Friend's dog bit a child, whose fault?

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.

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....

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?

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.

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.

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!

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

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.

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 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.

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.

You cannot say it is both subjective for the person experiencing the situation and sebject to reasonableness. Lots of people are hysterical about dogs and their mere presence in the same room apparently puts them in fear. A test of reasonableness in law (although different for different types of case) generally requires the court to consider what a reasonable person in possession of the facts would/could have thought in the situation- those things are often not the same.

I have a well behaved spaniel.

They are still a dog. People often see the dog and I notice don’t seem to control either there dog or child. Allow them to run up to her. How would you react as a human if an unknown person just ran up to you without invite.

She walks to heel, has never nipped anyone BUT I don’t know whether if she was startled or felt she was going to be hurt how she would react. It needs a joint effort from both parties.

Ironically when we go out with my friends extremely soft Rottweiler who is always on a short lead …other dog owners and parents seem to actually parent or recall there dogs and children away from him (he just wants to be everyone best friend)

DC parents fault 100%. They need to teach their DC you dont go up to random dogs. Idiots.

The dog owner should keep their dog out of touching distance of children, a family should be able to walk in a park without risking their children being bitten by a dog. The dog is the interloper in that scenario not the child.

Thank you for this clear description of what should happen.

This is what 'under control' means - you as owner/walker are taking charge.

You are welcome! I actually had a child come to meet one of the dogs I was walking today. His mum asked permission, I was then able to get the dog (still a youngster) to sit calmly and under control (as he still likes to jump) and the little boy came over and listened and said hello.

It was a lovely interaction and the little boy was grinning from ear to ear. It's so easy as a dog owner (or walker) to keep your dog under control and yet so many don't seem to bother.

If it was just the fear of danger then reasonableness would apply.

If a bite has happened, then clearly it isn't a matter of opinion anymore - a bite has occured.

What if the child was younger or non-verbal, so it would be impossible to teach it to not go up to dogs? Whose fault then? Should small children be on leads in case they go up to dogs and hug them? I find for the plaintiff and award damages against the dog owner.

Your friend definately isn't a responsible dog walker, but the child's parents aren't responsible parents either. Both the parents and the owner should have been near enough to the child and the dog to stop this interaction before it happened. Neither of them were. Both are very lazy and should be being a parent and a dog owner much better than they are.

Absolutely. The number of children blaming a small child here is ridiculous.

Dogs have to be under control - it's the law. Under control means they cannot bite a child.

Child should have been taught not to touch a strange dog without asking, but equally if people were approaching dog should be to heel, not lolloping ahead imo.

Hopefully the child has learnt a very valuable lesson!

he is extremely gentle!) They all are until they aren't. And this one has proved that he isn't.

An average human bite force is roughly 162 PSI, meaning a Staffie's bite of 300 PSI is about twice as powerful. Muzzle in future?