Just took the dogs up for a walk to the Old Fort, loads of people take their dogs there and its a great bit of exercise for them (and me lol)

Anyway, anyone that knows my 2 dogs will know they are 2 of the smallest dogs you could find....so we were walking along, them not on leads as no other dogs near by, and about 100ft in front of us there is Granny, Grandad, Mum, Toddler and 6ish year old...and the kids go into melt down, screaming

As we get to 20ft away I call them to me and the toddler is screaming and crying so much the mum has to pick her up, the 6 year old boy is hiding behind Granny shouting really aggressively Go Away at my dogs - I have never seen anything like it, and all the adults were just laughing

If they'd have asked I would have let them have a stroke, or just stand and look at them, but instead they let the older kid scream like that which is probably what scared the toddler - so neither will ever be ok with dogs anywhere near them , I mean jeeez this started 100ft away!

I know its not my place to tell anyone how to raise their kids, but why oh why take your kids who are clearly petrified of dogs to a popular dog walking spot - its got like walk ways that are about 10-15 ft wide around the fields so its not like you could avoid the dogs, and I saw about 8 dogs on my way around

Surely a parent should have the sense to get their kid used to dogs or spend time settling them?

that sounds like me! im terrified of dogs. so avoid popular dog walking areas like the plague and if i see one on the pavement whilst im out and about i cross the road

My SIL is terrified of dogs too, she has never been bitten (it was Adam who was) but she is making her girls exactly the same, her 4yo is even scared of our cats

i was brought up terrified of dogs until I met my OH and now I'm a convert, my house would seem empty without one. On the other hand I have a complete phobia of bees and wasps and i'm terrified Ava will be the same becuase I just panic everytime one comes near me.

That would have been me as a child and even now Im not comfortable around them. If there was a stray in the street I would seriously consider staying in until it went.

My mum was quite anxious when I was little, though not scared of dogs. I do think she probably encouraged me to stay away from strange dogs incase I got bit and I probably took that advice too far. No one in my family had dogs until about 5 yrs ago. At 1st when my uncles dog came in the room I would have cried and shook (At 21yrs old!), even now Im not 100% at ease even though Charlie is the gentlest stupidist dog ever, just slightly excitable.

I really dont want Caitlin to be the same. She loves her nana's cat and when she a bit bigger I want her to be able to play with Charlie. At times i have considered getting a puppy (I reckon if it was my own i wouldnt be scared) but am scared of the other dogs it would attract when walking. Im such a wuss!

thats one i thing i love about having a fairly medium/big size dog she is fab with evan and he now has no fear of dogs at all but one things for sure if he was scared of dogs id never take him to a place where i know there is gonna be loads of dogs!

I love dogs and Lily is used to them as there are 4 lovely friendly springer spaniels in our family!

A stray dog found its way into the bottom of our garden a few weeks ago and the children next door (aged 2 and 4) went into total meltdown - i was so shocked at how panicked they were as the dog was no where near them. Their mum said that they dont know anyone with dogs so they are not used to them, its a shame that they are scared at such a young age x

You should have lent the mum the dog leads to train her children - sounds like she should get her kids out more !!! I hate mollycoddled kids.