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.

I'm not sure what your question is?
From your description he didn't bite the child, growled and jumped? He was scared and panicked being approached at speed by a strange child when he was trapped by being tied up. Not really surprising, just unfortunate that the situation was allowed to happen. If he really wanted to bite then he would have, dogs don't usually miss, if he was growling and snapping he was warning, not attacking.

Solution would be to protect your dog better, don't leave him in a situation where a child could approach him without you there to intervene.
Do you have children or socialise with them regularly? If not then prevention should be pretty easy, just be more aware when you are out and keep him physically separate from children.

Editing to add- the dad was an idiot and useless to permit his child to approach a strange dog, however we are surrounded by idiots so you cant ever rely on other people having common sense. Assume the worst and you might sometimes be pleasantly suprised!

Def don't leave the dog unattended to protect it - I doubt police would be interested or put it down / prosecute - my daughter (17) was walking our dog on a lead on public footpath a dog ran out of its house and attacked my dog (8 bad puncture wounds) and bit her - police didn't even visit no one was interested as minor injuries.

Yanbu to feel terrible. Why are you leaving your dog tied up outside a shop? Not everyone likes dogs. I’m actually sick of this. My preschooler is petrified following a dog attack on her last year but she can’t escape them. There’s literally nowhere left where dogs aren’t present; the park, the shops, cafes, school gates… they’re everywhere.

Your dog is aggressive, you need to remain with it or leave it at home.

Imo consider it from the opposite side.. Why risk a nasty dc /adult hurting your ddog?

A quick civil case against the dog owners would soon put a marker down. Trying to blame children for being attacked by dogs is grotesque.

If this is the first instance then just don't leave your dog in such a vulnerable position in future. I would say it felt threatened and it reacted as a dog would.

No need to muzzle, just don't put the dog in the position in future 🙂

Can you leave your dog at home? I wouldn’t consider tying mine up outside a shop. For his own safety. Someone could nick him or he could get upset a random people in his face messing with him.

And you would take zero responsibility for your complete failure to parent your child and keep them safe? You utter drama queen. The dog wouldn't be put to sleep and the OP wouldn't be prosecuted, not in the instance the OP described.

Where did I blame a child?

You are not being fair to your dog or the public having him tied up outside. He could have hurt the child seriously. He could also have been hurt himself. A child could have spooked or poked, or run into him. My grandmother years ago used to tie up her dog outside a shop, and once he was savaged by another dog. He was not the same again.

You need to be able to leave your dog at home when you shop. Dogs can also get stolen from outside the shop. It is not for you to trust your dog here. Your need not to put him in such a position. Please just learn from it.

You are absolutely ridiculous

I really wouldn't leave him outside. Not to sound like a judgemental prick but I've seen too many posts on spotted where I live where they've been taken.

That poster clearly wasn't blaming the child, they were blaming the shit parents.

I agree that they were irresponsible with the child but if the dog had actually bitten the child, I'm not sure that would matter if they took it to the police. It's a dangerously out of control dog if it bites someone who runs near it. This child was running at it, but a child (or a jogger) could easily have been running past it along the pavement - would the dog react the same?

Yes, it is fault for leaving him outside. There was plenty of space to walk around him and he wouldn’t have been affected by anyone doing so. It was just a poor set of circumstances dealt by my poor decision.

Your dog has given you a warning.

I wouldn’t risk leaving my dog tied up outside a shop. I think I did it once about 20 years ago and haven’t risked it since. Someone could accuse your dog of biting, another dog could go for it and it wouldn’t be able to get away, someone could hurt your dog or feed it something inappropriate or it could be stolen.

My dog runs and walks with us all the time - he has never bitten a passerby. It was the running manner up to him with the child’s hand a high to pet. But again that is my fault for leaving the dog outside.

Both in the wrong here. The parents for letting it happen and you for leaving your dog unattended

Such a polarised thread!😆

My take is all the adults in this situation were to blame, not the dog or the child, who sounds as if they were too young to really understand why you shouldn't approach a dog without the owner's permission.

However, it's not the end of the world. Nobody has been badly hurt and it's given you an opportunity to think about what you will do differentlyin future. I would see it as a bit of a wake up call, if I were you, OP, and stop beating yourself up now.

My dog would probably do the same if a young child ran up to him and he couldn’t get away, so I would never leave my dog outside a shop tied up. I don’t always let small children say hello to my dog, although he’s friendly, once he licked a child’s face and the child said he had bitten her, so very small children it’s a no.

The abolition of dog licences.

I think you realise that it was not a good thing to do. And now just need to not do it again. Don't beat yourself up from it. Just learn from it.

You'll have to get it pts or muzzle it in public.

The child should not approach an unknkwn dog a d touch him. Dog doesn’t know him and would feel defensive. Not sure what breed he is but some are more defensive than others (my lab would just wag his tail but would probably have jumped as a puppy tbh)