Was our dog unreasonable?

[upsideup]

After school today I took the kids and our dog to the park across the road, I left DS(9) with our dog (on a lead) sat on a bench while I took younger DC to the toilet.
Dog is really friendly, well behaved and good with children. DS was sat one side of the bench holding the lead and dog had walked round and was lying down on the other side

One of DS's friends (who is 10) came running over and jumped to sit on the dogs back. DS shouted get off, dog stood up and twisted which meant the girl tripped over him and fell face first into the side of the bench. Her legs were still under the dog and in the lead so she started kicking him, her mum came running over and starting screaming which I heard and rushed out. Dog barked and apparently 'went to bite' but ds pulled him out of the way, DS said he wasn't going to bite and was just giving a warning but I wasn't there and although he has never gone to bite anybody before he has never been sat on, repeatedly kicked and screamed at.

Lots of other parents heard dog barking and the other child/mum screaming so everyone panicked and assumed the dog must be attacking her so there was a bit of a scene. I checked she was okay but didn't apologise and went home, her mum went straight back over to the school to complain.

Do you think that I, our dog or DS was unreasonable in any way?

Poor dog hope he’s ok (and your Ds too) the other mum sounds like a stupid cow who has not taught her child to not abuse animals. I’d be fuming. The trouble is these days the world is full of stupid people who expect animals to put up with all manner of shit and not react. If you can’t teach your kids how to behave round animals don’t complain when the animal lets them know they and their equally stupid offspring are idiots!

If your 9 year old is stronger than you then either he is extremely strong or you are extremely weak. I’m stronger than my 13 year old and he’s not weak. What breed of dog are we talking about here? I wouldn’t leave my 13 year old in charge of our German shepherd but would leave him with our labradoodle.

YDWNU

🐕

"Ultimately your ds was not in control of your ddog."

Don't be daft.

Definitely not unreasonable.

What the fuck was the child thinking? If I'd done that at any age, never mind 10, my mum would have gone ballistic.

Why did the woman go to complain to school? It's got nothing to do with them, the dog is not their pupil and it's after hours and not on their premises...

Your dog WNBU. Other child behaved stupidly. Possibly she was angry and embarrassed, but that doesn't excuse her kicking the dog she tried to sit on.

YWNBU. Be careful with the dog for a few weeks now, though. He must have had a bad fright and could snap at another child out of fear.

I would have lost my shit at the mother and the child! Would also be sending them the vets bill for any damage that may have been done to your poor dog from having some moronic 10 year old child sit on it!!!

I don't think my response to this incident would be helpful. Or legal. Nobody sits on my dog or kicks it.

The child was in the wrong and BVU. No creature should have to sit there while some dickhead sits on their back uninvited.

Child's fault, not DS, or dog!

Definitely the child's fault (not yours, the other one)

What on earth has it got to do with the school?

To be honest, I would go on the offence not defence and demand of the mother why she allows her child to go around attacking animals.

I would have ripped that mother a new one 😡

Dog was not unreasonable, idiot girl was. Mine would’ve spun in reaction to some idiot trying to sit on them and it might look they were going for her, but it would literally be a spin to see what the hell was ‘attacking’ them. I’d be incredibly angry at anyone doing this to my dogs. She’s brought this on herself.

I really am not a fan of dogs. I also generally tend to think most dog owners are unrealistic about their dog’s behaviour and what is acceptable.

In this instance the girl is 100% at fault and I’m glad your poor dog is ok. What an idiot that girl was and if I’d been her mother she’d be in serious trouble.

I'm the opposite of a dog person and even I think this is 100% not your dog at fault. Poor thing.

Oh god - how awful.

Sounds like everyone got a fright and reacted.

The girl was 100% in the wrong and started it, and presumably that’s something your DS couldn’t have anticipated - and nor could the poor dog.

Then both dog, Stupid Child and her mother all reacted out of shock and instinct.

I wouldn’t necessarily judge her for reporting it in the heat of the moment - sounds as if neither of the adults can say absolutely for sure what happened.

In general I don’t let my DC be in charge of our dog around other people or animals. My dog is super calm but you can’t tell what other people will do, or let their dogs do. I always think it would be unfair on both my DC and the dog to put them in that situation. Size of the dog makes a massive difference to this though - sausage dog much less likely to cause a 9 year old trouble than a Labrador, for instance. Sounds as if yours is pretty big if the child was trying to ride it.

I'm not a fan of dog ownership and I would have torn the girl and her mother a new one. Your son is definitely in no way to blame and I'm sure even you would have been surprised by this scenario.
I'd be tempted to let the school know they need to give an assembly on how to treat animals, not that it is really anything to do with them, and to put any rumours to rest.
Hope your vet give your dog the all clear.

Your poor dog, it was completely the 10 year olds fault, I would have gone ape at the mother.

If anyone says anything, just answer:
That's what happens when you try and ride a dog, trip over it when it gets up and then kick and scream at it.I
Then walk off.
I challenge anyone to argue with the truth of this sorry affair.
Stupid child. Ignorant mother.

Your poor dog, being used like a table, then being kicked.,if that was done to me I’d have bit, so no, your dog wasn’t being U.

Sadly I don’t think that you’ll be allowed in the area with DDog in the future as the poor thing will be labelled as aggressive by those who just saw the dog barking. Wrongly. Very wrongly.

Be proud of your pup though.

Hope it’s ok, but as soon as you can, try and put DDog in situations where he will see children,,hopefully in sort of calm settings.
Your dog will need to know that children aren’t to fear:

Sorry I hope I’m not overstepping a mark, just my boy is a rescue and has such a weird issue with children. He barks and barks and parks until he’s seen them off. He does not like them at all, funnily as he likes DD. I don’t think he realises she’s the same age as her friends that he’s scared of

If that had been me, I would have been tempted to bite that kid too! AND the bloody mother! I can't believe this situation happened at all! What weirdo thinks it's the dog's fault when their kid does that kind of crap???