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.

You did nothing wrong! The parents were likely looking to blame you and your dogs for their own stupidity and negligence. It was prudent (and smart) to remove yourself and your dogs from the situation.

We've all seen stories of dogs coming to their owners aid when their owner has been attacked- even usually placid dogs.
This is so true, and many dog owners don't seem to realise this. I was a paramedic for 23 years and was forever trying to explain this to dog owners when they objected to me requesting that they lock their dog away whilst I treated the patient. When "mummy", or "daddy" etc is whimpering in pain, the dog doesn't know that the stranger in the green uniform kneeling next to them is not the one causing the pain. One of the saddest moments of my career was when I had requested the owner to secure the dog and they didn't do it, even when they said they had. My patient screamed when I was treating them (not caused by me) and the dog attacked me and bit me badly enough to cause me to need 4 stitches. The police were on scene and they subdued the dog, and it was taken away and later destroyed, even though I had said that I didn't blame the dog, but its owners, and did not want it to be destroyed. I was devastated when I was told.

I would have done the same thing as you - you did absolutely nothing wrong, There were two adults there to deal with the situation, not like the kid was on its own.

He thinks that I should have left my dogs in a sit/wait and gone to check the child was okay given how serious dog attacks can be.

My argument to him is that dogs are still dogs. No matter how well trained I think my dogs are (and they really are very well trained), there is always a chance that if the other dog had attacked me they might have responded. We've all seen stories of dogs coming to their owners aid when their owner has been attacked- even usually placid dogs. Was I going to risk my dogs? No. Was I going to risk exacerbating the situation? No.

I can see why he says that. It sounds the correct action in black and white but you 200% did the right thing!!!

I would have got the fuck out of that situation.

-Their dog is clearly anxious and not doing well
-They haven’t taught their child how to behave around the dog (probably as they don’t know themselves)
-They were abusive

so they fucked everything up and expected you to have a magic wand to fix it?

they sound mornonic

you did the right thing calling the police from the car.

What awful people. I'm sorry you had to go through that. Thank goodness you didn't stop. Since they tried to blame you when you where nowhere near the dog, I'm willing to bet they'd have had a go at you for hurting their dog or their child, and tried to make trouble for you.

I think even if you had put your dogs on leads you could not have given useful help. At best you would have one hand free and being closer to the collie would gave upset it even more! I would be asking your DP what they would have actually done if they were there.

@Jonismorf I’m so sorry. I’m sure something like that really stays with you (it obviously has). You know you’re weren’t at fault, but you also know the dog wasn’t at fault at all. I do hope the owners recognised their part in the dire consequences.

There are lots of very weird people and a lot of them own dogs. I had no idea until I got a dog and now have the misfortune of interacting with them.

Not at all. You had dogs with you which wouldn't have helped the situation at all. Even if you didn't, you do t know the dog or what it's capable of.
The owners know the dog and should know its aggressive. They probably shouted at you because they were being defensive of knowing they were to blame for the situation. Having an aggressive dog around their child, and allowing the child to startle it when it was clearly uncomfortable.

That poor child. I hope the dog was reported and put down. Owners at fault for not stopping this before it became past the point of no return. I take it police was called.

Another case for all dogs on a SHORT lead and all dogs muzzled in public

OP, you say you and your dogs did "nothing wrong." Fair enough but I've not read all of the posts but I get the feeling that in the back of your mind there is something else you have not said. May I ask if your dogs were barking at the other dog???

You mention in your OP, "obviously the dog was going to attack." Why is it "obvious as I've been to clients hems where owners and kids grab dogs from every angle.

I'm 100% to have all dogs muzzled in public and on a short lead and the owner taking the dog for a walk and not the other way around

It was obvious because anyone who knows dog behaviour knows a dog that is stiff and licking its lips is going to attack. The child probably couldn't see the dog licking its lips. But its posture was a huge giveaway and the parents should have realised and known - no one has a dog like reacts like that and doesn't know what's coming.

