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?

An untrained and out of control dog. Why take the chance?

That’s called sarcasm lol

I know. I’ll just throw my baby’s food on the floor. I’m sure the cafe will serve blended food but if they don’t, never mind, my baby can go hungry. Again, some of the mental gymnastics these people do.

Well I’ve never heard of a baby killing another baby. They also don’t have a lot of teeth and, while their nails can be quite sharp, they don’t quite compare to claws. Also, most babies aren’t 80 pounds. So this whole thing is a bit tenuous.

"dog nutters" - says the person who shouted and kicked a hungry friendly spaniel (type mix) 🤦🏻

So what would you have done?

No but I believe if you haven’t had children you perhaps don’t understand the natural instinct to protect them at all costs.

It’s not comparable, so why are you asking?

I'm interested to know.

I probably would also report it to the police next time under the dangerous dog act.

But your actions are not protecting them! That's the big that's making no sense!

Well you can keep guessing as it’s not remotely the same!

Ok if you read the advice for the enforcement officers under the act, you'll see that in this scenario they are told to take no further action.

Obviously

Great, so I’ll throw my baby’s blended food up on the floor for the out of control dog to eat and just pray that the cafe serves blended food and, if not, I guess my baby will be screaming for food for the next hour while we try to rush home to remake the food. But as long as the dog is ok, eh?

Not when the dog is jumping up at an infant, but nice try

You clearly haven't read it.

To protect your baby from a dog so dangerous you think it warrants calling the police? Yes!

It's the ground not the floor.

No. The kick worked. That was enough.

I like the way you edited it in there. Nice one.

I have though and I also asked my uncle who is a police officer.

The point is that if the dog wasn't harmless, kicking it and shouting is much more likely to cause a bite incident than a more measured approach. If the dog had retaliated somebody could have been seriously injured. It was a silly risk to take with a medium-large dog that would definitely be capable of doing some serious damage if it so chose. Luckily it was just a badly trained but good natured animal, but that might not have been the case.

And yes, then the dog would be put down but that wouldn't lessen the impact of any trauma or injuries.

I don't own a dog btw and am definitely not overly sentimental about them.

That’s why I voted YANBU, the owner should have had her dog under control obviously. But I do think your DH kicking the dog was an overreaction.

Absolutely not unreasonable from you. I’m glad someone else has noticed how weird a lot of dog owners are about their dogs these days - whether it’s ignoring signs about them needing to be on a lead, being unable to recall them, or showing no sign of urgency if their dog is jumping up or otherwise in someone else’s space, including a child’s.

If I had a pound for every time I heard “Oh don’t worry, he/she is very friendly.” Gah. I don’t care - it’s an animal with claws and teeth that could seriously injure / permanently disfigure my child even if it didn’t intend to do any harm. Get it away. I’ve had dogs jump up at my baby’s feet hanging down from a carrier on my chest while I was walking along, and dogs come over to sniff at my baby lying on a mat outside in the park. Owners looked like they couldn’t care less. I even had one run in my front door as I opened it in the morning for the school run, who then jumped up at my husband sitting at the bottom of the stairs holding our 6 month old, while I was crouched down helping our oldest with his shoes. It was so quick, and really quite scary. I’d have had no hesitation kicking it if I’d managed to stand and react in time!

“Dog friendly” has gone too far. I don’t blame the dogs, who are just acting in accordance with their instincts as animals. You are absolutely entitled to act in accordance with your own as parents. You absolutely cannot give a strange dog the benefit of the doubt in that situation. Imagine the lifetime of regret if you did and you had judged it wrong.

Hope you have a better day tomorrow OP!

OP I think you have actually lost the plot.
Anyway, put down the dangerous dog act book and try looking up baby led weaning … might save you having to rush home to blend up food in case this ever happens again.