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?

@KaycePollard

Dogs often find small children making a lot of noise quite threatening. Dogs get discombobulated by humans their [dog size] size who are not dogs. Toddlers can also behave in ways that dogs interpret as aggressive or threatening.

If the dog stopped short of dashing up to your child, then I’d interpret that as the dog being on guard and aware. But well- trained not to dash up or go into attack mode. The dog was warning its owner about something it found strange.

Dogs and toddlers who are strangers to each other can be a volatile mix.

This is a very astute comment. Far more relevant and useful than inane waffle. I have dogs. I don’t let them go up to preschool and young primary kids. Older kids can call them over or go up to them. The tiny one loves little kids and will make a bee line for them if I let her. The larger of the two one is a bit skittish and follows her so 2 together would be very intimidating and could accidentally hurt a small child if they decided to start rough playing with one another. Neither has ever hurt a child and they are very tolerant of children.

It is not appropriate to let a dog go near to a young child let alone to leave them barking within a couple of metres of one. Yes, the dog was probably well trained. But you just don’t know for sure. I have observed that some dogs do not seem to understand children are humans to be deferred to and can give them a nip to tell them off. This is normal in the animal kingdom but as children’s skin is far softer than a puppy, a bite can bleed and possibly scar.

My dog is afraid of children and therefore barks at them.
I therefore avoid parks and places where children will be, as best I can.

The most she does is bark and if I see children, she'll go on the lead and I'll train her to relax.

I actually am worried about OPs child if their mother gets worked up about such nonsense.

Genuinely horrible comment

My dog will often think she has recognised someone, and try to run up to them - I can usually tell who she thinks it is as they look like one of her favourite people! It's possible that this dog was staring and following as it had you confused with someone it is not very keen on.

What was the dogs body language? Was it's body loose and tail wagging? Or was it very still with a straight or raised tail?

Dontbeme

Ridiculous comment - dogs do kill people. A hedgehog is no threat to anyone

"You have obviously never met a hedgehog with a mother of pearl handle flick knife, they're complete bastards."

🤣🤣🤣🤣 marvellous reply

Aww we had a dog who thought every small lady in an anorak was my Aunt who he adored and would bark at them demanding gravy bones

The parents who worry me are the ones that encourage their children to pat or approach a strange dog. They should be telling them to ask the owner, because not all dogs want to be patted. Children shouldn't be afraid of dogs but it's a very good idea to give an animal a wide berth when its teeth are at eye level.

Genuinely horrible comment

Why?

Getting all upset about a dog baking shows high levels of anxiety which can affect OPs parenting.

Please note ive stated child, not my DD or DS

@Kitchendrama1

Please note ive stated child, not my DD or DS

Well the thread does make sense if it's a DB (Dear Bone) or a DPE (Dear Pig's Ear).

@ChardonnaysPetDragon

Genuinely horrible comment

Why?

Getting all upset about a dog baking shows high levels of anxiety which can affect OPs parenting.

Upset?

I was asking if I was bring unreasonable.

Our day was fine. No one was upset. I acted as I felt appropriate.

I’m neither a dog or child owner.

"Domesticated wolf" Absolute gold.

Owner is behind the dog and calling it (I’m a bit shady on this aspect) but dog is still staring at us, tail high and barks a few times. Dog owner eventually gets dog on the lead. I continued to walk around the park and meet other dogs who weren’t interested in us one bit. I'm in no part an anxious parents but I really felt uncomfortable at this moment.

So the owner tried to get the dog under control and when the dog didn't respond, the owner put the dog on a lead. Nothing remotely serious happened, and you are this bothered by what happened?

What more do you think should have happened?

Well because you're not really concerned are you it was just a shitty dig at someone on Mumsnet

She's said previously she's not a dog person and has described a series of behaviours that you could easily interpret as threatening, as confirmed by other dog owners itt

My dog's baking is pretty upsetting. Far too much salt.
@ChardonnaysPetDragon Doesn't sound like OP was especially anxious to me, just suitably careful. Have a look through the thread at some of the points people have made about dogs being off the lead and unsupervised around children.

Dogs have a range of types of bark that mean different things. Dog owners usually come to understand what the different barks usually mean. No one here can tell you what this dogs bark likely meant as we didn't hear it.

The owner may have been neglectful or it might be that h/she is used to the dog telling her when there's something going on nearby and didn't pay it much mind.

Some dogs are more Barney than others abs some regularly bark at any other dog or human in their vicinity because they just do.

Doesn't sound like there was any danger but if you're inexperienced around dogs then moving away was probably the right course of action for you're own anxiety relief.

@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?

Was the kid in danger?

Not of being bitten.

BUTan excited, uncontrolled dog can accidentally knock a child over.

Most bark dogs won't come near, however, and will "woof" from a distance.

@ClaudiaWankleman

Owner is behind the dog and calling it (I’m a bit shady on this aspect) but dog is still staring at us, tail high and barks a few times. Dog owner eventually gets dog on the lead. I continued to walk around the park and meet other dogs who weren’t interested in us one bit. I'm in no part an anxious parents but I really felt uncomfortable at this moment.

So the owner tried to get the dog under control and when the dog didn't respond, the owner put the dog on a lead. Nothing remotely serious happened, and you are this bothered by what happened?

What more do you think should have happened?

Wouldn’t have cared if it was in isolation but the dog was overly obsessed with us, came within two metres and barked at child

Ahah, now you've put the cat amongst the pigeons!

@Kitchendrama1
“Wasn’t listening to me? It’s a child, it’s 2. They have moments.”

It’s a dog. They have moments.

I’d have felt a bit uncomfortable too and removed my child from the situation. But there’s unlikely to have been any real danger there and no other action needed on anyone else’s part.

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).

My 2 year old lab hates pigeons, barks like mad at them. Her heckles go up and will constantly bark at it till it goes away.

It’s a dog. They have moments

I don't think that's quite the gotcha you think it is