Five-year-old Boy Injured In Dog Attack

[PetSitters]

Dog owner's fault.. child's adult supervisors fault - who knows? The horse has bolted folks.. you're just nailing the stable door shut.

I don't care how the incident happened. The idea that a five year old gets facial injuries from a dog in a public place doesn't do responsible dog ownership any favours. The fact that it appears the dog's owner can't be found just adds to that.

I don't see a whole lot of difficulty being responsible for a child's saftey to avoid a leashed dog, if the dog was off leash roaming, that's a different story. But if the kid has been allowed to run at the dog as they do sometimes and the dog has snapped, I don't see that as irresponsible dog ownership where everyone deserves some personal space respected when walking down the street.

[poodlefan]

Dog owner's fault.. child's adult supervisors fault - who knows? The horse has bolted folks.. you're just nailing the stable door shut.

I don't care how the incident happened. The idea that a five year old gets facial injuries from a dog in a public place doesn't do responsible dog ownership any favours. The fact that it appears the dog's owner can't be found just adds to that.

I don't see a whole lot of difficulty being responsible for a child's saftey to avoid a leashed dog, if the dog was off leash roaming, that's a different story. But if the kid has been allowed to run at the dog as they do sometimes and the dog has snapped, I don't see that as irresponsible dog ownership where everyone deserves some personal space respected when walking down the street.

My point was that you're talking about who's in the wrong when there's no information on it. People have been bitten by dogs passing them on the footpath.

[PetSitters]

Dog owner's fault.. child's adult supervisors fault - who knows? The horse has bolted folks.. you're just nailing the stable door shut.

I don't care how the incident happened. The idea that a five year old gets facial injuries from a dog in a public place doesn't do responsible dog ownership any favours. The fact that it appears the dog's owner can't be found just adds to that.

I don't see a whole lot of difficulty being responsible for a child's saftey to avoid a leashed dog, if the dog was off leash roaming, that's a different story. But if the kid has been allowed to run at the dog as they do sometimes and the dog has snapped, I don't see that as irresponsible dog ownership where everyone deserves some personal space respected when walking down the street.

My point was that you're talking about who's in the wrong when there's no information on it. People have been bitten by dogs passing them on the footpath.

I know there were little details of the situation and we don't really know what happened, my point is if I was responsible for a child's safety on the street I would not allow the child to be within the leash range of a strange dog and divert around the dog walker a bit or at least have my body between the child and the dog walker if passing, to me is common sense from a safety aspect. The same walking dogs and passing people, I automatically shorten up the leash or get off to the side of the footpath especially with kids passing?.

[Pudel]

When I walk my dog, on leash, I always shorten the lead and move toward the side. It they have a dog, I shorten it a bit more and move further. I take my dog on nighttime walks and she is off lead, and fine, no body else is around and she loves it. During the day, my prefered walk is busy with other dogwalkers, bikeriders, joggers, and people of all ages walking. I have no real concern with my dog, but if she started at a bike and the rider fell off, I would feel dreadful. Some people fear dogs and give you a wide berth,others don't care. I try to be as responsible as I can.

If my children wish to pat a dog, they always walk up calmly and ask if it is ok. They have been taught not to approach dogs on or off lead without the owners permission. Most dog owners oblidge, and the dog enjoys a pat, some dont and that is fine too.

In this case the child may have approached the dog, but the dog was described as lunging. On a shortened leash, that should not have happened. The fact that the owner left and has not come forward, makes me think the owner is more at fault than the child.

[Lillynix]

I hope the buy recovers well and isn't too traumatised by the event

I must say, a big hate of mine is seeing people walking their dog on a long slack lead. For reasons like this.

As a dog lover/owner, while Lotta walks wonderfully on lead and is no way aggressive/reactive I still keep her lead short with very little slack. She walks beside me with enough slack to be comfortable, but she can't get any further than 2 steps ahead of me.

I do it for her safety and for the comfort (and safety) of others.

As a mother, while my children know not to go near strange dogs without asking the owner first, I wish more dog owners in my area would show the same respect as I do when walking their dogs.

