To instinctively protect my child

[Dailymailpretendreporter]

I was in the children's enclosure a couple of weeks ago with my wife, 9mo dd along with 4 nephews and nieces having a family play day out. A number of the children (including my nephews and nieces) were playing with a dog that one of the other parents had brought in.

My wife and I were distracted for a moment talking about her end of mat leave and dd wanders over to the other children. The next moment my wife screams and I hear dd crying and trying to run/waddle back towards us as fast as her little legs can carry her because the dog was chasing her and nipping at her clothes. I react by jumping up, shouting and chasing the dog out of the enclosure.

The dog owner has now been going around telling everyone that'll listen that her £5000 'harmless' dog needs to see a doggy psychiatrist and her son was traumatised. Apparently she'll be recovering the costs from us in due course.

Well the dog apologists are speeding up as the day goes on, you managed to start victim blaming by post 10, well done. Do you also think a drunk woman is asking to be attacked? A dog was taken into a childrens enclosure and you blame the child's parents, listen to yourselves FFS.

The parents should have been watching their child even if there wasn't a dog in there (which it shouldn't have been).

Have you ever asked a dog owner, who has walked past several no dog signs, to remove their dog from a playground Can?
From personal experience, despite the dog exercise area sharing a fence, the family refused to remove their dog.

Was the owner wearing a £600 cashmere jumper by any chance? Nice username...

I have never seen a 9-month-old capable of out-running a dog!
You should have been supervising - especially as there was a dog. Discussing the end of maternity leave isn't a momentary lapse, it's a lack of supervision. Discussions happen at other times.

The dog owner is mad.

Take it the op ain't coming back then?

What dog costs £5000?

If the OP had a problem with it they should have asked the owner to remove the dog.

I agree with that, but I can imagine some dog owners being a bit arsey about removing their darling dogs from an area they aren't supposed to be in.

Your 'instinctive protection' should have kicked in somewhere around the time the dog turned up!!

Not a typo she'll be 10 months on the 3rd and she's been walking for months with mum or her cousins holding her up by her hands, she's been able to walk unaided since 7 1/2 months and tends to run/waddle more than walk, she used to tumble all the time but nows she's pretty stable even on uneven ground or grass.

She was not unsupervised she was walking and playing between us and the other children (my oldest niece is 14) and we're talking max distance of 4/5 metres. All the children in the children's enclosure rushed around the dog. Not including dd she was beside me but then she waddled 3 metres towards her cousins to check out the commotion. Then the dog got excited and ran away from the other children and towards dd to check her out, at which point dd got startled, started crying and carried on running towards her cousins.

^this all happened in the space of seconds in what is supposed to be a safe space for children. I had my back to the action and my wife's head was down.

The dog was a Canadian imported furry thing and was quite small itself a little bit below knee height and looked a bit like a husky. The problem the owner had with me is that my nephews and nieces were playing with the dog, thus I'm not allowed to have a problem with it being inside the enclosure. And all the other children were startled by the big angry, scary man chasing the cute little dog and trying to whack it with a filofax. The dog used to be affectionate but now it's timid and nippy.

The owner is training the dog around children because she has another baby on the way and that's apparently that's the done thing. So my dd is supposed to be the guinea pig for her mutts temperament! I digress... Anyway, the consensus with the local mums (owners friends) seems to be that I overreacted and I should count myself lucky that the dog wasn't physically harmed (never mind my dd).

Walking unaided at 7.5 months???? What did you put in her bottle???

What is a children's enclosure? Is this at a park?

If so, dogs shouldn't be IN there.

With the dog in there it is no longer a safe space for children. Dogs should never be in play areas specifically for children.

I've had two dc that walked at 9 months, it's horrendous! Yes, very cute and clever etc but they lack the learning and communication skills that another 5/6 months would give then. As such, they can't be unsupervised for a single second!

So, I think yabu and also the dog owner. Dog shouldn't have been there and the child should have been better supervised.

DD was walking at 7 months and running falling face first a lot at 9 months. Not sure she could've out run a dog though.

Next time, I suggest you brush up on your child development milestones before posting your stories

YADNBU!

I would have kicked the dog and yelled at the owner for bringing it in there in the first place.

I hate dogs in inappropriate places especially when they nip at children.

What are you getting at anyfucker. Many posters have said their children walked at 9 months.