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?

That’s exactly my thoughts. I’ll never own a giraffe so I’m not going to spend hours of my life learning about giraffe behaviour. However, if I was a dog owner I’d see it as completely my responsibly to train my dog and I wouldn’t expect other people to learn about my animal just because I don’t want to train it or put it on a lead.

Why didn’t your husband stand up instead of stay sitting on a picnic bench? Instinct to kick a dog but not to stand up.

I agree with every word of this. Posters with experience of dogs tell other people what they should have done in a particular situation. Why the hell am I expected to make an on the scene risk assessment about the behaviour of a dog? I’m even supposed to assume that the owner’s lackadaisical response is due to the fact that she knows her dog is harmless. Fuck that for a game of soldiers.

So, if you weren’t standing, and you weren’t sitting, what were you doing? You certainly weren’t removing your baby from the situation.

Why are you and your husband acting like you’ve never been outside in a park before?

Kicking a dog, before it would even occur to you to stand up away from the animal, is mental behaviour.

Ideally he'd have been able to stand up for more leverage, a more effective kick.

I have a nervous dog. I’m often having to manage other people’s badly behaved dogs and sometimes their children too haha.

Random things that have happened in the last couple of weeks:

• Two hyper off lead dogs came bounding up to my dog. She was on a lead. They were jumping on her - probably friendly but an on-lead dog can feel quite intimidated by off-lead dogs. I asked the owner to call his dogs back but they ignored him and so I ended up basically moving between them and my dog and pushing them away until the owner arrived.
• Waiting in a queue, outside for a coffee stall. Parent of a toddler not really engaged with child who kept showing interest in my dog. Child said ‘can I pet the dog’ and parent said ‘yes’ (without asking me!) and child came running up to us, freaking dog out. I had to keep moving her away from child and standing between them as child obviously didn’t understand, parent oblivious.

My point is that we should all manage human/dog and dog/dog interactions. And if the responsible adult isn’t doing it it falls on others to try and manage it. I don’t think I was unreasonable for trying to push away someone else’s dog or for trying to body block my dog from a toddler. You just have to if the actual person who should be managing the situation isn’t…

And my other point is plenty of dog owners are also annoyed by out of control dogs!!

Don't worry OP, I would have kicked the dog too. Probably even harder.

Dog owners now are awful, so many out of control dogs.

"I'm not going to steal my belongings so why should I have to lock my doors at night. It's not my responsibility to not steal them."

People lock their doors because they want their belongings to be safe. My point is that people prioritise putting effort into what matters to them. Non-dog owners are not likely to be interested in learning about dog behaviour because they don't own dogs.

I have had dogs all my life and don’t think you overreacted. My worst dog moment was when mine was a puppy and I took her to Hyde Park. I was still training her so kept her on the lead as it was a beautiful day and there were lots of people having picnics. Don’t know how it happened but I slipped a little on the grass and instinctively went to grab onto a tree and accidentally dropped her lead. Off she bolted straight to the nearest picnic and managed to grab a sandwich. I was mortified. They were so lovely about it but I apologised profusely and offered to get them a replacement. Mistakes happen but if you know your dog has no recall and is likely to jump at people, they should be kept on a leash 💯 of the time. I have one I’m happy to let off as she has amazing recall. Her sister, on the other hand, is hit and miss so I don’t take the chance unless we’re in an enclosed space. The responsibility is always on the owner to manage the situation

People like you are such a problem in society. Just take some responsibility. I don't expect other people to learn about child development so they can react in the best way when my toddler is behaving badly. It's my child, my responsibility. Same with pets. Taking precautions against theft is completely different.

I'm a dog owner and would have been absolutely mortified if my dog had done this. Although his recall is brilliant, no dog is absolutely 100%, so mine is always on a lead in public places.

And in their own private home where they can expect security. In a public place everybody should behave accordingly.

The mental gymnastics that go on to justify the complete failure if some dog owners to control their dogs in public places is quite astonishing.

Ideally he would have stood up before the dog jumped at the baby a second time. The dog owner isn't the only irresponsible adult here.

So someone gets assaulted, it's their fault for not reacting fast enough.

A bit different.

try standing up while straddling a bench, trying to hold a squirming baby with a dog jumping up at you relentlessly. To stand up and potentially fall with the baby would be even more reckless.

I said I was sitting. I don’t really care about your opinion as you don’t seem to be absorbing what I’m saying and most people agree with me.

Good grief. Next time just stand up with the baby, no need for drama nd violence.

So people who don't drive cars shouldn't have to learn to cross the road and be safe around cars?

Dogs are a fact of society and it is really a responsibility of parents to teach their children how to behave appropriately around them so they grow up to be 'dog savvy' adults, as much as owners have a responsibility to rear dogs that aren't dangerous.

@KellyK2026 and her husband sat and screamed instead of standing up to protect a baby with no ability to protect themselves. The baby being jumped at repeatedly is their fault for not even attempting to stand up. They had plenty of time according to OP as the irresponsible dog owner was in no rush to get to her dog, allowing the poor dog to be kicked by a man who couldn't get off his backside to protect his child.

How exactly is that the same thing as blaming someone for being assaulted? The baby was the one at risk of injury. Reliant on parents for protection.

I'm not sure most people do agree with you. You obviously do care about opinions because you posted here to receive them.

Like most of the posters here I think you really overreacted, or at least didn't react in the most appropriate way to a situation that could have ended far worse than it did.

Sorry to hear about your experience. I live near woodland where there’s loads of dog walkers and there’s a ridiculous number of them that have reported that their dog has been bitten by another dog. It’s such a shame as I see so many well trained dogs who are lovely but there is, unfortunately, a minority of disrespectful owners who don’t seem to understand that not everyone wants a dog in their personal space.

Well most people do because there’s a poll

Interesting that it’s our fault and not the dog owner