not sure which board to put this under, hope this is OK.

Just got back from Busters walk and I am very frustrated :(

We turned the corner into our road and 2 little girls (about 6 yrs old), jumped out of the hedge that runs next to the path we were on and started to walk very fast straight at us. I stopped still giving Buster the 'wait' command (thats for him to stand still) and the girls carried on marching straight at him (very odd, why do some kids do that, it drives me nuts?), Buster couldn't contain himslef and pulled forward to give them a good sniff & snozzley greeting, but his feet weren't infront of mine, he just reached his head forward (if you get what I mean?). I pulled him in tight so he couldn't slime them and they passed around the back of us, as soon as they were behind us, the one girl said to the other "that dog tried to bite me" I turned 'round to face them and said "no, he tried to SNIFF you, there is a big, big, difference", to which the girls gave a grin and jumped back into the hedge.

This really worried me. What would happen if the girls parents reported Buster??? Would they be believed? Would it make a difference that all the kids that play on our street know Busters name and all run to greet him when I'm out with him?

My OH thinks I shouldn't let it get to me, but it really has, I don't want anybody thinking Buster tries to bite children (or any living being for that matter) :( He does get a bit exited when kids run up to his face (which they shouldn't be doing anyway - but thankfully Buster enjoys the attention and it gives me lots of practice to keep him undercontroll while being ambushed by people!), but he loves the attention and only wants to sniff & snozzle them (he likes to rub his mush on people - hence the reason I use a halti, to divert stranger-sliming).

Only yesterday, kids I've never met before ran at Buster from behind and started stroking him roughly, Buster loved it, despite my best effort to stop kids from running at him they always do, Buster is so used to it he thinks it's how kids greet him.

I'll stop ranting now as I'm nearly hysterical!!!!

Comments/advice/calming words of sanity much appreciated as i think I'm going insane with worry and frustration.

Nope, you're not ranting, you're completely right.  I TOTALLY sympathise, had a similar day of it a couple of days ago.
Young child with a pup Weimaraner on the local field where I also walk my two dogs, have spoken to the child before and said could you just keep your distance a wee bit (she was about 5 ft away) as my two don't particularly have good manners when it comes to other dogs.... fine she says, we had a little natter about dogs in general, her older brother then appeared and took said child and pup home for supper.

Anyhoo.. couple of days later, same young girl with pup and two human friends in tow, leap out of the bushes and then thought it would be amusing to try and get the puppy to run across in front of my path at about a distance of 2 feet.  Thankfully the pup was on a lead and I of course, stopped, made Tess and Alf sit and wait and then waited for the girl who the pup belongs to, to move.  I just then walked on.. what can I say without appearing narky and rude.. thank goodness Tess and Alf ARE controllable despite Tess's dislike of other dogs, but they do happen to love children and so excitement can sometimes get the better of them!  Still.. both my dogs were and are controlled in such situations, but I do wish children weren't left in charge sometimes!

sooooothing thoughts sent down the internet to you...breathe deeply

evil little brats...

i think you should complain if you know who their parents are. or if you see them again ask them and say that you are going to tell their parents how much they tried to scare your dog. hopefully that will put the frighteners on them.

as to the other kids petting without asking i would point out to them that they should never pat a dog without asking the owner but then continue with the nice meeting. its annoying but your boys pretty angelic and in such a situation education is better than confrontation ;)

hi there,

Children can and are more arrogant these days I find.

More than likely the two girls in question probably know your Buster, he is a well known friendly giant in your local area with lots of kids greeting him and were just showing off and being silly.
If any kids come marching up to my lot I would tell them if you pet my dogs there are going to jump up and slobber all over you so you've been warned! :-)

> More than likely the two girls in question probably know your Buster, he is a well known friendly giant in your local area with lots of kids greeting him and were just showing off and being silly.
>

Yesterday my boys came back in from playing down the road, moaning that some of the other children (including the elder sister of one of the girls we met today) were saying that Buster is a big baby and couldn't hurt a fly. I told my boys that's something to be proud of, not to be wound up about!! (because he's such a softie I have to constantly remind my boys that he is still a DOG, and he should be treated with respect - even the biggest softie could be forced into defending itself)You may well be right about the showing off part, Buster does get talked about.

> If any kids come marching up to my lot I would tell them if you pet my dogs there are going to jump up and slobber all over you so you've been warned!

