SHould I report neighbours dog for this?

[tundrah]

On sunday my little boy (2) sneaked in to the neighbours garden. The neighbour let his 5 dogs out and they surrounded my boy barking, snapping and snarling at him. The dogs are not very well trained but usually the neighbour would call them back. This time he made no attempt to call them back, I had to grab my boy who was bawling and shaking like a leaf. The neighbour jsut gave me a foul look.

I am constantly telling my boy not to go in there, he is well aware he shouldn't. THE only good thing is he might not try to get in There again. I am absolutely livid that the neighbour seemed to be letting his dogs scare my child like that!

Should I report it?

there is more to the story, too. We are farmers and our fields surround these neighbours, I have also had 3 sheep killed and 7 aborted since these neighbours moved in. I have reported the worrying to the police (you should always do that) but I don't know for certain it was them. Judging by Sunday I have suspicions now that it was them.

I can see both sides.

Yes, in a perfect world, Tundrah's ds would not have got away from her and slipped through the hedge - but I have had three dses, and all of them have got away from me at one time or another - luckily nothing bad ever happened, but watching small children is relentless - you have to be vigilant all the time (and who can do that?) but they only have to be lucky once, to slip away from you.

Unless Tundrah actually saw or heard her neighbour send the dogs out to menace the child, my guess would be that it was coincidence that they happened to be put out right then.

But, as soon as he saw what was going on, he should have called the dogs off - and Tundrah has stated catagorically that he did not do this - regardless of the rights and wrongs of how the child came to be here, he was 100% in the wrong for not calling them off.

Agree chatty. Op you flipping the aibu. Id report my neighbour to ss as id be worried re her dc. Id be more worried the neighbour reports you to ss. Please for your sake of your little boy look after him. Farms are very dangerous. I grow up in the counyryside and sadly accidents involving farm equipment is very common.

Barbados

She knows he gets in another garden.
She knows there are 5 dogs there who she suspects might be guilty of worrying sheep.

And yet nothing suggests anything has been done to stop him getting in other than bribes and punishment for a 2 year old.

He didn't "set the dogs on him"- he let the dogs out into his garden.

It is indeed shit parenting IMO.

Yabu and endangering your child if at 2 years old you don't supervise him near your livestock, the dogs are the least of your worries. And I say that as someone whose dd grew up in a similar environment and did things that many parents would mistakenly consider dangerous through not understanding. So I'm not talking from a townie wrap them up in cotton wool position. And I've yet to meet any proper farmer who wouldn't supervise a 2yr old round livestock to the extent they lose them. My dd would have been injured or worse a dozen times a day if I'd gone with your attitude. Complete madness.
And putting aside your deluded hypocritical thoughts on what constitutes danger, you're neighbour isn't in the wrong anyway. They didn't hurt him, and they were on their own property.
If his dogs are bothering the sheep he's a prick. But don't think a dog growling at an intruder is more likely to be a livestock killer. Working sheepdogs are usually pretty happy to warn intruders off whilst also not killing sheep.

The thing is that nobody believes the dogs were 'set on' him.

Mainly because the story doesn't stack up that you could see that much detail. While talking to the friend. And controlling a bull.

yes my son is exactly a bolter! it took him about 15 seconds to get through that fence and out of reach. I am cross to hear about "wandering off" I think the word is "sprint"!

Good to hear it Barbadosgirl!

I'm with Chatty - when I let my dog out I have never checked the garden for stray children

He probably didn't set the dogs on the child - but he didn't call them off when he saw they had surrounded a small child and were barking and growling at him - surely that is unacceptable?

Hmmm, we own a ranch in South America, so things are different here but any dog worrying my stock would be shot, or killed by my own dogs long before I had the chance to take aim.
We have three extremely aggressive dogs, well aggressive to strangers at any rate, they weigh eighteen, seventeen and fifteen stone respectively, they've all killed mountain lions in under twenty seconds without suffering a scratch or even looking out of breath, but they would never harm a child, even if one wandered into our bedroom in the middle of the night because they know that a child isn't a threat, any dog guarding its property should know that, the ability to distinguish between threats and join threats is absolutely key, a guard dog who can't do that is a loose canon on deck and a danger. So, on the front of the dogs behaviour, YADNBU.

