AIBU to be upset after a dog jumped at our baby?

No I'm challenging the assumption that less than perfect behaviour at all times = untrained dog, shit owner, and dog must be restrained always.

Thats disproportionate and an unacceptable - cruel attitude towards animals that needs to be called out.

Spaniels are well known breeds that bite and are aggressive! They aren’t all lonely little coochy coos! 🙄

I said the dog owner was in the wrong and I don't agree with kicking a friendly dog if there is a better option. If that makes me a bad dog owner, then I'm a proud bad dog owner !

The owner should always have control of the dog.

A dog that has unpredictable behaviours should be on a lead around people.

Either the OP or her husband could have moved their baby out of the way of the dog, if they were that concerned about it.
But they weren’t. They both chose to remain seated at the bench, because they were more concerned about the dog getting to their food.
He didn’t kick the dog because he was trying to protect his wife and baby, he kicked the dog because it was pissing him off

It amuses me how people present the scene as if they were actually there and saw it. It all happened in seconds. How does anybody know what OP and her husband could/should have done? What they were or were not concerned about? Why the husband kicked the dog? Nobody here even saw it, let alone knows what was going on in his head.

People who want to defend badly behaved dogs and owners will manipulate the facts to fault the op and her husband, and people who are sick to the back teeth of careless and useless dog owners will see it in a more realistic fashion. Fortunately common sense comes out on top by 82%

I don’t think you quite know what abuse means.

What utter nonsense. Dogs don't instantly obey if some random person says "Shoo" to them. They especially don't if they're already jumping around and excited by food being in the vicinity.

If another person is approached by an off-lead dog, that is always due to a bad owner.permitting it. A dog should ignore people consistently or be on a lead when around people.

Thats what being under control means.

Nothing you have said indicates that the dog was “out of control”.

Absolutely not unreasonable. Babies and children need to be protected from dogs as you never know how they will react. All fair and well for an owner to say ‘my dog will never hurt anyone’ but you honestly never know, especially around food like you said, may have accidentally bit your baby trying to get food. The dog shouldn’t have been so far away from their owner and the owner should have reacted quick enough to get the dog away without your husband having to then kick the dog away.

Dogs shouldn't be putting their paws on babies. Even if it's a baby within the same household I thought that you were always supposed to very closely supervise any contact between dogs and younger children.

It's been pointed out that it wouldn't have been easy for OP's husband to stand up as he was sitting astride the bench and holding the baby. He would be unbalanced by holding the baby, and further unbalanced by having to swing one leg over the bench. Put a dog jumping up at him into the mix, and it's a recipe for trouble.

And why should he have to? if the dog had been on a lead or responsive to being called, there would be no problem. He was perfectly entitled to do whatever was needed to get rid of the stupid mutt.

Blaming a family that is having food at a family picnic area for the behaviour of a stranger’s dog is wild. And, actually, you’re trivialising how serious it could’ve been

Most people responding can see that. There are some dog people that just can't or won't.

i find your attitude towards animals unrealistic, disproportionate and unecessarily cruel so we will have to agree we have different values and leave it there..

The dog was not under control.

Thank you for acknowledging that even gentle, well behaved, well trained animals can be less than perfect in their behaviour sometimes, because animals are not robots.

I will leave it there.

Because all animals have unpredictable behaviours on occasion because that is the nature of being an animal not a robot.

To fail to recognised that, and to demand disproportionate preventative universal measures that have serious impacts on animal welfare, just because animals can sometimes behave in unpredictable and undesirable ways , is cruel and displays a totally objectifying , dismissive, careless , intolerant and inhumane attitude towards animals.

I absolutely never said that a dog has to be perfect

then it must have been my misunderstanding.

Your attitude is utterly selfish and entitled. Why does a dogs comfort trump the comfort and safety of a baby?

Surely it's for the owner to work out if they can meet a particular dog breeds needs. Don't people take into account where they live and how much time they can commit to walking a dog before choosing what sort of dog to get?