@Piglet89
No PhD in dog psychology needed. Have to READ your previous paragraph? Seems like you’ve had to carry out a fair bit of analysis, TBH.
I did - and I shared some hopefully simple instructions that people could use if they found themselves in a similar situation. As somebody else has pointed out, my instructions were crude (because they are simple and one size fits all) and may not work for every scenario. I will stand by them because I believe they are far less likely to result in a dog bite than kicking a dog who has not yet bitten.
The dog DID attack someone: it bounded up and knocked over the OP’s wee one, then started barking at it. Just put yourself in the wee one’s shoes: how terrifying must that ordeal have been?
As I say, the dog absolutely should not have been out of control. NO excusing that.
I can only imagine how scared the child, and their mother must have been. Totally understandable.
I get that it felt like an attack. But it was NOT an attack. Accidentally knocking somebody over (Which is what this sound like, with the obvious caveat nobody on mumsnet except the OP actually witnessed it), is not an attack. Barking at somebody is not an attack. It may feel like an attack, it may be very scary to experience, but nothing the OP has said leads me to believe that it was an attack.
Dog owners: we DO. NOT. CARE. why your dog is displaying overt signs of aggression. Quit making excuses for owners’ poor control of their animals, or claim nonsense like “It’s not being aggressive, just playful”. We don’t know that, and loud barking, particularly from a huge dog, is terrifying for most.
I totally get and respect that it is terrifying. It's also unacceptable that it ever happened; the owner should have had control over where the dog physically was, period. No excuses for an out of control dog. I'm the one with a few choice words to say if somebody else's dog is out of control and "only wants to play" with one of my, (under control but terrified) dogs.
I merely wish to defend the dog in the OP's scenario because it does matter whether or not the dog had aggressive intent, especially towards a human. A dog responsible for an attack on a member of public should be euthanized. A dog who is worrying (doesn't have to be attacking) sheep can be shot, ewes lose lambs very easily.
The first and foremost line of defense against all these incidents is for the dog to be well trained and under control. No excuses.
In my previous post I talked about effectively the second line of defense. Apologies if that wasn't clear. We can't control somebody else's dog handling; we can control our response if an incident happens. I can't make everybody who owns a dog out there effective dog handlers (although I will help anybody who wants it). If the advice I give on a forum helps prevent an innocent member of the public from being bitten, If they find themself if a situation which they shouldn't have to find themselves in, that's fine by me.