30/08/2026
I Usually like to keep the posts on my page pretty light, but after an incident that happened this morning I feel it’s only right to be discussed.
This morning my Son and I decided to go for a ride, a car pulled in 2-3 houses ahead of us, and some people and their small dogs got out of the car. The dogs immediately spotted us on the bikes and flew towards us barking madly, my son thankfully, kept calm and just kept peddling. They continued to follow us so closely and underfoot that my son nearly hit them several times with his bike and his feet as he tried to peddle. All the while the owners were trying to recall their dogs, with little to no concern that this could be a serious incident,eventually they were able to gain control, and we continued on our ride.
When we returned home, I decided to approach the owners.
I wanted an opportunity to express my concern not only over the lack of control over their dogs, but also over their lack of concern on how serious this behaviour actually is.
I won’t go into details of how the conversation went but I was shocked by how little regard and how dismissive they were of the situation.
I want to address some of the points that were thrown at me during this conversation.
1. “They’re small dogs, they’re not going to do anything.
I wouldn’t call running across the road 2 houses down and accosting us nothing. Let’s put a different perspective on this for a second- if that had have been 2 large breed dogs, how differently would people view this incident. It would be grounds for Council involvement and the dogs being either listed as dangerous/menacing or seized and Euthanised.
2. “They’re small, a bite wouldn’t even hurt.”
Some of the worst bites I’ve had have been received by small breed dogs. A bite is a bite and can still cause immense damage. It’s disrespectful and naive to think that a small dog can do less damage due to their size.
3. “Nothing happened. They’re friendly, they wouldn’t have done anything”
These dogs were bold enough to come sprinting down the road and challenge us, there were too many variables to safely assume how the dogs would react. What if my son had panicked? What if he started screaming? What if he fell off? When dogs are put in unknown situations can we really guarantee how they will respond? Is it worth risking a persons physical safety but also your dogs?
What if my child was a child who was scared of dogs? What kind of mental impact could this have had for us moving forwards.
4. “They’re well trained”
Ma’me!?? Really!?
If you can not reliably guarantee your dog will not rush at people passing by or that you can reliably recall your dog they have no business being off a lead.
There is honestly a lot more I could say, as dog owners it is our responsibility to keep not only our dogs safe but also members of the surrounding community. Keep your dogs on leads, look around before letting them jump out of cars, and be responsible and own it when you have stuffed up by letting your dog make a mistake.
And I get it we’re human, we make mistakes and so do our dogs, but can we please, please not dismiss the potential seriousness of a situation, just because a dog is “little”.
Original graphic credit goes to - Throw Me a Bone Dog Training and Behaviour.
