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.

The first dog I ever owned {One the RSPCA selected for me} was very good, superb with children as she came from a Traveller site where the kids must have played with her a lot.. It was the days when one did see dogs tied up outside shops.
I tied her to a shop sign, and could see her while I paid {old fashioned shop with till by door} - then to my dismay I noticed the shop sign began to spin in the wind- and it made the most awful squealing noise like a wind pump
Poor T took off like a rocket, dragging the sign {thankfully not too heavy} behind her, the sign making a terrible din galloping to get away from the beast that was noisily chasing her.
I called ''WAIT!'' and she slowed up - I unknotted the lead and carried the sign back to the shop and never {ever} left her outside a shop again.

Child should not have approached dog - end of - dog probably frightened and just reacted as kid was in the dogs face - control kids- dog was minding its own business!

Mine’s 5.1kg and not a huge monster in anyone’s terms. Several times a small child has asked if they can pet her when she’s on lead and the answer’s always yes. Twice the child’s mum has said they were afraid of dogs and thanked me for helping. I’d never leave her unattended because she’s tiny, very cute and eminently nickable, she’d disappear in no time flat.

I think my anxious dog would of reacted the same in that situation , I don't muzzle him as I'm always with him.
It was a near miss thankfully this time , don't be hard on doggie though it must of been scared having a strange kid dash out toward them like that

Massive over reaction.

id be raging if it was your child, don't let them run at digs.

I suggest you carefully check if your dog insurance covers you for liability if your dog is unattended, most policies don’t. Think hard about if something had happened to that kid, you could be left utterly bankrupt.

The parents were wrong, but you need to seek further training for your dog, and never leave it unattended in a public place.

@Mydogisamassivetwat
Occupational hazzard with a Goldie I am afraid.
They look like teddies but are big powerful dogs, I have had to peel toddlers off mine while their parents looked on fondly on more than one occasion

Completely OTT.

Of course the should but sometimes when juggling shopping they can get away from you. No parent is perfect all the time and neither are children.

It's irrelevant what you'd rather. Thank God.

look after your child properly & there isn't an issue.

I have similar parents asking...It's often a small child who has had a scare.
Current dog is a Therapy dog as so chilled and steady, and really loves people. She doesn't mind children gently stroking her. {One of her relatives is a therapy dog as well}

No one is blaming the child.

The parents are to blame in this situation. End of discussion. Parents need to look after their kids and not blame animals who are minding their own business until attacked by an unruly child. The vast majority of dog breeds won’t go in for the kill. They just give a warning when they feel threatened.

if you can’t look after a child properly and teach them not to approach unfamiliar dogs, then maybe children aren’t for you.

This !

Your dog probably felt vulnerable and stressed out and reacted to a small stranger running at him. Don't be so hard on yourself. It's very obvious from your posts that you're a responsible dog owner and have learnt from this.

This. It’s just idiotic to rely on other people to keep your child safe. You have no idea if a dog is safe or how it will react and the fact that the dog will be put down if it bites would provide you with little comfort for the hours you’d spend at the children’s hospital while your child had skin grafts to rebuild their face.

Dont be silly!

I’m sorry OP but I would be reporting your dog. You left an unmuzzled dog unsupervised and it made contact with a child

Completely unacceptable

I'm sorry but why everyone including you is blaming your dog fully, I don't know. A person could have been standing outside holding the dog and the result could have been the same. Some uncontrolled small child, that charged out the shop (not under control from the parents) must take some of the blame surely. 🙄

Imagine this... your friend is standing outside the shop on his own waiting for you friend who had popped into the shop for an item. Your friend, minding his own business is suddenly rushed at from someone coming out the shop, no warning, a stranger unknown to him. What would you expect your friend to do... defend himself, push the person away, or allowed himself to be potentially hugged or even attacked, by a random???

Would you be berating your friend in this situation, if not why is it different?

Your dog didn't attack the child, your dog was suprised. Your dog jumped up at someone who entered his space without warning and they made contact, not a bite. Clumsy child meets dog. 🤷🏽

Both you and the parent needs to take is as a lesson and you stop berating your dog and leaving it outside shops. Your dog was being a dog. It is your job as a dog owner, to not put it in a position it may feel threatened.

Some children need reins as the parent is not always 'eye on' and the child does things like this. It happens. It's not as big a deal as you're making it out to be.

Do you have a tendency to over react massively in all aspects of your life? Or is it just where dogs are involved?

Oh let me see. A loaded gun lying randomly in the street. Unlikely, but ok I’ll run with it. A dog. TIED outside a shop. Nah, on second thoughts, I don’t think I’ll run with it after all. It’s too bloody ludicrous a comparison. You are comparing a dog tied to a railing (or whatever) to a loaded gun. You must have some very interesting dreams.

Wrong way round. The child made contact with the dog.

The child approached the dog because the parent wasn't parenting.

She’s a beauty.

Your dog will be the one with a destruction order though if it's that untrustworthy it attacks a child.
Recently there have been cases of dogs attacking and killing their owners.

Three aggressive dogs tore their owner apart at a children's playground.

Those aren't nice dogs.

My dog is ancient, and sometimes I’m sitting minding my own business on a park bench with a little bit of my coffee, catching up with phonecalls/writing an email/replying to texts, and the dog is totally zonked and some dopey parent thinks it’s acceptable to let their child stroke my dog - thankfully my dog is as dopey as said parent.

i actually never leave my dog unattended - I don’t need to, but I do understand why people do for a few seconds whilst going in a shop