Dog barked at my child

[Kitchendrama1]

We were at the park and two year old was having a moment so sat down on the pavement. Dog came over and barked at him. Dog went away. It felt ok and I was looking out.

We started to do a lap of the oval and big again started to stare and bark from us at a distance and wasn’t looking at the other dog he was playing with, or his owner. Dog was getting closer (but also stopped). I grabbed kid and went.

Was the kid in danger?

@Kitchendrama1

Please note ive stated child, not my DD or DS

"There was no crying. He was sitting down on the path"

No you said Him/He twice in your posts

I would maybe seek help for anxiety, I remember other threads where you’ve shown to be very anxious. It would be better to reach out to the GP for help. Good luck.

@Burnamerlike I’m not nervy at all I just really dislike dogs.

As I said, owners can not fathom why you feel that why.

You simply can not trust an animal because doing so and becoming complacent is dangerous.

[quote LST]@MrsScrubbithatescleaning if it states dogs need to be on a lead and it's ignored yes the owner is a twat. But most of the parks round here don't therefore my dog goes off lead everywhere he is allowed. So it is in fact you that is talking bollocks as well.[/quote]
Dangerous Dogs Act 1991

If a dog is dangerously out of control in a public place, the owner and any person in charge of the dog at the time, commits a criminal offence which is punishable by imprisonment and/or a fine under the Act.

No actual harm is required for an offence to have been committed:
an offence has taken place if the dog causes reasonable apprehension to someone that they will be injured, whether or not they actually are injured.

Therefore, a barking dog not on a lead may be classed as a dangerous dog for the purposes of this legislation.

@MrsScrubbithatescleaning I am well aware of the legislation thanks. You stated dogs need to be on leads. That is not the case as long as they are under control.

We get this sometimes on forest walks, it’s just something dogs do, as long as the dog isn’t growling and showing teeth. Normally they appear, bark, wag their tails and run back to their owners.
I do think dogs should be on leads around parks though.

I think the issue here is that you didn't act correctly and now you want us to blame the dog and not you. Both you and owner made mistakes.

Owner should have put dog directly on lead after first bark made you anxious out of courtesy or at least kept a good distance.

If you're going to be looking after children you need to advocate for their safety if you don't feel comfortable you need to say directly to the owner "do not let your dog come any closer" "please put your dog on a lead before he comes over to the child" etc.

One of my dogs is a bit like this. If something is where he thinks it shouldn't be he barks. Like a bin left in the middle of the path that isn't usually there or someone stopping at standing still in the middle of the path or a kid sat in the middle of the path. It's just a wtf is that doing there bark. He would have been on the lead around your kid but if he wasn't he wouldn't actually be any danger to your kid, he just likes to tell me when something is out of place.

park is a public amenity for the benefit of HUMANS and therefore, any dogs being exercised must be on a lead

Some parks have dog specific areas where dogs can run off the lead.

YANBU
I love dogs, have owned a few large guarding breed ones, yet I find it intimidating when approached by a strange, not obviously friendly, dog, especially if it's barking at me/staring/following. It's difficult to know what its intentions are, and it can be so unsettling if the owner isn't paying attention or if the dog ignores a recall command (ie it's not under control!).

There are huge numbers of ill-trained, poorly socialised, dogs around, made worse by WFH people buying pups but no puppy classes being held. And huge numbers of owners who seem blissfully unaware of dog behaviour and how things can go wrong, eg things like "trigger stacking". It's worrying.

My dog barks at people in hats. She really can't work out hats at all! Barking stops if they take their hats off. Weird.
@brazenandstrange, what have you done in the way of training to address this?

I had a large dog run up to me barking and looking less than friendly who's owner told me it must have been my hat (although I've also heard lots of other excuses such as it "must've been my rucksack/walking poles/the colour of my top" 🙄from owners of similarly behaved dogs). I politely suggested some desensitisation training might be a good idea because it's really not on to be approached by a dog going that. If owners know their dog has a trigger then it's their responsibility to manage it properly.

@picklemewalnuts

"Dogs stare because they are nosy, and their mother never told them it's rude."

That made me laugh

@LateDecemberBackInLowB12

I still remember the time a cat meowed at my dc.

YANBU at all.

@Puppalicious

I am finding the tone of some of the dog owner’s replies a little odd despite having a dog who last night barked at a child . She’s turning into a teenager and the last week she’s started to bark occasionally at other people after she’s been spooked (cat one day, tai chi yesterday…). The child was nervous and I was embarrassed, I certainly don’t blame the child or its guardians for not liking it, although my dog was on a lead by that stage - my dog is my responsibility and I’m going to have to train/do something to stop it happening again. I certainly wouldn’t make light of the situation

Not only this but it seems to me that dog owners hate people who hate dogs.

