Friend's dog bit a child, whose fault?

[karrabee]

Dog was on a lead, probably 1.5 metres ahead. Family of 2 adults and 2 children walking past in opposite direction. Children probably 4 and 8? As they walked past the younger girl darted towards the dog and put her hand on his head (flat palm almost like she was hitting him but I think she was trying to pat him on the head) and he nipped her. We were passing each other on a path in a park so were quite close already. Had zero time to do anything as from her walking past to touching him happened in about 1.5 seconds. We had no interaction with the other family prior to this. Dog has never bitten before, we think he just got a fright from the girl, but the family went mad and started threatening to call the police saying we have a dangerous dog (he's am old staffy who has never bitten once and we were so shocked that he even nipped her as he is extremely gentle!). Family followed us round the park and kept shouting 'we know where you live, police are going to be well aware of you'. The girl wasn't injured, skin wasn't broken, but she was obviously scared. Surely this is the fault of the family for not teaching their children not to touch dogs? I don't have a dog so haven't really had to think about it before, but my son knows not to touch dogs without confirming with the owner that they're friendly. It is drilled into him!

I have four year old twins who are obsessed with dogs and thankfully one of the few ‘lessons’ of ours that they actually follow is to always ask ‘Can I pet your dog?’ But they do sometimes not quite wait for a reply. And with the hundreds of dogs that they have petted - sometimes more boisterously than I would like and needing reminders that they need to pet full head to tail and not backwards and remembering that there are two of them enthusiastically petting at same time - there has never been a hint of a nip or anything from a dog. So whatever about this past incident, the dog owners in question now need to be highly vigilant going forward because it is a warning to them.

He was on a lead. They should teach their child not to touch animals without permission. Let them report you. The police wouldn’t do anything as you had the dog on a lead. Only suggestion is they may suggest muzzle

You probably should muzzle your dog now, if they have reported you for this and it does it again it's curtains for the dog. If your dog isn't safe which if it is "nipping" children it clearly isn't you shouldn't be walking it in busy areas unmuzzled. It could be a child's face next time, you might love the dog but it has gone for a child now, so it is no longer safe.