to have kicked off at another mother for confirming her child's fear of dogs!

[MrJugsMummy]

Just taken my DS and our 1 year old springer spaniel for a walk in our local park. He was running off his lead as he always does and a toddler walked around the corner without her mother. Our spaniel is quite a caring dog and loves children and often tends to mother them somewhat (he worried himself senseless when my DS was ill last week slept on the sofa next to him and woke every time he so much as sniffed!) so he went up to the child the child screamed I called Brian away and said to the little girl "it's fine he won't hurt you he just wants to say hi", the kids mother then decided to make an appearance and pick up the child and had a go at me saying that I shouldn't let my dog off of his lead! She then turned to the child and said "Did he bite you?" to watch the child now upping the screaming and crying actually said "No" she then turned to me and said my dog was a menace and shouldn't be allowed near children!

I snapped at this point and said "My dog was concerned about the fact your child was seemingly by itself in a park, he simply went up to her to check she was ok, he didn't even jump up at her let alone bite her" she then started saying again that he shouldn't be off his lead!
I really got riled up then and shouted "My 5 year old son is here right next to me, I would have no qualms about leaving him alone in a room with my dog as he is well trained and good tempered and adores him, if I had any doubts about his behaviour I would not have him as a family pet and if I had any concerns about his behaviour around children do you seriously I would let him off his lead in a park after school with loads of children around!" I then stormed off and muttered that she was a stupid bitch!

I get so annoyed at parents who do this if your child doesn't like dogs don't take them to places where dogs are, I get that all children are scared of things but why confirm the fear?! If my DS ever shows fear about something I either reassure him that nothing will hurt him or tell him how to avoid being hurt.

Grr rant over

does anyone want to borrow a large horse to take to the park with them , he is very friendly , never bites or kicks , just let him off and allow him to wander up to people , i am sure no one will mind , because we all know he is super friendly and just wanting to say hello

Am a dog owner too and put mine on the lead when i see people i dont know approaching .

LtEve, I agree. There is no need for the personal attacks. That is all I agree with you on this though.

I'm not phobic but I am very afraid of dogs off lead and I don't want to be sniffed by them.

My dog was concerned about the fact your child was seemingly by itself in a park, he simply went up to her to check she was ok

That's the most ridiculous excuse for selfish, anti-social behaviour so far. No one should have to deal with your pet unless they agreed beforehand. If you can't control it well enough for that you should get a goldfish instead.

I can't believe how many children are not taught to get on with dogs these days. If either of my sons had been frightened of dogs I'd have blitzed them with canine company and told them to behave themselves.
This poor little spaniel did nothing wrong and ended up on the receiving end of a ridiculous rant. Some people need to get over themselves and live in the real world.

lol higgle. you haven't got a clue.

blitz them with dogs. scar them for life. my mother tried the 'make them' approach for my fear and it turned into a phobia so bad I had panic attacks for years, therapy and hypnotherapy to try and get over it.

people seem more willing to understand dog behaviour (he did nothing wrong!) than human behaviours :/

I'm not sure the spaniel speaks English. He'll be fine.

The dog didn't do anything wrong. That is true. The dog did what dogs do.

The owner was wrong though.

The problem with that higgle is that lots of dogs will take their cue from the person with them, so someone that is nervous around dogs will, in turn, make the dog nervous. Nervous dogs bite.

A good dog owner can judge their dogs cues and see if it is the right thing to do. One of DDs friends was nervous around dogs and we (with the backing of her dad) casually and carefully introduced her to MuttDog, because I know my dog, and know her cues. I wouldn't have tried to do the same with RottDog, because Rott would have reacted badly, despite being a very safe, very loving dog around children. Thankfully DDs friend took the the introduction well, and now plays happily with Mutt - she is still nervous around other unknown dogs though.

Flooding someone with a phobia of, say, spiders, is one thing. But trying to do the same with an intelligent animal like a dog, something with empathy and feelings (and with teeth!) is another.

YABU - DD2 has never been bitten but she been frightened by bigger dogs compare to her bounding up and frightening her.

Now she is frightened of all dogs despite my attempts to over come this.

All the owners say oh but they are friendly or worse he/she doesn't bite - immediately putting it into my DC head they they could.

Many of these encounters have been round child play equipment areas in the park areas clearly designed for young DC.

I've also endure more than one polite lecture on how I should let my DC be afraid - I assume because the owners can't conceive that anyone could feel differently about their pet than they do.

Having said that most dog owners are lovely and understanding which is just as well as dog are everywhere round us and impossible to avoid.

OP has disappeared. I'm scared of dogs and HATE it when people say "he's only being friendly".

Did she come back?

Maybe Brian read the thread and asked her to stop as it was giving him a bad name.

I hadn't followed the OP across any other threads, and so didn't know she'd been having a bad time. Unfortunately you can't really expect in AIBU that people will have read what you've posted elsewhere, any more than you can expect that the child who is frightened of dogs hasn't had a bad or upsetting experience with dogs in the last few days, really.

Of course I hope she is alright; at the same time, I think she was very unreasonable, which is, after all, the question she asked.

I very much doubt your dog was concerned about the child..that's just ridiculous, if someone said that to me I'd be very and