...and they always said CBF was aggressive and cliquey - we were/are angelic compared with some facebook groups...
You can't win Anne, it astonishes me how tunnel visioned people are when keyboard warrioring - and animals is on par with politics for people who cannot begin to accommodate or at least consider their view may not be the fully correct one. People can be entirely bigoted and unerring in their view of incidents.
For the record, I agree with everything in your post above. We like the dogs, many know us well, I can't remember any negative incident involving us and dogs - but you can't have people on the prom of a holiday resort getting attacked and bitten - even if they shouldn't be riding a bike there, that is simply ridiculous and unjustifiable. I bet their opinion would change if it were them who was bitten.
After years of campaigning and arguing I don't get involved much. Not because I don't want to, I do, I enjoy that sort of thing. The fact is that people are increasingly set in their views as time goes on - some people simply couldn't begin to accommodate that there might be a different view to theirs on Brexit for example. I'd struggle to change any minds, but I didn't want that - I just wanted them to understand why some have an opposing view, like I don't agree with them but am able to see why they might think the way they do.
Ultimately it's about time management and probability of success. I can persuade 97 out of 100 friends on holiday not to leave , and stay for one more, but only 1 in a million Brexiters to convert to remain. So I concentrate on arguments I am more likely to win