Maybe one reason people hate dogs is something like, say, every single day from the age of 5 til the age of 11 having a horrid yappy dog bark aggressively at them from 2 ft away every single time they went from back garden to front garden down the path at the side of the house.

Minimizing anti-social behaviour from dogs might make the dog owner feel better, but it also increases the number of dog haters.

The dulux dog that apparently leaned over me in my pram when I was a baby probably started my hatred (and hit is hatred not phobia, I am able to pet a well trained rottweiler, even if I'd rather not have to.. but of course you do have to because if you don't prove your friends there's a chance they'll decide you're enemy)

@Againstmachine

Where exactly can I find one of those? There are dogs EVERYWHERE. The whole world is a dog’s playground.

The whole world is a child's playground, as parents demand to be Let in everywhere..

Can we all agree that however much some of us love our pets, pets are animals and humans are humans and humans are more important than animals? I say this as a cat lover.

As a dog owner I can sort of see this from both sides.
My dogs go up to children as they want to play, the puppy will bark because dogs do bark if they want to get your attention or play. They’ll also stare to figure out if you’re a playmate or someone with snacks.

I have 3, the two male dogs including the puppy respond to me immediately, they’re really, really good. My 3rd, the female has a tendency to ignore me if something more exciting is about.

If any of them got close to your child I’d call them and apologise. If one was just staring or barking I wouldn’t really think about it but would leash the female as I know what she’s like.

My 3 are very small though so unless someone was extremely scared of dogs I know they wouldn’t come across as scary or aggressive and I would always leash them if asked to.

@ThatScottishLass

Dog owner here and have done behavioural courses with problem dogs in the past. I doubt your child was in danger from what you’ve said, however it’s always better to be safe than sorry and follow your instincts. The important thing is to remain calm to avoid upsetting either the dog (unlikely unless you start screaming in its direction) or your child (because you want them to have a healthy respect and wariness of unknown dogs yea, but you don’t want them to develop a debilitating phobia).

Thanks

@Mynameismargot

One of my dogs is a bit like this. If something is where he thinks it shouldn't be he barks. Like a bin left in the middle of the path that isn't usually there or someone stopping at standing still in the middle of the path or a kid sat in the middle of the path. It's just a wtf is that doing there bark. He would have been on the lead around your kid but if he wasn't he wouldn't actually be any danger to your kid, he just likes to tell me when something is out of place.

Yes the woman didn’t apologise or put the dog on the lead….

Dogs bark. Stop being so precious.

Barking doesn't equal aggression at all. My dog barks a lot as she's very reactive to other dogs (fine with kids as used to them). Admittedly she's always on a lead in public areas but she would never hurt anyone at all. My neighbours dogs very rarely bark. They seem really placid but recently went to attack a on lead puppy on my street.. and have been aggressive with my dog.... there was no barking involved from them. They just pounced.

The dog doesn't sound bad at all. If he just barker and went away. He could have jumped up. Again, should have been on a lead regardless.

Please don't pass on any fear of dogs to your child. You need to teach kids to be wary of unknown dogs but not scared of them...

@MuthaFunka61

As PP has said it's difficult to tell.

A dog barking is just a means of communication and the tone of the bark and body language is as important in understanding what the dog is trying to communicate.

Having said that,as the dog didn't make any moves to attack I'd suggest it was a plea for help bark.
It could be that the dog was trying to call attention to a child that was having a moment to garner help from their owner either for the child or for the dog if it was startled.

One of the dogs I've had used to regard a crying child as some sort of emergency and would bark to attract the attention of adult humans to come and deal with it.

My last dog simply hated the "meltdown" screechy cry, and would bark at the child in a "shut the fuck up" way.

Barking is a very crude communication method and can mean so many different things. The body language of the dog is a much better indicator of what's going on in the dog's head.

I very much doubt it was anything to worry about. After all, there's a reason behind the saying "a barking dog will seldom bite".

Can we all agree that however much some of us love our pets, pets are animals and humans are humans and humans are more important than animals? I say this as a cat lover.

Doesn't mean that everywhere had to be for children.(I didn't say humans in my post)

And no humans are part of a big eco system we are no more important than many animals l.

Can we all agree that however much some of us love our pets, pets are animals and humans are humans and humans are more important than animals?

I disagree I think we could do with a lot less humans personally lol

It’s a dog. They have moments

A dog having a moment can injure and maim.

A toddler can't.