[Snoopy21]

I would think that the fact that the dog owner left the vicinity soon after the event without helping or leaving details would suggest that a large portion of the guilt lies with them.

I hope this little boy is left with no physical or mental scars.

[sandgrubber]

Honestly, from the information provided, I'd say people are making a mountain out of a mole hill. Either side could have avoided the incident. If the boy just had marks on his face, I doubt he was seriously hurt. The dog owner deserves trouble for 'hit and run' behaviour. Some kids are hard to surpress . Some dogs are nippy. Many puppies jump up. Accidents will happen. I think it better to save our ire for cases where the dog attacks and shows inclination to do serious damage. Making a big fuss of it makes it more likely that the kid will be traumatised.

Edited June 3, 2011 by sandgrubber

[PetSitters]

When I walk my dog, on leash, I always shorten the lead and move toward the side. It they have a dog, I shorten it a bit more and move further. I take my dog on nighttime walks and she is off lead, and fine, no body else is around and she loves it. During the day, my prefered walk is busy with other dogwalkers, bikeriders, joggers, and people of all ages walking. I have no real concern with my dog, but if she started at a bike and the rider fell off, I would feel dreadful. Some people fear dogs and give you a wide berth,others don't care. I try to be as responsible as I can.

If my children wish to pat a dog, they always walk up calmly and ask if it is ok. They have been taught not to approach dogs on or off lead without the owners permission. Most dog owners oblidge, and the dog enjoys a pat, some dont and that is fine too.

In this case the child may have approached the dog, but the dog was described as lunging. On a shortened leash, that should not have happened. The fact that the owner left and has not come forward, makes me think the owner is more at fault than the child.

Some dog owners can be a bit silly with child interactions and can remember a couple of incidents over the years I have grabbed a dog's leash from an owner seeing a bit of insecure body language arising with a child meeting a dog, like wow!!, the dog is stressing here and the owner was oblivious as to why I leaned in and grabbed the leash suddenly, as the dog was about to lunge and snap at the child's face and with the owner only holding the handle of the leash, they had no chance of preventing a lunge and snap. My parents always told us when were little that we have our own dog to pat and don't need to be patting other people's dogs and to leave them alone which kept us safe as kids.

[PetSitters]

I would think that the fact that the dog owner left the vicinity soon after the event without helping or leaving details would suggest that a large portion of the guilt lies with them.

I hope this little boy is left with no physical or mental scars.

Morally yes, the dog walker shouldn't have bolted, but if the child did do a sudden dash towards the dog as they do sometimes with everything unfolding quickly, I wouldn't want my dog euthanased for that which is likely to happen after committing what is often regarded as the ultimate sin, dog injures child? I can imagine at the moment of panic and stress where the dog walker could have thought, this is not my fault and I am out of here to protect my dog's future perhaps?

Edited June 3, 2011 by PetSitters

[Red Fox]

I would think that the fact that the dog owner left the vicinity soon after the event without helping or leaving details would suggest that a large portion of the guilt lies with them.

And who is to say that the relative of the child didn't panick, snatch up the kid and take off?

[aussielover]

From the amount of info given it is impossible to say who is to blame.

Most likely it is a combination of both the dog owner and the relative's fault.

The dog owner should have had the dog muzzled, or at least under better control or told the kid to back off, if they knew the dog was aggressive. It could be the first time the dog had done it- but usually there are other incidents that occur before a full on dog bite/attack occurs.

The relative should not have let the child approach the dog without asking the owner- if that is what happended, though there is nothing to say this is actually the case. Ideally the relative should have been able to read the dogs unfriendly body language but of course many dog owners can't even read that.

Perhaps they could have given the dog more space but I would not expect a dog to lunge out and bite me if I just walked past it.

I fully agree that kids these days are more likely to pat a strange dog without asking. Dogs these days are expected to have a higher level of tolerance and behaviour than in the past imo. Also the attitude that "it is never my fault- always blame someone else" helps contribute to this problem.

I hope the child recovers and the dog owner seeks help for their aggressive dog.