To not understand what this parent was thinking?

@bornwithhorns You’re unbelievable. You’d happily walk round with a dog that you believe would react and bite a small child or toddler yet you still don’t think it’s appropriate to muzzle the dog knowing this. Let’s hope there isn’t some fool like yourself out and about with a dog that the owner is uncertain about and then it lunges at your kid because in that particular split second your child who always obeys you and has common sense, chooses to act like a kid and in a moment of weakness decides to approach that cute old dog and try stoke it. Them bam your child has its lip torn from its face but never mind it was your fault despite the owner parading round with a dog they knew would end up doing it. The point is kids act like kids now and again even the best behaved and most sensible ones and a child shouldn’t be subjected to that just because an adult feels entitled about their dog and believes it has rights to walk freely unmuzzled without its rights being infringed upon.

For the record I wouldn’t let my children go near anyone’s dog regardless if they’ve said it’s friendly or not so no I am not one of those parents. I’m just not stupid

@Frequency your dogs ears are sooo cute

@Frequency Right so basically your dog isn’t friendly yet you’re not concerned it would grab the toddler despite you being concerned they were nose to nose. You also tend to keep the dog away from small children yet you have no concerns about the dogs potential actions. Bit conflicting isn’t it. Ok. What do you expect the dog to do considering you’re concerned about its reactions near small children? Are you worried it will lick the child’s face? What exactly would the dog do if not for grab hold of the child? And presumably by the child’s face considering they were nose to nose as you stated.

Why should you muzzle your dog in case some random child / person chooses to come uninvited over and touch it ( when your dog is already on the lead )
how about control your kids , keep away from someone’s already controlled and on its lead dog

just as a person wouldn’t want a stranger coming into their personal space and touching them
but no if a dog doesn’t like it they’re automatically vicious and must be muzzled !
it isn’t hard

@Frequency You said the toddler was nose to nose with your dog so where exactly do you think it would grab the child? Crack on with your sarcasm, I’m not the one who’s walking the streets with a dog that I feel isn’t safe near babies and is too shot away to do anything about it

@Keepingthingsinteresting It’s not about holding shit parents accountable because anyone with common sense would say they need to be held accountable if something were to off happened and even from the point of allowing their kid to approach the dog in the first place they should be made to feel a certain way but equally someone shouldn’t be taking their dog out in public without a muzzle when they knowingly have a feeling about the dog near small children. Both are responsible. Why should the dog have to suffer and be muzzled because of irresponsible parents… because this dog in particular has given its owner a feeling that it’s uneasy around young kids and isn’t certain it wouldn’t grab hold off a toddler by its face. If you get that feeling about your dog then just muzzle it ffs. Why do people blame dogs, it’s never the dog, it’s always the owner and the way it’s been raised, it must have been abused to just switch and attack someone…completely stupid and anyone who thinks this way is a danger to themselves, their own kids and everyone else around them and should never own a dog. They are animals not robots, they can be harmless and soppy for 5 years straight until they have a bad day or aren’t feeling well or have something else going on with them just the same as people. People can and do just switch in life for all manner of reasons. Just the same with dogs so let’s get back to treating them like dogs as they are instead of babies.

The mother didnt think anything.

He’s a dog. If he can’t be trusted around people, including children, he should be muzzled. End of

Saying “full stop” doesn’t make you right. In fact pretty much everything in your post is incorrect. It astonishes me how far some people will bend not to hold parents accountable for their shit parenting.

