Sandra,
As someone who has been to all the Bridgnorth and Shrewsbury festivals so far perhaps I am part of the core constituenct to whom your question was addressed. I have taken my two daughters and various of their friends to 60 or more festivals in this time and have never been close to any significant trouble with dogs. There must be collective history of thousands of fes attendances in this thread and yet there are only first hand accounts of a couple of minor incidents, none life threatening.

I don't have a dog myself but it always gives me a little lift to see anyone, human or canine enjoying themselves.   It strikes me as a bit arrogant that so many people here find the need to tell others what their dogslike/ dislike should do shouldn't do. One of the things I used to like about the world of folk festivals was the diversity and tolerance, the people very different to me getting by in a friendly live and let live mode.

The thing which has increasingly been getting me down and which has driven several friends away from regular festival attendance is the killjoy overcontrolling, consumerist attitude. It strikes me that if you have an expectation of reasonable behaviour then on the whole that's what you get, from dog owners or everyone else.