LOL, I usually say "let me get him to sit, or he'll slobber you", but this time I didn't have chance as they came at us too fast for me to get any other word out of my mouth other than 'wait' :( :(

Ahhhh Men and Kid's who'd have um, lol ,
oh ad tennagers to that!

> its annoying but your boys pretty angelic and in such a situation education is better than confrontation

Ohh, I normally am good at being educational rather than a gobby old cow!!! but lies just make my blood boil. I could cope very friendly with a child saying "your dog frightened me", I could even have coped if Buster had his mouth open and she mistook it for an attempted bite, but his mouth was shut, he was sniffing 

> i think you should complain if you know who their parents are

I've just found out that the parents are neighbours (live the other side of my driveway), but they are snooty gits and have completely blanked both me & my OH on seperate occasions when we have said hello to them. They are the 'holyier than thou' sort, so now I am even more worried :(

I'm going to have to find my back-bone and make sure I tell kids not to march/run at him. I've managed to do that before when a boy came steaming towards us, making a train noise, arms outstretched to bear-hug Buster.

I'm mad at me now for not telling the girls to stop coming at us so quick

> Ohh, I normally am good at being educational rather than a gobby old cow!!! but lies just make my blood boil. I could cope very friendly with a child saying "your dog frightened me", I could even have coped if Buster had his mouth open and she mistook it for an attempted bite, but his mouth was shut, he was sniffing&nbsp; <IMG alt=mad src="/images/mad.gif">
>

sorry i was meaning the other kids you were talking about when i mentioned the education :) those to would have gotten an ear full!

Buster sounds like a bit of a celeb ;-)

Yesterday walking past kids playing football in the road, one of them ran at my dogs from behind, hand outstretched to stroke them. He'd already been told by my friend not to touch her dogs (she was walking just in front of me).

I don't think he expected to be lunged and growled at. No, not my dogs, ME! :)

I lunged towards him, reaching out to stop him coming any closer and said in my most threatening tone of voice "don't you dare touch my dogs without asking me". He looked a bit shocked. I hope he's learnt his lesson, or that he gets run over next time he runs across the road at a dog.

With my lad; I used to take a toy with me and anytime I needed to divert his attention; I just got the toy out thus focusing his attention on something else and ignoring silly kids craving attention.  He would do anything for his toy.  Sheba is very tuned into voice, just have to cough and her attention is immediately on us.  Kids often did pet them and still pet Sheba but only with supervision.  Neither are the friendliest of dogs; just stand there looking bored and scanning the horizon for something more interesting while getting petted and then moving out of the way.  Kids would give up stroking as they were getting nothing back.  Suits me, I like them like that.

I cannot imagine that anyone can accuse your dog of anything without some sort of proof, it's just kids being silly and irresponsible so please do not stress as it will only transfer to your dog.  I do think however, that in today's world, many, many people just simply do not understand how to behave around animals or interpretative animal's behaviour which puts double the amount of onus on us to keep our dogs safe.

> I don't think he expected to be lunged and growled at. No, not my dogs, ME! :-)
>

LOL, that cheered me up :-D

in such situations, i think it just better to evade such people.

cross the road, change direction, etc, etc

like you say, you dog is controlled in the sit, but you cant account for idiot behaviour of people, so dog training just isnt worth it in those moments

I do think however, that in today's world, many, many people just simply do not understand how to behave around animals or interpretative animal's behaviour which puts double the amount of onus on us to keep our dogs safe.

I quite agree. I have 3 Rotties, my girls are soppy and the eldest has excellent doggy manners. My boy however is another story, we got him at 4/5 months and he hadn't had the best of starts in life, he missed out on vital socialisation and had been passed from home to home and just locked in a room. Anyhoo, we know he has "issues" with dogs and some people, so he's always muzzled and always on lead, but we're working with him and we are seeing progress. On Monday we took them all to the local country park, and had a really good walk, despite lots of loose dogs just running up and barking at him, he behaved impeccably, even let a nice elderly gentleman give him a biscuit and a bit of a fuss (advances indeed).

