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.

Same child!

YANBU, there is nothing positive that you could have added by intervening in that situation, where the dog in question clearly had issues with you/your dogs.

What you could have done was maybe shout from a distance to see if everything was OK and did they need you to do anything.

No doubt the parents will be at home saying the attack came out of nowhere, there were no warning signs, never done anything like that, the dog just flipped - as they always do 🙄

I hope the child is OK though

IMO the dog had attack its owners child and if it’s going to do that then I am not going near it.

Pretty obvious

Ah OK, thanks. I was confused as other posters seemed to think it was a different child.

I misread and thought the child was theirs too. Yanbu to intervene- the owners were dealing with it.

I voted YANBU.

People ae full of what they would have done after the fact when it was someone else's judgement call to make.

If you'd gone over, firstly, there would have been little you could do when two adults were already involved and, secondly, you'd have been introducing more dogs to the situation with an already aggressive dog.

That would have only escalated the situation.

I personally think you did the right thing. Your dogs could have been attacked, or the situation could have escalated even worse.

The first thing they teach you in first aid is to not her yourself in danger. Your partner wasn't there so it's easy for them to argue you should have helped

Is it possible that the abusive bystanders assumed that the collie was yours?

When it was on a long lead held by someone else?

Honestly, the knots some people tie themselves up in on here trying to find explanations is ridiculous at times.

And as for the person who suggested she tied her dogs up somewhere before going to help, I'm not sure angry and attacking dogs wait for people to walk up to a post, tree, fence, whatever, allow them time to tie their dogs up securely and return to the scene before continuing with their attack.

Some replies are ridiculous.

Probably won't make any difference, but for those whose comprehension skills are inhibited by it being Sunday morning;

The dog walkers with the Collie were the ones who had a go at OP. They and their child - who was the one who grabbed the dog and got attacked - were the only people on the beach apart from OP and her two off-lead dogs that were not involved in the incident at all.

There were no separate bystanders. There was no other child.

Chances are the dog would have turned on you, you being the outsider. I would have kept well clear unless I had a big stick or something to defend myself if necessary. Your dogs would have got involved if you were attacked and then it would have been a real melee.

The collie was IMO obviously reacting to your dogs has then redirected because the child grabbed it, how on earth would bringing your dogs closer help?

There’s nothing you could have done to help other than get your dogs further away...which us what you did.

Really not! I wish it was made up because honestly I am horrified that (A) they let their child approach their dog who was clearly not happy and (B) that then they yelled abuse at me for not stopping to help and accused me of being the one at fault (not the point here though)!

Do you know how injured the child was?

He yelled. But then stopped. So I assume not very as I think a child that was seriously injured would have kept yelling.

Tbh I didn't really want to get close - with several dogs of my own and two parents yelling abuse at me I wasn't keen to potentially escalate the situation.

Too weird for words.

Did they think you should have helped as you were closer to the dog and child? It's their own fault if so as they had the lead out as far as it was.
They're looking to blame someone else instead of taking personal responsibility for their/ their dogs actions.
You could have stopped but then that might have potentially meant your dogs also getti g into a scrap or attacked by theirs. You did the right thing to keep moving

Why would they expect you to get involved? It wasn't your dog, it wasn't your child and they created the problem!

So not an attack then.

Even if this vague but very OTT account of something that (You say)happened there is a big part missing from this story OP.

Watch out everyone, Inspector Clouseau is among us !

Why have you posted a sensational and untrue headline? These dog attack posts become more ridiculous with each one. Nobody would have walked away from a scene of carnage. There was no carnage because there was no attack.

What words did the other owner shout at you? That may give posters a clue about what really happened

I'd have walked away! Their dog, their kid and their own stupid fault.

The only thing g I would say is that if the child was quiet, I'd be concerned they were seriously hurt. If they're loud, usually it's just the drama that sets them off.

OP did the right thing by getting out of there and calling police to report it.

I dunno, something just seems off. Your dogs were off lead & trained to come to you at the sight of another dog yet they were away from you at the same time. It doesn't sound like an attack but possibly a collie snap (still wrong but not the same) from a reactive dog being triggered by your off-lead dogs. Owners should definitely have reeled it in, stupid to have a scared dog on long lead in public. Also bizarre the child approached from behind & the parents were surprised the dog snapped - dog wouldn't even have realised it was the child.

Did they give you warning? Did your dogs actually approach? I do find it strange you didn't even check on the child's wellbeing before ringing the police. The dog might not even have made contact. By the same token one bite could have gouged the child's eye out & you just walled on?

To be brutally honest, I don't think anyone comes out of this looking great 🤷🏼‍♀️

Cool story bro 😎

It was an attack. The child wrapped its arms around the dog, and the dog turned, jumped, and made contact with the child's body. The child screamed.

I kept walking.

The yelling eventually stopped when (I assume) the parents got the dog off. I wasn't looking at them any more as I'd walked past them and to do so I would have had to turn round and take my eyes off my own dogs.

'FUCKING STUPID BITCH', 'FUCKING COME BACK HERE' 'HER FUCKING DOGS STARTED IT' (whilst the charming parents yelled at each other over who was at fault...).

For ease, my dogs were in the shallow tide walking next to me. I was on the beach. The parents were by the rock face (it's cliffs on one side). Their dog was halfway between them and me on a long line. I physically could not get further away because of the sea unless I fancied a dip. Which I didn't.