I want to get a dog but I have to work, how does everyone on broadway market do it ?

Been pleased with these, surprisingly well-made for the price, the clasp still works despite many ons and offs and the charge lasts for a decent amount of time.

I mean the glee on her face could be
"what's your name and what are you on?"/ "have you got 38 p for the bus fare home"
@Sumo

We've got a dirt cheap light up collar for Crumpet. We did have a light that clipped to her harness but found we couldn't see it half the time, depending on how she was positioned. We can see the collar from every angle, as long as her neck rolls aren't in the way.

Don't forget runners! They seem to love a shit in a bush.

As a an exrunner I take umbrage with this, I knew where all my toilet points were.

Weeb cosplay for halloween… way effort to make, will be used daily.

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Take my money!

Top work - is it all stitched?

Yea. It took about an hour for the embroidery machine to stitch the design (that I had to make from scratch). Then I stitched up the panels for the jacket, so probably 3 hours plus prep.

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Probs crossover to sewing thread

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Not sure if this is the place to ask but looking for a dog owner’s perspective.

Keeping a long story short-ish, my 7 yr old autistic son is terrified of dogs approaching and sniffing him when they are off the lead. He has a very obvious and strong fearful reaction, tears, screaming, shaking etc when a dog comes up to him.

The difficult part for me is that even when I shout over to the owner to recall the dog, I get a few seconds of being told ‘don’t worry he’s very friendly’ etc., which I can understand but given the extreme way my son is melting down in front of them I’d prefer them to understand that maybe he has a particular need and they should just get on with recalling their dog and then we can talk.

It’s got to the point where on one occasion I’ve felt I had to explain the legal situation (which is designed in favour of people like my son) because the owner was offended that I had pulled her dog away from him myself while she was 50 yards away shouting to me about how friendly he is.

I can feel myself getting a bit more impatient every time this happens but at the same time I can see how for the owners it is an unexpected situation to find themselves in while out for a pleasant walk, so I’m not totally surprised at how relaxed they are. I can’t call the owners ignorant - I think there could be more shared about the Dogs Act and why it exists, why it’s important for dogs to have recall etc. but in the moment isn’t the right time for me to explain this. The one time I did I was told in no uncertain terms that I was in the wrong because ‘we’re on open land, the National Trust say it’s ok’ etc.

So dog owners, short of never taking my son out on his bike in the countryside again, what can I do here that helps and doesn’t get me attacked for being selfish for wanting to make sure my son is ok. My running mate suggested I get some kind of high pitched anti dog alarm thing but I’m doubtful about it working that well based on the reviews. Any thoughts?

This sounds like a really difficult situation. Dogs are allowed off-lead loads of places and will often come over and say hi to people. 9 times out of 10 it's well received, and the reverse situation happens tonnes too (humans going over to pet dogs, uninvited). So dog owners are not conditioned to think it's a bad thing. Obviously when your son reacts like that people should recall their dogs. But I'm not surprised that many don't, as dog owners like any other group of people contain plenty of wrong-uns, weirdoes, thoughtless or just distracted people.

I think the legality of the situation is a bit of a red herring. You are not going to find the police taking an interest, and even if they did they're not going to be around to prevent it the next time.

I think grudgingly you are going to have to accept that this is a thing that will happen sometimes, and work on what you can do to make it less shit when it happens. I'm not in any way saying it's your or your son's fault of course - but just that you are not going to be able to change other people's (or dogs') behaviour.

What would you do if your son has a similar reaction to say cats or pigeons or something else coming up to him? Is there any way you could familiarize him with a friend's or family member's dog (small, cute, gentle) in a safe and familiar setting?

For what it's worth tonnes of kids are terrified by dogs (I was as a kid too). It was bad enough to be a serious fear that stopped me enjoying things like going to the park. In hindsight I wish my parents had done something about it (even as simple as just talking to me) but they were not at all tuned into my emotions or needs or inner life, shall we say. I'm not suggesting my experiences were like your kid's tho.

As a dog owner I always try to notice this and keep him away but there are times when I feel pretty bad, even just walking him on a lead on the pavement you see kids cower away sometimes. Not sure how it's possible to avoid this though.

My dog has done this.
And I am sad and disappointed it has happened.
You are right to look after your son, full stop. You don't have to batter the dog when it approaches you. Just grab it by the collar, stay calm, and wait until the owner comes up. If you can do all this while your son is understandably upset you are a superhuman.
You can tell them exactly why you're doing what you're doing, words like "someone should have the dog under control and I thought I'd try" (@Constable_Savage for the quote).
And then you can explain. And then you can leave. You don't have to give any further explanation.

Unfortunately, it will happen. But it's not up to you to try and plan for everything. You're right the law is there for a reason.
I think tower Hamlets are looking at changing/enforcing better the rule and making it "lead on" all the time because of situations like this with bigger dogs. Which means, it'll probably happen london wide at some point.

I'm also going to guess your son's normal reaction to something running up to him that is not wanted probably whips the dog up a little bit.

