In hot weather, i always leave my 11yr jack tied up outside shops. I came out of a shop today and found an uproar, a lady said my dog had bitten her sons nose. I asked if she saw the bite and she said no her little girl had, i asked the girl and she wasnt' sure, the mother got very upset so i called the police and reported the incident myself. The police attended and took statements. I am fully responsible for my dog, and he has never shown any aggression in his life, i just can't stop crying now that he may be put to sleep, or that he may,even if provoked by a four year old, hurt a child.The lady was told to take her son for a tetanus, and there was no blood at all, just a red mark, can anyone advise. My dog will be bought a muzzle tomorrow

The best advice I can give you is NEVER to leave a dog tied up unsupervised like this because you leave your dog at risk of being:

stolen
attacked by dogs
teased by children
or it biting somebody as in your case.

ALL animals with teeth can and will bite if the conditions are right including humans.

NEVER say NEVER.

I would advise that you immediately never put your dog in this position again.

You have to understand that just as some owners cannot control their dogs, many parents cannot or will not control their children.

You may be required to keep your dog on a lead and muzzled when in public so start doing it now before or in case this is formalised.

Good Luck

Please try not to worry.

I think without witnesses to give proper credible evidence I doubt anything would progress. How old were the children as if they were of a certain age there is a question about the mother leaving children unattended I would have thought.

I hope that the muzzle will only be used if you continue to leave your dog outside a shop (also my pet hate) and not because you now feel him untrustworthy, I doubt he is any less untrustworthy than when you left him that day, the child probably bent down to stroke your dog and in the excitement the dog may have caught his nose, easily done the fact there is no actual bite wound or blood would suggest that,  or he may have been touched unaware and jumped or been frightened, who knows, this is the problem in leaving a dog unattended, but the mother should not have allowed her son anywhere near any dog, typical to blame the dog! And as tohme has said neither should your dog have been left at risk.

I would think you will be ok, I have my fingers crossed anyway, it's certainly not enough to have your boy pts don't worry about that, :-) you may well get a Dog warden visit, if you show the muzzle that will suffice that you are taking it seriously.

Many thanks for your answers, which i fully understand and take on your good advice. I have always had dogs and never dreamed that this would happen, as i was taught never to touch a dog i did'nt know. The shock of this incident has been enormous and i encourage others to heed the advice ive been given, the women left her kids outside with my dog, he has no defence and i have no defence, the children will of course play with him. But my dog was immediatly guilty in everybodys eyes, me saying over and over, he,s never bitten anyone couldn,t help.
I,m still really upset and shaking and my boys life will now change, he has cardiac failure anyway so he,s not got much longer and he moves very slowly now, but he will wear a muzzle and never be out of my sight, i love him so muchx

im sure you will be ok,a similar thing once happened to me,id tied my dog up and was gone a minute,and a little boy(3 or 4
)had run up and flung his arms round her neck,she lifted up her foot to fend him off and marked his face,i was cross as his mum tried to make out shed bitten him.however nothing further happened,other than me being a lot more careful with my dogs,its people you cant trust to behave,i find.good luck.

I expect your dog did nothing wrong.  My Maisie (who by the way has never bitten anybody - she is the most passive, placid animal known to man) did something similar when she was a pup.  She is a very licky dog (given the chance) and licked one of Duncan's work mates on the nose - in her enthusiasm, she caught the bridge of his nose with her teeth.  Luckily,he knew exactly what happened and it was OK but after this happened I make sure that she when she meets a child it is always under my supervision and she either sits or stands on all fours - things can be misconstrued.

I 'm sure everything will be Ok but please, please please supervise your dog at all times.  You are also risking your dog being stolen too.

Hope everything will be OK just write down everything that you will do to make  sure things are safe for the future and make sure people know what you are going to do in futurexx

> The lady was told to take her son for a tetanus,

If he's had all of his childhood jabs and he's under the school leavers age then he is highly likely not to need one .

My 9 yr old bitch surprised me last year by biting.  She lives with my kids and they have all grown up with her so she has had more than her fair share of kids but she has never given me a moments doubt.  She was/is fantastic with MY kids.  Last year she bit a child for touching her when she was in her bed sleeping.  This child has sneaked into my utility where the dog was , to see her, and my dog bit him.  He said she growled and then bit.  I couldn't believe it but there was no other dog there.  Since then, she has growled at other children(through a fence) which has proved her guilt.  I know now that she does this and take appropriate precausions but I was shocked at the time.

I wouldn't imagine this will be taken any further as the skin wasn't broken.  I doubt the boy will need a tetnus either as they only give antibiotics if the skin is broken rather than the teatnus now.
My old aunt still leaves her pedigree cocker outside shops.  I warn her daily about the dangers of this but still, she is of a different generation.  I just won't give her my child!!  Can you imagine her leaving the pram outside the shop these days!!!jeez. I don't often notice the difference between then and now but I am at this minute!!

I wouldn't imagine this will be taken any further as the skin wasn't broken.

