AIBU to think that parents should educate there kids about the dangers of unknown dogs.

[LouiseSmith]

Sorry folks another dog one.

I'm asking because I had a situation the other day where I was walking my dogs down alley next to a field, and my little dog (Shih Tzu) had lagged behind. I turned and a little girl had hold of her around her tummy, back legs off the floor. Her father (I presume) still on the phone, I asked him to remove the child from my dog, and that she may snap as she doesn't know the child. His response "If it bites her it'll be put down."

Not only that ive lost count of the many times over the years ive been walking and kids having come running at the dogs, not even a "Can i touch the dog?" I mean we spend years telling our kids, "don't talk/go/take sweets off strangers." that we fail to tell them the simplest "don't just walk over to dogs and touch them." Why? The parents would be the first to moan if the dog snapped at the child. But I bet you'd be pretty pee'd off if Mrs X from next door came up to you and started scratching your ears.

[LouiseSmith]

Velma67 - I know my dog. It isn't in her nature to approach people, and children she avoids like there contagious! She isn't vicious mind, she just doesn't like kids.

[ItsAllGoingToBeFine]

The dog was on a flexi lead

Is that one if those retractable ones? If so sympathy lost.

When will dog owners realise that having there dog on a long piece of string is a nightmare. It doesn't stop them approaching other people or dogs. They are not the slightest under control. In some ways an extendable lead is worse than off lead due to the high likliehood of yourndog tripping or winding around some innocent passerby.

[WorraLiberty]

I'd have had a go at the dad TBH. I like how people are saying you should be responsible for your dog while you're walking it, but not a peep about the fuckwit walking his child.

Have you not actually read the thread?

Almost everyone has mentioned that parents need to teach their kids not to approach dogs.

[Kleptronic]

I had this last night with an adult. I warned him my dog was nervous and didn't like strangers but he tried to stroke him anyway. My dog was on lead and at my side and short of running away (there wasn't time) there was nothing I could do. My dog gave a warning grumble and the man was highly affronted and told me I should have a muzzle on him. He's never bitten anyone, and I'm training him to tolerate situations with members of the public, but gawd, the public are hard work!

[HavantGuard]

I had this with my youngest dog when he was about 14 weeks old. I stood off to the right of the pathway in a park, on a patch of dead ground, to allow a crowd of people to cross a bridge so it would be quieter for him. Out of nowhere a boy of 4/5 appeared shrieking 'Puppy' and made a beeline for him. My poor pup was totally unsettled and backed away as quickly as he could and the child kept coming. A woman appeared about 30 feet away, trotting and calling 'Thomas! Don't do that Thomas! Leave the dog alone!' The child completely ignored her. I had to pick up my dog to get it away from the child. The mother never said a word when she eventually caught up with him.

[Stinklebell]

I've always insisted that my children should never stroke or touch an unknown dog without asking the owner first.

I had it few weeks ago - I was standing outside our village shop with my dog on a short lead, sitting at my feet (to one side, away from the door) while my children were inside. Young child came flying out of the shop and flung his arms around my dog, the father followed him and said "aww, he just loves dogs"

I extricated my dog from the child and said please don't allow your child to do that, you don't know how dogs will react, to which he replied, "not my problem, if it bites him I'll report you to the police"

Idiot

[Pregnantberry]

I think there needs to be responsibility on both sides equally.

Parents should educate their children about dogs and control them around them because not all dogs are friendly or under an owners control.

Dog owners should keep good control of their dogs at all times, because just because parents should be in control of their children around your dog it doesn't mean they will.

[thesecowsaresmallthosearefaraw]

I've been luck, most children in my village seem very well-trained! They ask, and they pat gently on the side with flat fingers rather than going for my dog's head. I do try and avoid walking at school-chucking-out time, though...

[thesecowsaresmallthosearefaraw]

lucky! If I was luck, I would hire myself out to lottery ticket purchasers.

[canyou]

Op yes DC should be taught to respect animals and how to behave around them, I walk my fluffy mid sized looks like a teddy bearmutt on a harness and a lead she wears a high viz and a muzzle at all times and I walk her with my bomb proof sheepdog to help calm her and she follows the older dogs lead so is better behaved yet people still approach and try to interact with her I did tell one Dad who's dd ran at my dog that each dog is allowed their first bite and even with a muzzel she was not a dog to be approached, he was that I thought they had done something wrong.
My mutt has never snapped bitten or attempted to bite but is very nervous of other people and dogs and I prefer to err on the side of caution when out and about with her.

[FrogsgoWaaaaaa]

YANBU (although I do strongly believe that dog owners should always have control of their dog, be that on a lead or very well trained off with excellent recall if required).

I walk dogs at a rescue shelter and there are very strict rules about keeping the dogs on a tight lead, keeping them away from all other animals/people etc. Some of the dogs have been there a while and we know them very well, others may have just arrived from the City Pound and could be traumatised, aggressive; we're just finding out about their personalities and better safe than sorry.

It absolutely astonishes me the number of people that I have literally had to scream at to get away from a dog after they try and shove their hands in the poor dog's face or allow their children to run towards the dog. If they asked first I could have a polite conversation with them about the shelter and why however cute and friendly the dog seems they can't touch it. More often than not though, they think I'm incredibly rude for shouting!

As for the other dog owners who let their dogs off the lead in an area which is strictly leads only then airily call out to me "Oh mines very friendly!" as it comes racing towards the dog I'm clearly trying to keep away, it makes me bloody furious. I don't care how friendly your dog is but this one may well not be and it won't be either dogs fault if one of them gets bitten.

[MajorGrinch]

I do try and avoid walking at school-chucking-out time, though...

