Child bitten by dog - WWYD?

[turquoise1988]

A few months ago my DS (6) was riding a bike along a walking/cycle trail, a short distance away from us. We always ask him to stop every so often to let us catch up, but he knows never to go out of our sight. At one point he was waiting, stood still, straddling his bike on the left hand side of the walking trail when a family approached on the right hand side.

Their dog, which was on a lead, jumped across and knocked DS off his bike and bit his arm. Thank goodness he was wearing a coat, which cushioned the blow a bit. We didn't actually realise the dog had bitten him until the family had made a half-arsed attempt at an apology and then scooted off.

Anyway, a few months on, understandably, DS and younger sibling (4) are now terrified of dogs.

We continue to take regular walks and pass dogs. We visit friends' houses who have calm, happy dogs. We've talked about how most dogs are friendly, but that there are few irresponsible owners who allow their dogs into other people's space or don't train them properly.

What else can we do? Is there anything? Is the fear likely to ease as they get older? FWIW, getting a dog isn't an option as we are expecting a new baby soon and it wouldn't be sensible or affordable.

Ah MissMaple82 spouting her nasty bile on another thread. Ignore OP, they were being vile to someone else on another thread earlier. They clearly have some big issues in their own life and come on here being nasty to people asking for support, to make themselves feel better. Doubt it works sadly.

This was not your fault in anyway. There are so many uncontrolled dogs around now and owners that don't give a shit. If you ask them politely to stop their dog from jumping on your child, you get a mouthful of abuse. I've also noticed recently that these owners try to make it your fault. I have been told "what do I expect if my child has a stick in its hand" and "it's not the dogs fault if it can smell your sausage rolls" whilst we were eating at a picnic bench where dogs were meant to be on leads!

I worked on lots of praise for walking past a dog on the opposite side of the road and built up there very slowly.

We had a friend with a very well trained placid dog come stay and over a weekend she massively warmed to him and we built on that . I asked people with calm friendly dogs if she could stroke them etc.

She was very much but that dog may bite to every new dog we encountered. She had a point 🤷🏽‍♀️

We eventually got our own dog.

He probably fell near the dog which spooked him. To be honest, I think its more irresponsible to leave such a young child to go on ahead of you to the point where he needs to stop and let you catch up. Your also assuming only irresponsible dog owners dogs bite, which is not the case. They apologised, dog was on a lead, you didn't make a fuss because you didn't see through his coat, well neither could they! You obviously wasn't that impacted otherwise you'd have done more at that very moment. What song and dance were you expecting from them?

This is unreal. You are blaming a 6 year old child cycling along a path for being bitten by a dog? Or his parents? That's absolutely mental.and frankly, terrifying.

The dog should have been put to sleep. No wonder there are so many serious and fatal dog bites when there are complete and utter idiots out there letting their dogs bite children, passing it off as 'mouthing' and excusing it based on the age of the dog.

I hope your kids are OK. Mine are the same age and are not keen on dogs, after a few barking/knocking over incidents. We live next to a park where people let them run absolutely riot, and people cut through the primary school and nursery playground to get to the park, with their massive dogs off the lead. Boils my piss.

An experineced hynotherapist would be able to help.

I am a lifelong dog owner and can't believe the people here minimising a bite and re-writing history. It wasn't a puppy, it wasn't a young dog and it left bruising on a child because it was not under proper control. That is not mouthing, it's a bite. And it doesn't matter whether you call it a bite or not - it was a scary experience for a child and telling them is wasn't is a stupid idea.

OP yoive had some good suggestions and you've done a lot of good too. It may be worth having a look around to see if your local DogsTrust have activities for children. There are lovely open days, but they also do courses to help children overcome fear, and also even courses on what to do if you think you will be attacked by a dog.

OP has come here to get some support to help her DS. Stop gaslighting her and blaming her/her son for what has happened. The OP and her son are not at fault, there is nothing wrong with a child using a cycle path for it's intended purpose. The only people at fault here are the owners of the dog.

OP my DD was bitten on the face by a springer spaniel 3 years ago. It has really affected both her and my DS who witnessed it and they are both still terrified of dogs and extremely wary if we encounter any off-lead.

I try to do similar to you and try to reassure them not all dogs will do that, most are friendly etc & have tried to gently expose them to very well trained, well behaved dogs so they might learn to trust them again. I try not to make too much of an issue of it outwardly but am definitely in protective mum mode and often put myself in between any dog & my children. They both understand the best policy is to admire them from afar and if they want to go near, never try to approach/touch a dog without asking the owner’s permission first.

It's typical dog owner behaviour I find , everyone has just got to love their ruddy dog no matter what .

I don't like dogs
"Oh but you will love mine !"
No I fucking won't !

Just to say that's it's really early days. I think you're doing a lot of the right things, but a few months ago is still quite fresh. Books and trying to work on your own anxiety are good calls too.

I got knocked over by a GSD when I was about seven and I was pretty nervous of big dogs that I didn't know for a couple of years afterwards. I am still wary of dogs I don't know, but I have two at home (including a very similar breed to a GSD). I find it easier now that I can understand dogs body language - maybe that would help? So they can read them a bit better?

As a dog lover and owner, if a puppy came up to me or my child and ‘mouthed’ it, I would be deeply unimpressed. So even if that’s all it was, that’s still really not ok.
But from what the OP says, it wasn’t just mouthing anyway!

Hypnotherapy is a really good idea.

I was bitten in the face by a neighbour’s dog when I was 6/7 - it was deaf and got a fright and my parents didn’t know and hadn’t taught me anything about dogs. I’m ok with dogs these days though, so it doesn’t have to be something that affects him for life.

I do think some time with very calm friends’ dogs could be a good idea though.

No it isn't "typical dog owner behaviour". The vast majority of dog owners are responsible. It is the behaviour of someone who neither cares for their dog nor anyone else.

Some children are badly behaved, but it's a minority, so I don't put their poor behaviour down to "typical parenting".

But it is typical MN to tar everyone with the same brush, guilty or not.