I have a two year old too, and where we are the are a whole raft of dangers including both human and animal predators, so he is never out of the sight of either DH, our housekeeper or myself, and when we're out and about he's on reins (or a rope tied to his trike ) so that he can't do an escape act, so as other's have said, stop your son from trespassing and then it won't be an issue.
To be fair, I would be extremely pissed off if someone let their dogs harass DS, even if he was trespassing.

reality cheque- I had already dropped off the bull- that was not happening at the same time!! The bull was the reason I was down at those fields, not where I live

OP: AIBU?
MN: Yes.
OP: You're all muppets, I'M RIGHT.

Typical

How do you know what his intent was.
can you read minds??

*Lurkedforever" yy, exactly why we have DS on reins, if he ran in with one of the bulls, or while one of the hands was working with one of our feistier horses it could be disastrous.

I think it is outrageous that a dog owner should have stood and watched this happening. The child is 2 years old and not in a position of responsibility. Presumably it was a terrifying situation for him. What sort of adult would deliberately allow a child to suffer in this way? I am quite shocked that people think that this was a reasonable thing to do. Nevertheless, I do think it odd that the OP cannot prevent her child getting into the neighbour's garden although I don't know the circumstances of course.

If you seriously believe this person would set 5 dogs on a toddler then I would have much bigger concerns than some barking and growling.

I DID NOT LOSE HIM! He was in my sight at all times- that's how come I SAW what happened.

he did not wander off- he ran to their fence nd He slipped through a small gap in their fence and out of my reach. I went over to get him back. Neighbour saw, let A PACK OF FIVE DOGS out on teh child and stood there smirking NOT CALLING THEM BACK.

WHy can't you lot read before you judge? (40% thoughtful posters not included in that comment!)

Starfishmummy - what do you think his intent was, when he failed to call his dogs off, when they surrounded the little boy and were barking and growling at him? The OP has said he made no effort to call them off.

I have dogs, and I let them out into my garden without checking for trespassers first - but if I saw there was a child in my garden, being scared by my dogs, I would be out there like a shot, calling them off and running to grab them or to pick up the child.

Why didn't the dogs' owner do this? Why didn't he even call to them?

The more you explain op the worse it sounds!

You know your ds in a sprinter and you still did nothing to prevent his?

Tbf you kind lost my ear totally when you started talking about your two yr old on his bike whilst you are controlling a loose bull. This from someone whose job in the summer hols was to help bring the bull in.

I am really concerned that someone may get hurt with your lax parenting and farming

You need to wise up OP! A farm is one of the mist dangerous places to bring up a child and you shouldn't have let your child out of your sight. I find it strange that you suspect this person's dogs of worrying your sheep, though haven't seen them. Then surprise surprise you seem to have found the perfect opportunity to report them. I also find it hard to believe that anyone would let their dogs surround a two year old and put them at risk of being harmed.

sillybilly if I lived there I would block up our side but I can't do anything, this is a once in a blue moon event. I am shocked so many replies can't understand this? What is acceptable about dogs harrassing children?

themother yy, along with sticking her in unhitched muck trailers hayracks and empty stables and pens. Or on a pony.

FFS the Bull was not fucking loose!

Dogs harrassing kids is absolutely not ok.
Neither is parents allowing their kids to run to a fence and slip through. Jeez.
He should have called the dogs off. Perhaps some shock a 2 year old has broken into his garden.

But did the neighbour see what the dogs were barking and snarling at? I know that if I had let the dog out onto the garden and he started barking and snapping I wouldn't look to see what he was snapping at because in our garden I wouldn't expect a child and would dismiss his barking as most likely him barking at a cat on the fence, a butterfly on the shrub or a worm on the path. Obviously if I heard a child scream I'd go out and rescue them but I'd be annoyed with the parent for allowing the child to place themself in potential danger (not that I'd expect my dog to bite).