We ended up putting a muzzle on our (small & timid) dog when we picked the kids up from school due to the amount of kids that would run up & stick their hands in his face while their idiot parents grinned inanely in the background.

We'd tell the kids they shouldn't touch strange dogs, but no idea how much notice they took....

[SomethingkindaOod]

not a dog owner, have DC's plus after school mindees.
YANBU. It's a rule I drill into my bunch, don't run up to the dog, don't touch the dog until you have the owners permission and then just stroke, no messing with eyes, ears, tails etc. if the owner says no, back off.
The amount of children who seem to be allowed to fling themselves all over a strange dog is quite scary.

[ohhifruit]

This bugs me no end. One of our dogs is very small and a bit scared after being knocked down by a bike. Anything that comes from above (not other dogs) makes him bark a lot.
If children come near, and because he is so small and puppy-like they do so a lot, I warn them he is scared and will bark (he wouldn't hurt them but hey, he is a dog and anything could happen) and not to pick him up. And yet 95% of them still try to pick him up and about 50% of those children get upset when the dog barks like fucking crazy.

I give them fair warning, I put him on a lead when children come within a certain distance and am very vocal about the way he will react. The amount of times I have parents storm across the park to tell me what an awful person I am for allowing my dog to bark at their child.

Why should I have to remove my dog (and my children and other dog) from a park because a child hasn't been told to listen to adults, to stay away from strange dogs or because a parent is letting their child run wild in a park.

Dogs will always be a part of parks, as much as parents try to shove them out (which is happening in my area), so if you're taking your child to a park do you part and tell them that dogs are not all fluffy little puppies to be picked up and thrown around. It's not a lesson anyone wants a child to learn the harsh way.

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

This may sound mathematically impossible, but I believe the responsibility for safety in this situation was 100% the OP's and 100% the parent's.

We can only influence those things that are within our control - as parents, we cannot make strangers behave the way we think they should, but we can teach our children the best and safest practice, whether it be how to cross a road safely, what to say and not say on the internet, or, as in this case, how to behave safely around strange dogs.

And as dog owners, we can't make all parents teach their children how to behave around strange dogs, but we can do our best to ensure that our dogs are properly trained and properly supervised at all times.

We don't live in a perfect world, unfortunately - the OP wasn't supervising her dog as well as she should have done, but I do think that, in this case, the dad was being unreasonable in allowing his child to manhandle a strange dog, when he could see that the owner was not aware of what was going on. As the adult who was closest to the situation, and who was best placed to see what was happening, he should have intervened to stop his child manhandling the dog, and if anything had happened, I think he would have been most responsible.

[shrunkenhead]

We live in the country and have fields all around us, what bothers me is dogs off lead running at us on public foot paths, yes i'm sure if they were dangerous the owners wouldn't let them off the lead but my children don't know whether these dogs aret friendly or not and they are terrified! When out and about I always tell them to ask the owner if the dog is friendly and ask if they are allowed to pat it but when there is no owner about or they are off lead they don't have this opportunity-although they obviously know not to approach these dogs.

[Tailtwister]

YANBU. I drum it into my children that they should never approach a dog they don't know or even one they do without the owner's permission. I ask them how they would feel about a total stranger patting or bothering them and say it's the same for an animal.

I do wish dog owners would extend my children the same courtesy though. The number of times my children have been jumped all over or had their faces licked by out of control dogs. My 3yo really dislikes dogs because it's happened so many times. All the owners say is 'oh he won't hurt you'. How do I know that? In fact, how do they know that for sure?

[Tailtwister]

Just to add, I would find it totally unreasonable for a child to treat any animal like the little girl was treating OP's dog. They aren't toys to be pulled about. The dog could have a sensitive area it doesn't like touched or a painful hip, anything really, which could make it snap. I do think that dogs should have a right to react if they are in pain or hurt. The father was an idiot.

[tallulah]

I have always drummed into my DC that you never ever approach a strange dog, and you always ask the owner if it is OK to touch it. My 6 yo loves dogs but always asks me and the owner before she approaches a dog.

We used to have dogs and it used to really bug me when children we didn't know would hurtle up to them.

[IceBeing]

I agree with SDT. Parents have responsibility and so do dog owners.

Although the world is so full of unavoidable potential danger I cannot for the life of me fathom why people increase it by keeping strange dogs.

I resent the extra effort I have to make to keep my DD safe from other peoples pets.

[Adikia]

YANBU but I started a thread like this a while a go where a kid who looked about 10 had run up and stuck their face in my dogs face, poked him in the eye and started pulling him about, ignoring me when I told him to leave the dog alone and holding dogs collar so I couldn't pull him away and the consensus was that had my dog turned round and bitten him it would still be my fault, even though he was on a short lead (my dog loves kids so just put up with it but the child and his parents didn't know that he wouldn't bite) it went on for pages and pages.

[HavantGuard]

'I resent the extra effort I have to make to keep my DD safe from other peoples pets.'

I resent the effort I have to make to keep my dogs alive because of other people's children. If anything happened the dogs would be blamed and put down even if it was clearly not their fault.

[IdRatherPlayHereWithAllTheMadM]

Yes, we have dog and I dont like people just coming up to stroke she gets lots of attention it can be over whelming.

I have taught my own to ask before stroking.

[KarinMurphy]

I used to have a Golden Retriever who, thankfully, was calm and well mannered but the number of kids who would just throw themselves at him and hug him round the neck was quite scary. Usually their parents seemed to think this was cute behaviour. :(

The other day though I had my very nervous Curly Coated Retriever on a lead bringing her in from the car. We waited by the car boot for a Mum and two boys, about 7 and 10, to go past us. Just as they got along side us the older boy turned and screamed, as loud as he could, right in her face. Thankfully she tried to run rather than snapped but the Mum just laughed and kept on walking. Crazy!