Its about educating I think, I dont stop kids from touching my dog, however only if they have already asked me, and/ are behaving in a manner that is acceptable.

I always will say if any child does approach and doesnt ask and is about to touch, I will then tell them its ok to touch but that they should always ask the owner first.. I would then shout over to parent whether its ok for their child to touch or not if they arent right there....

There is little point in my opinion in not teaching someone something if you can.. It serves no purpose for me to say no you cannot touch my dogs if they ask, I would rather they learnt the right approach than stayed ignorant of it.

I do think the parent here is to blame. But I also think the dog owner should have said something in defence of their dog as HAd something happened then they wouldnt be in a position of being on the back foot so to speak...

I agree, good post

I agree with everybody's comments. It is down to the parents to educate their kids about dogs.

I hate it when out for a nice quiet walk with my gruesome twosome, and kids are annoying them. Luckily my two are very patient, but my dads labrador (believe it or not) has a very small patience level. He knows immediately as soon as she has had enough. And will snap!

I had this very same discussion with him last night, and he does agree with all of us, but at the end of the day, if a child was hurt by any of our dogs..... They would quote the old chestnut....... The dog owner is responsible !!!!!

Toby loves kids stroking him but I would still stop any child who tried without asking. Partly because they should always ask, and secondly because, although Toby is friendly, he is very bouncy! He could easily hurt a child completely unintentionally, simply by being too enthusiastic and either bumping them, or knocking them over. If they give me chance to crouch down and hold his collar he will sit lovely for them to stroke, and I can hold his weight when he tries to lean on their legs!

Absolutely agree.

This is my biggest concern with Rupert. He's generally well mannered but can easily knock a small child over as he likes to lean against people. He's also a sod for throwing his head up and smashing it into yours if you bend over him so I like to ensure people don't do this. And then there's the pawing, he likes to put his paws on people which isn't always appreciated and I worry that if he scratched someone they'd complain he bit them.

There's no guarantee any dog won't bite someone and I think anyone saying their dog would never bite is in denial. I wouldn't muzzle a generally friendly dog "just in case" though.

I think I love you!

I have taught my 3 year old son not to approach strange dogs. However, I do still keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn't. 9/10 he doesn't but there still is that chance.

I have more of a problem with dogs leaping up at him lol. He doesn't really mind but his cousin can be a bit scared of dogs. I've had people totally ignore this and walk on, even though their dog has nearly knocked him over. Very annoying when they can obviously see that one of the kids is terrified and just carries on walking leaving their dog to run around us. Thankfully, mostly people apologise and I explain that he is used to them but not his cousin (if he happens to be with us at the time).

Helen

I`m not that fussed as long as my dogs are off lead because they`re a lot faster than children.
I find wandering towards the pond usually spurs parents into action.

follow this, kid....

iv been thinking about this recently and although i agree with what everybody is saying about it being the parents responsibility to teach their children manners, it should be taught that strangers just cant approach your (in essence) property without your permission. i mean, imagine your sat in you car, and some stranger just decided to climb in to the passengers seat. it just wouldn't happen because people are aware that it belongs to someone. the same should be applied to dogs.

with regards to teaching children right from wrong, perhaps parents don't feel the need to anymore, because if something did happen, they have the police to fall back on and they will punish the dog for the parent. i'm not saying parents purposefully put their children at risk, but it may be seen as "something the law will sort for me" if something bad happens? and so passing the responsibility over.