Dogs and crazy parents

Sleipnir

Hendrix89 wrote: »

If it is a friendly dog, then it did not deserve to be kicked. It was clearly only making a friendly greeting. My dog used to have a habit of jumping up on people as a greeting and never did anyone interpret it as an aggressive attack. There's a clear visible difference between a dog acting friendly and a dog acting aggressively.

Kicking a dog for something such as this would be like kicking a young child for accidentally hitting you with their ball. From what I gather the child was not in any danger and the father acted with unwarranted aggression.

You're saying that the father should have taken time out to reflect on the disposition of the dog? That's ridiculous.
"Hmmm, it may be a friendly dog jumping on my child. I'll wait a bit before making my mind up about that"

Clearly making a friendly greeting? Is a toddler supposed to know that? How about if an animal the same size as you jumped on you without warning?
A dog is a lot bigger and scarier to a child than it is to you.

Quint

Every dog attack on a child the owners say it's "friendly"
In fact, the first dog attack story I could find with quotes:

This one was "docile as a doormouse" apparently
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5gGLEVYt2hA929GdpftS0YgDnG8kw
Interesting quote too:

He stressed that, however docile a family dog may appear, whatever their breed, they are essentially pack animals by instinct and should be supervised around babies and children at all times.

Maybe the OP could learn something there

the_syco

karlog wrote: »

Problem was the father went absolutely ape**** and kicked my dog so hard that i'm surprised he didn't break any of her ribs. I wont go into detail about the argument that followed but there was alot of cursing which i'm sorry to say his kids had to hear.

He basically threatened to put my dog down for apparently attacking his child which it did not do.

I know i was in the wrong somewhat for having an untrained dog off a leash, but does that give him the right to actually kick my dog and even have it put down or is that just a false threat and he really is just an ***hole?

Stupid man. Me, if a dog went for one of my younger cousins, I'd scare it away, failing that, kick it before it got close to the kid. Why? Because I don't know the dog, what it's intentions are, if it will bite the kids or not...

You're lucky it wasn't someone with a gun in their hands, or your dog would be a ball of bloody fluff. People will protect their kids, and logic doesn't always come into the picture.

conchubhar1

if i had a child and that happened

i would kick the dog, lift up the two children and then kick you

ScumLord

Mooooo.

doctor evil

Allowing a dog to jump up on anyone is the height of ignorance and rudeness.

Not everyone wants mucky smelly paws leaving marks on your clothes or knocking you down, even in a 'friendly greeting' :mad:

As for those that allow their dogs to roam, shame on you. If your dog ends up knocked down/shot for sheep worrying or ingests poison it is on you as your pooch crawla into a ditch to die a painful death!

The safety of others and the safety of the dog itself should always be taken seriously.

Intothesea

OP, if you want your dog to have freedom to
roam without causing chaos, teaching it a meet-
and-greet routine (i.e. only expressing excitement
with all paws on the floor) could save you both
endless bother. Google has more than a few
ideas: http://www.google.com/#hl=en&q=dog+not+jump+people&aq=f&oq=&aqi=&fp=dMlfxuRvj0I

The parent's freak-attack sounds unwarranted
until you consider that one knock to the head
in just the right place could kill a kid. Tough
break but easily solved for the future. G'luck

arybvtcw0eolkf

conchubhar1 wrote: »

if i had a child and that happened

i would kick the dog, lift up the two children and then kick you

I can see things getting woof around here.

**Damn hangover this morning, 'hair of the dog' me thinks.

.

phasers

Train your dog OP.

My labrador is a very well trained dog, always comes when he's called and wouldn't hurt a fly. I let him off the leash in the park because he never goes further than ten feet ahead of me.

My Jack russell on the other hand in crazy, goes off into the bushes (as they do), chases people for fun and jumps all over everything. I keep her on the lead.

You should know your dog. If they jump on anybody, even "playfully", then for the good of everyone he should be kept on a leash. Buy an extendable one or something if you want to give him a bit of a run.

In hindsight, the father over reacted, but in the heat of the moment he just saw a dog jumping on his daughter. Fair play to him imo

rubadub

The man beat the wrong animal, the real irresponsible scumbag animal got off scot free. He should have beaten you fu*king senseless for doing that to his child.

You never know, this man could have had a kid savaged by a dog before.

Milky Moo

Unleashed dogs are the bane of my life. I am a dog lover but I do get nervous around bigger dogs and while running I always seem to come across people with the leash off insisting to me he won't touch me.

Some dog owners seriously don't seem to realise that some people are just plain afraid of dogs,even if the dog is docile and the friendliest critter you will ever come across. They will not enjoy a dog running up to them even if it just wants to play.

Recently I was bringing my nieces to a local hurling field near our house,the eldest already has a terrible fear of dogs,the other was just 4 and couldn't sleep after it.

Two youngish guys walking along with a rottweiler no leash,my older niece jumps up on a wall and I am left standing there holding my younger niece, I am just 5ft 2 and so not much of a height up for her to feel safe from the dog. As this huge dog sniffs around us,the two guy can hear my niece scream and they do not even come and get the dog they don't even bother to call the dog back...eventually it lost interest and follows its owner.

I am sure they were thinking oh it's grand he wont touch her but thats not how I saw it and because of their attitude it's instilled a fear of dogs into my nieces.

If you are going to own a dog you have a responsibilty to insure you have control over the animal simple as,no matter how friendly the dog is,it is just common courtesy.

dublinminx

Op, You should have had your dog on a leash.
Honestly its owners and dogs like that, that give every dog a bad name. If you cannot fully control your dog off the leash, then he shouldn't be. Simple as.
I have a golden retriever, I love dogs, I wish I could have my dog off the leash everywhere. But that is not reality.
Your dog was 'playful' and knocked over a child. That's just not on. Any parent whose child has been knocked over by a dog is entitled to react. I would hate for anyone to kick my dog or any dog, but if your dog is randomly knocking over children, I am not surprised that a parent reacted.
I do let my dog off the leash a lot. But he is fully trained, will heal without the leash, does not approach people, or especially children. Dog ownership is a joy, but also a responsibilty.
You have a responsibilty for your dog, and how he acts. Train him, and never let an unsupervised dog intimidate children. A previous poster was right saying it will make more people, children afraid of dogs. And create a more hostile environment for them generally.

Sharpshooter

OP, this really should have posted in Animal and Pet issues.
I'm locking it before it turns nasty.