To feel if a dog bites a child they should leave the restaurant?

[Bookishworms]

*edit: sorry for typos! Dog not dig

Out for lunch yesterday with kids, a casual family restaurant where dogs are allowed in. We love dogs and were sat in the section with dogs. No dramas.

One terrier on the table behind had barked at the waiter so seemed a but highly strung but had settled down. My son got up to go to the loo and the dog was startled, (i guess by the sound of the chair scrape and movement) and jumped up and bit my son! He hadn’t trod on it or anything just startled.

Settled son, no skin broken, and the owners just seemed to want to pretend it hadn’t happened. I said ‘your dog just bit my child…?!’ They said was he bleeding and oh sorry dog must have been startled. Then went back to their lunch. I was a bit taken aback - I don’t have a dog at the moment but have in the past and if it had bit someone I would have taken the dog out of that situation right away.

Anyways we just went back to our lunch rather than make a fuss as son wasn’t badly injured but then my friend who has a smaller child was pointing out that a snap like that on say, a toddler, or exposed skin, would have been a huge problem and I should have reported it. I don’t want the dog put down or anything but surely there should be consequences for the owners? If their dog gets stressed in places like restaurants they maybe shouldn’t bring the dog?

Maybe I under-reacted.

Why do people think dogs in food establishments is wrong? What do they think will happen. What’s more dangerous? A well behaved dog lying under the owners table or a child running around bumping into waiting staff and other tables?

What’s the difference between being sat in a pub eating dinner with a dog at the side of you to eating dinner in a restaurant with a dog at the side of you?

Businesses have a legal responsibility to ensure that any area open to the public is safe as far as is reasonably foreseeable. When they let a dog onto the premises they have no way of knowing what risk the dog is to other people. It's not reasonable at all to take the word of the owner, it is their legal responsibility to assess the risks. So it is their public liability insurance that pays for any injury and it is a criminal offence not to carry out a risk assessment of all activities in the work place. So unless they carry out a risk assessment of all dogs entering the premises they are not complying with that duty. Then we have food safety legislation too. This doesn't apply to service dogs where their risk assessment is carried out in the training and the owner has to let them in, as they should.
I wonder how many inform their insurance that they have significantly increased the risk of a customer being injured by either being bitten or a dog tripping up a waiter or a customer with hot food when it decides it was startled, by letting dogs onto the premises. Because their premium would be significantly higher.

Well given the example we have in this thread the worst that could happen is a child is bitten by a dog

@ilovepixie Forcing a nervous, unhappy dog to stay in a noisy restaurant is cruel.

I presume the owner of the dog that is subject to the post thinks this too. Children shouldn't be running around where hot food is being served. It's not one or the other, or two bads make it OK.

This.
Yes you massively under reacted.
The dog should be reported.

I’m fed up of dogs in restaurants and food areas in pubs:-

I don’t want to see slobbering drool <gags>
I don’t want to hear panting while every fork is being eaten by a pair of begging eyes
I don’t want to smell that disgusting wet dog smell
I don’t want to navigate sudden movements that might trip me up while carrying drinks or have dirty dogs jump up at me to play - I’m there to unwind and relax not provide doggy daycare
I don’t want dog hairs about the place on seats
I certainly don’t want anyone to be bitten

Some dog owners can be so arrogant and assume others are happy with the above

I do recognise that not all dogs give rise to the above unpleasant occurrences, but some dogs are large smelly and badly behaved.

I hope you LO is ok OP

Me too, it’s disgusting.

Error

I have a reactive dog I'd never take her to a busy restaurant with children around.
What the hell is wrong with them.
You absolutely under reacted I'd have reported to restaurant at the time.

Idiot dog owners that think they need their dog with them 24/7🙄

I said a well behaved dog lying under the table. And if a dog bites or isn’t well behaved they should be removed immediately.

thats shocking that they didn’t take the dog out. I feel sorry for your son and also the dog.

I disagree with dogs being allowed in places with food and also shops. Some people are frightened of dogs and also busy situations can scare dogs.

@Boomer55 Unless he’s going for a walk, my dog much prefers to stay at home. He’s very friendly but shops and restaurants are overwhelming, too noisy and crowded. It’s cruel to drag dogs into situations that upset them.

I have a dog, I love my dog and part of that is realising that what is best for me might not be best for him
I was in a large city yesterday aftrnoon/evening for a Christmas market and the amount of dogs was ridiculous. The place was packed and really not the place for a dog - just because you CAN take a dog somewhere it does not mean you should.
A pub after a walk where ddog can settle under a table and chill? Great - but not an restaurant

That’s a pointless comparison because no one even half reasonable is in favour of children running round restaurants either.

Urgh some dog owners are so stupid. That dogs needs putting down.

My small dog is a snapper. She doesn't intend to bite, and it is just a warning (and is always far enough away to not be a bite) that she's unhappy and she wants you to back off.

But, because we know this - we don't take her to busy restaurants or pubs, we don't have her in the vicinity of children, and I would be beyond mortified and apologetic if we had been the dog owner in the situation you describe above. I would definitely have left / taken the dog away immediately.

Don't go anywhere that allows dogs in restaurants. This has got to stop.

Hate dogs in restaurants.

I don't agree we need to ban dogs from everywhere..

We need to get people who choose to own dogs to manage them sensibly, train them sensibly, be aware of what increases risk, like confined spaces, leads, noise, strangers, proximity to food...

They SHOULD have - apologised profusely - given you their contact details in case you decided to take further action, say if the injury was worse than initially seems - taken the dog out immediately (whether that means abandoning the meal or one going out with the dog, other staying, then swapping, or putting the dog in the car).

Accidents DO happen, but this was predictable, it seems it's clear their dog wasn't coping with the environment and people were closer to the dog than the dog could handle. Absolutely a clear failing from the owner to manage their dog, meet the dogs needs to be kept safe, and other peoples needs to be kept safe from their dog.

I probably wouldn't call the police unless I thought they weren't taking their responsiblity for what happened seriously.

Exactly @Hoppinggreen. what suits us humans may not suit our dogs. They’re not extensions of us, they’re a different species!

It's unhygienic, dogs are dirty and smelly.
They never are well behaved. I've given up going to my favourite cafe because people were outnumbered by dogs. Last time I went I couldn't hear my friend speaking because of two yappy dogs at the next table.
Tie them up outside, leave them in the car or leave them at home.

but then my friend who has a smaller child was pointing out that a snap like that on say, a toddler, or exposed skin, would have been a huge problem and I should have reported it

Well yes, but that isn't what happened.

That said, I think that they should have been asked to leave.

Did you not at least tell the staff?