To not understand what this parent was thinking?

Cool, maybe she wouldn't - that could be what happens. You hang your hat on that.

Or she could just muzzle her nervy dog, stop it from being in harm's way. Or pay attention, like you want the mother to have. Either way, it'll be the dog that suffers if there's an incident so I guess you have to make your choices based on how much you don't want that to happen.

From the sounds of it the dog was not out of control, was on a lead and a head harness, doesn’t have a history of aggression or biting and is not on a banned list. Likely that a serious injury to the child would result in the dog being PTS, but not immediately clear that OP would be prosecuted.

If only the mother of the two improperly supervised kids thought the same huh?

I get that you're outraged about it but yes. She needs to be vigilant all the time, and she wasn't in this instance. She knows her dog is nervous around others so she should take appropriate steps - either keep clear or muzzle. She didn't.

You can feel morally wronged that the mother isn't being held to account but unfortunately that's the reality - it will be OP's dog will be PTS and it'll be OP that is prosecuted. if she is really a responsible dog owner then she should take the above precautions, to protect her dog, if not the child.

You want every dog muzzled? Ok, if that's for safety, I want every toddler on a leash!

A muzzle is what’s needed in public places if a dog might react poorly.

Our old family dog, brought up with my five kids and a veritable saint of a dog, didn't much like very small children. He'd take himself off to hide somewhere if a toddler-sized child started trying to hug him (he was very fluffy and huggable). I often had to intervene when he was outside in our front driveway as passing small children would come running up to try to pat him.

I don't think he would have dreamed of biting (he never raised a tooth in anger in his entire fourteen years on this planet, but he would growl to himself), but this was a dog raised and mauled by children all his life. He just didn't like the small ones as they were too unpredictable for him. NOT a dangerous dog, and a complete mongrel, but even the most saintly dog can not want a strange child peering in his face.

So only walk them in places with no other people? The OP was giving them a drink. Should she have eyes in the back of her head?

As much as walking along the street and not seeing children would be lovely, unfortunately they're about and should stay away from dogs or ask permission to come close

I am not known for aggression however a child jumped off a wall onto my head once and before I knew it i had elbowed them in the face. The brain doesn't catch up when you're startled.

If a dog looks up to someone in their face that's a dangerous situation regardless of the breed.

Absolutely this!
Yes, the parent behaved poorly here, but her dog’s behaviour is ultimately the OP’s responsibility. If her dog bit the child she would be the one in trouble with the law, probably sued, dog pts etc.

He looks lovely (and charmingly dopey)!

Something is really weird about this

You make your daughter sound like a child herself. She’s 23? No wonder she has anxiety. You are blowing this out of proportion. She did nothing wrong. However you’re dragging the exchange on by labouring the point through online forums, when it should be a non-event with no need for continuing to discuss it with strangers. There’s also no need for anyone to be shaking over this tbh, and she would likely process this easier if you didn’t make it such a big deal.

Plus your expectations for other people are too high. I can assure you that no one is thinking about being “nose to nose” with your dog, it’s just not going to cross the average person’s mind. You keep repeating this oddly specific phrase as if non-dog owners see the world in that way - they don’t. You need to take responsibility of your dog instead of assuming others will.

If you think there’s a reasonable chance that your dog will bite a stranger, then you do need to muzzle it. Someone being in proximity to your dog, doesn’t then make it okay that your dog bites. It doesn’t absolve you of responsibility. So the responsible thing to do is just muzzle it for the edge cases.

The dog should be muzzled if it is reactionary and potentially dangerous. I have a very large dog which has grown up with small children but I'm still not that selfish to risk another child's face purely because it would be the other person's fault for approaching. I also wouldn't risk my dog being put down because someone let their child startle her unmuzzled. A dog with that many triggers is a dangerous dog and should be treated as such in public.

You know the disdain you feel for those ignorant people tarring big dogs under one brush? How annoying them making assumptions because of sterotypes and a lack of intelligence/understanding is?

Small dogs have this reputation because of owners who don't understand what their breed needs (in the case of chihuahuas and other toy breeds, very early training that big hands near their heads is a good thing and extensive socialisation). The problem is shitty owners who think a small dog barking or growling from terror is 'cute' and who treat them more like an accessory than a dog, making them miserable.

Our smaller rescue dogs have always needed far more work than the big ones around making them feel safe in the world and not experiencing fear aggression. Our chihuahua from a puppy has been the most trainable, loving dog (we often have people saying 'I don't usually like small dogs but...'.

Negative breed/dog stereotypes are usually 80% down to shit owners.

Vet's daughter here, used to work at his surgery. In many years, we NEVER had an aggressive Rottweiler. Most are complete gentle giants. The ones I'm wary of are small terriers, some of which can be really nasty.

I’m not in the UK so this isn’t particularly relevant, but just as a point of comparison…Where I am there is a restricted dogs list and the breeds on it must always be kept muzzled in public and on a strong, short lead by someone who can control them.
Rottweiler crossbreeds are on the list.

If you are concerned that your dog might bite a child then it really should be muzzled on walks. Lots of dog owners use muzzles. You should also avoid areas which are highly trafficked by children (like parks) if you do not intent to muzzle it.

But surely, it is the parents responsibility to ensure their toddler does not run up to dogs they don’t know and try to grab them?
OP was in fact keeping a close eye on her dog - the toddler was running unsupervised.

Those ears 😍😍😍😍

He's gorgeous O.P and as he is a rescue dog, I am sure he is having a very happy life with you. You also sound like lovely, sensible and responsible dog owners.
Ignore any ignorant comments.

Just a very good reminder that a large proportion of parents are monumentally shit. I really don’t understand why they bother having kids if they aren’t prepared to undertake the most basic level parenting.

Don’t be ridiculous. Would you apply that logic to traffic or knife weilding thugs . It’s absolutely the parents responsibility to protect their children from harm , injury , death .

Adorable dog OP. Shocking behaviour from the toddler’s parent. I think this is very much on the increase though. We were walking in a city centre yesterday and parents were allowing children no older than 2.5 to run around a pavement right next to a main road junction. Buses were thundering past and nobody had a handle on these loose toddlers. DH very nearly tripped over one as she ran right under his feet.