No one should be approaching a dog from behind - not an owner, not a trainer and definitely not a child. The first two things I taught my daughter were never approach a dog from behind and never bother a sleeping dog. It's dog ownership 101.

There's nothing missing. I saw the dog. My dogs came back to me. I indicated for them to walk on my left (in the shallow water) they did so. I spent years training my dogs, because of their size and their strength, to try and avoid situations like this as much as possible.

I've had aggressive dogs before. They can be set off by other dogs just passing them. It doesn't require conflict or for the other dogs to have done anything. The other dogs (in this case mine) existing is enough to provoke a reaction.

I would have done the same @Idioticparents

No way would I have approached an unknown anxious dog that was attacking the owners child with my own dogs nearby.

I’ve seen some really bad dog owner ship over the years and what you have said doesn’t surprise me anymore. And the fact they are trying to blame you says to me that they know they are in the wrong and don’t want to face the truth, which can make the dog more dangerous in my opinion.

Hi

Many thanks for coming back with a detailed response, I respect that

May I ask why your OH felt the way you OH did? What was the reasons/s?

IMO, from what you have said and I have just skim read all of your other posts, you did the right thing

Did you report the abusive people for the verbal assault on you?

I think walking away and removing temptation from the attacking dog was the best thing you could have done.

It sounds like these parents would have preferred you to be attacked than their child or that you/your dogs made some kind of contact with their dogs because they them can blame you and your dogs rather than their own woeful parenting and dog ownership.

He thinks that the dogs are trained enough that if I put them in a sit/wait they would wait. They probably would have waited. But, I wasn't willing to risk it - they're still dogs at the end of the day. Even the most placid dogs will come to their owners aide if something happens to them (PPs have noted examples of this). I didn't want to risk them or myself. But he still thinks that they would have been fine (and continues to hold that line).

I reported the dog attack and gave a description of the child/parents and dog along with the location. I didn't bother with detailing them yelling at me because people respond awfully when they're terrified - and they likely were terrified.

Ok, thanks

Your OH is in the wrong. Show your OH this thread.

You did the right thing by all accounts.
IMO, the police will act as a child is involved but tracing them will be a problem unless you knew their car reg and you did not

Therefore, nothing will happen unless child goes to hospital for bite marks then possibly soc services may get involved.

I dont like see dogs in public on long leads and worse still off leads and prefer a muzzle on dogs and the dog owner taking the dog for a walk and not the other way around

So tell your OH to glance at this thread and apologise to you

Take care

Ridiculous

@DistinguishedSocialCommentator
OP, you say you and your dogs did "nothing wrong." Fair enough but I've not read all of the posts but I get the feeling that in the back of your mind there is something else you have not said.

There is a simple way to find all the OP's posts so that you can be certain you have read everything she has written on the thread. At the bottom of every one of her posts, on the right in my program, the words "OP posts: See all" appear, and if you click on "See all" you do indeed see all the posts on the thread that have been made by the OP.

That way you don't miss any of her replies to other people's questions.

I think you acted responsibly. You kept control of your dogs the whole time. Their child's safety isn't your responsibility. If you had intervened the dog might have turned on you and your dogs might have got involved. You definitely did the right thing. Tell your husband to fick off

@AskingQuestionsAllTheTime

Have you deliberately ignored the exchange between me and the OP a few minutes before your post????

I don’t see how adding your dog to the mix would have been helpful at all. If your dog started reacting you would have had to keep hold of your dog while trying to help, the other dog probably would have gone even more batshit. Feel for the kid, clearly the parents haven’t trained their dog well but they need to take responsibility.

You did the right thing. There were 2 adults/parents dealing with the situation. You approaching or getting involved would have probably exacerbated the situation and would have put you at risk.
Your responsibility was to keep your dogs under control and report the incident, which you have done.

We need to ask ourselves what kind of parents where they shouting all of that abuse at the OP