Obviously, I'm responding from a place of "i've been that dog owner (but not the one that says "oh she's friendly!")" .
If my dog is on a lead, I'm very mindful (and demure..) of who is around and who is nearby and what they look like they're doing (are they scared, are they taking a wider line , why are they walking over to pet my dog?). And when she's off lead I try and pick a place that she will only be interested in what I'm doing. Obviously, there are times when this hasn't worked ("is that a dog 200m over there!? FUCK YOU I'M GOING THATTAWAY").

I've tried a few runners lights and they always break, the Orbiloc has been fan-bloody-tastic from day one. Buy cheap, buy five times, then buy an Orbiloc.
Just flipped it underneath his harness and went out scaring kids in the park, happy Halloween.

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First night of fireworks.

Any thoughts?

Well, we don't know your son. 'Autism' is a very widely-cast spectrum that captures completely different people. In general, dogs are thought to be congenial to many autistic people—while they can be exuberant and boisterous, especially when young, they are also faithful, constant, affectionate, and uncomplicated. We've just heard from @GoatandTricycle about their autism assistance dog.

Again, we don't know what might be possible to achieve for your son. He may need some habituation to dogs, as lemonade says. He may need to learn that dogs can be friendly even when they bark, that they are often just happy to sniff his palm and that they generally don't bite. If you can do anything, it should be gradual and not include sudden surprises. If this works with him, it will address the problem at source, and he'll know what to expect (very important) when there are dogs around. Also, many children are scared of dogs, and it certainly isn't something confined to autistic people. It's quite normal.

I was out somewhere else tonight, but it's been very quiet here when it's normally banging until at least 2am. Hope it was OK round yours.

Took the pup out for a walk after work. Right after I took the lead off a firework went off just on the edge of the park probably 100 meters away. Pickles instantly turned and went to run back home. I put the lead back on and just before we left another went off. I tried calming her with treats on the way but she didn't want to stop, not even to sniff, just tail down pulling to go home. I'm a bit surprised because she's been ok with fireworks when in the house but this was by far the closest she's ever been to one.

I think if you can find a calm dog to try some desensitisation you’ll gauge pretty quickly if that has any mileage. This can work but I also know there’s absolutely no way to overcome some of H’s challenges with traditional approaches like this.
Is he verbal?
Where are you based?

We had the opposite H wanted to say hi to every dog and that lead to some awkward dog handler interactions.

So you could carry a lead, you could then take the dog away from your son. Probably going to annoy the owner, carries some risk like grabbing the collar from the dog too.

Carry high value dog treats. Scatter to distract dog away. FYI these generally stink, little cubes of cheese could be the simplest solution.
Could be paired with sit as most will know this command.

Another tip is I use makaton regularly in situations to flag to others that H is “different” even if it’s not really needed. You could do this if you have hold of the dog, signing to your son.

Whoops, should’ve read the thread updates before joking about scaring kids, soz.
I take our terrier on the school run via the local park and there are a few kids who are clearly scared of off-lead dogs. Always put him on a lead when I spot them just in case he wants to give them his ball, just like avoiding Alsatians etc. Very tricky to control random sniff events though, when my son was small he had big dogs in the park jump up at him, albeit playfully, and I’ve ripped the owner a new one.

We've been suffering with them all week.

Thankfully snoopy is confused by the noise rather than scared shitless. I still don't think he likes it though

Pickles instantly turned and went to run back home. I put the lead back on and just before we left another went off. I tried calming her with treats on the way but she didn't want to stop, not even to sniff, just tail down pulling to go home.

This was pretty much Bailey. I've never seen her still and trembling. It wasn't great, tried to take her out after 10 for her last sniff and wee, but there were distant (> 1 mile) explosions and they caught her attention every time.

Best thing so far? a kid of about 11-15 on a lime bike firing rockets.
I can't moan, if I had a chance I would be doing that now.

So this week we’ve been visiting family in Dorset. We’ve had a few bumps and had to deal with a few uncertain staff in places along the way but on the whole it’s been really positive.
Main difference is walking around and leaving places such as park, soft play etc without total meltdown/ thrashing about/ bolting.
Trip also seems to have moved the bonding along another step.

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Thanks @lemonade @Chalfie @Oliver Schick @GoatandTricycle for the considerate replies. I really appreciate the supportive thoughts and ideas. I’ll report back how we’re getting on.

Jesus fucking christ.
There I was in a quiet spot of the park, deliberately. Enjoying sitting Bailey down, walking around, dropping stuff. NO MOVEMENT. HOORAY.
Worked out walking to heel on the street is difficult because "FUCKING HELL I'M GOING TO THE PARK! yes!"
Do a heel and then a memory retrieve, great heel work! (well in comparison).

Do some sit, ball into the hedges (no poo), out you go, retrieve stuff.

THIS IS GREAT. What a great day.

Oh oh. What's this? It's someone from the parks in a high viz, two guys have just pulled up outside the park just in our line of sight.
I MUST GO AND BARK AT THEM.

And then run into the fucking road in front of a bus.

No dead dog today. But it was close.

I should have left the long lead on and then I could have trodden on it. But I'd taken it off because it wasn't long enough for all the things I was doing and "where I was was quiet".

He’ll probably never get walked off-lead for the rest of his life.

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