Mollie would put up with this but I see it as my job to stop her being molested so would have stopped the child straight away. Even if it meant making a scene or leaving the grounds no way should a dog have to put up with it !

Mine too would have put up with the behaviour,however had a child asked to stroke mine and then proceeded to lift there legs off the floor the child would have had a sharp short lesson in how to treat dogs properly, and I would have without doubt spoke to the parents.

The child maynot be so lucky next time and a dog may have to be pts because of downright ignorance of the parents.

I think Krlyr has put this very well.

Obviously this child is not your responsibility but Milo is.

But I completely understand that controlling other people's children is a minefield, I'm much more likely to do it now I have kids of my own and feel more confident about it.

So bearing this in mind you really needed to remove Milo form the situation, not at all fair that you should be inconvenienced but someone's unruly kid, but definitely the safest course of action for all involved.

J.

I always find it funny in threads like this when people are so keen to leap on the OPs actions. The OP was just making a point about how parents and children always assume a dog is friendly. They weren't asking for their actions to be dissected.

Yes I probably would have done things differently as would others, but we weren't their the OP was and reacted in a way that they deemed was appropriate at the time. We cannot really judge unless we were there. So why does everyone feel the need to jump on the OP is it because everyone here is perfect?

The title of the thread wasnt 'How could I have handled this differently?'

I would have scared the living daylights out of that bratt before it had a chance to even TOUCH my dog I'm afraid!!!! I wouldn't have bitten it, but I'd have made darn sure it would have legged it back to it's useless parents!!! Jeeeeeze, the mere thought of losing MY dog through an incident like this (IF it had bitten the bratt) would have stopped it getting anywhere near her, even though she's good with kids, there's no way......

Sorry if the OP felt 'jumped' on, but....

I think it would be a bit irresponsible if we had all replied you poor thing, what a rotten child with no mention of a by the way, it's not a good idea to let your dog be put in the situation that it might feel the need to defend itself. What if then the next post was titled 'My dog just bit a child and now it has to be put to sleep?' Just so the OP didn't get her feelings hurt?

Maybe the OP will read this and think, yeah, bratty kid next time I'll handle the situation differently. Maybe other readers will as well.

J.

Forums are for discussions, if every thread was replied with "yes, I agree" then it'd be a pretty boring forum! I think it's interesting to hear how different people feel about different situations and I'd hope that people may listen to views even if they're not quite what they wanted. I don't think anyone's been nasty about it, just honest.

That's how I see it too, personally I would rather be told I was wrong or guided in the right direction by members than placated and allowed to carry on in the wrong way. Sometimes it is simply opinion and no one is right but in this case the dog has to be protected I believe.

[B]The title of the thread wasnt [I]'How could I have handled this differently?

err....so that will be the suggestions i and the others have made then? walk awya, stop the kid, talk to the parents??
so we are all on topic then

i didnt jump on the OP, i just made a common sense on topic response on a 'discusion thread'.
as in, if one is upset by someone making themselves or their love one suffer, then surely it makes more sense to try either prevent it or stop the situation getting worse when it is happening, by any means possible?
it's hardly a controversial point to make?

after all, you would do that with your kid, wouldnt you?

im not aiming to make the OP feel bad, but i just didnt get it?

Surly the parents (no matter how retarded) know that some dogs will bite! Also most parents know about kids not talking to strangers!
If it happend to me I'd probably say to the brat that I have a car full of puppies & he can have a look, then walk with the kid out of sight of the parents & see how long it takes them to panic! Then have a screaming match at them for being so irrisponsable as to let their kid approach & torment strange dogs & for not teaching about the dangers of strangers! In my experiance with these sort of people scare tactics are the only tactics that work!
Thick parents = thick kids, The apple never falls far from the tree, poo breeds poo. etc.