The parent is negligent and completely stupid tbh to allow her child to approach a random dog without caution but you are equally responsible for your dog and would be just as negligent as you knowingly take your dog out in public where there is a likelihood small children/ toddlers will suddenly approach your dog and this has been demonstrated now. You’ve said your dog is wary of small children and you somewhat feel that your dog could react. Let’s be real, any and every dog can react no matter how soft and soppy they are. It’s not the toddlers fault they have useless parents that allow them to wander off and they shouldn’t have to suffer a dog ripping into them because of that. If you have even a tiny feeling that your dog could attack a child then it’s your responsibility to muzzle it. If you don’t want to muzzle it then take it to a large open field where there’s no or a very small chance of coming into sudden and unexpected contact with a toddler. People really need to get their heads out of their asses about dogs (Not you specifically) acting like they
are babies and humans. They are dogs and no matter how well trained they are or a family loving pet there is always the chance they can switch and have a mental episode attacking, people need to remind themselves to be quite honest. I grew up with many dogs small and large breeds so I’m not an anti dog person although I don’t own one nor have any interest in. One was a German shepherd who quite literally was that soppy babyish dog who wouldn’t even dream of snarling at a child let’s say who put their hand in his food bowl, yet one day out of nowehere he decided to grab hold of the chihuahua he grew up with nor ever had a problem with and he broke the dogs jaw, legs, back and punctured his liver. The chihuahua had to put to sleep. People can’t accept that different dog breeds have different temperament traits because all breeds can be a family or bombproof pet if it’s treated right, wrong. We also owned many horses and we imply the same agenda that different horse breeds have specific behaviour traits. Some breeds of horses are known to be scatty and unpredictable no matter how much you work on them they will always carry that trait. It was always the people that treated their horses like babies and humans too that had no control of them whatsoever and the horse had no respect for them. Same story every time. Don’t take this as a personal dig as such it’s just annoying how people act like suddenly dogs have so many rights and that if they come from a good home then there’s zero chance of something going wrong. They
put 20mph speed limits outside schools because there’s a higher chance a child will suddenly and unexpectedly run out into the road so there’s precautions in place. If authorities let a someone walk free in the streets who explicitly told them he would kidnap a small child and he then went and done that, who would be responsible the child or the authorities and the nutter who done it? Obviously not the child. So again theres the ability to prevent something from happening that you know there’s a chance it could. Of course not every dog should be muzzled as standard but if you have that feeling something could happen then you absolutely should muzzle it and not just leave the onus on parents (who obviously are completely naive and stupid in the first place) to keep their toddlers safe.

He’s a very sweet looking dog! Your DD has her head screwed on right, it sounds like she possibly averted a tricky situation.
IMO the mother was in the wrong, I have a young child and wouldn’t let them anywhere near a dog (or any other animal) that she doesn’t know. Even the most docile dogs can react badly if they’re startled.

Rottweilers should be made to have muzzles by law! Despite the awful parenting from the other mum. You should have taken your dog away immediately from the toddler so you also played a massive part. It is your dog and you take it away from any stray child who wants to pet a dog unknowingly! Full stop.

Poor attitude from the mum.

If your own DD suffers anxiety and your dog is wary, do you normally muzzle him for everyone’s benefit though?

If your dog is not friendly around children, then you should put a muzzle on it if it could be in close proximity to strangers or young children. It's quite easy for young children to get ahead of their parents or suddenly run towards a dog, particularly where distances are close. I say this as a dog owner myself. I would never think of taking a dog out without one of it could be unpredictable. If it bit a child, regardless of where the fault lay, it would have to be put to sleep. A dog that powerful could do a lot of damage.

Such a good post OP, it’s so easy to let your children run ahead while you chat with a friend or let someone else keep an eye on them. A good reminder that while dangerous dogs are not generally off the lead, there are legitimate situations where they might be.

A parent not looking after their own toddler has no place getting muddy with someone that does.

Of course they don't, but they are always the ones that would kick off when they are 100% in the wrong, arseholes are arseholes, and do not like to be confronted with their poor parenting, someone with terrible anxiety like OPs daughter needs to learn to deflect and ignore, rather than engage, no good will ever come of it.

This won't be the last time a child approaches their dog while their parents aren't paying attention.. you don't confront the child, you say 'no' while intercepting and blocking access, it should be second nature for dog owners to be able to immediately remove their dog from situations that may make them uncomfortable or may have an unpredictable outcome.

I live on an extremely busy main road. The way into the town centre is directly past our bungalow and you'd be amazed / shocked / horrified at the sheet amount of parents that let their small children either run off miles infront or they've got their head buried in their phones whilst speed walking, leaving them straggling behind with absolutely no concerns at all. They don't even look behind them at where they are or what they're doing.

Bad parenting on adult woman's part. That's it.

Dog looks as if he has wings on his head rather than ears!

I have a 14kg medium sized dog who is a good natured plank but I never allow a child to pet him.

Any child that approaches him gets told to ask their parents permission or I just give a sharp don’t do that

I hate dogs, but the OP did nothing wrong!

She and her daughter are wonderful dog owners.

There was no reason not to hold the hands of the child either. A parent not looking after their own toddler has no place getting muddy with someone that does.

Toddlers aren't made of spun sugar. They don't crack or dissolve on being touched by a human other than their mother (or in this case sibling as the mother couldn't even be arsed)

Sadly lots of feral parents about with feral kids. Glad your DD was sensible enough to act swiftly.