Dog attacking child - not stopping to help

[Idioticparents]

So, I’m walking my dogs on the beach. See a border collie on a lead being walked by what I presume is mum, dad and child. No problem - my dogs are trained to come to me whenever they see another dog (not that they go far tbh).

BC is clearly not friendly. It’s frozen. Stiff. Licking its lips as I go by. No issue. Give it a wide birth (10 or so meters given the tide is high) keep half an eye on it. Owners don’t real it in and keep it on the log line (full length stretched with dog nearly choking itself).

Child (about 8/9) walks up to dog as parents watch and wraps its arms around the dogs neck from behind. Obviously the dog attacks child. Parents wrestle dog off child.

Now, here is my am I being unreasonable - I didn’t stop. I just kept walking. Kid had two parents with him and I had my dogs nearby waiting to walk on. As I walked away I got a tonne of abuse for not stopping. But why would I? IMO the dog had attack its owners child and if it’s going to do that then I am not going near it. Partner says IWU not to help.

I think if I was physically closest to the child I'd want to intervene, giving the child the best chance of being saved from a vicious attack before any other adult could get there. But I do understand it's more complicated if you have your own dogs with you who might make the situation worse.
It probably just didn't look great if a child was being attacked next to you and you just casually walked past.

@Catsmere

Exactly.

@Ifhappylittlebluebirdsfly222

vicious attack. You have made this up.

it jumped up at the child it lives with, whose parents were both there, the dog was on a lead. The kid shouted out once (got a fright)

the ridiculous parents shouted abuse at the OP, for upsetting their dog (which she'd already made walk in the water!) they didn't wind the long lead in, they didn't stop their child from approaching their dog from behind...

the child needs saving, but from its parents not the dog.

The people familiar with and responsible for the dog and child are both present and although it's just gone for the child the dog is not rampaging around out of control, so with some common sense they should be able to deal with it.

Introducing yourself and your dogs into that situation could turn it into a bloodbath.

A collie on a lead on a secluded beach! Poor dog 🥲 The other owners are a disgrace. I’m not sure if they shouted at you because you didn’t help during the attack (which tbh doesn’t sound like an attack) or if you allowed your dogs too close to their reactive dog (which shouldn’t have been allowed to run a full length of a long line with other dogs approaching anyway).

My dogs are well trained. I come across friendly, off leash out of control dogs every day. “He just wants to play”. Yeah well mine don’t. Call them please (but they can’t because they have never taught a solid recall 😏) I won’t allow my dogs anywhere near a reactive dog who is obviously on high alert. I probably would have offered assistance if a child had been involved in a dog attack but this doesn’t sound as if it was an attack. I’m confused by this thread tbh

A collie on a lead on a secluded beach! Poor dog 🥲

yeah, because it would have been SO much better to have a reactive dog running free 🤦🏻‍♀️

100% NOT unreasonable, if you had trued to help, the other dog would have either attacked you or your dog. Shame on anyone who tries to make you feel bad, about protecting yourself and your own dog!!!

Fair enough. The thread title says attack though so that's where I got attack from.

No collie should be kept on a lead. Again it’s the pathetic owner having no idea of their dogs basic need to run.

In this scenario the beach was free of people and other dogs (except for OP and her very well trained dogs). Why on earth was the collie on a lead? Forget it. You, obviously, have no idea. I just hope you don’t have a dog. Please don’t say you have a collie that you keep on a lead 🙏

Not only does a collie need to be on a lead, it needs to be a short lead and also muzzled!

Have you not RTFT!!

so nonchalant 😂

I’ve read the full thread thank you. What makes you think there was an attack from a dog??

Collies are the most intelligent dogs and easily trained (because of their intelligence). I have a few. What about you? There is absolutely no need for a collie to be leashed - unless they are owned by a useless idiot!

If the cap fits wear it.

You were quite right to move on, adding yourself and your dogs to the situation could have made it worse. The parents should have been more aware of their dog's behaviour and teach their kid not to grab a dog's neck from behind.

Don't be an idiot. You were walking a dog. However trained you think your dog is. You don't know how your dog will react in the moment. Don't be an arrogant muppet.

You recall the dog walker mauled to death. All dogs were sectioned. How much did even the poodle/cockapoo participate in mauling the dog walker to death? Or how distressed did they become. Dogs are dogs. The call of the pack is usually stronger than an owner - especially in unforseen circumstances.

But how much would you then trust the dog that had been involved in the fatal mauling? How traumatised was that dog?

Everyone wants their pet kept safe. But seriously love to know the outcomes of that pack of dogs, being dog-walked, when dog walker was mauled to death.

But assuming, all peace is restored.

How much help do you think your dog is jumping excitedly around after the event?

If an animal is causing a problem. And you have an animal. Probably best to remove your animal from the site. (Just in case it escalates and your animal is put down.)

Everyone is different.

Personally, if I see a dog attacking a child, I would help. If that means grabbing a stick or some sharp object to attack the dog I will. Any dog which attacks a child should be kept away from public, or have a muzzle on it.

If that happened to my dog, I wouldn't appreciate you coming over with your dog to help. It would only escalate the situation. I'd see it as my responsibility to get my dog off my child, and assess any injuries. Why would he think you're responsible for helping him with his dog?! Why should you and your dog risk being bitten? He just wanted to blame you for his badly managed dog, and got upset because you walker away.

You haven't read the full thread then. Or you'd know I was taking the piss

They sound rough as hell, I feel sorry for the kid. You could have helped by telling them to train their dog or not keep it with kids when it sounds like a nightmare 🙃

Sadly, the sort of people who own out of control dogs are usually the sort who get aggressive if you bite back!

Better to just walk away (then spend the next few days cursing their stupidity).

Ah.. I get it. You expect every poster to remember who said what on a lengthy thread full of nonsense. Ok then… 😏

Can anyone tell me if the dog on this thread attacked? Because I don’t see it. Prove me wrong.

As far as I can see this is just another thread to get the dog haters frothing
🙄

It seems you succeeded OP.

Jeeeesus. There is definitely frothing.

So their dog was hostile to your dogs, and they didn't reel their dog in, they didn't tell their child not to try to hug their dog, their dog attacked their child, and they blamed a passerby walking with dogs 10 metres away.

How anyone can think anything was your fault I cannot understand.

I mean...I have two dogs. So I am hardly a dog hater.

Next time I see a dog lunge at a child, I'll ask it to stop and get my phone out to start recording and then tell it to proceed with making contact with said child. Then I'll send you the video evidence.

Adding more dogs to the mix would never be a good idea.

Not a child but I had to stand and watch my DH fending two off lead Rottweilers off our on lead Dachshund on a beach once as I had our Labrador and I knew going over there two help would just add a load of heat. It was horrible luckily although they did bite her they were playing, and eventually their owners got off their arses and came and got their dogs.

The dog attacked the child. It says it in the OP's OP.