AIBU to be upset after a dog jumped at our baby?

[KellyK2026]

Okay, so myself, DH and baby were at a country park the other week. Baby was getting hungry so we sat ourselves down on a park bench and got some food out. A woman was walking with her family and dog and the dog must’ve smelt the food as it suddenly
comes bounding over and is jumping at baby (who is on DH knee) to get the food. We don’t know this dog and don’t know what it's capable of. I scream at the owner that we have a baby and to get her dog under control. At this point, she’s pretty far away and is taking her time to come over. My DH then kicks the dog to get it off them as it just will not stop. The woman wasn’t particularly apologetic and seemed shocked. Did we overreact?

No overreaction.

I don’t dislike dogs but I am really starting to loathe dog people. They don’t train their dogs and seem to think that everyone wants their slobbering mutt all over them. I’ve had dogs and would never have treated the the “fur baby” way people treat theirs these days.

It should have been on a lead.

She’s a shit dog owner and it was all her fault.

But I do also feel sorry for the dog getting kicked. Again, that was the dog owner’s fault but it’s still a shame it had to happen.

I have a dog and love them.

Yes I think a little, but the owner u under reacted! Dogs and babies are both allowed in country parks, and there has to be some kind of mutual respect.
obviously viscous or biting dogs should be on a lead at all times.
our local country parks has dog zones which works best IMO keeping children in their areas, unless they go into the dogs off lead zone, and vice versa although on lead if the dog is in the play / children’s area

I have dogs and kids in my family. You did not overreact.

Not so long ago I was walking past someone holding a dog on a lead. I must have been a couple of feet away and the owner was looking away talking to someone else. The damn dog bit me. Thankfully I had jeans on so I did not have broken skin. The owner was veryyyy apologetic because she knew that I could have reported them. At least she reacted.

I don't think yourself is unreasonable to be upset.

Would be interested to know what breed it was?

I am not really a dog fan, am very vigilant and cautious with dogs around my children, and will refuse to take them to friends or relatives homes where certain types of dog are present or allow them near certain breeds in general.
However i think kicking the dog (except as a last resort if it was showing signs of agression or you were unable to get it away from baby any other way) seems quite unkind to the dog (although better to overreact than underreact in a situation like that to be fair)

Could your DH not have restrained it by holding it's collar or you stood up with baby so it couldn't reach them?

If it was a dangerous or agressive sort of breed though such as an XL Bully I get why you might panic and kick it automatically.

Yeah, we were sat next to a big children’s play area (which wasn’t fenced off) and there were plenty of picnic benches around where families were having food. I did see plenty of well trained dogs off leads and many that were on a lead, so I don’t think a lead was a requirement. So it was left up to the owner’s discretion.

Why wasnt the bloody hound on a lead???

YANBU. The dog owner should have apologised fulsomely. The dog wasn’t under control and should have been on a lead. Obviously kicking a dog isn’t great but how else is someone meant to get an out of control dog away?

Could your DH not have restrained it by holding its collar or you stood up with the baby

I imagine it was a fairly instinctive reaction to an animal threatening their baby.

(Threatening in the sense that the baby could have been hurt, rather than the dog deliberately being aggressive)

I wouldn’t like to say what breed it was as I’m not that familiar with dog breeds. I’d say it was slightly larger than a spaniel and had floppy ears like one, so possibly a spaniel mix.

To be honest it all happened so quickly. Husband was straddling the bench and trying to shield the baby and I had my hands full with the baby bag. Neither one of us could grab the collar as it was so hyperactive and quick. Also, neither one of us is very confident around dogs and, with food being involved and it trying to get at it, we didn’t know if it would nip the baby. In a situation like that our main priority was the baby, especially as the dog didn’t respond to a recall. And we didn’t know if it was dangerous or not.

The dog’s owner was a young woman and perfectly mobile yet she was sauntering over. If I was her I would’ve been running over to grab my dog, especially after I had shouted that we have a baby so she knew who her dog was jumping up at.

I have a dog. He is well trained but still young and completely food obsessed. For this reason he stays on the lead if there is the slightest chance of people with food being around. Completely unacceptable of the dog owner to let this happen to you, and entirely preventable by being a responsible dog owner.

I was out recently with my DS (without my dog) and a man with two large off lead dogs watched while one came and stole my sandwich out of my bag. Wasn’t the least bit apologetic. I told him and the dog off, dog looked remorseful but the owner didn’t give a shit.

You did not overreact and are not unreasonable

I'd report it to the police. The dog is dangerously out of control.,

Absolutely, this was definitely the feeling at the time. Baby had food on their face and bib so, although we didn’t know whether the dog was aggressive or not, I did panic that that dog might nip the baby because it has smelt the food and wanted it, and some of it was on the baby. And with how quick it was moving, it might even accidentally hurt the baby. So under the circumstances where the dog wasn’t responding to recall, wasn’t responding to our reaction and kept jumping up, and the owner wasn’t doing a great job of coming over and getting her dog, it was a quick judgement call. I don’t even think my DH thought about it. He just went into protective papa mode.

Yanbu. I think your dh did the right thing by kicking the dog

Yanbu for being furious at the owner, but oh man, reading that your DH kicked the dog really breaks my heart as a massive dog lover.

Don't get me wrong, the owner is an absolute idiot and 100% in the wrong here. If your dog doesn't have bulletproof recall, it belongs on a lead, especially around a busy park where people are eating! Dogs are natural scavengers; if they smell a sandwich, their brain just goes "food!" and they investigate. It is entirely the owner's responsibility to manage that. Taking her sweet time to stroll over while her dog is bothering a baby is just infuriating and gives good dog owners a bad name. She completely set her poor dog up to fail.

I do totally get the primal instinct to protect your baby. When panic sets in and a strange animal is in your kid's face, you just react. But the poor pup was literally just being a dog and following its nose, it wasn't trying to attack anyone. Usually standing up quickly, turning your back, or just blocking them with a knee is enough to bounce a food-motivated dog away without having to actually kick them.

So I completely validate you screaming at the woman. She's a terrible owner and I'd have had a few choice words for her myself. But I just can't help feeling so sorry for the dog who ended up getting kicked just because its human is totally irresponsible!

I think if you’re not dog savvy, this kind of thing can escalate into the panic it did. Whereas we would just grab the dog, or just stand up with the baby, give it a pet and hold it till owner came, because despite what you read on MN, the vast majority of dogs aren’t interested in mauling babies and don’t need to be kicked or hurt.

But people who aren’t used to dogs will often react like this (which is ironically more likely to cause a dog to harm you, shrieking and kicking at it and causing panic, rather than just calmly getting hold of collar or crouching down and getting hold of them, calling them to you).

The owner should have quickly spotted this unfolding and hurried over to intervene when it was clear what way it was going.

don’t be so utterly ridiculous

It’s not ridiculous at all. I thought the same thing.

No-one in their right mind is going to calmly hold a strange, out of control dog by the collar or crouch down close to it. Unless they’re a dog whisperer.

call the police because a spaniel mix is trying to get a lick of an egg sandwich?! 😂 grow up!!!

Oh, right, and now the emojis come out, telling us all we need to know.

YABU to still be giving this non-incident this much headspace a week on...

It was a bit of a shock, no-one was hurt. Move on.

enlighten me….what does someone using emoji’s mean?