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?

Then if they aren’t they should be on a lead near a children’s play area where there are picnic benches and families having food. It’s not difficult.

I take it you’ve never seen a picnic bench before? It’s hard to stand up while straddled unless you wanna risk falling.

But I reckon people on this thread would have felt much better had the DH fallen with the baby than poor innocent doggy getting yeeted.

Anything with sharp teeth that bounds up to my baby’s face will always get a hard kick from me.

OP and her DH sound like a right pair.

Yup. Enjoy! And report back :)

Then they should be on leads, always, especially near children’s parks.

Op and her DH sound fictitious!

…of completely normal people

Plenty thanks … he could have swung his free kicking leg over and then stood up, there are many things he could have done. It’s all a major over reaction and OP is making excuses for both this and DH aggressive and violent outburst, hope he’s not like that at home!

Then the dogs should be on leads.

Or the situation is …

Nothing about this sounds normal.

No, owners of badly trained dogs are the worst for thinking their dog would never misbehave.

Met an absolute horror of a man when out with baby facing outwards in the buggy for the first time. I asked politely twice for him to call back his dog who had its face right next to my baby’s in the buggy and he literally smirked, absolute piece of work was really enjoying seeing me squirm and plead with him. An older woman then intervened and he barked that it wasn’t a tiger and we were over reacting. I know I wasn’t as it was as I was walking by a bus stop and I was so shaken from it I stopped and everyone waiting was sympathetic and said he was being a bully. Luckily baby was ok, but I didn’t know the dog! That wasn’t safe!

Nah. Animal welfare matters too. There has to be a balance and it's not found at - all dogs must be perfect 100% of the time or they should be denied proper exercise necessary for their essential wellbeing.

It is normal to be this irate about a non event that happened “the other week” when no one was injured or harmed in anyway, and the baby in question didn’t even notice? Despite its “screaming” mother? No, I don’t think this is normal. Or in fact, true.

You seem really focused on who is to blame.

You had an interaction with a dog in a public park.

The owner should have controlled her dog, and you and your husband should have controlled yourselves.

I’m aware of my legal rights. By the way, a friend of mine had a colleague who was tired of being chased by a local dog. He put on a steel capped boot and the next time the dog ran up to him, he kicked it square in the chest. The dog died. Now I don’t agree with that but, guess what, legally the owners couldn’t do anything because he felt threatened. So be responsible and put any untrained dogs on a lead because they don’t have to bite to be considered a threat.

Aggressive and violent 😂😂 the man was protecting his baby. I’m actually quite alarmed that people wouldn’t do this.

I always wondered what type of twats let their kids into a situation where a dog bites them and scars them for life. Apparently, they’re on MN telling people off for a preventing a baby being harmed

I was out of control for shouting to the owner, who was further away, that she needed to control her dog and we had a baby? Grow up.

A couple and their baby have a picnic and object to a dog pounding up eating food and being in their baby’s face?

Only abnormal if you hate yourself and your children I guess

And now you know someone who has kicked a dog to death? Righto….

Animal welfare doesn’t matter nearly as much as children’s welfare.

Keep your dog on a lead til it’s trained

Can I suggest someone puts YOU on a lead until you can learn to behave in public properly?

You were out of control for “screaming” at her, and your husband was out of control for kicking an animal out of anger.

If my husband, father etc kicked a dog, I’d be fucking disgusted with them.

I know of someone, yes. It’s legal to protect yourself against a dog if you feel threatened. That’s the law. Read it.

i was alerting her to the situation as I had no idea if she had initially saw the child. I acted to protect my child. You’re acting like you’ve never had children.

Well maybe just put on a steel boot and kick the dog to death next time because I can assure you no one has the time / energy to prosecute under the dangerous dog act for this completely ordinary, non event that you experienced last week. But do report back if you experience otherwise