Friend's dog bit a child, whose fault?

It’s the child’s parents fault. You cannot go around patting dogs on the head, same for cats! Some bite, mine does and I have to tell children not to touch him all of the time! The dog owner kept his in a lead and away from people, he did nothing wrong.

The dog owner is at fault.

I walk dogs for a living and I always, always call them to my side and have them stop and wait when someone passes - especially if that someone is a child. Because children are unpredictable and no matter how often parents drill into them that they need to ask, they will inevitably forget occasionally and ultimately it's the dog who is going to suffer in the long-run.

Those long-leads should be banned IMO. They are a nightmare and so incredibly dangerous.

1.5m isn't a long lead. Mine are on standard leads which are 1.2m and at most they're a couple of strides away from me.

A 4m wide path isn't narrow and I don't think a dog that's just minding its own business needs to be brought to heel to pass someone potentially 4m away, though it's probably good practice to.

Nobody should be allowing their child to approach dogs they don't know. You can't complain that a dog has reacted to your child touching it completely uninvited. I don't know about anyone else but if someone ran over to me and smacked me on the head I think I'd be quite firm in my response too.

A nip isn't a bite. It's the dog responding in a quite normal way to a behaviour or situation it feels startled or threatened by, as a warning to stop it.

The parents' fault for not controlling their daughter. There's a family where we live who have a little brat who is terrified of dogs - and yet runs up to them and screams, swiftly followed by the gobshite mother. They're notorious for it and have been the main topic of conversation in our area's dog walker WhatsApp group.

Victim blaming or what? Staffies should be muzzled in public.

Parents imo. We were taught from a very very young age to ask if can say hello to a dog. If too young to understand them mum kept us away or mum asked herself - mum was a huge dog fan, had them all her life but also knew that they can react, even the most sensitive ones.

Dogs are dogs, children are children, it's up to various owners to keep control!

The use of the word 'attack' is deliberately emotive, you are being emotionally manipulative. A dog can respond with a bite to many things, that is the owner's matter to deal with. Muzzles are one option, as is careful oversight, or keeping away from people.

A young child approached and touched a dog. A sensible owner would anticipate could happen - only a foolish owner would assume this could never happen. The dog's owners are now responsible for the fact they own a dog that bites. They now need to respond to that reality.

I beleive under uk law the owner of the dog is at fault. They should have the dog under control in a public place and should have been aware of the situation, I.e. a child approaching the dog.

Finally some common sense. If you choose to own something dangerous, a car, a dog or a gun , any damage is 100% your responsibility. If pedestrian is crossing when it is green light for cars you can't just keep going and run them over. If your dog is nervous and little kid is coming , keep a dog close to you and away from a kid.

Can you tell me exactly which ‘law’ you are supposedly quoting here please?

Lesson learned, if you pass children and your dog might nip, pull them in so you have better control. I do this whenever we pass a certain dog breed my dog does not like (she is tiny and won't do anything other then bark, but I dont want her setting of the other bigger dog breed). So if I see the breed coming I move away or if its a small space I pull her in. Obviously, the parents should teach their dc not to touch other dogs w out asking....

To all those people saying 'if the dog was walking to heel, this wouldn't happen.'

Yes is would. Happens all the time with my dogs. I literally don't go a week without a young child lunging at my dogs to 'cuddle them' (including in one instance by grabbing my dogs from behind and wrapping their arms around my dogs neck). My dogs don't react, but lots of dogs would.

Hopefully, in this case, the child has learnt a valuable lesson. The parents certainly haven't though. If the dog wanted to cause damage, the child would be in hospital.

Separately, dogs can be under control and not be walking to heel...mine recalled at almost 50meters away yesterday. And I know other people who can recall their dog mid 'chase' for rabbits or flushing pheasants😊Distance knows no bounds for a well trained dog.

Parents at fault, I would have been furious at them. Having said that, I would naturally keep my dog in check when passing anyone or other dogs. I once had a young child run to my dog and hug my dog at face level it was terrifying for me and I was shocked at furious at those parents allowing that to happen as if my dog had reacted, it would have been stated to be his fault.

But despite being on the lead, the dog was not under the owner’s control. In the OP it says it was 1.5m ahead, not walking to heel.

As I already posted, you are correct that a dog cannot bite a child, but the law also looks at circumstance, and if a dog is on a short lead and under control, and was threatened by the child, then even the calmest dog will nip when threatened, which is exactly what happened.

If the law didn't take circumstance into consideration, the law would state that all dogs must be muzzled in public and on a lead at all times.

Nobody is at fault here. Very young children don't know any better, and old dogs are prone to reminding young'uns that they've crossed the line. Everyone was doing what they were supposed to do.

The blame lies solely with the child and parents. All idiots.

If the girl just ran past and the dog nipped her, that would be totally the dog/owners fault and unacceptable.
But the girl patted the dog's head.
Surely rule number 1 with children is you teach them not to touch strange dogs without asking?
Teach your children that animals might nip you if you suddenly grab or pat them - doesn't matter if it's a dog, cat, squirrel, duck.

Correct, a dog cannot bite a person even if on a lead. But...

Even the calmest of dogs can nip if they feel threatened.

So if this went to court, then although the dog bit the child, the court would ascertain that the dog was on a short lead, and the owner had the dog under control, and it was the act of the child "attacking" the dog that lead to the dog nipping. Had the child not approached and "attacked" the dog, then no such incident would have occurred.

(The child obviously did not attack the dog, but the actions of the child caused the dog to feel under attack)

The law does look at both sides, as otherwise the law would need changing to one that states ALL dogs must be muzzled and on a lead when out in public.

Agree with many other posters that there is split blame here between the parents who shouldn’t have allowed their child to approach the dog, and the owners who didn’t have the dog under control.

But. You say in your OP, that the dog is an old staffie, so there is no excuse at all for the owners being clueless. The dog should have been walking to heel and under control around young children and it wasn’t. I’m afraid your friend needs to take responsibility.

The post doesn't mention an extendable lead. Also 1.5m is a short lead.

Children should not have been allowed to approach the dog without consent. So the parents aren't right to blame your friend. They should be teaching their children how to respect dogs.

At the same time, a well trained and socialised dog will not react to anything. My dogs often have children run up to them, (uncontrolled by parents), they have been hit by children (heavy handed more than aggression), they have had toddlers stick fingers in eyes, nose and in mouth, they have had babies tug on their hair or try to clamber on them. They do not react to any of that. No dog should!

Staffies can be reactive I am afraid.

The child should not have touched the dog without checking first with the owner.

Having said that, my Gds, maybe 8 at the time, and from a dog loving family, asked the owners of a massive black cane corso (I think) in a pub, whether it was OK to stroke it.
Owner said yes, fine.
So he did, and the dog nipped him!

Pleased to say he has not in the least been put off dogs, though.

That's not true either. The law recognises that a provoked dog will snap or even bite for a start. If you were to go up to a dog in the street and kick it, for example, no one is going to prosecute the owner because you happen to get bitten.

As a dog owner my dog is never off lead unless in a dog park/secure private field because he has poor recall, but not aggressive.
When we are walking he is often on an extendable lead but if we approach others he is brought to heel so there would be.no chance of a child even attempting to stroke him. Children don't have adult brains , we know not to approach dogs, children can be told but often forget in the moment.

In my view the parents of the child were at fault but the dogs owner was also at fault and because events like this could be extremely dangerous for the dog ie if police are called, then it is the dogs owner who has to be more vigilant, ensuring this events CAN'T occur.

No, it is you who are incorrect. In law, the dog was not under control if it bit someone, regardless of how unreasonable that seems to you.