You didn't give the wrong impression at all. Far from it. Your points are totally rational and valid. Your children and everyone else's children have rights to enjoy the park without fear of animal behaviours. Dog owners are sometimes oblivious to the needs of children and others. I used to own a show dog and only took it to one show. What I witnessed at that show appalled me. The dog owners were pampering their pooches but totally ignoring their own children who were (infants) screaming, or young children needing care. Never again for me!
Let me reiterate again that I love dogs, even though I have been attacked by a basset hound whilst I was simply walking along the footpath, attacked by a doberman whose owner assured me it was alright. For some reason, the fang marks it left on either side of my nose when it leaped up to attack my face didn't convince me this was the case. I had to then spend the entire evening at the owner's place where we had been invited for dinner, with the dog nearby growling incessantly. I've also been bitten by a rottweiler who was extremely neglected. I had spent approximately 14 minutes patting it and when I got up to walk away it grabbed my hand. I immediately moved away in fright and it suddenly turned quite savage. Luckily it was on a chain and could only go as far as the length of the chain. The dog's name was 'Chiller'. Note to self: Never pat dogs with names like Chiller or Fang, and particularly don't pat dogs who have been 'attack trained'.
Let's get back to those pesky ones in the park though. We had discussed ways of stopping the Staffordshire bull terriers from remaining latched on, and the best we could come up with was pepper spray. That's hard to come by, but perhaps even a jar of commercial capsicum powder found in the herbs and spices section of the supermarket would suffice. As mentioned earlier, no amount of whipping could make this breed of dog release its victim. Some suggested poking the dog in the eyes, but quite frankly, the thought of going anywhere near a vicious dog's head with my hands, is somehow, not quite rational. Same applies for poking a shark in the eye, but let's not get too far off topic.
I'm not sure of the outcome of the german shepherd, unfortunately. The outcome of the pomeranian was known because we knew the owners. The owner of the staffy continues to go to that park however all the other dog owners are now suggesting she "get out of the park". That's not their words, that's mine for the sake of politeness. Her dog isn't even muzzled now despite the attack.
Play2win, perhaps you could prepare a little typewritten note to hand to these owners who offend you, and make them think twice about their behaviours. Another suggestion is to sneak out in the middle of the night and paste posters on the trees in the park advising these owners of their bad dog manners;-)
Also you could take photographs and advise the owners you are going to forward these to the council with a covering letter. Make sure you get the dog's council id. Ask the owner for same or failing that, grab that friendly dog and obtain the id from it's collar. Watch the owners disappear quickly with their dogs when you do that. Another thought is you could tell the owners your children have rabies so the dog owners should be wary of the children! Okay, now I'm being silly. Either way, good luck.
