst situation, I had one run up to her recently wagging it's tail and happy and sniffing and it scared the hell out of her and she did a houdini and backed out of her harness and ran off towards traffic. I did NOT appreciate that.

[Anonymous]

Call the police if someone is knowingly not leashing their dog where it is illegal to do so. A PSA thread on DCUm isn't going to solve the issue. Especially is PNW stands for Pacific Northwest

[Anonymous]

The PNW is horrible about this. Thank God IME people in DC are not nearly as unhinged.

[Anonymous]

"That's nice. I'm not." Push the dog away. Put your knee up to stop the jumping.

My dog jumps... leaps, actually. We've tried all of the gentle approaches but dh refuses to be consistent. It drives me nuts. Although he never goes anywhere unleashed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I’m not sure if this is just a very centralized issue or if you’ve experienced something similar?

No, this seems to be an issue everywhere. We have 2 dogs. They are our family members BUT we leash them 100% of the time. We have the same issue with neighbors dogs, walking our dogs in public places, the beach. A lot of people just don't seem to get that nobody wants their precious Fifi running up to them unleashed or jumping up on them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The PNW is horrible about this. Thank God IME people in DC are not nearly as unhinged.

I'm in Old Town Alexandria and experience exactly what OP describes. Plenty of dog parks and dog areas, yet some owners let their dogs go unleashed in playgrounds (that specifically say no dogs!), on the Mount Vernon Trail, and basically almost everywhere. I'm so, so, so tired of hearing "don't worry, he's friendly." I don't care. Leash your dog!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have kids and I have a dog. I will not let my dog off leash in an area that's not specifically for dogs or is enclosed for dogs. Definitely not around a children't playground. No way. Never.

I have a wheaten terrier who is good with kids. Still, I would never let him loose in a public place that's not fenced in just for dogs. I don't get the mindset of owners who do that.

In the same vein, I get irritated when people let their kids run around in enclosed dog parks. But, that's not too common.

+1 but I have a golden.

I also don’t understand the mindset and wish put some dog owners would be better people.

[Anonymous]

So now we have posters talking about dogs in the Pacific Northwest? DCUM has gone completely off the rails. It’s not local anymore and I get very little out of it. It might as well be TikTok.