I can't believe whats just happened. Just taken the dogs into the park on their leads as there was a football match just finishing. (My German shepherd is very protective of me so if there's anyone about she is always kept on her halti and lead) when this small child, I would say he wasn't even three years old as he couldn't speak very well came towards me saying doggy. I said no and moved away from him and he just kept following me he managed to touch my jack Russell and I said go away and then when I bent down to pick up Sachas poo he hit her on her back and she jumped up and growled at him. I shouted at the top of my voice go away from my dogs and still no parent came to get him.
I know I would have been held responsible and been very upset if she had bitten him. I just can't believe that he was left to wander around a park on his own.

Isn't it lucky that you are responsible, that unfortunately is the burden of being a dog owner, you also have to be prepared for all scenario's of avoiding bad parenting and bad dog ownership aswell as looking after and training your own dogs.

Thank goodness nothing happend to the child, you are right, who would have got the blame:rolleyes:

I guess the parents concerned would have not understood your complaint and probably have the cheek to have blamed you for not having a type of dog that their child could approach, pull and hit.

We live in a topsy turvy world today. :-)

It is unbelievable isnt it - you would think that the press stories of dogs/children parents would be paranoid about telling children not to approach dogs.

Good for you being on the ball and not letting anything go wrong.

Maxine

gosh in this day and age you would think the parent would be paraniod about letting a young child of of there sight let along wandering up to a stranger.

Some people never learn do they

My thoughts exactly lumphy.

Did no parent claim the child? lol.... I wonder why! ;)

I has a kid with his mum stood right next to him do this ..the boy was about the same age..two to three. . The boy hit my dog and stamped on his tail I moved away and the boy followed and the mom kept watching all smiles at what a beautiful little boy she had and when I explained to her the boy was to stop hurting the dog and if he does that to a less tolerant dog he will get bit and it will serve him right the look of surprise on her face that her child was actually not anghellic but an evil naughty little brat!

A couple of weeks a kid  who was about 4/5 wanted to see the dogs then suddenly swung back his leg and aimed a full kick at one of my dogs...I managed to pull my dogs out of the way and somehow I managed to refrain from slapping him but I gave him a real loud and verbal what for and his mum came up and I said her boy was very naughty and must never kick a dog and other dogs might well bite him and he would deserve it .  She was very sorry and told him off and she was pleased then to spend some time with her boy learning how to behave near dogs and then I had my dogs do some tricks for him as a reward. 

My son teased a dog who belonged to a friend ..he was always very very scared of dogs but wanted to like them but he didn't know how to play with them and he was was being a dog crawling on the floor with a toy in his mouth( he was a lot older that 3! :rolleyes: ) ... anyway he got a nip and I took him to hospital and at the hospital they asked what happened and the nurse who fixed him up just told him off for being silly around a dog..there was not even the  slightest hint of blaming the dog. When we left the hospital they said to my boy hope you learnt your lesson.

Parents who dont train theyre kids should be made to pay, not us for not training our dogs not to react when theyre hit and kicked by some snot nosed brat!
Litle kids really get on my nerves around dogs, and i blame theyre parents too, im never having any kids, just surrounding myself with Staffords! :) and my OH! :rolleyes:

I've got two grown up kids but some of them now are totally out of control.
BRING IN LEASH LAWS FOR KIDS!!! Keep them on collar & lead in public and why not Dangerous Kids Act.
Grumpy old woman --- Naa not me!!
Chris

I know the feeling, now that mine are 20 & 16 I'm not very child friendly, lol. Seriously though I can't trust either of my dogs with small children as they've never experienced any as I don't know anyone with them. I can't exactly go up to stranger and say can I borrow your child to make my dogs child friendly.
My dogs do have really good recall and are always put straight on their leads if there are children nearby but that situation on Saturday upset me because I did everything I could to get the dogs away from that child but Sacha still could have bitten him.
There were lots of people watching the football match but nobody seemed to be watching him, anybody could have grabbed him and ran off and I don't think whoever was looking after him would have noticed.

LOL chris.  Maybe children should be banned from general parks aswell?  They should be kept in an enclosed area :D  Every park already has one, swings, roundabouts and fenced all the way round! :D

Then dogs will not be disturbed and children will not do any damage! :D

:P

Thing is toddlers aren't bad they are just learning about the world, and you can't expect them to be angelic and well behaved all the time - therefore its even more important that parents keep an eye on them, no point blaming a two year old for doing something stupid when their parent ignores what is going on- some people just shouldn't be allowed to breed :D :D

Thing is toddlers aren't bad they are just learning about the world, and you can't expect them to be angelic and well behaved all the time - therefore its even more important that parents keep an eye on them
phew..I'm glad to see a sensible comment.

I hate anti child mentality  as much as I hate anti child mentality  dog.

Kids are kids

dogs are dogs.

geesh. reading some posts here well it is not a war! All can get along just fine. And there will always be a minority who cause a little problem.

They are a responsibility and they need supervision. Mistakes happen with kids and with dogs . And you get over indulged in kids and over indulged dogs... because they are under the care of people who may give a little unbalanced attention ..sometimes too much sometimes too little.

Obviously even the best parent can make mistakes, kids can escape from time to time no matter how careful you are. As a society we are all part of the community and all share in the responsibility of maintaining the health of this community by the way we deal with these little issues hopefully constructively and we all are involved in raising these children because children as well as being part of a family are part of the community.  We are one society made up of all sorts of people and when we are all pulling together it all works very well.

I certainly lost my kids several times when they were little... they had accidents, bumps, grazes, cuts, yes they had the screaming tantrums,  at times they  were naughty... they could drive me right round the bend. That don't make me a bad parent...just means I had normal kids!