Dog nipped child

[Twinkleandstressed]

Dog was tied up outside corner shop - I could see him from the till point. Only picking up one item. Dog is usually friendly and calm. Child darts out of shop with father and runs towards my dog wanting to pet him. My dog reacts my growling and going to bite him. He didn’t thankfully but did hurt his lip by jumping. Dad is useless and just walks on to car. I quickly go outside and go to apologise. Mum who is sitting in the car is consoling child - I ask if he is hurt. She says just a scrape on mouth. I apologise again and explain that my dog must have been startled but I feel terrible and that I cannot trust my dog.

“Nip”? What does that mean. It’s not clear from your post. Is that a euphemism for “bite”?

Why the fuck does everyone need to take their dog everywhere wit them?!

Think you misread her reply, the op said "My dog has. O issues with people walking past", as in "my dog has zero issues". She said in another post as well that walking around the dog has always been fine. It was just how it was typed that I think made it easy to misread.

if you aren’t in control of the dog it shouldn’t be out from now on. You have absolutely no excuse now that your dog has been aggressive (I don’t care why it was aggressive)

if you need to go to a shop leave the dog at home

I think this is a big problem because so many owners want to take dogs everywhere they go. The dog gets put in a situation unsafe for him, and reacts. The dog pays the price for having an owner that didn't keep him safe. Yes the parents should teach a child not to run at a dog sure. But if the child was harmed badly the law is fully on the side of the child. All because he was put in a position he never should have been in.

Behave. She does have control of the dog normally? Op has admitted that on this one occasion she wasn’t in control as the dog was away from her, tied up. Bit over dramatic to say the dog shouldn’t be let out at all from now on based on one incident. You’re letting your obvious dislike of dogs take over your rational thinking. 🙄

Yes I assumed that was a typo!

Sorry I wasn’t clear.

I meant the dog shouldn’t be out and left anywhere the OP is not able to yank it back if it shows aggression. I re read what I wrote and it sounds like I meant the dog should be kept at home.

from now on the dog should be muzzled in public and never left anywhere the OP cannot immediately intervene

• TammyBundleballs You are 100% at fault. I would be absolutely raging if that was my child. I’d want the dog put down and you prosecuted and banned from keeping animals for life.* insane reaction, the parents should have taught their child not to run at unknown dogs and the dad was there and did nothing. Tbh it sounds like your dog jumped up and scratched not bit or snapped. All human error no dog deserves to die.

Struggling to understand why the presence of an unattended dog rendered the Dad incapable of parenting. Of course an excitable unknown child running up to a dog is going to spook it.

It's people you can't trust.
You can't trust them not to do stupid things like go up to a dog they don't know.
Which is why you have to make decisions starting with the assumption everyone will do the stupid thing, and plan accordingly.

(Ditto when driving fwiw)

I doubt your dog is aggressive or needs a muzzle, many will react if startled like that. It's just like we would if we got a shock. And a low growl is mostly a warning and dogs have every right to set boundaries and warnings, like if we want to say to people 'I'm not comfortable with that', 'please don't come closer'.

I would make a change though to that set up, as when you are not there, your dog can not get away and you can not rely on others to be sound around your dog. Leave the dog at home if you need to pop to the shop or just pick up your bits after the walk. Not seen a dog left outside a shop in like 10+ years

How can you not know that leaving a dog tied up outside a shop is irresponsible and potentially dangerous? For this very reason, you can expect children to react appropriately to random dogs you’ve put directly in their path. And visa versa. Above all else though this would have been very distressing for your dog on every level.
Not to mention the strong possibility dog theft, and sometimes stolen dogs are used as ‘bait’ dogs for dog fights. Just not worth the risk!

yeah, of course, nothing to do with the dog owner 🙄

OK .... here's the scenario. A dog owner behaves irresponsibly and it is MY job to teach my child to behave in a way that takes this into account.
No ... it is the job of the dog owner to behave responsibly..
This is victim blaming ... a woman is rated because she wears a short skirt ... no a woman is rated because the rapist is a criminal.
This child was hurt because the dog owner behaved irresponsibly. End of.
Why should the general population have to change their behaviour to suit these anti social people?

Raped ....

The child was hurt because it ran at a dog that was frightened and couldn’t get away. It was wrong to leave the dog tied up outside the shop and it was wrong of the parents not to control their child. Six of one and a half dozen of the other.

If you haven’t taught your child not to approach strange on lead dogs without asking you’re doing them a grave disservice.

Yes, it is your job to teach your child not to approach, touch or run shouting a random animal, be it a dog, a cat or an anything else it might see. It’s common sense.

The father is 100% to blame here. He should have been parenting his child.

Are you seriously @Mischance comparing a situation where a man rapes with intent, to one where a dog owner made a mistake by tying their dog up outside a shop? They are two wildly different scenarios, with two very different sets of expectations around the culpability of the victim. Perhaps if the OP had let her aggressive XL bully out to roam the street and someone was savaged, then the two victims could reasonably be compared. How about if the child had run straight out onto the road and been hit by a car driven by a perfectly competent driver whose tax had expired (a mistake/misjudgement)? Would that be the driver's fault? Or the fault of the parents for not watching/teaching the child? Maybe it's nobody's fault. Or everybody's fault. Keep your ridiculous 'end of' conclusion. Life isn't always black and white. Using rape victims as a basis for your supposed gotcha is disgraceful.

Yes I was also thinking the child, which apparently “darted out” of the shop, could have run into the road.

They are both about victim blaming and shifting the responsibility to the wrong person.
Dogs are not necessary - they are a life choice by some individuals. Any problems from those dogs are the responsibility of those owners and no-one else should have to alter their lives to suit their life choice.

‘Dogs Cars are not necessary - they are a life choice by some individuals. Any problems from those dogs cars are the responsibility of those owners and no-one else should have to alter their lives to suit their life choice.’

So no more road safety advice for children then. Who wants to go around altering their lives?

’Stay away from strange dogs. They might bite you’ just about covers this life altering inconvenience I reckon. If the dog is running amok, that’s a whole different scenario.

Have you taught your children not to approach, let alone run at, strange dogs? Because you really should. However much you despise them, dogs are a part of everyday life and every child should be taught to treat them with caution, just as you teach them to stay off the road.

Dogs, cars and knives are all weapons that have other uses. You wouldn't leave a knife in the street while you popped in to do your shopping. You wouldn't leave your car running with the handbrake off while you went into the shop. It's madness to leave a dog unattended too.

All dogs are killers, the most docile of animals can turn violent at any moment even with no history. They should never be left unattended. Going back to the knife or car example, chances are on any given occasion nothing will happen, but do it enough times and eventually something will go badly wrong. Some people will go years without a problem, others will have their car stolen the first time they do it.

Children are also not necessary, they are a life choice by some individuals. People who choose to have children hold responsibility for them, rather than expecting others to alter their lives to suit their choice to have children.