Unsupervised kids Issue...Dodged a bullet today but my dog could have gotten in...

[Puppylove]

...trouble...does this bother you? Today we had our poodle and terrier mix out on the walking trail and I have never seen so many unsupervised little kids.

And there was this one family who were just letting their kids run up ahead of them and not watching them and the kids ran by us and this one kid (He looked about 6) came up behind my terrier mix and smacked her in the face (she did not react she just cowered behind my husband and whined) by husband couldn't get between her and the kid in time.

Luckily she didn't react she just looked dumbfounded but the kid ran up to his aunt and said "That dog Bit Me" and pointed at her. But they told him to stop whining and that there was no way that dog bit him.....she saw what happened.

Then he went to his uncle and changed his story: "That dog licked me and got my hand all wet" And his uncle told him to stop telling stories.

He then ran to his mom who was coming up from behind and said "Mom that dog licked me" and she was like "so" and then he said "That Dog Barfed on Me" and then he said "And that dog bit me"

And she told him "That dog did not do anything to you but I wouldn't blame that dog if she were to bite you now for telling stories on her" and then she apologized to us and said she saw what he did to our dog and she apologized to our traumatized dog. And then the kid ran ahead and came back toward us with a huge stick and yelled "I'm going to get that dog" and his mom took the stick away and drug him away.

I wanted to tell her to watch her kid because he is going to cause a dog that has never done anything wrong to react badly and probably act out agressively but I was too stunned about the whole situation.

I have always been afraid something like this would happen. The last thing I need right now is for her to begin to truely fear children.

Does the whole unsupervised kids on walks thing bother you as much as it does me?

If you had been in my place today how would you have reacted?
I wanted to add: I'm just glad his mom knew her son was full of S***
And I'm glad he didn't hit my poodle because I don't think the kid would have been as lucky....my poodle is real tempermental due to his health and he wouldn't hesitate to react to behing mishandled
I'll tell you around here no one watches their kids and it doesn't matter where you are.....this was on the greenway around the city where all kids should be closely supervised it isn't the safest place things were different when I was a kid (and that was not that long ago I'm only 22)
By the way both our dogs are always on a leash we have a leash law here

 

[Sheltie7]

Unfortunately these types of kids deserve a damned good smack but that's just not permitted and yes, it makes me really mad to see kids behaving like this.

If they hit a dog, what do they expect? Of course the poor little thing is going to try and protect itself and that usually means a bite.

Can you contact the local authority to advise them that there are small unsupervised children here and that you're concerned for your dog because of what happened?

You have as much right to walk your dog as parents walking their children.

Is the dog on a leash here? If he's loose you may not have much legal backing here.

Unfortunately if you went to push the child away and the parents weren't all that nice, they could have you up for assault.

Most parents though should teach their children not to go near dogs they don't know for obvious reasons. If they want to pat it, then they ask the owner first.

 

[Tyleraekeamreyummy]

I would have beaten the crap out of the kid 4 hitting my dog...but hes not here RIP im gonna miss him

 

[leo]

Unfortunately there are a lot of parents that take that approach when it comes to their children. Just sit back and relax and hope it all goes away. But do you honestly expect them to keep their children on leashes too? Kids act up because they don't know any better. You are way too young to understand something like that. Though you did handle the situtaion quite well I won't direct my anger at the child because he did what he did because he was not taught differently. I'm sorry that bad parenting is rampant in your neighborhood but trust me that is not the case in most. Maybe you should try finding another place to walk your dogs if this is a consistent problem. I assure you in most places it is not.

 

[•Poppy•Wait&See]

In my opinion, kids should ALWAYS be supervised, unless they know better or are in a truly safe area. And you cannot assume public places are always safe.

I come from a small town with a very lovely park. Problem is, people look at you crazy if you let anyone under the age of 13 go there with friends. Anyone under the age of 15 going there alone is nuts. A small town park people would assume is safe--right? Wrong. There are kids who do drugs in that park, and just last fall they caught a man taking pictures on his cell phone of me and my friends playing tennis/dancing to music during tennis season.

And that's just speaking of the safety of people. Her kid could get in real trouble someday with that kind of attitude--and unsupervised children are like untrained dogs off leash--you never know what is going to happen, and it's stupid to risk it.

I'm just glad your dog wasn't hurt.