to think this dog should not have been on the beach?

[mumnosbest]

ok it's been 7yrs and i'm finally braving my first ever AIBU thread so please be nice!

I was sitting on a fairly busy family beach today when a couple with a big sloppy looking retriever came and sat behind us. My 3dcs and a few others were playing in the waves. The dog (on a lead) sat behind me showing its teeth and growling at the waves (so i thought). An elderly lady walked past and said "oh doesn't he like the sea?" to which his owner replued "yes but he doesn't like small children" After a little bit of sitting uncomfortably listening to this dog growling at my dcs u gathered my 7, 4yr old and 6 month old and moved away.

Now I'm no dog hater and did't bat an eyelid at the mad staffy diving in and out or the 2 mongrels playing ball but am i really BU to expect people with 'child hating' dogs not to go to a busy family beach full of children?

YANBU - why make the dog stay in an environment where it's stressed and insecure?

Also, younger kids won't necessarily understand or heed requests to stay away from a dog. The children in our area often run up and hug/kiss our dog even when I ask them not to.

I think if they knew their dog wouldn't cope with being there for whatever reason they should have picked locations a bit better.

YANBU. Weird that if the dog wasn't child-friendly they would choose to come and sit by you

I think they were probably trying to train their dog around children and going about it all the wrong way.

YANBU. The dog should not have been put under so much stress.

thanks all i didnt think i was BU either and thanks too for my nice gentle intro to aibu :) looking at a map skeggy has a smaller foreshore where dogs are allowed. this would have been more sensible and id guess anyone there would have been more tolerant of a growly dog being trained.