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.

Don’t be ridiculous. Just don’t leave the poor animal tied up alone in a public place.

Get rid of it.

I mean. Your dog bit a kid..

It is really shitty parenting not to drill it into children that you should never approach a strange dog.

You will get all the anti dogs crowd out after this post.

Quite honestly the child was out of control and should not be running towards an unknown dog. Children should be taught better than this. I saw a child run up to a service dog last week and the women had a real go at the parent of this child who just kept bleating they were a child and didn’t know any better.

Dont leave your dog outside a shop though.

If you read the post the dog didn’t bite.

The child should never have been allowed to run up to your dog, but you now know your dog reacted - so you can't leave your dog tied up outside a shop again, it'd be irresponsible to the public and your dog.

I think this is the fault of the parents. Children automatically gravitate towards the nearest interesting thing and it is the responsibility of the parents to keep them safe. The dog was tied outside a shop, which is perfectly acceptable. It's not as if it was running around on the loose biting all and sundry.

"Nipped"

Talk about an over reaction. The parents are equally at fault. It is ridiculous to allow a child to approach a strange dog like that. Where I live it’s still commonplace to leave dogs tied up outside a shop briefly..in a lot of cases it seems to be elderly people nipping out with the dog for a pint of milk.
I wouldn’t do it myself but I wouldn’t approach a strange dog and I certainly wouldn’t allow my child to approach one either.

It's asking for the dog to be stolen these days.

You can't leave your dog unattended like that, far too many risks to others and your dog.
Likewise, the parents should never have allowed their child to run up to an unknown animal, and children should be made aware of this from an early age. I'm sure they learned a lesson too.

If your dogs reaction was to jump/catch the child with a paw then no sensible person would have you put the dog to sleep but you absolutely need to ensure you have protected your dog from irresponsible parents and excited children in future.

dont leave your dog unattended

I agree, even children who have been taught to ask before they approach a dog can forget and become over excited. Especially if they’re very little.

Very little children should be very closely supervised. There are all sorts of dangers about on the streets.

Apart from the danger described here dogs should never be left unattended anywhere. So many dogs are stolen these days and for many different reasons. How would you feel if you came out of the shop and he was gone?

If I left a loaded gun outside a shop would you blame the parents of the child for picking it up and firing it or would you think I’d be somewhat irresponsible leaving it there in the first place?

It pisses me off something chronic when I have to navigate a dog tied up by our local shop. Either leave it at home or tie it up AWAY from the shop so people are not forced to get close to the thing.

OP you didn’t do anything wrong here - the parents did.

I remember our eldest DS about 17 yrs ago (so probably 3 yrs old?) tried to pet a very small terrier type dog right in front of us at a woody walking beauty spot. The dog turned round and snapped at DS. No biting just a warning snap. The owners turned and said sorry, he’s has a bad time - small dog with 3 legs.

100% we as parents were to blame for not teaching DS not to just try and pet an unknown dog. No way was the dog or the dog’s owner to blame. It was our fault. Changed all that going forward!

Having said that, I could never leave our dog tied up outside a shop, she was a rescue, reactive and I was worried she would be taken, bless her.

Because you weren't supervising your small child and allowed them to run up to a strange dog and touch them? Behave! 😂 It's the parents fault for not looking after their child. They're lucky they didn't run into the road!

My dog reacts my growling and going to bite him. He didn’t thankfully but did hurt his lip by jumping.

In the very first post.

Do you want reassurance that your dog is safe around children? Because you’re not getting it from me. That dog shouldn’t be left alone like that and needs to be muzzled at all times.

No reassurance - I just wanted some advice as feel awful and wondering if I should contact police first for advice in case parents do wish for dog to pts.

You should never leave your dog unattended BUT nobody should approach a dog without checking with the owner either.
My DC knew this from a very early age
I wouldn't assume it means your dog is a viscious beast but I would assume you were irresponsible for putting your dog in that position

I’d blame the parents in this ridiculous example.