Under the DDA this does not matter at all -the dog only needs to have caused apprehension. However the likelihood is that a judge would order the dog to be muzzled and on a lead in public. I personally know a dog this happened to, he nipped a teenager (allegedly, again no witnesses) and there was a bruise, nothing else.

unbelievable ..I posted on a similar subject yesterday... re children bounding upto my dogs... I am afraid I am going to put a stop to it  as now adays with our dogs we dont stand a chance... when they ask I am going to say no  and if they dont I will tell them off... sick of it.

I wouldn't nowadays either but when I was a child and not too many years ago it was something that was done by many and yes I used to do it as well in years gone by. Maybe for the OP it is something they have always done with their dogs and they just didn't think about the folly of doing that in these present times - if they have never had a problem before it probably didn't even cross their mind. I am sure that following this incident their dog won't be left outside a shop again by itself.

A man from a nearby road always walks his dog to the paper shop each morning and leaves it tied up outside - he has been doing the same thing with different dogs for the past forty years and can see nothing wrong with doing so. He is an elderly gentleman and doesn't understand how much things have changed.

Yes tying a dog up outside a shop is a bit like letting children go off to the playground on their own -years ago you wouldn't think twice about it and I certainly did it, but these days........things have changed too much.

...and years ago, if I had been bitten after approaching an unknown dog without asking it would be me that would have got a clip round the ear for disobeying my parents.  We were ALWAYS taught never to touch or pet a dog without permission from the owner AND, then with permission, we were taught how to do it properly so as not to cause alarm.

Dogs in my childhood were always given respect at home and whilst out and about.  I would no more have played with a friends dog without permission than I would have petted their grannies.  In fact grandparents and dogs often occupied the same chair from which both would scowl at hooligan children! :)

dogsababe I love that image of grannies and dogs alike scowling at hooligan younguns! LOL Brilliant!

Ragpop... please keep us informed as to what happens, I would be mortified if it happend to me as I know both of mine are fab with kids and I totally understand your train of thought! I really hope it doesnt go much futher with an errant mother not keeping tabs on her kids and the possiblity of the little girl "mistakenly" thinking you dog bit the boy! My sympathies are with you and your lad, I hope this hasnt been to stressful for the poor old boy! :(

Lol, thats what happened to me when I did something similar dogsababe,
When I was not much older than a toddler I ran away from my dad to go over to a dog tied up outside a shop, the poor dog had a terrible fright as this small mad thing ran full pelt at it screaming 'doggyyyyyyy!' (there was probably a lot of arm waving involved too knowing me). It gave me such a barking at I fell over on my bum and burst into tears, then I got a massive telling off from dad for running away and rushing a dog and shouting. These days the dog would probably get branded as 'nasty', there needs to be an eye rolling smilie :)

It's getting to be a sad place this world at times. I can remember bending down to stroke a westie and the owner telling me not to as he bites. That lead to me getting a ticking off from my mum for not asking in the first place!! How times have changed. I have recently told 2 boys off locally for repeatedly chasing one of my dogs. She's a little nervous and if they stood still she'd say Hi!! But they have a mini schnaz pup which gets thrown around, literally, and takes anything they do so I guess they think all dogs are the same. Mother of the boys is usually miles away totally oblivious of it. I do try not to be a spoilsport as so many kids are anxious but she's just not into kids!

Whereas my big boy would love them to death! Last year a little boy accused my dog of biting when he said hi. Parents totally ignored the kid I was mortified and terrified all the way to the car expecting all sorts. Although I would say for a kid that got bitten he was extremely happy in his singing!! Little billy liar me thinks!! Good job his parents knew him as I nearly passed out when he shouted out that dogs just bitten me!! His parents just walked off and left him!!

My daughter often nags me to take one of the dogs down with me at school pick up time but I won't do it...I have cockers who, depsite being great with my kids, are bouncy - its what they are! - and I just wouldn't risk it :-(

Like others, I remember being bitten as a child (through the lip - so a bad one) the owner was a friend who had told me not to go near the dog (westie) whilst she was eating but I forgot and went to say goodbye to her = bite.  It was me who got told off for going to see the dog and my mum would never have dreamt of taking the matter further.  Times have certainly changed, there is def more of an anti dog sentiment these days.

A few years ago, two young children ran ahead of their mum to come and fuss over my dog. I waited until she caught up with them and told her nicely that she was lucky my dog was ok with children, as he could have easily been spooked or he could have been a dog that doesn't like children and they could have ended up getting nipped. She apologised and said she had never thought about that happening and wouldn't allow it again.

No advice but I wish you well and hope all turns out ok.

Give that mum 50 points for the right answer!! There are 2 kiddies who will benefit society.

Sure will be!

I think this is outragous !!! To repeat what others has said if it is hot weather the dog will sure be paning and if a child bent down to stroke him and he got excited (mouth open from panting) then a tooth may have accidently touched the child. My pup does it all the time accidently catches you when she is excited thats y being a large breed i dont let her jump up people so they can say things like that. And again what a mother she is letting her child approach a unknown dog in the first place, maybe if she repors you and action is taken agenst your dog then maybe you should take action agenst her as a mother ??? I never let my 5year old child approach dogs without asking the owner first, and my son knoes the importance of this. All children should be taught that. I think has you have been tying your dog up outside for years and nothing has ever happened then you shouldnt haveto change that, the dog oviously did not do anything !!!! Has any further action been taken ??