The walk was spoilt right at the end as we were walking back into the car park, an older lady had just got out of her car with her little fluffy dog, she looked up saw us and yelped "here comes trouble", that started her dog off, which in turn made Dave lunge. Luckily we were ready for him and we weren't within damage distance, he came back under control immediately. We walked to the car and put them all in the down which they did straight away. Whilst I was sorting their water out, this woman was still stood at the end of the path staring and muttering. I can't imagine what she was saying but I guess it was along the lines of dangerous/vicious dogs. We are responsible owners, he was on lead, under control and muzzled, the whole situation was started by a human who screached, up until that point her little dog looked like he wanted to play, he started yapping after that, causing our beastie to lunge. Sorry I'm ranting now, but it just makes me so angry that we are perceived to be in the wrong for having a non perfect dog, when the only issues we'd had up until that point were out of control dogs running up to our leashed dogs and barking. AARRRGGGHHHH

Back to the original point of the thread, given the breed we have, we don't tend to get the issue with kids running up (although the girls do love a fuss), so I suppose there is an upside to having what is seen to be a dangerous breed, Oh and the fact people in the area know we have them, so the likelihood of being broken into is reduced.

T

I can TOTALLY sympathise also.  My dogs are well known in the area (for several reasons but the main one being cute and fluffy lol).  I have kids that CHARGE down the cul de sac AT me and the dogs (bouncy dog get's bouncier, scared dog tries to run away).  Instead of letting them see the dogs I quickly nip back into my garden with them.  If they behave like that then they don't see the dogs, different if they are WALKING past.  Generally though, I don't like other people's kids :-)  I'm positive I will love my own, but other peoples? Bleh. Give me a dog any day of the week.

> I have kids that CHARGE down the cul de sac AT me and the dogs (bouncy dog get's bouncier, scared dog tries to run away)

Ohh it's frustrating isn't it.
Buster has always had lots of attention from people, especially kids as most people around here have never seen a dog like that, so he has got him self a reputation from a young pup for being a big softie. It has been very frustraing and a lot of work, but he has learnt that kids running at him full steam (often squeeling "IT's BUSTER!!!! BUSTER'S HERE!!!!") is a normal behaviour, but he does still occasionally get a little exited. I'm so mad about yesteday though as he wasn't OTT exited, he was just interested and wanted to sniff, if he wasn't so big the little girl wouldn't have thought anything wrong with his behaviour atall, which is why I am so confused why kids that don't know him will head straight for his face - they can see he's a huge lump?????

>Generally though, I don't like other people's kids   I'm positive I will love my own, but other peoples? Bleh. Give me a dog any day of the week.

LOL, same here, I can tollerate my kids most of the time ;) but not other people's :)

>he behaved impeccably, even let a nice elderly gentleman give him a biscuit and a bit of a fuss (advances indeed).

Fantastic that sounds like huge progress :)

>Sorry I'm ranting now, but it just makes me so angry that we are perceived to be in the wrong for having a non perfect dog,

Allthough Busters only issues are being too friendly with people & dogs (if he would totally ignore them and not want to sniff them things would be perfect!) I know how soul destroying one incident can be. With your boy, he instigated nothing and you had him back under control but you end up feeling like a complete failiure for having a dog that acts like a dog occasionally :( :(

>the only issues we'd had up until that point were out of control dogs running up to our leashed dogs and barking

Oh dear, I get frustrated about this and Buster is friendly & only reacts with play, it must drive you insane knowing that your dog has issues with other dogs and having to face that from loose dogs is not helping him atall :(

> I cannot imagine that anyone can accuse your dog of anything without some sort of proof, it's just kids being silly and irresponsible so please do not stress as it will only transfer to your dog

Thanks, that reasuring :)

I normally use treats to keep Busters focus on me, but yesterday I was foolishly like a 'rabbit caught in the headlights', I wanted to cross the road, but we right on a junction next to a busy road so I was trying to figure out "is it safe to cross now - this close to the junction? do I turn around? do I get a treat out to focus Buster? " but I ended up stood still like a drip :(

This was the point in the walk where our home is in sight, I have never met people on that stretch of path so my 'guard' was down and my brain turned to mush!! There are plenty of places during our walk where people can appear from nowhere (ally ways that join the path, but the veiw is obscured by trees etc..), so I always make sure I have Busters focus while passing them, that was if people/dogs pop into our path he's allready waiting for praise/treat from me. I'm going to remeber to do that when I turn back into our road now.

