Or was the dog owner? I'm not sure.

[IcingOnTheCake]

Yesterday me and my friend took our dc out. We decided to sit down on a bench, in what you would call a walk (long path with trees and bushes eitherside leading from the shops to the seafront). In the middle of the walk is a bandstand with a grassed area. We were sat on a bench on the grassed area.

My dc are 2 and 4 and my friends are 11 months and 4. So we are sat having our lunch when a couple of dogs come racing over, one a black labrodore and the other a small bull dog type dog. They ran over and without hesitation ate my 2 years sandwich that was on my lap at the time then ate my friends 4 year olds sandwich that she was holding and putting in her mouth. The dog bit her finger as he did it and she cried.

The owner sort of came over, shushed the days away and muttered sorry to us and walked on. No "Is your dd ok" as she was crying and the dog had just eaten her lunch.

I don't know if you are supposed to have the dogs on leads and i don't want to be a killjoy to dog walkers. But surely if you know your dog is like that (will go and eat anything in sight) then you should be more careful. I was pissed off because the dog had come over and frightened the children and eaten their lunch. My children aren't normally frightened by dogs but they were so quick.

So aibu or was the dog owner, i don't know.

webbygeek91, I understand what you are saying and to a point I agree with you, but in normal everyday life people do not go upto young children in public snatch their food and bite them like these dogs in the OP. This can only be stopped if dogs are on leads in public.

Not really Gospeltruth, if the child isn't taught how to approach dogs it doesn't matter whether they are on or off lead, the child can still run over with sandwich in hand without asking permission and it can still end in tears :/

I could argue the only way to stop toddlers to stop running off/fighting/biting would be to harness them and never let them go and learn to behave appropriately by themselves in public.

Sorry but that is nonses Gospel. I live in the country and I walk my dogs off a lead in a public place all the time; since the only other people I come across are other dog walkers, horse riders and New Forest ponies. On the occasional busy bank holidays or during the few weeks of high summer when visitors are in abundance I leash her.

Naturally if I was walking my dog in a busy public place like a park then I would put her on a lead since I know many people are nervous of dogs...however if I was in that same park at 9 am when it was empty she would be off lead. I am capable of judging the circumstances and deciding whether or not she should or should not be leashed.

Don't use a sledge hammer to crack a nut

'nonsense'

Oh and I realise new forest ponies aren't people

HMC- completely agree, and you need to take into account some kids haven't been taught to behave appropriately around dogs as well if GospelTruth wants to bring leashing into the argument.

I would judge a dog owner on lack of damage limitation.

Ds had two encounters with dogs within the spate of a few weeks. One jumped up and took his ball and ran off with it. Dog owner was profusely apologetic and insisted on reimbursing ds (I would have settled for an apology).

The other dog jumped up and bit him hard enough to draw blood through his trousers. Dog owner turned to her husband and said "Oh, it was only his trousers" and walked off without a word to ds (I didn't come up quickly enough to confront her).

Guess which one of those I judge...

It's like a parent whose child had punched him without provocation: I'd understand an apologetic and sympathetic parent and wouldn't think twice of it, but would judge one who couldn't be bothered to ask if he'd been hurt.

I had a dd who was quite likely to walk up to other people and bite them [sob]

I watched her like a hawk and apologised profusely if she ever escaped my vigilance.

Cory, the exact point I am trying to make. Mine may not be perfect but I always know where to get the best replacement donuts!

In my friends case though, it wasn't a matter of her dd to be/not to be taught how to approach dogs. She was just sat on the bench and the dogs came racing up and took her sandwich without anytime for her to react. She was very suprised and the experience frightened her and she cried.

Yes of course my kids and my friends kids have had their moments. But i would like to think that if our dc went and ate another dcs sandwiches (even if i hadn't seen it myself but the parent told me they had) i would replace said sandwiches. Plus if my dc made another dc cry, i would not just mutter "sorry" and walk off.

I own 4 big dogs. They all have issues so I do not let them off lead in public, although I do not believe any would deliberately hurt someone.

One of them would definately steal food though, but she is the ONLY dog I have ever known who I could garantee would not bite someone. She is also the one who has done me most damage by accident.

My hand went into her mouth as we both went to pick something up, she was already in the process of clamping her mouth shut and in consequence broke my knuckle!

I have fairly tough hands but it could have been much worse, a small child could easily have lost a finger as she has a powerful mouth.

If this was one of my dogs, I would have apologised profusely, given them money to buy more food, and have made sure the children were ok. The OP was wrong not to push this, but in the stress of the moment it is totally understandable - but if the dog owner had stayed to make sure all was ok, it would have given the OP time to think it through and discuss it with the owner.

YABU that you even had to ask! I would have gone ballistic, and i love dogs!

Bumping for readers of the recent thread.

recent thread?