There may be some responsible dog owners out there but they seem to be few and far between around here. One large dog ran down the street towards us the other day as I was walking up with my baby in the buggy. I wasn't sure whether the dog was running towards my child or just running, generally. It ran past so clearly had no intent of doing us harm but at best could well have knocked the buggy over. The owner was watching and just laughed. Dogs like those should not be let off the lead in public places and owners should be enforced to control their animals more.
This will probably upset a lot of people but with the exception of the 'friendlier' breeds, (labradors, collies) or those too small to inflict any serious damage on anything more than a table leg ( dachschunds, poodles), I think there needs to be either a ban on certain breeds or more enforced control. The recent case about the pub rottweilers killing a child on the premises is too horrific for words.
The US is obsessed with its guns and rights of gun owners, we in the UK are similarly obsessed with dogs and the rights of dog owners, many of whom keep the more scary breeds in order to present a certain image or to intimidate the public. We need to start putting more constraints on dog ownership in built up urban areas, not just banning them from certain parks.