I feel very stupid for getting in such a state because my dog sniffed a child, but on the other hand I feel very stupid for letting that happen

> just got out of her car with her little fluffy dog, she looked up saw us and yelped "here comes trouble",

Just an idiot with black and tan syndrome - let it spoil their day, not yours. :-)

> Fantastic that sounds like huge progress

Thanks - we were really pleased. It's a case of 3 steps forward and 2 back at the moment, but as long as it's not 4 back and we can see progress we'll battle on! Most doggy people have been great, the OH is doing most of the walking with him at the moment, and he's taking time to talk to people and explain Dave's potential behaviour before it happens, so they're aware.  We do still get the odd " well it's a good thing he's on a lead" comment though. DOH!

> let it spoil their day, not yours

Exactly! OH was quite annoyed by it, but all the way around the walk I'd been pointing out that we were being sensible and responsible, so he did calm down.

It must be quite daunting to see us approaching, OH does look a bit of a thug as he's got a shaved head, (does it to disguise the fact he's Ginger and not "Strawberry Blond") which doesn't help with the pre-judging. But I'm quite petite and blonde, and Daisy does have a pink collar with Daisy's on it - so that usually balances things out.

This must be a common problem.....
last night when walking fred a little girl (approx 6 years old) was playing with a basketball with her friends and it rolled in front of us. Fred barely acknowleged it but the little girl said 'your dog tried to take my ball' i replied jokingly 'i dont think so, the ball is bigger than him!' then tapped the ball back with my foot. She procceded to shout at me 'you nearly pierced the ball with your stilleto', getting annoyed i said i dont think my (small kitten) heel would pierce the ball and if you are that worried about it maybe you should learn to play with it better!!!!
Kids these days - at that age i would have never had the nerve or confidence to say anything to an adult let along 'get gobby'.

Dont worry mastiff lover, anyone can see you have control over your dog and did the right thing. As your dog didnt touch her she will have no marks on her so not a leg to stand on. Dont worry about it :-)

I have to deal with kids like this on a daily basis. It does so often start at home, not blaming parents, but there are some who show no respect to their kids and others so why would the kids know any better? Peer pressure and how friends are also has a huge influence on children.
I myself wouldn;t want to be a teacher these days. In my job we get gobby kids all time, and its worrying that they have no respect for anyone in authority let alone someone in uniform..
I wouldn't worry ML about this, they would need some form of evidence and at worse a DW or Police may come round to attend your home if they know where you live to check on the dog, and knowing what you are saying your dog is a big sook. I doubt these kids will make a complaint, they have no evidence or anything to back it up, the chances of anyone believing them is slim to none..

> I myself wouldn;t want to be a teacher these days

Thats where i went wrong - i went into the profession :-)
What do they say 'never work with kids or animals' :-)

> It does so often start at home, not blaming parents, but there are some who show no respect to their kids and others so why would the kids know any better?

When I was in my early 20's I was renting in a council block in London.  It wasn't the roughest area but some of the kids left me speechless.  One day I was trying to get down the stairs and there was quite a large group of kids playing on them.  I just hugged the wall to walk past them and one little girl of about 3 came storming up to block my path and told me to F off in no uncertain terms.  She was the prettiest thing until her face twisted up in anger.  I often thought how different she might have been if born to different parents.

>getting annoyed i said i dont think my (small kitten) heel would pierce the ball and if you are that worried about it maybe you should learn to play with it better!!!!

LOL, I like your reply :)

> As your dog didnt touch her she will have no marks on her so not a leg to stand on

Thats' the point :) She didn't even have slobber on her, if you get within 6 inches of Busters face then slobber is practically guarenteed!

maybe you should have let Buster give her a nice slimey slobber; taken her down a peg or two :-)

this happens a lot with the kids round where i live so after i told a few off for running at the dogs they soon got the message so now they ignore them.
they proberly think im a snottey cow but i dont care as the youngest dog is a real hand ful at the moment so i wouldnt want him to jump up/pull forward etc and have the kid hurt or wrose tell his mum and dad there dog tried to bite me.( hes 16 months) and wouldnt hurt a fly but can be a little over the top at the moment.
you know how kids are they dont always tell the truth.

The local kids near me are scared of me not the dogs. Driving my girls to school one morning ( sleepy Yorkshire village) and a boy in a group of about ten hit the car with a chestnut.
The last thing they expected was a very irate and gruff Glaswegian to line them along the grass verge until they owned up and the whole group given a lecture.
When I am in the shop now they all nod politely at me and scarper away....